• Halo Wars – for Spartans of all Ages
• Why shooters aren’t okay at 10

But I really like Halo: Spartan Assault (H:SA) for what I think of as a perfect hybrid:

· Its top-down view makes it more family friendly, due to less blood/interpersonal violence

· But it is a legitimate action/shooter, where you play as a single Spartan soldier

Commentary on Microsoft’s Three-Screens Approach

It is also a really good example of “Microsoft’s vision for Three Screens and a Cloud” that doesn’t get a lot of airtime, including offerings for Windows Phone, Windows desktop and (coming soon) to Xbox360 & XboxOne – powered by XboxLive. Interestingly, the game came out for Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 desktop first – and is only now coming out for consoles. By the way, it plays very nicely on my Surface Pro, including support for a wired Xbox gaming controller and looks great on an HDMI TV/screen (see accessories blog URL).

The 3 Screens thing isn’t just about comparable offerings, but a unified offering. After having played through about half of the missions on my tablet, I bought the version for my phone – and my game save, including progress and status, came right in. In fact, a few Xbox Achievements lit up on my phone, shortly after having started playing – because I had finished those objectives (and earned the achievements) in the Tablet edition. I presume that the shared experience will carry to the console versions, though the console versions also promise some big enhancements, such as multi-player.

Game Play

As stated earlier, you are futuristic “Spartan” (armored super soldier) moving from one combat scene to another.  It’s hard to say anything negative against H:SA, other than the two-thumbs on sweaty glass controls can be a little frustrating on smaller Windows Phones, but totally works and is surprisingly intuitive on bigger phones, tablets and PCs – and as I mentioned, works great with a gaming controller.

• Those familiar with the HALO franchise will immediately be immersed with recognizable Covenant baddies, the standard variety of UNSC and alien weapons, etc.
• For younger players who haven’t tried Halo yet, this is a great first entry for them – and one that will be more “Mom approved” than the first-person shooters.

And for those newer players, I wholeheartedly also recommend the full-featured Halo Wars (URL) title, which you should be able to pick up used for under $10, with great fun (and co-op) for younger (9-12) gamers and friends/siblings/parents.

CO-OP-ness

The tablet/desktop and phone versions are single-player only, as is reasonable for that form factor – but the upcoming XboxOne and Xbox360 versions have many promised enhancements, including multi-player, and is expected to release on

December 24th (Merry Christmas, Spartans!!).

[blog note: I will update this section within a week or so of the console release]

As always, thanks for reading … Have fun playing with your kids !

 
H:SA for Windows

H:SA for WinPhone

For those interested in Halo Wars:

Happy Wars on Xbox Live Arcade may be the cleverest and cutest game that you haven’t tried with your gamer-kids.   This review, like the game itself, will jump right into the middle of it:  it is a game about constant battles of swords, axes, clubs and magic.  You’ll be battling within a few seconds of the game starting and continue doing so until the timer ends.  That may not sound like the description of a normal XboxDad Family-Friendly game, but this one really is.

Your character, as well as all of the other players, looks like a LittlePeople™ or PlaySkool™ figurine that your 4-7 year old might have played with.  You will then dress them up in some basic armor, a helmet/hat, perhaps a shield, and then a weapon (sword, axe, club or magic staff).  Some weapons look like fish or baseball bats, while the staffs/wands might be flowers, lollipops or plastic flamingos.  The three character types (Warrior, Mage, and Cleric) allow for offensive fighting, zapping from a distance or healing/building others, respectively.

The game is rated T (Teen) for Blood and Violence, neither of which should dissuade you:

• It should be noted that there is no blood in the typical sense, such as from sword cuts or other battle damage, nor squirting or puddles upon being killed.  Instead, the only blood is seen as some weapons (a sword that already has some red on it, usually referred to as ketchup or strawberry sauce) or costume items (a hat that looks like a bandage covering a wound); but no gore of any kind.
• The violence is similar to the Lego games or any other child-friendly action game.  You’ll run around whacking/zapping people (a lot).  You’ll whack them, they will whack you, and one of you will eventually run out health points (life).  At which point, the color on the screen will fade to black & white, your character might momentarily be seen with X’s instead of eyes or some other goofy expression, and then your person will re-spawn at your team’s nearest location.

Game Play

There are two main modes of play:

Story Mode (single player) – somewhat similar to the cut scenes from Angry Birds or Lego games, as a way to create a narrative before playing a range of single-player stories.  You’ll have a few AI players to help you, and battle numerous baddies as you progress through the story.

