Join Pikachu and his pals in their natural environment away from the rigorous life of training in this insanely cute Pokemon game.

The main Pokemon games on the Nintendo handheld consoles have had little innovations with every generation but still manage to sell millions of copies every year. Most of the allure probably comes from the Pokemon themselves. These tiny monsters have their own unique powers and were designed to have maximum cuteness as much as possible. Plus, the odd allure of letting them battle each other unconscious on the road to becoming the ultimate Pokemon master has been the flagship premise of the entire series. To tide the fans over until the next major release, the developers created PokePark 2: Wonders Beyond, which strays away from this traditional formula and ventures into creative ground.

In Wii PokePark 2: Wonders Beyond, there are no human trainers or confining Pokeballs, just plain old Pokemon in their natural habitat. In fact, it comes as quite a shock to witness these cute creatures on vast open spaces rather than inside battle arenas, and the game captures this magical scenery incredibly well. The Pokemon are all beautifully portrayed, and the backdrops range from lush, green fields to wide, blue oceans. The game stays true to its name; you’ll feel like your observing Pokemon as they frolic and play in a park.

PokePark 2: Wonders Beyond lets you do more than just spectate, though. Just like its predecessor PokePark Wii: Pikachu’s Adventure, you can step into the shoes of lead mascot Pikachu and experience life as a Pokemon. In this game, the Black and White starters Oshawott, Snivy, and Tepig can also be played and added to your team. You’ll soon find yourself swapping between the four of them as each have unique abilities that can get you out of tough situations.

As for the storyline, there is a foul plot afoot as Pokemon all over the region are being hypnotized by someone. The method of brainwashing used is cake. Yep, delicious cake. One bite and the poor Pokemon looking for a sweet treat will find that he is no longer in control of himself. It’s up to Pikachu and his three pals to save the day. There are various cutscenes sprinkled all throughout the levels, and the plot is actually pretty good despite the ridiculous concept of spellbinding baked goodies.

Gameplay mostly involves playing tag with other Pokemon, finding items, some platforming stages, and a battle now and then. The battles are pretty standard and involve repeatedly pressing a few buttons until you beat your opponent, so don’t expect any strategy or depth in this one. There are a few other minigames and side-scrolling missions, but overall the gameplay is basic and repetitive.

A disadvantage of the PokePark 2 Wii game is that it lacks enough content to keep it interesting. The graphics and music are topnotch, but after a few long minutes of playing tag, fetching items, and battling Pokemon over and over again, you’ll find boredom sweep over you. Thanks to the game’s wide open spaces, you’ll find that exploring the different areas without any particular destination is more engaging than going after significant campaign objectives. Still, it would have been much more fun had the game been padded well enough.

PokePark 2: Wonders Beyond can be played on the Wii console. It is for single player only.

PokePark 2: Wonders Beyond is an amazingly cute game with awesome graphics and sounds. Plus, the Pokemon included look their best, and the open environments really let the game have a special feel. It’s unfortunate that the unimaginative and repetitive content would mar this otherwise flawless release, but it’s still fun to play. Younger kids and Pokemaniacs would especially enjoy this, but other gamers need to think twice. PokePark 2: Wonders Beyond is a decent game for what it’s worth, but it doesn’t quite hit the mark.

MLB 2K12 is the latest edition of 2K Sports’ Major League Baseball video game franchise for the Wii.

Sports games get released every year, and they usually don’t do any major innovations or updates to their core mechanics except renew the player roster. While this may be frustrating, most of us are satisfied with the same old same old as long as the gameplay is still exhilarating. MLB 2K12 for the Wii, while having little discernible difference with last year’s edition, still plays a good game of baseball.

All the ropes and subtle nuances of traditional baseball are captured in MLB 2K12. Players are allowed to pitch and bat, and different strategies can be employed in these areas. Batting involves swinging the Wii remote at an incoming ball, and the motion capture accuracy is spot on. You can throw different types of pitches too and watch in satisfaction as the competent AI swings away at empty air on the plate. The developers made it so that the computer opponent doesn’t fall for the same trick twice, so don’t expect to keep spamming curve balls just because they worked perfectly against a certain player the first time around.

