Wii Review: Vacation Isle: Beach Party

Get ready to compete with up to four players in eight games that’ll make you feel like you’re on a beach vacation!

Vacation Isle: Beach Party features vacation-style party games for the whole family. This beach party has events on both land and sea. Events including Slalom Skiing, Wake Boarding, Surfing, Stand Up Paddling, Ski Jump, Stunt Park, Hula and Fire Dancing. You can engage in the activities using either the Wii Remote and Nunchuk or optional Wii Balance Board.

Along the way, you will collect hundreds of Sand Dollars that can be used to purchase a variety of sports equipment and beach gear from the Surf Shack to personalize your avatar. While it's great to get new beach clothing and equipment, I would have liked for the new sporting equipment to affect the actual gameplay. Buying a new ski or wakeboard doesn't upgrade your gameplay, it just matches the new top or shorts you just bought.

Vacation Isle: Beach Party delivers three difficulty settings (easy, medium and hard) for each of it's eight course options. The eight courses are unlocked from the beginning of the game. It would have been nice if you could unlock courses or even unlock the harder difficulty settings. Like when you pass easy you could unlock medium and when you pass medium you unlock hard. Just wish the game had more to achieve than just useless boards and new outfits.

I do love the gameplay using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk but through the use of the Wii Balance Board your experience is enhanced. The Wii Balance Board allows you to jump, shake, balance and spin your way to a win. My favorites include Surfing, Wakeboarding, Stunt Park and Hula Dancing. Using the Wii Balance Board during the Surfing, Wakeboarding and Stunt Park events allow you to pull off really cool stunts and during the Hula Dancing you can shake your hips just like a real Hula Dancer.


Now all ages can surf, water ski and enjoy several activities of an exotic summer vacation in their own home. So get ready to take your family and friends to a virtual island paradise that is full of fun in the sun!

Vacation Isle: Beach Party receives a:

Vacation Isle: Beach Party is rated E for Everyone and is only available for Wii.

Lego Construct-a-Buzz

To infinity and beyond!

Build your favorite space ranger hero and help him prepare for battle with his arch enemy, Zurg.

Lego Buzz Lightyear is buildable and poseable. Equipped with his winged jetpack, closable visor and arm-mounted, flick-launching laser cannon and not to mention his little green alien friend, evil doesn't stand a chance!

This Lego Buzz measures over 18cm tall and has a wingspan measuring 18cm wide. He features a flick fire laser cannon, retractable helmet and movable wings on his jetpack. Construct-a-Buzz comes with an alien minifigure. It has 211 Lego Pieces.

This is the perfect way to take the adventures of Toy Story 3 home with you!!

Toy Story 3 is in theaters everywhere NOW!!

Xbox 360 Review: Shrek Forever After

This Far, Far Away game is sure to bring the family closer!

Shrek Forever After closely follows the plot of the film of the same title. You follow green antihero Shrek as he hits a point in his life where he wants to be an fearsome Orge again. When Shrek receives an offer he can’t refuse from Rumpelstiltskin he finds himself living in an alternate universe in which he losses his best friends, children and Fiona. Shrek is faced with reinstating his ‘True Love’s Kiss’ within 24 hours or everything in Far, Far Away will be ruined forever. Being that Fiona is now an independent freedom fighter and has given up on ever finding her prince, Shrek really has a task on his hands to try and win her over.

The game starts off with the tutorial level. The tutorial is hosted by one of the Three Little Pigs. He gets you up to speed with all the controls, characters and their various abilities, plus all the ways they can interact with each other. He will pop-up from time to time within the game to offer clues and hints. As the game goes on the pacing increases but throughout the game you are still given helpful character hints near items so you know which character to use. During harder puzzles the 3 Blind Mice show up to offer guidance to players (at a cost of course).

You can seamlessly switch between any of the four playable characters using different methods and each of the characters have their own unique abilities and powers.

Donkey has head butting attacks and the ability to sing off key. He also has powerful kicks to help in solving puzzles.

Puss In Boots uses his sword and his cuteness ability on opponents. He uses his claws to climb and his unique jumping ability to access out of the way areas.

Fiona has powerful sword attacks and she uses a bullhorn as a rallying cry. Also has the ability to light explosives with her lantern to open secret areas.

Shrek uses his fists and a roar to frighten any enemy he encounters. Shrek uses his power of strength to move objects.

The characters and cinematics look great. The characters are bright and well animated and the framerate is solid (perfect for supporting four player coop). Although the actual actors from the big screen are not used, the stand-ins are comparable in their voiceovers. Gameplay music consists of two different instrumental scores; one for shrek's world before (a pleasant tune) and one for his new alternate world (a drab and creepy tune). The music played during fight sequences are a number of licensed tracks from Shrek movie soundtracks.

You get to explore wonderful levels like Shrek’s Swamp, the Dragon Keep (from the first movie), the Peasant Village, the Catacombs, the Docks, and Rumpelstiltskin Palace. There are several mini puzzles as well as larger puzzles and plenty of combat in-between. Each level is full of awesome enemies like witches, bats, rats, trees and pitchfork wielding humans. There are also special guest appearances by Gingerbread Man (Gingy), Pinocchio, pirates and more.

