Category: Written


Little Mac Comes Up Big for the Wii

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April 19, 2010

Originally Published: May 21, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com) and Lundberg.me

It started as an arcade game all the way back in 1984. It then invaded homes in 1987 riding some star power with Mike Tyson for the Nintendo Entertainment System. A sequel five years later for the Super Nintendo continued the game’s popularity even after distancing itself from Mr. Tyson and his legal problems. And then…we waited.

Now, after a 15-year hiatus, after throngs of fans screamed for a sequel, and after Nintendo came out with the perfect system for boxing video games, Punch-Out!! has finally returned to our home consoles.

Donning the green gloves of everyone’s favorite video game underdog pugilist with the big heart, Little Mac, and taking the odd words of advice from his trainer Doc in stride, (“There are many ways to eat chocolate, but only one way to eat a chocolate bar,”…thanks Doc.), you return to the ring once more to attempt to become the WVGA’s (World Video Game Association?) greatest boxer.

The control system is solid and with three ways to play, it gives you plenty of options. You can use the Wii Balance Board to duck and dodge while swinging the controls to punch if you want more of a workout. If you are a little less coordinated (like yours truly), you might want to just swing your arms and use the control stick on the Nunchuck to duck and dodge. And for others who might not feel like swinging their arms around for three rounds at a time, you can turn the Wiimote around and use the classic controls from the NES. These controller options, along with minimal lag in the control sensors and the over-the-top nostalgia factor, and the gameplay is even more fun than it was 15 years ago.

The graphics are superb. The cel-shaded visuals and the new cut scenes introducing each opponent and giving some depth to all the characters and plot are a great touch. The revamped original soundtrack along with original and brand new SFX will have you flashing back to 1987 in no time.

The best part of the game though is all the extras that have been added to the game to flesh it out because a straight remake would not be worth $50, no matter how strong the nostalgia factor is. Along with being almost as difficult as the original (curse you Piston Honda and Bald Bull!), there is a new title defense mode after you beat the game the first time. You have to attempt to defeat each boxer all over again as they have been training long and hard after you pummeled them on your way to the top. Even Glass Joe isn’t a pushover anymore due to some interesting new headgear on the second time around.

Add in challenges to help motivate you to try exhibition mode, a practice mode if you don’t want to tarnish your record as you attempt to figure out each boxer’s patterns, and a VS. mode for the first time in the franchise’s history and you have enough here to easily keep you coming back for more since the initial playthrough shouldn’t take you more than five hours for even the worst of gamers.

With many of the old favorite foes from the first two home editions being brought back, along with one new boxer added to round out a nice baker’s dozen for the stable of competition, a revamped edition of the original soundtrack, and the classic controls being implemented in brand new ways, and all the pieces are in play to make Punch-Out!! for the Wii a knockout.

Ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest.

Graphics: 8.0: Since cartoony, cel-shaded graphics seem to be the Wii’s staple now, it’s no surprise to see this game chock full of them. On that note, they look beautiful and I think they work perfectly for Punch-Out!! If you want realism, Fight Night Round 4 will be out in a month.

Audio: 9.0: The original soundtrack has been completely revamped and sounds great. Mix that in with some of the original NES SFX when throwing your punches and the game does not disappoint in terms of sound, even if it does get a little repetitive after a while.

Plot/Plot Development: 7.0: It’s the same plot as in every boxing game: no-name underdog fights his way up the ranks to glory. The only difference with this game that gives it a passing grade is there are short cut scenes that flesh out the history and nuances of the boxers you go against which no other boxing game does. It’s a nice change to see a game, even a cartoony one, give some depth to not only your boxer, but the boxers you have to fight as well.

Gameplay: 9.0: A minimum of glitches, considering the amount of motion control this game relies on, gives this a great score. Add that to difficulty reminiscent of a NES original and you have a great experience on your hands.

Replay Value: 7.5: I don’t see devoting more than 10 hours to this on the first couple of playthroughs, but that nostalgia factor coupled with a VS. mode will probably keep you coming back to it somewhere down the line just to relive the one hit KOs of Glass Joe and realize how far we’ve come.

Overall: 8.5 (not an average): When it comes down to it, this game is fun for all ages. The cartoony graphics appeal to younger audiences while the gameplay and characters strike a cord of nostalgia with us older gamers that you just can’t replicate. Why it took this long to come out with a sequel is beyond me, but now that it is here, it will stay warm in my system for a long time.

Punch-Out!! is available now exclusively for the Wii.


-Ray Carsillo

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Like Staring into a Crystal Ball

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Originally Published: May 18, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com) and Lundberg.me

One of the major selling points for any video game nowadays is its potential beyond the confines of the disc itself. Sequels are usually the first things that come to mind, but what has become increasingly popular have been the map and expansion packs that can keep you immersed in some of your favorite worlds. Whether it is ruined industrial wonders that you find in Gears of War 2, or once immaculate cities left in scarred shambles by nuclear war in Fallout 3, expansions packs have been key in keeping these great titles warm in our systems months after their release.

Continuing along these lines was another of 2008’s highly anticipated sequels and one of the best RPG’s out there, Fable II. With the success of one expansion pack already (Knothole Island), the developers knew that the world of Fable II was still ripe for new wonders to be discovered and explored. Thus, for the meager amount of 560 Microsoft points (roughly $7 American dollars) four new quests along with promises of great things to come for our heroes have been released in the new See the Future expansion pack.

Murgo, the traveling salesman of wonders both exotic and mysterious, and who unknowingly sets you on your fate in the beginning of the game when he sells you a mysterious music box that grants its bearer a wish that usually has unforeseen consequences a la the Monkey’s Paw, has returned to Albion with new magical wares. When the great hero approaches, Murgo realizes that he has found just the customer to help him push a few of his more difficult items. He reveals that he has several items that have been cursed and he needs someone to lift the curses to help his shop prosper.

Along with the cursed items, he also has several new goods to add to the game that you might find interesting including potions to turn your mutt into a pure-breed of a canine of your choosing (I chose the husky) and many new face paints and hairstyles to strike that extra bit of fear into your enemies (or friends).

The first item he sells to you, for the same paltry five gold pieces that he sold the cursed music box to you for, is a snow globe that contains a shrunken village that has been cursed (sounds like something from a Superman comic). Supposedly you can hear tiny screams emanating from the snow globe when you place it against your ear like a sea shell.