Quick/Co-Op Mode (multiplayer) – provides two teams of up to 15 players (or AI) each; red and blue.  Each side has a home base castle and seeks to take over the other team’s castle.  Along the way, there are multiple “towers” that can be claimed by either team.  When you get killed, your character can re-spawn in your castle or from any tower that your team has claimed.  You’ll spend a majority of each 12 minute battle round progressing across one of several colorful and interesting scenes, claiming towers and then defending them, while trying to take the towers from the opposing team.  When you make it across the map, you’ll try to knock down the other castle’s gate or scales its walls, before finally winning the game.  At which point, each player is rewarded, based on their contributions (see next section).

The only disappointing part of Happy Wars is some glitchy network issues during multiplayer matchmaking, which seems to have been plagued with timeout problems since it first launched. As of March 2013, it seems to still be spotty – and can be frustrating. My suggestion, particularly with younger gamers, if it times out more than once, do something else and play a different day.

Either way, younger players might get along just fine by repeatedly mashing the (X) (A) and (B) buttons, while more mature players will appreciate the variety of attack styles and item customization.

Leveling Up and Item Progression

Like most battling games, your character will earn points based on how many people they defeated, as well as how many times they performed different tasks, helped others, etc.  As they reach milestones, they will progress from Level 1 up to 50, gaining more life (health points) and magic, defensive resistance, etc.  You’ll also earn the in-game currency, “Happy Stars,” which allows you to purchase new and better equipment, as well as upgrade the items that you already have.  You can also purchase items from the Xbox Marketplace, by first buying “Happy Tickets” and then purchasing items from the in-game store.

The Happy Wars game itself is FREE on Xbox Live Arcade, but if you are willing to put even $5 of real money into Happy Tickets and then buying a few premium items (better weapon, stronger armor, etc.) then the first few hours of gaming will be even more exciting and rewarding.  Frankly, most new players should just assume that the game costs $5 and then they are set.  After 5+ hours of play, your higher-level characters will continue to earn ever improving gear and you’ll eventually outgrow those starter weapons, but they do make the first few hours even more exciting, particularly against the rest of the players who started ahead of you.

Co-Op-ability

If you follow XboxDad’s blog, you know that I am most passionate about games that we can play together; and Happy Wars is a lot of fun as a family.  Simply become an Xbox Live Party before starting the game (or within the main menu) and then you’ll be playing together.  In my family, all of the gamers can talk to each other through chat, while not hearing any banter or language from anyone else on our side or the other team.  At the beginning, it is tempting to run around whacking other folks, and just laughing with your family or other Xbox Live Party members.  But after a while, you’ll see that the winning teams often have a few folks working together.  

So, build a team with a Warrior (or two) who will battle out front, a Mage who throws fireballs or electricity from behind the front line, and a Cleric who will keep everyone amped up and healthy.  And then, when you get to the enemy castle, don’t waste time knocking on the front gate.  Your cleric can build latters to scale the walls, your warriors will knock down whoever stayed behind (since most are out battling mindlessly) and your mage will zap the defending machinery from afar.  If you do it right, the game will not only be hilarious fun, but also teach a little bit of strategy and teamwork that your kids and you can learn through.

Parents, this game is fun for the whole family.  And if the T rating worries you, it’s free.  Play it by yourself on Friday night and I guarantee that you and the kids will be playing together on Saturday morning after breakfast.

As always, thanks for reading … Have fun playing with your kids !
                  

Game Website 

• Single-Player greats – like Rocksteady’s Batman:Arkham Asylum and Arkham City titles
• Single-Player mediocres – too many to count, but almost every movie gets one
• Multi-player platformers – like the Marvel Ultimate Alliance or Fantastic Four titles, which are solid in most cases, and great in a few
• Co-op titles – there are very few … but Green Lantern is one, and a pretty good one at that.

Game Play

Loosely based on the same premise and setting as last year’s Green Lantern movie, Hal Jordan is player 1 as a relatively new Green Lantern, still being coached by fellow lanterns Sinestro and Kilowog. Almost immediately upon starting the game, the lanterns’ headquarters planet of OA is attacked by Manhunter robots.

Over the next several levels, you will use your ring energy to create a range of weapons ranging from huge hammers to maces to a robotic mech-battle suit. There isn’t any blood.  The bad guys/robots disintegrate into energy — which not only charges your ring but also provides the currency for purchasing new ‘constructs’ (stuff to make with the ring) and upgrades to your existing ring powers.