The Wii Major League Baseball 2K12 delivers the icing on the cake in the form of non-repetitious announcer commentary. Steve Phillips and Gary Thorne do an excellent job of keeping things fresh by having specific lines to say for pretty much every player on the roster, and you never seem to hear awkward rants that don’t match the action on the field.

The Major League Baseball 2K12 Wii game also has the requisite Franchise mode present in every sports title. This serves as the main dish where you’ll slug it out with other teams on the road to the World Series championship. Other modes are Tournament where you forego the grind of the season, Mini-Diamond which lets you play ball amidst less conventional locations, and the series’ original Home Run Derby wherein you commandeer an excellent batter and hit long ones.

With multiplayer support and a cool soundtrack selection, everything you need to play baseball on the Wii with is here.

On the other hand, graphics of MLB 2K12 on the Wii is simply bad, and not in a good way. The game could have done much better in this area, but instead the players look as rigid and artificial as ever. Of course, this is in comparison to the versions of other consoles, but still, the Wii is much more capable of portraying good visuals than the kind MLB 2K12 has to offer.

Also, despite the gameplay being above average, MLB 2K12 has so little improvements compared to its previous version that you might be tempted to ask the question “Why bother at all?” The worn-out swinging and flicking with the Wii remote to play baseball has been tried countless times, and doing it all over again in MLB 2K12 seems like an exercise in futility. If you’re a good fan of baseball, you might give this one a shot, but don’t expect anything new.

MLB 2K12 can be played on the Wii console. It has single and multiplayer modes.

MLB 2K12 has solid baseball action, but nothing we haven’t seen before. Everything you’ve come to expect from baseball games is all here, but sadly there’s nothing innovative about MLB 2K12 that might set it apart from the crowd. If you own previous versions or another competent baseball title, MLB 2K12 might not be worth it. However, if this is your first baseball foray, then it’s a decent purchase.

After five years of waiting, Mario Party gets its latest instalment in Mario Party 9, the series’ best release yet.

Holding the record for the longest running mini-game series, you’d think that Mario Party would be having trouble staying fresh all this time. However, thanks to the ingenious developers at Nd Cube, it’s been revamped significantly to feature improved gameplay, exciting multiplayer battles, and just good fun with three other friends.

Wii Mario Party 9 is basically an interactive, virtual board game. The premise is that Bowser has stolen all the stars in the Mushroom Kingdom sky, and it’s up to a party of up to four brave adventurers to get them all back. You and your friends then select your favourite Mario characters and start the game on a map that resembles a board game.

Gameplay involves rolling a dice and going to the corresponding square on the board game. Unlike previous entries in the series wherein players move around the board individually and separately, Mario Party 9 places everyone together inside a big, mobile vehicle. Whoever has the current turn is designated as the driver, and the number on the rolled dice moves the vehicle accordingly. All bonuses and penalties incurred are experienced by the driver alone, but movement is now shared since no one can get off the car. This new game aspect significantly shortens the playing time, and it also eliminates the feeling of disinterest from having to wait until your turn comes (a common pitfall of every board game), since all the choices made by the driver can impact your fate.

Sprinkled throughout the map tiles are stars which you have to collect; whoever has the highest number of stars at the end of the game wins. However, Mario Party 3 is filled with chances and opportunities that can literally turn the tide of battle in an instant. To spice up the chaos, more than 50 minigames can be randomly encountered during the course of play. The minigames involve competing with each other in an assortment of activities such as jumping rope, riding dolphins through hoops, avoiding getting crushed by Thwomps, racing amidst rotating blocks, and so on. The games are incredibly fun, varied, and challenging that you’ll soon find friendly competition turn into cutthroat battles. Whoever wins a minigame gets a leg up in becoming overall winner.

Also new to Mario Party 9 Wii game are boss battles. At the end of every level, you encounter bosses your team has to battle together in order to progress. However, note that competition among players don’t get put on hold; the boss battles make it so that you have to work together and try to ruin each other’s score at the same time. As you can imagine, this can lead to some pretty interesting pandemonium.

Mario Party 9 is not without its flaws. Most notably, the single player campaign isn’t quite as fun or exciting as multiplayer. If you don’t plan on inviting anyone over, then the game isn’t worth playing by your lonesome. Another complaint is the emphasis on chance rather than skill, as too often the person who wins is the one with the most luck rather than playing experience.

