Brain Spa Review

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(More customer reviews)Seeing the past reviews had me curious, so did a check for more reviews & info. I love it! I tried the game "Brain Booster" but didn't like it at all. I bought "Mind Quiz" which is ok, but boring. This & Brain Challenge are my favorites & happy.
This one has:
Main area is divided up into buildings in a town from an aerial view.
Logic/Calculation: "Gray Matter Market" - find the 2-4 items w/price tag that add up to $ total.
Perception/ID: "Cotex Cleaners" - match the picture of the article of clothing to the circulating articles of clothing.
Logic/Relational: "Cranial Candies" - put the colored candy pieces in the box so they create a pattern with like colors touching.
Memory/Visual: "Dendrite Diner" - remember the pictures of what the customers order & serve them (so far seen over 8 at a time)
Language/Categories: "Neuron Newstand" - match 3 of the newspaper/magazine headings to their common theme. (Had up to 15 at a time so far)
Perception/Comparison: "Frontal Lob Factory" - decide if the 3 toys on the conveyor belt match the picture, reject/accept them. (seen 2 rows so far)
There are at least three more buildings that are "under construction" because I haven't unlocked in the 30 min I played. Everything is timed of course & there are daily tests as well as obviously graphs to show your progress. The animation is colorful, bright & positive. The instructions & in-game responses are given both in speech (nice acting) & typed text.
The power plant holds the daily test of different categories & the Town Hall holds the high scores (I see 13 different high scores). From what I can tell, if you score high enough, you get keys in every area & then can challenge the mayor.
Computer:
I have a 2.4 core2duo Intel, 1 gig RAM, Home Premium Vista & had no problems with the demo & the game cd.
legacygames com - 1 hour free demo & also 7 free online flash games: match color candy, newsstand, market, lab factory/toys, cleaners, spelling & auditory memory (simon using classic music).
6/2009 - I forgot to mention that as you play, it automatically gets more challenging or easier depending on the score of the previous game.
Also, unlike many new games, this one thankfully does not have a limit in installs & after filling my HDD & having to replace/mirror it, it worked beautifully including the save file.
11/2009 - The characters give you cute comments about having not seen you in a while & feel bad for you if you don't do you best, always cheerful & sure you'll do better. They are ecstatic if you do well or a new high score, almost surprised any human can do so well! ;-) I have never gotten annoyed by any repetitious acting lines which is a welcome surprise.
2/2010 - On the box, in very small print near the requirements, it says, "contains technology to prevent copying & that may conflict with some disc & virtual drives" It's not Securom or Starfoce though, nor did I have to enter a key & you don't need the disc to play once it's installed.

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Rail Simulator Review

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(More customer reviews)The other review on here was written by someone who isn't a big fan of simulators, so here's one from someone who is. I bought this game after seeing that Train Simulator 2 will be coming out next year, and in all honesty, I'm tired of waiting. I had been following this game months before it came out, and was surprised to see that they had already released it a few days ago. I have played it for a few days now, and here are its aspects:
Graphics: Now, the graphics of this game are much better than they are in MSTS. In all honesty, they should be; MSTS was released seven years ago when video cards weren't that powerful. Of course today, we have nice Nvidia 8800's and ATI 2900's (and so on). However, the graphics aren't as good as they could be. In fact, I hate to say it, but some of the photograps of renders in the game look better than they actually do in-game. Also, the resolution cannot be changed in the in-game menu itself; this must be done before you begin playing. But, surprisingly, this game supports HD resolutions, so maybe that's why the photos look good. I am using a monitor that only goes up to 1280x1024, so I couldn't tell you how that looks. I also do not like the fact that there are no anti-aliasing controls. I'm using an Nvidia 8800GT to power this game, and I want these games to take advantage of the hardware I own. But, in the end, the graphics are good; I have seen much worse. I do like the fact that people can be seen and that there is an engineer in the cab.
Sound: The sound in this game is again an improvement over MSTS. The natural sound effects are much more realistic (IE; the birds chirping, cars going by, etc.), but I don't understand why you can still hear these sounds clearly even when your train is going at a high speed. When was the last time you heard a bird whistling while your car was going 65? Exactly. Lol, but the locomotive sounds are nice, but I didn't like the fact that the two North American locomotive's horns were both the same; I like variety when it comes to the horns and whistles. The British horns on the diesels make me laugh; they sound like the horns those really old cars used to have (In my opinion, North American diesels have the nicest, prettiest sounding horns around)
Gameplay: The controls for this game are very similar to those of MSTS, so making a transition to this game should you buy it won't be hard. The only thing I had to get used to was the fact that the A key increased the throttle and the D key decreases it (vice-versa to the layout of MSTS; It was funny when I first played this game as I kept trying to slow down my train, only to realize I was speeding it up!) The display Menu's and HUD's are much more helpful, although it doesn't show you the speed limit of the tracks ahead (at least I don't think it does). The scenarios are nice, but I didn't think there were enough of them.
Game Options: This is the part that aggravates me: In MSTS, you could choose the locomotive you wanted for a route, and play from there. There was also a seperate place to make your own consists. In this game, you have to do all of this in a scenario editor, something I don't yet understand. I may be good with computers, but I'm not this good. I have downloaded content for it, but I haven't been able to use most of it. I'll have to learn more about this process.
Overall: I am glad I bought this game. I am enjoying it, but all the while I feel as though there could have been more potential to it. Perhaps the company will release patches for it that fiz up minor areas and add more options. They already give away official content for it for free (you just have to make an account with the site, which is also free) I will continue to play this game until MSTS 2 comes out, which will probably be one of the best Train-Sims out there. It will be using DirectX10, so it will definitely be using my hardware to is potential. Lol, by the time this game is out, Nvidia will most likely have there 9000 series out, so this card won't be one of the greatest anymore. Oh well. Overall, I give this game three stars. I hope this review has helped some of you.