The boss fights get progressively challenging, and the storyline and enemy scenarios vary enough to keep it interesting. And with up to 12 different ring constructs, along with various upgrades, gameplay will feel diverse enough to not be just another action button-masher and let each player beat up bad guys with whichever energy-formed weapons that they want. The constructs are chosen by mapping to each of the four buttons (A-B-X-Y) in combination with either the left or right triggers. Hence, up to eight constructs are available, along with immediate and charge-able regular (X) and strong (Y) attack buttons.

Co-Op Ness

While Player 1 is the lead movie character, Hal Jordan of Earth; Player 2 is the equally capable Lantern, Sinestro. The folks at Double-Helix did a pretty good job of enabling a good co-op experience.

All of the energy points (currency) that are collected during game play by both players ends up being shared when purchasing upgrades and new constructs. In fact, once a construct is purchased by Player One, Player Two has full use as well. In fact, the eight construct buttons are separately map-able by Player One and Player Two. When my son and I played through the game, we chose different constructs so that each of us had unique capabilities and ways to participate in the game.

This is not to say that the Co-Op experience is perfect – it isn’t.

Player Two’s button mapping doesn’t get saved – so each time that you start the game, or re-start a previously played level, player two will inherit player one’s buttons. Since my son and I played together, we eventually agreed that our right-trigger four would be consistent, so that he only had to re-map his left-trigger four, as needed. It’s a minor thing, but something that really ought to get addressed as a fix.

Player Two doesn’t get achievement points. I understand that it is more work on developers to track two game save files and so some accumulation “Did <Something> X times” might be harder to track or “Completed whole game“. But, a lot of the GL achievements are “Finished Level X” type. The game knows that two players started the level, finished the level and neither left during the level — so why not give Player Two some of the credit? One of the differences between a good co-op game and a great one is giving both players their due acknowledgements, when reasonably possible.

Language

While not normally part of an Xbox Dad review — there was so much of it that it had to be added to the Green Lantern Review. In short:

• If on mute, the gameplay, story and co-op-ness is great for gamers as young as 8 and ideal around 10.
• If you want to hear the dialogue, my suggested age goes up to 14.

Ryan Reynolds, from the movie, reprises his role for the game – and does some great work. Having the original actor definitely adds to movie tie-in games. But there enough Darns, Cruds, and Bugards (use your imagination) to really ruin the game for younger gamers and their parental co-players.  The only words I don’t recall were Fudge and Butch.  GL’s word choices add nothing to the story and therefore it is truly a shame that Warner Brothers Interactive and DC Comics allowed the game to be inappropriate for what will be their next generation of readers.

If you have a lower tolerance to dialog, or want to use it as a teaching moment (or twenty) — then Green Lantern is otherwise a great game to co-op through while saving the universe.

As always, thanks for reading … Have fun playing with your kids !

Game Website

MegaMind: Ultimate Showdown reminds me of CCM in many ways because for everything CMM did right, MegaMind falls short.

GamePlay

On its own, as a single-player title, it is a mediocre button masher – meaning that you will spend nearly the entire game repeatedly tapping the (X) shoot button, with the only diversity being when you punch (A) to jump over something and then resume shooting.

You are MegaMind, the primary movie character, and you will go through roughly ten levels where you will find numerous goon henchmen that are themed after one of three villains – Destruction Worker, Psycho-Delic and Hot Flash. For each of the three boss styles, the henchmen come in exactly two varieties and appear to bean endless number of clones — of either a wimpy baddie or a slightly-less wimpy/blimpy baddie. After three platforming levels of bad guys, with some very basic navigation, you’ll face that boss. Do that series three times and you’ll fight the final bad guy, which is loosely based on another character from the movie and has no other real tie-in to the story or the action.

MegaMind has four gadgets at his disposal:

• a blasting ray gun
• an miniaturizing ray gun
• a glove that shoots electricity
• a glove that blows wind

There is some cool potential in the gadgets in that they are upgradable and have some different affects on the environment and the baddies. But THQ lets you down because you can only carry one at a time – and it is completely scripted. Right about when you need a different item (meaning you truly cannot progress further in the level), the item you need is floating right there in the path. Game play would have been sooooo much better (or at least seemed less monotonous) if all of the gadgets were available on the four-position D-pad or other menu.

Along the way, you’ll want to destroy everything in the area – since any destruction of people or items results in glowing ‘Blinky’ which is the currency of the game, to be spent on upgrading the various items. The upgrades do enhance gameplay slightly – but since you are stuck with whatever item the story gives you, it is negligible.

If you have a 6-8 year old who absolutely loves everything about the movie and must have/play with all MegaMind-themed item, then this game is for them. For almost everyone else, THQ disappoints.