With a quick flick of your wrist, the curse is activated and you are instantly teleported to a world similar to your own, but lacking any color. Upon exploration of the black and white Albion look alike, you see blue demons sapping the color and strength of one of the snow globes’ denizens. It is then you realize that your weapons are glowing with the colors of your special abilities, blue is your melee weapon, yellow your skill weapon, and red for your will abilities.

After dispatching the blue demons with only your melee weapon, you realize that you must mix and match your styles as you begin to hunt down these color vampires in order to restore order and vibrancy to the miniature Albion.

Once this mission is complete, for another five gold pieces, Murgo gives you a skull, which when activated, teleports you to a graveyard separate from the rest of Albion. A fallen warrior pleads to you from beyond the grave that his soul has been wrongfully entrapped from an odd tomb that you encounter at the beginning of this mystical mound of death. You then acquire special costumes of some of your more bestial foes in order to mimic statues set about the graveyard opening up new doors and releasing the spirits that keep the fallen warrior entrapped.

Though, after freeing all the spirits, you realize you have been tricked: the fallen warrior is actually a ruthless necromancer who was imprisoned amongst those he conjured as an ironic punishment by benevolent spirits.

After defeating the necromancer and lifting the curse of the skull, Murgo sells you a dark item from your hero’s past; a model of Lucien’s tower. Upon activating the tower, you are teleported to where you had to defeat your greatest foe and are met by Theresa once more. She still keeps guard over the tower and reveals that she had sold the items to Murgo in order to test if you were ready for the visions of the future she was ready to impart to you.

After seeing your future, a final item is given to you. A model of what looks like a great Roman Coliseum where you can test your mettle (and earn fantastic prizes!) against wave after wave of foes. This can be repeated again and again for varying prizes and gold and is a sure fire way to build up you bank account (if you can keep surviving).

This expansion pack was a lot of fun because it encompassed everything that Fable has come to stand for, but if you’re a decent player who has leveled up their hero enough, you can blow through these extra quests in about two hours. So, the question then becomes, is two extra hours of gameplay worth seven dollars?

Considering the small price, I think it is well worth the buy and if you are a Fable-freak then you will definitely love the excuse to go exploring Albion again. The See the Future expansion pack is downloadable now via XBOX Live.

-Ray Carsillo

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Smooth as Velvet

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Originally Published: May 14, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com) and Lundberg.me

I admit that I have never been a fan of World War II or other historically based games. I felt that it limited the imagination of the player and the developers because at the end of the day, no matter what happens in the game, we know the outcome of the war. Sure, these specific era based shooters are great and the gameplay and graphics usually try to make up for the lack of originality, but I usually can walk away from the game without finishing it and not really care because in my mind, I still know the ending.

That leads us into today’s review. In Velvet Assassin you play as a female British secret agent during World War II with the gameplay revolving around your lurking in the shadows and undermining the Nazi regime in 1943-1944 Western Europe. I had heard rumors about this game in the later part of 2008 and then saw a demo at NY ComicCon and my interest was immediately piqued: A semi-original storyline (it’s based off a real-life WWII British agent) that didn’t revolve around troop movements and taking out tanks with bazooka launchers. It dealt with the grittier, darker side of war; sneaking cyanide capsules to captured double agents, infiltrating enemy strongholds and single-handedly sabotaging their oil lines or railways, and assassinating high-ranking officials in the middle of the night.

The great thing about this game is that it emphasizes stealth more than anything and it is rare to a see a game do this nowadays. Yes, the Metal Gear series has stealth elements as a strong part of the game, but then again you could hide in a crappy cardboard box and had a wealth of weapons and devices at any moment to help dispatch your enemies. At no time during this game do you have more than three weapons, one of which is your ever-present knife, to remind you that the best kill is the one that doesn’t make a sound (aside from the satisfying noise of your defeated foe gurgling on his own blood). The gameplay was a nice changeup from the run-and-gun style of most of today’s games.

While the game makes you think and work to succeed in ways that most games don’t anymore, the story engrosses you in the character with what has always been a limited subject matter for originality. Firstly, the female lead, Violette Summer (almost sounds like violent summer, any irony there?), is an attention grabber just due to the lack of female leads in games. Add in that she is one of the main weapons for the British on the frontlines doing the unthinkable and you’ve already got me hooked. But that wasn’t enough for SouthPeak Games. To add on top of it, the entire game is her memories of the war while she is in a coma from injuries that are explained as you progress. This also ties into one of the more interesting aspects of the gameplay. You can collect morphine over the course of most levels that represent an increase of her real-life dosage to help slow things down for her and make her dreams less strenuous (and less difficult for you).

Along with the great gameplay and plot, the game is graphically beautiful. From lurking in the shadows of ancient European cathedrals to trudging through the sewers of French ghettos, the visuals are superb. And the shadows are so critical to the entire game as you cross in front of floodlights and watch your silhouette raise the attention of the dozing off guards, or knock the lights out to bathe a room in obsidian safety.

Include a haunting soundtrack and you can actually feel your blood begin to race from the tension, as if you were in the shoes of the heroine, as you know that the wrong move could alert the enemy to your position and almost assuredly forfeit your life. The atmosphere that was created with so little and the clandestine nature of the game leaves you breathless like when you stare directly into the vapid eyes of the gasmask of a flame-trooper while he patrols right by you.

Time-accurate weaponry and locales, stunning graphics, and powerful atmospheric elements that stay with you well after you turn your XBOX360 off, makes this game a great stealth experience. If you’re tired of the usual run-and-gun and looking for a little more strategy from your shooters, this is a must have. Velvet Assassin is out now for XBOX360 and the PC.

Ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest.

Graphics: 8.5: Although beautiful, the game is mostly spent in the dark so I can’t give it a perfect score. The lighting effects are top of the line though. Along with some very smooth NPCs (Non-playable characters), this game is not going to disappoint you visually.

Audio: 10.0: There purposely isn’t a lot of music to help immerse you in the experience of being this character and to stress the stealth aspects of the game. The music that is there is moving and sets the mood beautifully. Along with great voice acting by all involved (even if most of it is in a foreign language with subtitles, you could still feel the emotions of the characters) and Melinda Cohen who plays Violette (and doubles as the physical basis for Violette very nicely as well) does a brilliant job.