Overall, the game shines on its merits, and Mario Party 9 is guaranteed to be a worthwhile investment for you, your friends, and your whole family.

Mario Party 9 is available exclusively for the Wii. It has support for up to four players at a time.

Mario Party 9 took five years to complete, but it’s well worth the wait. The game is an excellent multiplayer experience that is friendly, fun, and viciously challenging in a good way. The vibrant graphics, new content, and incredibly numerous minigames more than make up for its perceived shortcomings. Just be sure to play it with other people where the game is at its best.

Rhythm Heaven hits the Wii and will have you tapping your foot as well as the A and B buttons to the beat of some of the most catchy tunes and minigames ever made.

The Rhythm Heaven series was first introduced in the Japan-only Game Boy Advance release called Rhythm Tengoku. This was shortly followed by Rhythm Heaven for the Nintendo DS. Now, with the Wii console nearing the end of its lifespan, Rhythm Heaven Fever proves itself as one of the last breakout games you need to experience.

The Wii Rhythm Heaven Fever is a collection of fifty minigames. Each minigame offers a mundane but somewhat incredibly weird and endearing objective that you must accomplish. For example, one game puts you in the shoes of a balding samurai who must slash away at dark creatures, another lets you play as a boy out on a date who must kick soccer balls coming his way, and finally there’s one that features monkeys throwing golf balls at you which you must whack into a hole on an opposite island. All the minigames have a unique concept; there are no two that are similar, and all are drawn in a light-hearted and cartoony manner that is sure to melt the hearts of even the most jaded gamers.

To accomplish all these tasks, the player must press either the A or B button as required. However, you have to press the buttons at a specific instance, and this moment is dictated by the song playing on the background. In the beginning, the game lets you get a feel for the rhythm by giving you simple audio cues telling you when to press the button. As the game progresses, the tune becomes more difficult to master as the tempo increases. It helps that the music is so catchy that learning the right beat becomes second nature, but don’t let the simplicity fool you; Rhythm Heaven Fever is a game that relies not so much on skill and memorization but rather on quick reflexes and an intuitive feel for musical and visual signals.

The game also refuses to punish you for failing a task. When you are unable to pass a level after a few tries, Rhythm Heaven Fever will give you the option of skipping that stage and going on to the next challenge. This forgiving nature adds a sense of relief for players who might want to try the other minigames and forego those he considers too difficult.

Each level only takes about a couple minutes to beat, but if you want to achieve the highest score and gain medals to unlock extra content, you’ll have to completely master the rhythm in each stage without any errors, and this takes quite a while to accomplish. Other addons include a café where you can play all the songs featured in the game and an endless play mode.

Although multiplayer is supported in the game, you don’t get much variety with it. There are only about ten levels that can be played by a maximum of two people, and they pale in comparison to the single player campaign. It’s enjoyable to try to compete with another human opponent, but you don’t get the same package as offered in solo mode.

Rhythm Heaven Fever can be played on the Wii console with up to two players.

Rhythm Heaven Fever is testament that a game with simplistic concepts can achieve greater status when done correctly than a game with complex design but substandard development. Although tapping the A and B buttons repetitively might seem like a recipe for boredom, Rhythm Heaven Fever defies all odds and far surpasses expectations in both gameplay and appeal. Although there could have been more content included in the multiplayer mode, the solo campaign can more than satisfy your craving for a challenge. In the last days of the Wii console, Rhythm Heaven Fever should be considered its swan song.

Mr. Bean is up to his outrageous antics again, this time on the Nintendo Wii as players fight their way across man-eating plants and angry bees in order to rescue the kidnapped Teddy.

Mr. Bean's Wacky World Average Rating: 3 total customer reviews...

Mr. Bean has always been the benchmark for modern slapstick comedy. The man-child character created and played by Rowan Atkinson would go into real-life situations and act in a manner totally unbefitting a civilised adult. Who could ever forget the infamous “turkey on the head” scene in “Merry Christmas Mr. Bean”? Or the naked Mr. Bean streaking down the hotel corridor in “Mr. Bean in Room 426”? The success of the show led to a short-lived animated series in 2002, and while not as funny as the original, garnered a lot of fans as well. The Mr. Bean Wii game is based on this cartoon series.