Note: THQ is no stranger to movie-related titles. Nor is this the first movie THQ game that disappoints in — see the earlier Xbox Dad blog post on Cars Race-O-Rama. In that title, most of the game goes well, but there are still glitches that THQ has never addressed, which is a shame.

Co-Op Ness

MegaMind had a lot of potential for a solid co-op title. After all, in the movie, the primary character had a side-kick named Minion. Player 2 is not Minion. Minion appears via an off-screen voice and the occasional pop-up in the corner of the screen, constantly telling you what to do next or where to go. Instead, Player 2 who can drop in and out easily (one plus) is a nameless floating robotic fish.

The real disappointment comes in that Player 2 isn’t a legitimate partner player.

• Player 2 cannot use the gadgets described above, which makes their experience even more monotonous than Player 1′s. They have a simple ray gun permanently attached.
• Player 2 doesn’t actually walk, so none of the platforming or navigation elements apply. Instead, they float around and collect blinky that the might be laying around or not picked up by Player 1.
• And of course, Player 2 doesn’t earn achievement points/trophies, even though almost all of those are earned by completing this level or beating that boss.

Again, this game had a great deal of potential for being a neat co-op title … but falls short due to what can only be described as poor design decisions by the developer.

If you have an game savvy player 1 (older sibling or parent) who wants to run a younger MegaMind fan (ages 6-8) through the game that you purchased in a bargain bin, preferably used at that, then play it for an easy set of achievement points and 4-5 hours of distraction. Otherwise, there are many better movie-related games available — most of which come from someplace other than THQ.

As always, thanks for reading … Have fun playing with your kids !

Game Website

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (CCM) is officially one of my most favorite co-op games to play with younger kids — target age 6-9.  It has several of my requirements for a family-friendly co-op daddy and kid game:

• It is based-on but not a scene-by-scene repetition of a movie (or TV show) – in this case, you’ll be battling and/or getting-rid of the overgrown food that has been created.
• The 2nd player can drop-in/drop-out at will, without affecting game play.
• It isn’t just a button masher — in that you have multiple tools available to you.
• It’s fun on its own!

GamePlay

You’ll start out in Flint Lockwood (player 1)’s lab and receive requests for help, as the overgrown food continues to create havok on the town.   There are several different tools (weapons) available, depending on which jobs that you do:

• Choper-er … for slicing
• Forkamajigger … for picking things up
• Upsucker Plus … for squirting stuff
• Bigacious Pow … for hitting stuff
• Hot Enougher … for melting

Throughout the game, as you gather gameplay points, you will have the option to upgrade each of these from rinky to cool!  The tools are varied enough to add an extra dimension to gameplay, and yet intuitive enough for younger players. 

As the levels progress, navigating some of the platforms to reach locations becomes more challenging.  So, if your youngster is playing solo, a parent may want to jump in as player two on a few levels to help find the last food items.

Nothing gets killed, though you will dissolve, slice or punch a lot of stuff.

Co-Op Ness

Player 1 is the lead character, Flint Lockwood … Player 2 can join as his faithful monkey friend from the movie.  When my daughter and I played through, she was my monkey … and we both had a great time.   Player 2 can use all of the same items, independent of the primary player.  This works out well, so that each player can take on specific “jobs” and directly contribute to the team’s success.

Points accrued during the game are scored separately during gameplay, but combined at the end of the level.  Any weapon upgrade purchases apply to both players without distinction.

My only co-op disappointment, and it is a fairly common one, is that Player 2 does not receive Achievement Points for their contributions.  Come on developers – even my 7 year old notices when the achievements pop-up, but she doesn’t get them!  Other than the recognition, gameplay is nearly identical for both players and therefore is a great co-op title for kids!

As always, thanks for reading … Have fun playing with your kids !
                  

Game Website

1. The original Xbox 360/Kinect game (K/360) — see original review
2. Its recent add-on for Bears (K/bears) — see last month’s blog
3. And last week’s Windows Phone release (K/Wp7) – now available from Windows Phone Marketplace.

In my opinion, the original Kinectimals was the best launch title from the original Kinect wave – and it recently received new life with the Bears add-on pack.  Kinectimals is a richly immersive experience where your Kinect actions were full motion and logical for the game, from running in place through challenge courses to broad gestures for training the cub to do new tricks.

Before getting into the K/WP7 game itself, let’s quickly celebrate another great integration between the Xbox360 & Windows Phone. With Xbox Live as the glue, along with achievements and the ability to transfer your cubs from your phone to your console and vice versa, this is why every gamer should carry a Windows Phone.