Plot/Plot Development: 7.0: It is another game based off of real-life events so you still know the historical outcome, but it is a story that hasn’t been told in a WWII game before and super-spies always play better to me than Saving Private Ryan rip-offs. This is more along the lines of Splinter Cell or No One Lives Forever, minus the fictional megalomaniac villains and replacing it with one of the original, real-life megalomaniac villains. This is one of the best stories for a game that you know the ending to that has come out in a long time.

Gameplay: 9.0: Difficult (at least on the hard difficulty I played on) but addictive, this game will keep you entertained for a solid 10-15 hours (I beat it in 11), and for this, that is the perfect length of time. The game is so engrossing that any longer and you would probably start speaking German and lurking in the shadows on your way to work in the morning.

Replay Value: 3.0: There are some interesting WWII inspired collectibles throughout the levels, but aside from that there just isn’t enough to bring you back for a second playthrough once you beat this. Great game, but definitely a one and done.

Overall: 8.0 (not an average): I thoroughly enjoyed Velvet Assassin as it was a nice alternative to all the run-and-gun shooters that usually permeate the market. Although it didn’t have enough to bring me back for more, and the last level was frustrating because it deviated from the stealth theme of the rest of the game, the game as a whole is engrossing and deserves a look from any shooter fan.

Also, I just want to include a special shout-out to Jino Song of Video Game World at 58 Broad St. in Bloomfield, NJ, 07003. Jino was kind enough, for a nominal fee, to fix my XBOX360 after I burned the lens out (it’s what I get for playing games for 10-12 hours a day) in just 24 hours. No hassle, no six week wait for Microsoft to replace my system, just a single day. Without Jino’s help, this review, and any game reviews coming in the next couple of months, would not be. If you have an XBOX360 that is giving you problems or are tired of the lack of personality you usually get from the big chain stores like Best Buy or GameStop, check out Jino’s shop and tell him that Ray Carsillo sent you.

-Ray Carsillo

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A New First for the Final Frontier

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Originally Published: May 11, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com)

Capitalizing on the great space race between the USA and the USSR of the 1960s, Star Trek dared to go where no other TV show had gone before with the promise of exploring fantastic new worlds and providing unique challenges for the men and women aboard the USS Enterprise…or something along those lines.

Now, more than 40 years, several TV spinoffs, and 10 full-length feature films later, Director/Producer J.J. Abrams (Mission Impossible III, TV’s Lost, Fringe, and Alias) has taken it upon himself to reinvent and retool that original concept and serve it piping hot for a brand new generation of would-be trekkies.

Star Trek looks back at how the crew of the USS Enterprise came to congeal into a legendary unit back at the space academy. With most of the original cast being in their 70s, an entirely new cast, headed by Zachary Quinto (TV’s Heroes) as Spock, was called into action and everyone delivers spot on performances of the characters that the diehards have to come to know and love and that the newcomers will easily learn to.

Karl Urban (Lord of the Rings 2 and 3, Bourne Supremacy) as “Bones” McCoy and Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) as Scotty were both beyond brilliant in their roles. John Cho (Harold and Kumar 1 and 2) worked well as a very green-behind-the-ears Mr. Sulu with the only real question coming from Chris Pine (Princess Diaries 2) who plays Captain Kirk. Many have criticized his performance, but I thought he had done a great job, taking beating after beating, just like William Shatner did, but always finding a way to come through in the end for himself and his crew. Also, the way Kirk’s promiscuousness was played up was perfect. The only real question about his performance is did anyone really expect him…to…talk…like this? Cut the kid some slack.

With the cast in place, the biggest question next fell towards the plot about how to re-launch a series that has had such success over the years simply building on top of everything that had come before it. When working with a mind like J.J. Abrams, why am I not surprised that he found an interesting loophole when dealing with a re-launch. Stealing a plot line from many of Marvel Comics’ most famous story arcs, he decided to create an alternate universe.

I know, your initial kneejerk reaction is this is a horrible idea, but the way it was explained as a major plot point to the story, with a time and space travelling Leonard Nimoy as “Spock Prime”, was actually quite brilliant because it gives them the freedom for future movies to make whatever changes they want and not have to worry about die-hard fanboys crucifying each movie in online forums because it doesn’t affect the original Star Trek whatsoever. If they can get past the whole parallel universe aspect, of course, which they should because in essence it fits in with the entire idea of Star Trek: Unknown worlds and dimensions and things beyond human comprehension until you actually come face to face with it.

With this being a different universe, the origins for everyone are slightly tweaked. Kirk’s father dies in space when he is just an infant, the planet Vulcan is destroyed a la Death Star style from another famous space opera series, an interesting on-going relationship between Spock and Nyota Uhura, played by Zoe Saldana (Pirates of the Caribbean), and the enemy, a Romulan simply referred to as Captain Nero, (played surprisingly well by Eric Bana; probably because you don’t realize who it is until the end credits because of all his make-up) comes from a different future, just like “Spock Prime”.

If you take a look at these differences though and embrace them instead of being steadfastly entrenched in the old ways, then it boils down to the same basics of what made Star Trek great to begin with. Amazing visual effects, awesome weapons, strong sci-fi action with a bit of humor mixed in with a few far-fetched plot points that are made to work under the guise of some expanded branch of new science, and characters that pull you into the story from the very beginning, and you’ve got a perfect modern variation on what Star Trek should be. With the differences being explained with a major plot point of the movie, there is no way you can walk away from this not being happy with the way it turned out. If anything, it can’t be called a re-launch because it serves as a completely new adventure, tying in the old with the new, and allows for the new series to take off with only slight variations on the same great characters and leaves the memories of the old ones perfectly intact.

Star Trek will continue to live long and is definitely prospering ($76.5 million in the opening weekend) and gets 4 out of 5.

-Ray Carsillo

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The Coldest Summer in Gears History

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April 18, 2010

Originally Published: April 27, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com)

We’re getting close to the summer push for video games when blockbuster after blockbuster will be dropping for the next two months. With the tough economy, not everyone is going to have the chance to drop all that money on the plethora of hits coming out in the next 60 days, though. So you’ll see people maybe get a game or two, but they’ll need more. Well, for those penny-pinchers out there I have been given a solution.

More maps from Gears of War 2!

Now, everyone knows I play a lot of games (I’ve beaten 70 over the past 8 months) over many different genres (fighting, first- or third-person shooters, RTS, RPG, adventure, racing, etc., etc.), but I keep coming back to Gears of War 2 because it is rare nowadays that a game will have the lasting power and deliver the multiplayer mayhem most of us crave like this game.

