Buzz! Master Quiz

Developer: Relentless Software
Publisher: Sony
Release Date: Sept. 23, 2008
System: PSP
ESRB Rating: E10+
Official Web Site

In a nutshell: I'm the smartest guy in this whole plane!

0:00 As a trivia nut, I was drawn to the PS2 and PS3 Buzz games. I could never get my friends to feel the same way, though. That doesn't matter for this PSP release, which I'm playing alone amidst a bunch of strangers on an airplane. What the designers intended? I doubt it.

0:01 A decent amount of loading precedes an intro movie, with blonde host Buzz sitting in a chair staring down at a PSP. Ghostly images of sports balls, musical instruments, movie props, etc. hover out of the PSP and dance around Buzz's head. Then a bomb hovers out, exploding and leaving Buzz blackened. HA! Quickly on to a simple title screen with sparse electronic music.

0:02 "Are you on your own, or do you have friends?" asks Buzz on the menu screen. Well, I DO have friends ... they're just not here. Buzz also pipes in on the options screen: "Load and savey-type stuff here!" His over-the-top voice is at least half the appeal of these games.

0:03 On to "Solo Quiz Challenge." I can choose from 10 appropriately stereotypical character types. I almost go for my old standby favorite, the Superhero, but I end up with Napoleon because, let's face it, how many games let you be Napoleon. OK, how many games that aren't in the Civilization series. "IT'S NAPOLEON," cries Buzz, apparently very excited.

0:05 "This is my show and it bears my name. This is Buzz, I am Buzz and soon you will be buzzing. Enough! Let's go!" I agree!

Read the full review at Crispy Gamer

Metroid Prime: Pinball

Developer: Fuse Games
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: Oct. 24, 2005
System: Nintendo DS
ESRB Rating: E
Official Web Site

In a nutshell: If bounty hunting doesn't work out, Samus has a fallback...
0:00 I used to love whiling away the portable pinball hours with Kirby's Pinball Land and the oft-overlooked Revenge of the 'Gator. But that was over a decade ago. Will this bring the fun times back?

0:01 The game jumps right to a title screen with a logo and some futuristic ephemera in the background. There are high scores from the old owner of this used copy. The gauntlet is thrown!

0:02 I feel bad for not having the Rumble Pak, as the Options screen suggests. The only actual gameplay options are "Single-Mission" and "Multi-Mission." I choose Multi, and then get to choose between the Pirate Frigate or the Tallon Overworld stages. I choose the Frigate because it's an awesome word. FRIGATE!

0:04 And just like that, I'm on the pseudo-3-D rendered pinball stage that goes from the bottom screen all the way to the top. A rolled-up Samus Aran is the ball here. It's a very crisp, clean, high-tech look ... nice animation too.

0:05 Somehow I activate. "Parasite purge" and a bunch of little crawly things fall down onto the table. I hit them for 1,000 points each before my ball inevitably falls between the flippers. That was quick...

Read the full review at Crispy Gamer

Polarium

Developer: Mitchell Corporation
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: April 18, 2005
System: Nintendo DS
ESRB Rating: E
Official Web Site

In a nutshell: A flippin' great puzzle game? Or should that be "A great flippin' puzzle game"?
0:00 I was intrigued by this simple-looking puzzler when it first came out alongside the DS, but it took a drop to a ridiculous $5 used price point at GameStop to get me to actually buy it.

0:01 Right to the title screen. "View game tutorial" is the first question. "Yes" is the first answer.

0:02 "This game is controlled with a stylus. Buttons will not function." Wow, did they really have to explain that concept in so many words in the early days of the DS?

0:04 Half of the tutorial is about how to use the stylus. The other half is about how to draw lines to flip black and white tiles. Horizontal rows that all match a single color disappear. It's like Tetris meets Picross!

0:05 Interesting ... there's an "outer frame" with no tiles that I can use to extend a single line across to different areas. Not sure why I'd do that instead of just drawing two separate lines, though. Unless that's not allowed? It's not clear.

Read the full review at Crispy Gamer

Deer Drive

Developer: SCS Software
Publisher: Mastiff
Release Date: Dec. 16, 2008
System: Wii (reviewed), PC
ESRB Rating: T
Official Web site

In a nutshell: The least realistic shooting game you'll never play.

0:00 Hunting deer is very low on my "list of things I'd like to do in real life." Playing a game about hunting deer is even lower on that list. Still, I have to uphold my "you send it, I'll play it" reputation.

0:01 The preview screen has some truly awesome hair metal music. I do not have a Wii Zapper, so it looks like I'll be going gangster style with my Wii Remote on these deer, rather than the Zapper's bazooka style.

0:02 "DEER DRIVE!" screams an echoey announcer as the title logo appears over a static picture of a forest. There's no background music here. It's eerie and still. 0:03 The B button trigger is used to select all the options on the menu. Why? Because the A button is for PANSIES, that's why!

0:04 The text-based tutorial screen described the gameplay: "SHOOT AS MANY ANIMALS AS YOU CAN!" Funny, I didn't need the game to tell me that. "Angry bears will charge you and moose will run you down." Holy crap! Thanks for the warning!

0:05 "Each vital organ hit increases your Breath Control meter." I think I'm going to be ill.

Read the full review at Crispy Gamer

Maximo Vs. Army of Zin

Developer: Capcom Production Studio 8
Publisher: Capcom
Release Date: Jan. 20, 2004
System: PS2
ESRB Rating: T
Official Web site

In a nutshell: Minimum Maximo difficulty.

0:00 I absolutely loved the original Maximo: Ghosts to Glory ... until I ran out of continue coins and got stuck halfway through the LAST LEVEL! ARGH! Hopefully this one keeps the fun and challenge while losing the progress-stopping brick walls.

0:01 The title screen appears almost immediately with a bouncing, hand-drawn black army in red light advancing towards me from the background. It's cute and menacing at the same time. Creepy violin music.

0:03 The selectable difficulties are "Normal" and "Hard." Given how hard the last game was, I figure Normal will be hard enough.

0:04 A skeleton bird flies out of a red moon and over an absolutely massive CGI cut scene battle between men and skeletons. "Unholy demons," cries an armored warrior. "While I live Castle Hawkmore will never fall!" The battle done, the few remaining men gather up the dead skeleton bones. "Seal the vault behind me!" cries Mr. Armor Man. "But Lord Morrigan, you'll be trapped." No matter! He demands that his heirs guard the vault with their very lives. "It must remain sealed ... forever."

0:06 500 years later, Maximo gets attacked by a group of forest bandits. Then a distressed woman runs in and asks for help with some village-attacking monsters. Then a mechanical knight joins the party. Maximo looks past him "You're late, Grim," he says with a smile. "I always come ... in the end," says the Grim Reaper, who appears behind the skeleton and slashes him to bits. COOL! Anyway, Grim can't find Sofia's soul in the underworld. "Then she's alive?" Possibly ... Grim is mad about souls getting compressed into jewelry, for some reason, while Maximo wants to help the woman's village. The voice acting's a bit cheesy, but the animation is top-notch.

Read the full review at Crispy Gamer