In the game, various clips from the animated show are interspersed between levels. This can add a sense of nostalgia for fans and is a welcome relief from some of the game’s more mundane quests. The plot centers on Mr. Bean’s best friend, the inanimate Teddy, who is kidnapped by a mysterious fiend. The ransom involves 1,000 cat biscuits which you must search for on all twelve levels of the game. However, this is no easy task, as deadly traps and foes are littered all throughout the stages.

The Wii Mr. Bean game is a straightforward platformer with a lot of item collecting. Aside from the aforementioned cat biscuits, you also have to look for keys, treasure chests, and green jigsaw puzzles. Standing in your way are wild plants, bees, dogs, bottomless pits, and a variety of bombs. If this isn’t wacky enough, then Mr. Bean is armed with a rather peculiar set of items – a saucepan, bug spray, and a slingshot – which you can use to fend off your foes. The levels sprawl across different cartoony locations from the local park to a factory tunnel.

As an added bonus, mini games are available as you progress. You can play together with a friend for some multiplayer action. The games available are whack-a-mole, jigsaw puzzle solving, searching for buried treasure, frog catching, a racing game, a shooting game, and tennis. The second player plays as Mr. Bean’s love interest Irma Gobb. All famous characters from the animated show also make their appearances throughout the levels such as the cranky landlady Mrs. Julia Wicket and the one-eyed feline Scrapper.

A huge drawback for the game is the difficulty level, which is extremely easy even for kids. The target demographic is best placed at six and below for this game, as children older than that might easily get bored. However, if the interest is maintained after the first few easy levels, the game does become more challenging.

Besides the occasional puzzle solving and the animated clips in the main campaign, the rest of the action is repetitious and similar. It’s fun doing all these things in the guise of Mr. Bean, but stripped of the character’s popularity and the game is nothing but an average platformer. Controls are responsive but standard, and the action gets tiresome as the game drags on.

The minigames also suffer from the same effect. Although they offer some variety besides the standard sports games found in every other Wii title nowadays, Mr. Bean’s Wacky World wasn’t built with the same finesse as, say, Wii Sports. The tennis is pretty abysmal, and the racing game is poor. The only upside is the fact that you’ll be playing as Mr. Bean and Irma Gobb, and the wackiness of the show somewhat seeped into the minigames to give them that unique feel. But if you’re looking for an excellent party game, you’re better off elsewhere.

Mr. Bean’s Wacky World is available for the Wii console and can be played with up to two players.

The Wii Mr. Bean’s Wacky World game is excellent for kids aged six or so. The puzzles, platforming, collecting, and animated clips will definitely hit a sweet spot with children as well as adults who were fans of the animated show. However, gameplay is average and won’t hold the interest of players for long. The minigames offer plenty of variety, but they don’t hold much weight on their own either. It’s best to get this game only if you’ve seriously considered it for a long time. For what it’s worth, Mr. Bean’s Wacky World will give you wacky adventures as promised, but not of a quality you would expect given the character’s success and popularity.

Cruise your way past the Arabian Desert in stylish flying carpets as you vie for the top place in this Aladdin-inspired racing game for the Wii.

Mario Kart clones have been hitting the market ever since the aforementioned game found widespread success among almost all video game enthusiasts. Aladdin Magic Racer is one of those games that hopes to emulate the example set about by Mario Kart, and many of the elements found in the latter has been faithfully reproduced in Magic Racer, albeit with a more distinctively Arabian-styled theme.

In the Wii Aladdin Magic Racer game, you select a rider from among a set of five to compete in flying carpet racing. If you ever saw the highly popular Disney film of the same name, you’ll be familiar with the concept. However, don’t be misled into thinking that all your favourite characters from the film is inside this game, because the only commonality Magic Racer has with the movie is that they both share the same title “Aladdin”. This game is not based on the film and is an original release on its own.

The racers you’ll be choosing from have different Arabian garbs and physical features to easily differentiate them from one another. They also come with their own names – Kali, Shivat, Siddartha, Tarek, and Faruk. Once you select a racer, you can choose the course you want to race in. There are eight tracks overall grouped into four categories: The City, The Oasis, Petra, and The Cave. The good thing is that all the tracks and racers are already unlocked to begin with, and a reverse mode wherein the tracks are flipped can also be used from the get go to add more variety.