On top of this, the brilliant minds at Epic Games like to keep things fresh for all its die-hard and casual fans alike and at an affordable price. For only 800 Microsoft points (roughly eight to ten American dollars) you can purchase four brand new multiplayer maps that bring the pain like no others have so far.

Included with the download of the four new maps are nine brand new achievements you can unlock, worth 250 Gamerscore points, as well.

This map pack will have you washing off that Lancer Chainsaw Rifle with Locust blood in no time. I just don’t recommend you eat the red snow…

That reminds me of a critical detail. It’s called the Snowblind Map Pack. That’s right. Soon it may be warm enough to cook eggs on the city sidewalks outside, but inside it’ll be nice and frosty as the new map pack has a wintery theme to help keep you Gearheads cooled off.

The first map included in the new map pack is Fuel Depot. Gear veterans will know that Fuel Depot was an original map in Gears 1, but this time it is blanketed in freshly fallen snow to give the all-time classic a revamped look. Add in Gears 2‘s Guardian mode and heavy weapons and suddenly this familiar map gets an entirely new twist as you re-familiarize yourself with its open and unforgiving sections to the lovely sound of Gatling gun bullets whizzing by your frostbitten face.

The first brand new map we’ll look at is Courtyard. What once was a hustling and bustling metropolis’ civic center is now an arid kill zone with clear lines of sight for whatever team can maintain the elevated sniper’s nest. There is a boiler room though that you can take refuge in and regroup with some grenades/proximity mines should your team lose or fail to grab control of the nest in the onset of the battle. It’s a great map for every mode of play; I found Courtyard to be a particular favorite of mine for Annex or Submission matches.

The next new map is Grindyard. Once used to recycle scrap metal during the more industrial days of Sera’s history, Grindyard has a gutted main office that could act as a guard tower if your team can fortify it first. Some of my best Execution battles have been won and lost in the walkway leading to the top of the tower where there is usually a heavy weapon waiting for you to dole out punishment from high above. If you can’t get the tower, you can try to snipe off opposing team members from two corner offices that are well fortified from enemy fire, but watch your back! There are two ways in and out of the lower offices, unlike the tower office, making it much easier for a less organized team to be picked off from behind. This map is a spectacular arena for Guardian or Warzone game modes.

It’s hard to pick favorites, but this last map would probably be the one I choose out of the new map pack. Under Hill is a scene that many people who have to drive into New York City everyday would appreciate. Snowbound tunnels and tollbooths set the scene here as wrecked cars provide cover as you attempt to reach the top of the paved helix for some prime weaponry. Often higher ground gives you a tactical advantage, but that’s not always so here. The top of the helix is wide open and accessible from two lanes whereas you could always fortify yourself near the bottom inside a garage with an impenetrable steel door and wait to mow down enemies foolish enough to stumble through the narrow rear walkway. Also easily fortifiable are the two far corridors on either side of the garage that always have grenades/proximity mines ready to help you defend it from enemies. While wider than the garage and with much more cover, with the help of some well placed mines, the corridors could easily be a deathtrap for anyone brave enough to wander in by himself. Under Hill is a great map for King of the Hill and Annex matches.

This map pack is a must have download for any Gearhead. If you’re a more casual gamer and you’re looking for some fresh gameplay and are a little strapped for cash in the coming months, a new map pack might be just the thing you need to keep yourself satiated until that tax return check arrives. Gears of War 2’s Snowblind Map Pack is downloadable now on XBOX Live.

-Ray Carsillo

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The Addendum to End All Addendums

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Originally Published: April 21, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com) and Lundberg.me

Watchmen is easily one of the most influential comics to ever be published. This is a fact that cannot be disputed even by the staunchest of critics of the comics. One of the things that made it great were the addendums at the end of each chapter to flesh out the characters of this fictional Earth and their society’s problems. It was also one of the reasons why many speculated it would be impossible to make it into a movie.

Well, here we are two months after the motion picture’s release without any of the addendums included and many, myself included, thought it was spectacular.

However, many diehards of the franchise were furious that Zack Snyder couldn’t find a way to fit in several of the addendums and many newcomers to the series couldn’t understand every facet of the Watchmen reality without them.

In response to their fans and in a stroke of money-making genius, DC has released an animated feature of Tales of the Black Freighter with the DVD including a live-action feature representing the Under the Hood addendum.

This DVD addendum to the movie (that started as addendums to the novel) is a near-perfect representation of these stories within the story.

The first story, Tales of the Black Freighter, is the response to the comic’s quandary: “If there are superheroes in real-life for these people, what would their comics be like?” Not a common thought when developing a plot, but that’s part of the beauty of Watchmen. The answer to this question was pirates and the supernatural (ghouls, demons, etc.) would populate the pages of these fictional rags.


Tales of the Black Freighter is a mirror for the story of Watchmen as it shows in a microcosm that sometimes the best of intentions don’t always have the best of results and that sometimes one’s focus on the worst aspects of life can blind them from everything good in the world.

The Black Freighter is a ship of ghoulish pirates who have committed so many heinous acts over their lifetimes that their souls are cursed to sail the seven seas on hell’s personal sea vessel in search of more damned souls to hoist her rotten masts. A testament to just how hard it is to find good help these days.

The particular tale in Watchmen that we see is how the Black Freighter attacks and ransacks another pirate ship, and how all the crew is slaughtered except the captain. The captain washes up on a desolate shore with the carcasses of his crew and the sole intention of seeing his family again. He also fears that the Black Freighter will sail towards his home and the very threat of his family being in danger is enough to keep his resolve strong.

In desperation, he strings up the carcasses of his crew into a makeshift raft and sets off in the hopes of reaching his family before the Black Freighter. Alone, hungry, and left to drink seawater, he begins to go mad, talking to his slaughtered friends’ dead bodies. Disgusting sights begin to drive him further into madness as gases trapped in his crews bodies begins to make them explode and leave a trail of blood in their wake that attracts the seas’ most feared predator: the Great White Shark.

With pieces of sharpened parts of his makeshift raft, he stabs one of the sharks in the eye and jams the staff deep into the cranium of the shark, killing it, adding it to his raft of death and scaring off the remaining sharks.

After nearly losing all hope and preparing to succumb to the sea, the raft finds shore. Convinced that the Black Freighter has reached here before him, the captain believes with every fiber of his being that all the shapes draped by shadows by the night sky are actually pirates laughing at his futile efforts.

