minigame

Revolt on Antares: Science Fiction Minigame

"Antares 9 boils with unrest and intrigue. This planet, called Imirrhos by its people, has long been ruled by the Imperial Terran Empire. Although local power is held by seven large family clans (the Seven Houses of Imirrhos) all important matters are decided by the Empire. Now, however, the people of Imirrhos want more freedom, and plots are being laid to rise up and throw off Terran rule. The REVOLT ON ANTARESTM minigame has three different scenarios. In the Basic Game, the Rebel player leads his or her allies in revolt against the Terran forces and the houses that remain loyal. In the second game, the Terran player tries to defend Imirrhos against revolting houses in league with invading aliens, the Silakka. In the third game, Terra is neutral, while up to four players try to create the most powerful house on Imirrhos!"

Saga: Age of Heroes (TSR Minigame)
$12.99
"SAGA minigame recreates a mythical time period occurring sometime after the fall of Rome the age of heroes and Vikings! Each player takes a heroic figure and attempts to perform deeds that will generate enough glory to ensure that the hero's memory will live in the sagas composed after his or her death. To gain glory, the heroes slay monsters, accumulate treasure hoards, recruit lesser heroes ("jarls", or earls) as their companions, and establish kingdoms. The hero who gains the most glory is the one whose fame will live on in the sagas, while the others are doomed to be forgotten by posterity. Each player must be decisive and alert to grasp chances and avoid having other heroes gain glory at his or her expense. SAGA minigame is an invitation to relive the epic ancient days when men and women could be heroes and dragons walked the earth."

Flatout: Ultimate Carnage
$9.99
I just got this, and I have to say the price is worth it. I'd expected Flatout Ultimate Carnage might be a pretty tired rehash, given that it's up against the likes of Gran Turismo, Grid, Need for Speed, Sega Rally Revo and especially Burnout.

Thankfully, Flatout seems to have pulled the best features of its competitors together in a game that's not very sophisticated, but is a lot of fun. Here you have the environmental physics of Sega Rally Revo and Dirt: standing water, mud, dust, and pavement all have an effect on your vehicle. You have the damage gradient of Need for Speed: Pro Street in that your car can lose bits and pieces of itself and get a bit shaky, but it'll still run all the way through the race. And finally, you have the crazy antics of Burnout: crash your car (or other players), smash into things, and you charge your boost meter. Wreck spectacularly to get achievements. Tap the "Reset" button and you plunk back down in the middle of the road, in the middle of the action.

As if that isn't enough, like its cousins in the genre, Flatout lets you keep a garage of many cars, customizing each to your liking with specific upgrades. Since the physics is an integral part of the enviroment, you feel the difference with each vehicle and each change you make to it. You go through a career mode with multiple race types and varying tracks. Some tracks will repeat themselves across tiers, but the fact that you have a different goal (e.g., race versus derby mode) makes it never a dull moment.

The only real drawback to Flatout Ultimate Carnage is that it is easy. I'm no pro, but I quickly climbed the ladder. Many places in the road are designed to hand you stuff to smash into so you charge your boost meter, most AI drivers aren't too smart, and I often found myself with a nice healthy addition to my boost meter if I had to reset the vehicle: use it immediately and you're back up to speed within seconds.

One other drawback for PC users is that this game really doesn't play well with a keyboard. It's awkward, and without bothering to map the keys to some custom configuration, I found it much easier to just go ahead and use the XBox 360 Controller like the manual tells you to. You'll find the biggest advantage in the gas pedal: on the keyboard it's either full throttle or coasting when you tap the accelerator, but on the XBox 360 Controller, the trigger understands the difference when you just give it a squeeze: it picks up on the nuances you need to handle your car through the curves.

Lovely Lisa
$19.99
I was a little sceptical about Lovely Lisa at first, but bought it on a whim and am I glad I did. There are a wide variety of mini games and the graphics are cute. The games are short enough to hold the attention of even a small attention span and have a lot of repeated play opertunities. It is really fun and after playing for a while you can unlock a beauty pagent type of game. Overal it is a fun, well-rounded, and cute game and I would definetly reccomend it.