Throughout the race, there are numerous Mario Kart-inspired powerups which you can use to take the advantage from the competition. From super speed boosts to weapons that can disrupt the view screen of opponents, these powerups can determine whether you come in first or last.

If you get tired of the main racing game, four minigames are available for you to try. These include Oriental Rodeo wherein you try to stay on a bucking magic carpet, Fly For Your Life which involves the standard racing with added pressure, Crazy Genie Race wherein you play as a genie balancing on top of a basketball against other similar genies, and Crazy Genie Battle wherein you try to bump other genies to make them fall off a ledge. All the minigames and main racing game can be played with up to four players at a time using split screen, and Aladdin Magic Racer is also compatible with the Wii Balance Board

As fun and outrageous as the games and minigames sound on paper, they play absolutely dreary in actual practice, or at least they do in this particular game. The Aladdin Magic Racer Wii game is typically a watered down Mario Kart. All five racers have no personality or creative character story, the magic carpets play similar with no noticeable advantage or disadvantage is terms of steering or handling, the course backdrop and visuals are bland, and the soundtrack is repetitious. In fact, the powerups themselves are also dull. There are certainly times of surprise, like how your racer can fall off a carpet and would have to catch it in time before it speeds away, and some moments can incite serious competition, but these are far and few between.

As for the minigames, they offer a brief respite from the mundanity of the game, but they never hold much water to begin with and will only give you but a few minutes or an hour of extra playing time.

Aladdin Magic Racer can be played on the Wii with up to four players of simultaneous split screen multiplayer action. It has support for the Wii Balance Board.

Aladdin Magic Racer could have been made with a lot more heart than its current state. After all, while racing games are an old concept, the idea of having a magic carpet theme and Arabian backdrop sound promising. However, the developers clearly did not have any interest in the project, and it shows with the lacklustre characters, vehicles, tracks, soundtracks, and practically everything inside this package. It doesn’t help that the game shares the same title as the extremely popular Disney movie, and some who thought they were getting a spin-off of the film will find a mountainful of desert sand disappointment instead.

The diminutive versions of Marvel’s popular superheroes are back in a pint-sized adventure that will let players utilize the powers of the uDraw GameTablet to battle Dr. Doom’s evil forces.

Marvel Super Hero Squad started out as a line of miniature action figures (2 inches to be exact) of characters from the Marvel universe. Despite being a limited release, the tiny toys became a runaway hit, ultimately paving the way to its very own TV show. The animated series removed most of the drama surrounding these heroes and replaced them with slapstick humor and lighthearted comedic situations that viewers of all ages could enjoy. It had the usual super-powered battles to satiate kids, but it also contained witty humor for the adults. With the success of the show now comes a line of video games, the latest being Marvel Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat.

Marvel Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat plays like a regular beat ‘em up. The game takes place in a 3D, comic-book like world as Doctor Doom and his fellow villains plot to steal the very uDraw tablet you hold in order to manipulate and gain dominion over their pen and ink universe. You then team up with three Marvel superheroes and use their powers to smash obstacles and pummel your way through waves of enemies in an effort to stop Doom.

By tapping and scribbling away on the stylus, you can order your forces to attack specific enemies. All heroes automatically assail the targets you direct your stylus towards, and each hero can also perform their respective special abilities when ordered. However, that’s not all to it: the twist in the game is that you can also aid your teammates by drawing objects in the uDraw. Drawing an “X” lets loose a volley of bombs on that spot, a circle creates an orb of energy which you then direct towards your enemy, while a triangle creates a body double as bait. All your attacks are powered by an ink meter, and while this stays full, you can keep on using them. Other things you can do include shaking the tablet vigorously which creates an earthquake in the game’s world, and pinching and spreading your fingers on the uDraw which opens a hole in space that sucks away all bad guys.

The characters to choose from include seven of Marvel’s popular heroes, namely Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Wolverine, The Hulk, Invisible Woman, and Scarlet Witch. There are also three relatively obscure heroes in the form of Reptil, Squirrel Girl, and Falcon which only avid fans will recognize. On the villain side, you’ve got Dr. Doom, Abomination, Red Skull, and MODOK. All of them are rendered in a colorful, 3D style that is pleasing to look at and perfectly fits the lighthearted nature of the game.