He skulks through the town, approaching his home, the longing to see his family all that is keeping him going. The night continues to play tricks on him as he beats to death what he believes to be a sentry positioned at his home, only to come to his senses after his daughters’ shrill screams piece the night air and to realize he just beat his own wife to death. In his panic, he runs back to the sea where he sees the Black Freighter waiting for him, ready to finally claim its next soul.

The captain was so blind to his hate of the Freighter and that it would hurt his family, that in the end, the captain was the only one to do the harm as he condemns himself to an eternity of sailing the seven seas as a member of the Black Freighter’s crew with one misguided act.

The animated version of this on the DVD perfectly depicted the gruesome fates of the captain and his crew from the original story and Gerard Butler (300) played the voice of the narrator/captain very well, but I couldn’t help but want to hear him yell “THIS IS SPARTA!” or more appropriately “THIS IS THE BLACK FREIGHTER!” the entire time.

The other story is much simpler. Under the Hood is an autobiographical story revolving around the original Nite Owl and his driving motivations showing why he put on a mask and fought with the Minutemen. Not as deep a part of the universe’s main plot, yet still critical nonetheless because it retells almost the entire back-story to the Watchmen‘s world and sets the stage for the events taking place in the novel itself.

DC knew that an autobiography with no pictures clearly wouldn’t work on a DVD though. In order to counteract this problem, Under the Hood was turned into a magazine news program episode. Similar to 60 Minutes, The Culpeper Minute gets all the minor and past characters of Watchmen to come out and tell their story as if a Mike-Wallace-type was interviewing them.

All the actors who took the extra time to make this half hour mini-feature were great and showed how in-depth they got into their characters while explaining a lot of the key details that the main feature movie had to bypass to keep it less than three hours.

This supplemental DVD for the movie Watchmen is really high in quality and succeeds in filling in several of the gaps from the main feature’s plot, but considering both mini-features combined barely mark an hour, it is tough to say this is worth $20 (even with the sneak peak at this summer’s animated Green Lantern feature included).

Unless you are a die-hard fan of the Watchmen, then you can probably pass on this DVD and wait till it is included with the Director’s Cut Special Edition of the Watchmen DVD for a much smaller price. Rumor has it that these features will be worked in at key parts of the movie’s story just like in the book, which would make the Director’s Cut a much smarter buy for the die-hard fan than this DVD if they can wait a couple more months.

Good quality for poor quantity at an even worse price makes the Tales of the Black Freighter DVD only worth 2 out of 5.

-Ray Carsillo

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Looking Like a Knockout

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Originally Published: April 15, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com) and ESPNVideoGames.com

It’s getting close to summer and everyone wants to look their best. One of the recent big fads in gaming has been Nintendo’s releases of fitness games to help you burn calories and shed pounds and to continue lasting the vein of last summer’s sensation, Wii Fit. The best part of most of these games is they have proven that if you keep up the regimen dictated by the games, you will actually get into better shape and lose weight.

Of course, a lot of these exercises depend on the Wii’s Balance Board so it is almost like a gym membership since you’re dropping $90 for the board and Wii Fit and another $40-$50 on any supplemental games.

So, jumping on the fitness and working out at home bandwagons, a couple of recent releases for the Wii are trying their best to help you fit into that itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny yellow polka-dot bikini for the ladies or, for the guys, to look good to pick up that lady in the yellow bikini.
These two games are Ubisoft’s Gold’s Gym Cardio Workout and 2K Sports’ Don King Boxing.

Don King’s Boxing

Now, the Gold’s Gym game is an obvious title for a workout game, but Don King Boxing? In order to appeal to a larger audience, yes. One of the key features of this game is a workout mode that has you jumping rope, hitting a speed bag, shadow boxing, doing squats, or hammering a punching bag and the exercises work, especially the jumping rope. My calves were on fire after that. The problem is that the game awards you “fitness points” as you workout instead of just telling you how many calories you’re burning so you never know how effective your workout is going and what areas you need to work on more.

Another nice feature about the workout mode is that the Wii Balance Board also acts a scale before each workout so you can track your progress each day, but this feature comes standard with Wii Fit so it’s nothing spectacular.

If you can’t just get yourself up to working out, even with video games, the game has an interesting story mode to help you get moving and shedding pounds. The cinematic scenes for the story mode are great because they are live action and the story plays out like a documentary feature as you progress. The only problem with the story itself is it sounds like an adaptation of the first four Rocky movies.

You start off as a kid on the streets. You work your way up boxing in dilapidated gyms when the champion gives you a shot after he cannot find any decent competition. You beat the champion and become best friends with him. Then you beat some difficult heavyweight contenders coming after your belt. Then a behemoth boxer from overseas comes out of nowhere and challenges your friend in an exhibition. The behemoth knocks out your friend so hard that he dies in the ring. You then avenge your friend and retain your title by pummeling the behemoth in the ring for the entire world to see. All played out, of course, to “Eye of the Tiger” by Foreigner.

Add to the lack of originality, the fact that you can’t even customize your boxer and he has to be known as “The Kid” for the entirety of the game is frustrating.

The only real interesting aspect of the story mode was when you got the chance to get into the shoes of Archie Moore, Rocky Marciano, Joe Louis, and many other legends and replay some of the great matches of all time in order to teach your boxer a cliché lesson like “it ain’t over till it’s over”. Considering though the licensing rights that have already been snatched up by EA for Fight Night Round 4, the real legends you would want to see like Ali, Tyson, or Holyfield for the more casual fan, are nowhere to be seen.

You would hope from a boxing game for Wii that you would have better controls than Wii Sports’ boxing that launched with the system, but the ones in Don King’s Boxing might actually be worse. You never throw the punches you want to throw with your motions. Not that it matters since the A.I. is so sad that you can get away with just flailing your arms wildly and still walk away with a win. The entire story mode only takes a maximum of four hours to complete because of its simplicity. At least you’ll break a sweat if you play it through enough.

Combine the lack of an original story, awful motion controls, lack of boxer choices, and horrible A.I. and this game is easily my worst game of 2009 so far. Don King is a spectacular promoter so I’m sure he’ll find a way to sell a few copies of this, but he once said “You go for the quality of the performance, not the longevity of it.” Well, this has no longevity and the quality is even worse. Another bomb from 2KSports.

Ratings are based on a system of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest.

Graphics: 5.0: Visually this game is barely worth your time. There are no real-time effects to the face or body of your adversary as you pummel him. The only saving graces are the live cinematic scenes in-between each bout in story mode.