The game does start off slow but picks up pretty quickly. The challenge level picks up as well. Some of the later puzzles get very challenging. Younger players may become easily frustrated by some of them, thankfully you can turn to the Three Blind Mice for help. I'll even admit I had to enlist their services late in the game. I feel that is a good thing though meaning that the gameplay can keep both kids and adults entertained. While I enjoyed playing solo, coop play is truly the best way to play. Though multiplayer is offline-only, the 4-player local co-op is a great deal of fun. Solving some of the puzzles and taking on witches, evil trees, and possessed pumpkins is a blast with other people. With a right mixture of puzzles and kid-friendly combat, Shrek Forever After is the perfect game for some family fun in Far, Far Away.

Shrek Forever After receives a:

Shrek Forever After is rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) by the ESRB for Cartoon Violence, Comic Mischief and Mild Lyrics. This game can also be found on: PS3, Wii, DS and PC.

“Royal Pains” star Mark Feuerstein host WWE Monday Night Raw on June 14 plus live web chat

Royal Pains star Mark Feuerstein will join WWE Superstar Big Show as host of WWE Monday Night RAW on June 14 live from Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, NC at 9 PM ET / 8 PM CT on USA Network.

WWE Superstar Big Show makes his debut as guest star on Royal Pains Thursday June 17 at 10pm ET/9pm CT.

Immediately following RAW on June 14, Mark Feuerstein and Big Show will participate in an exclusive live web chat on royalpains.usanetwork.com. USA Network has partnered with Ustream, the leader in live video on the internet, to deliver the live interactive experience. Questions for Feuerstein and Big Show can be submitted through royalpains.usanetwork.com.

Here is information on the upcoming episode of Royal Pains on June 17 featuring Big Show:

ROYAL PAINS episode entitled “Keeping The Faith” centers around the star of a popular film franchise (Big Show) who suddenly collapses, when Hank (Mark Feuerstein) soon discovers that his patient’s illness is caused by the very thing that made him famous. Meanwhile, Eddie (Henry Winkler) surprises Hank and Evan (Paulo Costanzo) with the news he's staying in the Hamptons.

Be sure to watch WWE Monday Night RAW on June 14 and the upcoming episode of Royal Pains on June 17 featuring Big Show both on the USA Network. Also immediately following RAW on June 14, participate in Mark Feuerstein's and Big Show's exclusive live web chat. Submit your questions NOW - royalpains.usanetwork.com.

Xbox 360 Review: Split/Second

Article first published as Xbox 360 Review: Split/Second on Blogcritics.

Fast and fun arcade racer leaves others in the dust!

With so many arcade racing games on the market, it is hard to find out which one will fully satisfy your inner speed demon. Thanks to Disney Interactive and Black Rock Studio's Split/Second, you'll get a mash up of all the great racers in one petal pushing package.

In the game, you're a racer in a fictional reality television show called Split/Second. You play out the show's season which is divided up into twelve episodes. Each circuit is an episode of the television show and each episode is filled with multiple races. On this show the players earns points based on their finishing positions in each race. After earning enough points for each episode, you can unlock the Elite race for the episode. In addition, you can earn new vehicles and unlock a special race for causing a given number of cars to crash during races.

This all makes for a decent single-player career mode. Unlocking new cars gives you that needed boost to zoom past your opponents. I do prefer the option of choosing the car you want to unlock next like in many other racing games, but I guess this title is just keeping up it's streak of the element of surprise.

Differing even further from other racers, there are no real cars in the game. You also don't get in-depth car customization -- there are a limited number of colors to paint your car. Players do get decals that are automatically applied to the cars based on various achievements earned, but that's about it. What it lacks in not being able to customize in automotive parts, body decals, and what not, Split/Second makes up for in game play.

The title offers racers the chance to bring the environment into play, these are called "power plays." After filling your power play meter by performing drifts around corners or drafts from following your opponents closely, you are able to attack another racer. A mark appears over a car or cars in close proximity, hitting the A button causes buildings and other structures around the track to collapse. Now that's how you eliminate the competition!

It's like Mario Kart meets Death Race. In terms of gameplay speed, Burnout Paradise comes to mind. And, like Burnout Paradise, Split/Second goes into slow motion when cars collide with objects.

The game is not solely focused on the race to the finish line, but contains other game modes as well. There is "Detonator," which is a time-trials mode where hazards are triggered whenever you come close to something; "Survival," which is just you against yourself trying to stay alive and rack up points avoiding obstacles that are in your path; and my favorite, "Elimination." In Elimination, you have to avoid being in last place. There are different checkpoints, and the player who finds themselves in last once the clock hits zero is eliminated from the race. The last car standing is declared the winner.

If you finish the single-player modes, you can show off your skills in multiplayer. Multiplayer consists of a two local player split-screen or eight players online. Players can compete against one another in traditional racing, Survival, or Elimination. Finishing all or most of the Season Mode makes for a better online multiplayer experience as you'll have the necessary new (better) cars. Most online players are using the later unlocked cars so if you show up to the race using a "slower car" you are almost guaranteed to get left behind.

Split/Second really gives you the feeling of actually going speeds approaching 200 mph and weaving in and out through the other cars. Avoiding a bridge collapse or a crane swinging from side-to-side can really bring you to the edge of your seat. The visuals are great, each location looks better than the last. The sound is impressive, from the cars and explosions to the musical score. The unpredictability makes for enough game between single player Season Mode and multiplayer to last you for a while. So buckle in and get ready for the race of your life!

Split/Second receives a:

Split/Second is rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) by the ESRB for Violence. This game can also be found on: PS3 and PC.