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Dewy's Adventure Review

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(More customer reviews)Dewy's Adventure bombed (sales wise) in Japan, and Konami is quietly releasing it here a week early with absolutely no advertising. Reviews have just begun to trinkle in, a week after the release, and word of mouth is next to none. I went to five different stores for this game, and finally came across it after a two day search. I also got a Dewy plush toy with it, although I don't care much for it.
The main thing that surprises me about this is how surprisingly good this platformer is. It can be summed up in just a few words: Super Mario 64 + Super Monkey Ball. That's it. Of course, the controls are not as tight as either title, and as such it's a bit frustrating at certain points, but this is easily one of the year's finest platformers. At least until Super Mario Galaxy comes out.
In this game, you control Dewy, a droplet of water. He's beyond adorable, and to be quite honest, a bit beyond someone like myself -- I don't really care for the baby-ish persona of this character, although I'm sure there are many others who will (not to mention little kids). The story, while simple and absolutely standard, is augmented with rather nice illustrations and storybook sequences, reminiscent of Elebits. It would be pretty easy to already be put off by the whimsical nature this title presents, but wait until you start playing this thing.
You hold the Wiimote like a NES controller, and tilt it to move the stage in which Dewy inhabits. Press the D-Pad up to raise the temperature, down to lower the temperature. Doing so results in Dewy's multiple forms: the standard, water-like one, where he can jump the best and control easily; warmer for the mist form, in which he becomes a cloud and is able to strike down any nearby enemies with lightning; and colder for the ice form, in which he can slide across pools of now frozen water and do some awesome attacks.
The main complaint about this game thus far is how "average" it is. I honestly can not agree -- while it is basically a simple platformer game, the ability to modify your surroundings via temperature is a stroke of utter genius. In the ice world, you can lower and raise water levels, for example, and this creates obstacles within obstacles. The controls do take some use getting to, and they are never really quite as tight as they should be, but they work overall.
Besides that, the presentation is fantastic. The graphics in this game are some of Wii's best yet... absolutely beautiful at certain points. The music is just fine, and the level design is both clever and fun.
On top of all that, the game will last you a long time. There are many levels, and each level takes about 10-30 minutes to beat.. and that is not including doing the levels perfectly, as you are graded based on your performance. As you can imagine, the re-play factor is quite high.
I haven't even gotten to the solid multiplayer yet, not to mention the option to design your own multiplayer levels and send them to anyone with Nintendo's WiiConnect24 service.
I highly recommend this game for a couple reasons -- firstly, it's a great third-party effort (which Nintendo can always use) that oozes innovation and originality but also happens to be excellent. Second, although I'm not certain, you can count on this game being out of print within a year or less. There seems to be not many copies to begin with, and the fact that absolutely no one is talking about it a week after its release is a bit sad. I have a feeling this will be one of those forgotten classics, that sometime in the near future people will be profiled by some magazine as one of the best games you've never played.
So if you're a platformer junkie and love a good challenge, pick Dewy's Adventure up right away.

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Thomas And Friends Wooden Railway - Henry the Green Engine Review

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(More customer reviews)I noticed the numbers on all the engines so I bought this one so I could make it so my son could count the engines from 1-10. This is number 3. Only the coal cars are marked. This is a large engine. It's size makes it difficult to push around and it derails easily. My son is 16 moths old and has trouble with this engine I recommend it if for the 2+ crowd.

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Henry is a long, fast engine with a streamlined look. Based on the Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends TV show, The Thomas Wooden Railway System sparks children's creativity while teaching problem solving, developing fine motor skills, and promoting social interaction. Exceptionally well made, each piece of the Thomas Wooden Railway System is handmade from New England Hard Maple and other renewable hardwoods and elaborately detailed.

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Thomas And Friends Wooden Railway - Percy The Small Engine Review

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(More customer reviews)This toy is great. My whole family has fun every evening playing with this train. The just can't get enough of it!
Also, it's able to withstand lots of rough playing.
This is a must!

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