Audio: 6.5: The audio is barely up to par. Jim Lampley from HBO Boxing does a nice job with the commentary, but his script is ridiculously short and he starts repeating himself by your second or third bout. The music is only great if you are an “Eye of the Tiger” fanatic.

Plot/Plot Development: 5.0: When a game steals its plot from the first four Rocky movies, I can’t even consider giving it a good score. There has to be a different plot out there for boxing fans.

Gameplay: 3.0: The controls never do what you want when you swing and the amount of haphazard punches is mind-boggling.

Replay Value: 6.0: The workout feature does help you break a sweat, but not being able to view how much you should work-out doesn’t help if you’re trying to use this as a workout tool, which is a shame considering Wii Fit has shown that, when properly applied, these games do work as a mild substitute for an actual gym. Add in a lack of boxing options from the lightweight, middleweight, and heavyweight divisions, and the limited “legends” roster and even the vs. mode is disgraceful.

Overall (not an average): 2.5: This is one of 2K’s saddest attempts at a license in their, rather extensive, history of badly-licensed drivel. Considering it is out 4-6 months before Fight Night Round 4, 2K could have established a strong position in the boxing genre, however, this game just falls down flat on the mat. This game isn’t even worth buying for the die-hard boxing fans. I would steer clear of this at all costs.

Gold’s Gym Cardio Workout

Now at least Gold’s Gym Cardio Workout doesn’t try to pretend it is something it isn’t. This is straight up a workout game. I played this game for only an hour and I ached for days after.

I’m going to get my two complaints about the game out of the way quickly. First, there is no feature that weighs you with the Wii Balance Board. This means you have to weigh yourself and enter it in for the game to calculate how many calories you burn off per exercise. It’s a little inconvenient, but not a big deal.

The second issue is a bit more personal. For a lot of people it is more a mental struggle than a physical struggle to lose weight, and this aspect got under my skin a little. When you enter your height and weight, your avatar’s body shape changes to accommodate what the game feels your BMI and general appearance should be. I admit that I am 5′ 9″ and 205 lbs, this is a little overweight, but I’ve kept myself in decent shape over the years so it’s not like I’m rolling down the halls here at ESPN. If you looked at my avatar, you might say something different though.

For people who are using these games as the legitimate weight loss tools that they are, this could discourage them right off the bat. You know who else was 5’9″ and between 200 and 205lbs.? Tiki Barber in his final year with the New York Giants (at least that’s what he was listed as). Muscle weighs more than fat so maybe next time Gold’s Gym should remember that, especially considering all the meatheads I’m sure they have in their employ.

Of course, one could argue the opposite: Some people could use this demeaning representation of themselves as a motivational tool; once they see the image the computer spits back out at them they will be more likely to work harder to rectify the insult. And if you’re relying on video games to get back in shape then it might be a fairly accurate image for most people.

I digress. The game is a great game for its purpose. Like I said earlier, after just an hour of shape boxing, squats, push-ups, crunches, leg lifts, jogging, and jumping rope, I was ready to collapse and was in serious pain for three days afterwards.

To help motivate the regular gamer, the more you workout, the more you can unlock for your avatar as well. Every gamer loves unlockables.

This game has a purpose and it delivers. It helps you get in shape with a variety of exercises and makes an awesome compliment to Wii Fit‘s Yoga and Strength Training exercises to help you take that next step in your video game workout (I cannot believe I just typed that).


Ratings are based on a system of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest.

Graphics: 7.0: This is a visually average game. It’s got that cartoony Mii look going for it, but at the end of the day, the visuals aren’t going to sell you on this game if you’re looking for a workout.

Audio: 8.0: The audio is solid. It gives a variety of generic music choices and “Eye of the Tiger” because everyone loves working out to that cliché (I guess). A lot of the exercises rely on audio cues because it is hard to look at your TV and do push-ups and everything seems to work adequately.

Plot/Plot Development: N/A: It’s a workout game…

Gameplay: 8.0: The controls are accurate and respond properly to your motions and it gives you solid feedback.


Replay Value: 9.0: In the end, the replay value is really going to depend on your will to want to keep working out, but the game helps nudge you along by offering unlockable content and a variety of exercises to keep it interesting enough for you to come back a half hour a day or more.

Overall (not an average): 8.0: I still think Wii Fit is the premiere exercise game out right now, but this makes a great complement, especially since it is only $29.99 in most stores. If you’re looking to get in shape quick before the weather really starts to warm up, pick up Gold’s Gym Cardio Workout, out now for the Nintendo Wii.

-Ray Carsillo

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The Return of King Tut

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Originally Published: April 12, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com) and Lundberg.me

I usually like to use my column here as a chance to inform people and maybe entertain at the same time. I usually like to use my column as a force of good. I also usually don’t have the clarity of mind when driven to such a rage by bonehead maneuvers by the powers-that-be to properly channel it into a semi-coherent comic book rant. This article goes against that norm, though.

The powers-that-be in this case happens to be DC Comics, which also happened to be the subject of my last semi-coherent comic book rant after they killed off Batman.

Even with the death of the Dark Knight well behind us and being about one-third of the way through the “Battle for the Cowl” story arc, DC still has several titles that deal with the Dark Knight by using the spin that these are simply excerpts from Batman’s greatest case files (after all, Batman kept meticulous records). These titles are the Batman/Superman crossover and Batman: Confidential.

For the most part, I’ve enjoyed these titles as you see interesting spins on Batman’s first team-up with Superman against Lex Luthor or a different take on the Joker’s origin story. However, recently I’ve been noticing a trend becoming quite clear after the events of the recent 3-issue story arc in Batman: Confidential.

This trend is the integration of long-forgotten villains or villains introduced through non-comic book media into the comic canon.

The most recent example is the villain King Tut. For those who are not familiar with the many forms of Batman in the media through the years, King Tut is a villain who never appeared in the comics, but was a fabricated villain for Adam West’s 1966 Batman series. Victor Goodman was an archeologist obsessed with the legends of King Tut. While moving part of his King Tut exhibit into the Gotham Museum of History, an Egyptian urn was dropped on his head and when he awakened, he imagined himself as the ancient Egyptian ruler (As was the motif for the show, the villain was always played by a celebrated actor or actress; in this case, the split personality archeologist Victor Goodman was played by Victor Buono). WHAM!