Audiowise, the game utilizes appropriate music to suit the mood of the different levels. The bonus is that the characters are also voiced by their original actors from the animated series, and the same clever scripting that the show utilizes is present here as well, giving fans even more reasons to play the game.

Unfortunately, the Wii Marvel Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat game suffers from an extremely short lifespan. The six levels, which range from the Helicarrier to Sanctum Sanctorum, are over in a flash, and the game can be completed within a couple of hours. Younger players may take longer and find more value in Marvel Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat, but once the main campaign is done with, there’s little incentive to replay it all over again except to change your team’s roster.

Marvel Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat can be played on the Wii console and requires the uDraw GameTablet. It is for single player only.

The Marvel Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat Wii game has the quality, humor, gameplay, and graphics to make it an instant classic. The use of the uDraw GameTablet also goes beyond random scribbling and tapping, and you can use the peripheral to create some inventive attacks. However, it’s short length and lack of replayability takes away massive value. It’s fun while it lasts, but it doesn’t last long.

Other games to try too:

Super Hero Squad Average Rating: 29 total customer reviews...

Marvel Super Hero Squad The Infinity Gauntlet Average Rating: 9 total customer reviews...

Developer Teyon blasts out another title in the Heavy Fire series, this time featuring the battlegrounds of Afghanistan and wave after wave of hostile insurgents.

Pros:

In the shooter genre, there’s no question that the Call of Duty franchise reigns supreme.  Especially with the latest release of the spectacular Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, it’s easy to overlook other games made by the competitors. One of these is Heavy Fire: Afghanistan, a rail shooter that, while nothing spectacular, holds some pretty intense action and enjoyable moments for up to four players.

The objective in Heavy Fire: Afghanistan Wii game is pretty simple: grab the biggest gun you have in your possession and lay waste to all enemies. There’s no strategic planning or team play necessary here: all you do is make sure to aim properly and let loose.

The game takes place in war-torn Afghanistan. You’re a marine stationed there, and it’s up to you to take part in a variety of missions that involve securing towns, smoking out insurgents, rescuing hostages, and blowing up the occasional war chopper. The game automatically leads you on a predetermined path, so free exploration is not an option. That won’t bother some players one bit though, because action is aplenty in Heavy Fire: Afghanistan. The moment the mission starts, waves of enemy soldiers come into view, take their positions on various points in the map, and fire upon you like crazy. You use the Wii remote to target your way and return fire accordingly. After you’ve cleared out one set of baddies, you advance into the next area and take on another. Repeat the process and you’ve got the gist of the Wii Heavy Fire: Afghanistan game.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Average Rating: 54 total customer reviews...

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Surprisingly, this mind-numbing repetition is quite enjoyable. You’re given an arsenal of firearms to choose from, including scenario specific heavy weapons such as shoulder-mounted missiles and gun turrets. Vehicles like helicopters, tanks, and trucks can also be ridden on some levels.

At the end of every mission, you earn points, rank, and awards according to your performance. Weapons and abilities can be unlocked and upgraded. Also online leaderboards are available for those who want a little extra competition.

The game plays like an old-school arcade shooter and doesn’t have any blood and guts flying around, nor is there any profanity. This makes it suitable for younger players who want a piece of the action. The four-player cooperative mode adds a much welcome touch to the game and allows you to enjoy the experience with friends or siblings.

Cons:

The game doesn’t really have a lot of depth involved. Although the action is extremely enjoyable, the entire campaign can be completed in a matter of hours, and there’s not enough core content to keep Heavy Fire: Afghanistan interesting other than playing it all over again with a new set of friends. Graphicswise and plotwise, the game is decent but far from spectacular. If it could be summarized in one word, “average” would fit it best.

Features:

Heavy Fire: Afghanistan can be played on the Wii using the standard Wii remote. Up to four people can play cooperatively and online leaderboards are available.

Conclusion:

Heavy Fire: Afghanistan is easy to overlook, but those who do may miss out on an intense arcade rail shooter. The experience is best played with three other friends in the four-player cooperative mode. The lack of blood and profanity also allows older gamers to play with their younger siblings in a rare moment of brotherly bonding as they team up to shoot at insurgents in virtual Afghanistan. Although Heavy Fire: Afghanistan can’t really be labeled as an instant classic, it’s decent and exciting, and those may be enough reasons to give it a try.