The obviously bad idea that, 43 years after King Tut’s appearance in the campy TV show, the brass at DC felt it was a good idea to bring this character into the comic storyline is a clear sign of desperation in terms of writing. It symbolizes a lack of confidence in their planned re-launch (when they bring the Dark Knight back sometime within the next six months) that they are adding campy 60s villains to one of the most celebrated rouges’ galleries in comics. ZZZAP!

The next thing you know, we’ll be seeing Vincent Price’s “Egghead” character (a man with an egg-shaped head, pale complexion, and an obsession with poultry embryos) or Roddy McDowell’s “Bookworm” (a really ticked-off librarian and a Riddler knockoff) with his “Book-Mobile” causing Batman and Robin about as much difficulty as they did in the 60s (also, both never in the comics). BONK!

“What about characters that did appear in the comics and the TV show?” you ask. What? Like False-Face (master of disguise character), who only made one appearance in the comics (Batman #113, February, 1958; a bad year of villainy for the Dark Knight as it was also the year Calendar Man made his infamous debut) before people said he was nothing more than a toned-down Clayface? (False-Face would be re-imagined again when the animated series Batman Beyond used him as an international spy, but he failed there, too) He was used in the TV show only because he was a jewel-thief and not a murderer which played better for 1966’s primetime audiences and his costumes were easier to construct using the technology for the time (he was played by Malachi Thorne of Star Trek fame and nearly sued the producers of Batman for refusing to put his name in the credits in order to sell the illusion that False-Face could be ANYONE; in the end they settled on his name appearing in the end credits of the last part of his two-part arc). BAM!

If Louie the Lilac (played by Milton Berle, a gangster obsessed with lilacs and the color purple; basically a cheap Joker knock-off because Berle refused to wear any heavy make-up for a different character) makes an appearance, I may have to swear off Batman comics like I did with Spider-Man after his most recent re-launch. OOF!

To prove my point, with the “Battle for the Cowl” re-launch effort underway, old one-shot villains are re-emerging for no reason whatsoever. Jane Doe, Adam Bomb, Anarchy…do any of these names ring a bell? No? Of course not! They are being dragged out of obscurity and into the limelight for no reason except for DC to show you how much they’ve screwed up over the past 70 years and that maybe you can hope they’ll just kill them off in one fell swoop and promise to do better in the next 70. KER-SPLASH!

And let’s not forget Composite Superman who only appeared in a two-part arc in June and July of 1964 before his recent return in Batman/Superman a couple of months ago (basically a Bizarro rip-off that is one-half Batman and one-half Superman). One of the worst concepts ever, but DC brought him back for a one-shot story. THWOCK!

I love the history of comics. I love where comics have come from to where they are today. I understand why the characters in the 60s, no matter what the medium, no matter the level of success or failure, are important. That is why I am so furious that it seems that DC feels the need to try to re-justify a time period long since past by re-introducing these characters and re-working them for modern audiences into a canon they no longer fit into. POW!

The Joker has lasted 70 years for a reason. Clayface wasn’t an original villain, but he has proved to be one of the most popular even 50 years later. There are reasons why some characters fail and some succeed and these reasons usually translate over time so there is no reason to believe that a character that failed in the 50s and 60s will translate to today even with some re-tooling. When DC makes major plot decisions like this, all I see is the tarnishing of my memories of the 1960s Batman and the watering down of modern Batman stories. It is unnecessary and, as tacky and campy as the 1960s Batman was, moves like these are even more so.

-Ray Carsillo

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A Sitcom for Your Inner Pyromaniac

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Originally Published: April 9, 2009, on Collider.com and 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com)

It was March 25th, 2009, a normal Wednesday afternoon by most standards. Being an uber-geek like myself, I was counting down the hours to when I would be allowed to escape work and go the comic store for my weekly fix when I saw a new e-mail from a contact of mine on the west coast. He wanted to know if I was interested in covering a special preview of the new Comedy Central show, Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire. I had seen commercials and was intrigued, but not sure if I would be up to it. I explained my hesitation and he explained there would be an open-bar and free food.

Two minutes later, I was on the guest list.

The preview was scheduled for Thursday, April 2nd, at Professor Thom’s at E. 14th St. and 2nd Ave.

Professor Thom’s was an interesting place, with a regular bar on the first floor and a private screening room on the second, which was where the party would be held. Since I was eager for the free food and beer and since my unfamiliarity of the area drew me to leave with ample time to spare; I arrived a half hour before the preview party was to start.

The pretty lady who held the guest list complained that nothing was ready yet and was shocked at my effrontery since most press members tend to arrive closer to the planned time. This not being the first time that a pretty lady had complained that I arrived early; I was unfazed and simply sat at the bar and finished some work I had begun at the office.

When I was allowed up to the second floor, I was a little surprised by the lack of places to sit and the amount of press that was already beginning to show up. This was going to leave for a rather cramped viewing experience. I made sure to claim to my space with my coat and backpack and then proceeded to the open bar. When I asked what was available, the bartender explained only one beer was on tap. I frowned at this, until she said it was Yuengling, my favorite beer.

With a smile on my face and a cold one in my hand, I proceeded back into the viewing area to find that Krod Mandoon preview comics had been littered about the place. I was in geek heaven, free beer and food, free comic books, a projector screen, the fairer sex floating about the place in abundance. Even though I knew I would never mount the courage to talk to any of the pretty ladies, I knew my night was nearing its peak.

After my second free beer, the preview was finally about to start (just like the purpose of this article). Would the ploys to satisfy my geek-dom by Comedy Central, Wiredset, and the Onion (who all sponsored the party) actually work? They wouldn’t have to because I actually enjoyed the show.
The first episode, that will air Thursday, April 9th, at 10PM on Comedy Central, is a special one hour episode to get the series to hit the ground running, with regular half-hour episodes following each Thursday thereafter. I had it in my head before the preview that this would be Robin Hood: Men in Tights: the Sitcom, and I wasn’t that far off from this assumption.

Set in medieval times, Krod Mandoon, is the story of a freedom fighting band of misfits who must liberate their kingdom from the tyrannical fist of the evil Xanusian Empire and its Chancellor Dongalore (Matt Lucas). In the first episode, Mandoon (Sean Maguire) is joined by his pig-faced ogre-ish bodyguard Loquasto (Steve Speirs), a wannabe mage in Zezelryck (Kevin Hart), and the lovely, but rather loose (Read: Nymphomaniac), love interest Aneka (India de Beaufort) as they attempt to free their rebellion’s leader from Dongalore’s prison. (A nymphomaniac homosexual named Bruce, played by Marques Ray, joins the bumbling troupe later on in the one hour premiere.)