When it comes to learning and education in general, I have always been a firm believer in what some might call “sneaky learning.” After all, why should learning be so boring and dull when there are so many fun possibilities out there, with children not even realizing hat they are learning something. National Geographic has taken yet another step toward “sneaky learning,” but this time it comes in the form of a video game: National Geographic Challenge. Personally, I was hoping this is just one of the soon to be many titles that surface and redefine educational Wii games.

What can players expect from National Geographic Wii? Essentially, this is a trivia game that features over 5,000 questions in both single player and multiplayer mode, and there are also fifteen types of quizzes, which range from true or false, anagrams, higher or lower, memory, fast focus, observation, odd one out and many more. The multiplayer mode allows you to play with up to four people, which means it is also a really good candidate for family game night.

This title offers a pretty promising premise as far as methods to discover, learn and play; the possibilities are endless here. I actually thought it would work really well in my case; I have a twelve year old cousin who loves wildlife and nature as much as I did at her age, so what better way to indulge in that common love while still learning a great deal than National Geographic Challenge?

National Geographic Quiz! Wild Life Average Rating: 3 total customer reviews...

Monopoly Collection Average Rating: 12 total customer reviews...

Though, aesthetically speaking, the graphics are gorgeous, intriguing and exciting overall, the game kind of grea a little stale as far as fun goes. It was possibly made worse by the fact that I had such high expectations going in, making it all the more disappointing when I finally sat down and played it. It is not that the game is inherently bad, but many of the games were a little boring and did not really engage our attention. The puzzles were somewhat fun, but again, they lacked real engagement. Some were actually too difficult for the children to enjoy due to small puzzle pieces being difficult to maneuver.

To be honest, it also seemed to be a bit disjointed overall. Again, I am not saying that it is a bad game, but it definitely did not live up to my expectations. If anything, I would certainly recommend that you rent this game to try it out before going to make a purchase. I am hoping that National Geographic tries their hand at making a fun Wii game again in the future, but I also hope they take a little more care at making it fun and engaging.

People who really enjoy dancing certainly do not see a shortage in available games to play. Those who happen to also have an affinity for ABBA can enjoy a new Wii game called ABBA Dance Wii. The game’s developer, Ubisoft, admits that this is not a game for everyone — the dancing tribute to the iconic and famous Swedish quartet is said to be a good “girls’ night in” sort of indulgence, so it is not something designed for the kids or your male friends after the Sunday football game.

However, if you have a glass or two of bubbly, you might just have Wii ABBA Dance become your next big thing.

Along with the obviously required Nintendo Wii, you will need quite a bit of room to move your body. This title comes complete with twenty-five different songs, each one of which coming with a professionally choreographed dance routine and a suitable environment that appears on your television screen. If you were curious, here is a little trivia to ponder: The segment for the “Waterloo” song is inspired by the first appearance the band made at Eurovision.

Other famous ABBA songs that come in the game include “Knowing Me, Knowing You,” “S.O.S.,” “Money, Money, Money,” “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!,” “Super Trouper,” “I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do” and — for even the non-ABBA fans, of course — “Dancing Queen.” As an added bonus, each of the songs in the game come along with vocal tracks so you can sing along in a solo, duet or even quartet mode.

Just Dance 3 Average Rating: 661 total customer reviews...

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As a very loose sort of “plot,” you can also take part in a mini-musical mode, which allows you and some friends to take on the role of lovebirds in a short story that lets you sing a number of different hits by ABBA. Think Mamma Mia, but much more condensed.

How does it work? As you dance and sing to the songs, you also have to watch colorful silhouettes moving on the television screen. While holding onto your Wii remote, you just need to match the moves that appear on the screen. The console determines where your arms are located and give you a score that varies based on how closely you matched the move. In other words, just like any other Wii dancing game.

This is certainly a good game to play with your friends — it really is the epitome of “the more, the merrier,” though. However, that does not mean you cannot enjoy it yourself. Obviously, ABBA fans will get the most out of this, and if you happen to be one, I couldn’t recommend this game any faster.