Matt Lucas as Chancellor Dongalore steals the show as the villain. Even looking at him you have to stifle a laugh as he looks like some sort of albino woodland creature and his careless killing of extras is a joy to watch. India de Beaufort is absolutely ravishing (India, if you’re ever in the New York City area and want to grab a cup of coffee or something, feel free to drop me a line via the link on the upper-right hand side of my page) and has all eyes drawn to her when she’s on screen, for…several reasons. Kevin Hart, Steve Speirs, and Marques Ray do a great job as the bumbling sidekicks for Krod Mandoon.

The only real disappointment was Krod himself. I thought the character was more whiny and wimpy than swashbuckling, which would have been a better fit for the show. You already have two bumbling sidekicks; the main character should’ve been as far a counter-balance to them as possible to provide a larger array of comedic situations. Having too much of the same thing on one screen is going to exhaust the audience quickly and wear out plot situations to the point that the Flaming Sword of Fire may burn itself out before Season 1 even makes it to DVD.

The most complicated thing about this show is everyone’s names. If you can get past those, you’re going to have some physical comedy and some potty humor mixed in with swords, shields, bows, and arrows. The first episode quickly grew on me as all the characters played well and the show set the stage for the rest of the series. Although I predict the series will begin to run out of plot ideas pretty quickly with a weekly half hour show, I think that at least for a season or two, Krod Mandoon will be a winner.

I really did enjoy this show, and the party was great, but I think Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire will be snuffed out before it can truly gather a fan base to appreciate it. It was a valiant effort for some more original programming in Comedy Central’s solid nightly lineup. After the preview, I gathered my belongings, smiled at all the pretty girls, who were all way out of my league, and headed home, looking forward to the show’s network premiere on Thursday, April 9th, at 10PM, on Comedy Central (so that I could see India in action again).

-Ray Carsillo

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Played on the 4th of July

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Originally Published: March 29, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com) and Lundberg.me

When I first got my hands on Big Bang Mini (created by Arkedo and brought to you by SouthPeak Games for Nintendo DS) I was pleasantly surprised. I had in my head that the game would be some sort of Space Invaders knock-off with brighter colors and fireworks from what I had seen and heard of it. Oh, I could not have been more wrong.

Although simple in design, it more than makes up for its lack of depth with non-stop, straight-shooting fun and addictive mayhem; I couldn’t put this game down! If you’re strapped for cash and need something to eat up some battery life on your DS, Big Bang Mini is a solid choice at only $19.99. If you’re anything like me, by the time you’re three stages in, you’ll be pleasantly surprised as you will be completely hooked.

You’re given a ship and the objective of the game is to shoot fireworks at enemies to blow them out of the sky and then collect the stars they drop to advance through the levels. However, it’s not as simple as it may seem; as your missed shots explode and the debris from their ensuing explosions are just as dangerous as enemy fire to your avatar. Not much of a plot, I know, but the game more than makes up for it in gameplay.

The controls are simple yet add a degree of difficulty you don’t find in most of these retro arcade-style shooters. To shoot your fireworks you simply drag the DS’s stylus over the screen to fire in all different directions. To move your ship, you also need to use the stylus to drag your ship around the screen to avoid enemy fire. This lends itself to you only being able to do one thing at a time, dodge or fire, and you can’t advance through the stages by just dodging.

It is difficult at first, but it soon becomes second nature as you develop the necessary balance to start flying and firing all over the screen. This balance gives the gameplay a nice level of difficulty; it’s not impossible, but not a cake walk either. Add in interesting special level-specific powers (usually shields or enemy weapon nullifiers) and a couple of permanent upgrades (homing missiles, stronger fireballs) and what started as a simple Space Invaders or Asteroids-like shooter because a fully fleshed out modern game that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.

Aesthetically the graphics are simple compared to what the DS has shown it can support, but they get the job done. The vibrant colors and themes of each level are a nice change from the dull monotonous palettes in most games nowadays. Each level has its own specific theme and most work well. From the bottom of the ocean, to a snowy mountaintop, to Hong Kong and New York City, the levels are different enough from each other to hold your attention relatively well throughout the game.

The music, on the other hand, is uninspired and the SFX become repetitive to the point where you’ll end up playing most of the time with the volume on your DS off and your iPod on in its place.

There are 90 stages over nine levels, each with its own unique devices to help you or hinder you over the course of the game. If you survive all 90 levels, then you can unlock a Mission Mode that notches up the difficulty even more for hardcore gamers. Add in some other secondary modes (setting high scores, versus, etc.) to flesh out the game and it has enough content to keep you coming back for a long time. Space Invaders…what was I thinking?

Ratings are based on a system of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest.

Graphics: 6.5: The graphics are solid, but nothing spectacular, especially with the DS’s capabilities. I enjoy bright colors just as much as anyone else, (“The colors Duke, the colors!” You know it’s a good commercial if you’re quoting it a decade later. Kudos to the Popsicle people.) but it takes a lot more than that to impress me graphically. Barely average.

Audio: 5.0: The music is original, but along with the SFX, gets very repetitive very quickly. By the time you get to the 4th or 5th stage of each level, you’re turning off the DS’s volume and plugging in your iPod. Points for originality and that’s it.

Plot/Plot Development: 1.0: You fly, you fire, you dodge, and you blow stuff up. There isn’t anything else to this in terms of plot so I can’t give it a good score.

Gameplay: 9.0: This game more than makes up for the poor score in plot in gameplay. Challenging, yet still fun, this game gives you hours of solid gaming as you blast your way through nine completely different levels with a variety of powers and abilities to help you on your way. Add in several different modes of play and you’ve got a game that will eat up your time like a fat chick shoveling food down at a Chinese buffet.

Replay Value: 8.0: Lots of levels, lots of modes, lots of fun. This will keep you coming back for more for a long while until you beat every level and every extra mission. Or until your battery dies. Whichever comes first (probably the battery).

Overall (not an average): 7.5: A lack of plot aside, this is in the same vein as all the classic arcade shooters. Add in the different take on the control scheme and you’ve got a really solid shooter. Not spectacular, but solid, and for $19.99 it’s a great way to spend some free time.

Big Bang Mini is available now for Nintendo DS.

-Ray Carsillo

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