This Christmas was like many others in our house – very much a video game year yet again. There were other gifts to be had for sure but the boys are gamers like me so I will focus on them. Some of the more notable additions to the gaming stable were:
- Boom Blox:
Created as part of a joint venture between Electronic Arts and Steven Spielberg, Boom Blox is a fun intuitive game that is easy for people to learn to play. This game was far and away the favorite of the boys for at least the first 72 hours post Christmas. We could hear them laughing among themselves as they progressed through the game.
Game play is set within a virtual world that loosely follows the rules of Jenga. Towers of blocks are presented to the players with the goal sometimes being to knock them down quickly or to slowly remove pieces without letting others fall. The concept is very simple yet fun. The sequel is sure to join our game library.
- New Super Mario Bros.:
The purchase of this one was pretty much required. The only truly new feature to this game is the ability for four players to play this side scrolling game at the same time. I played with the boys for 20 minutes or so and while it was fun I felt like I’d played this game so many times before that it wasn’t worth devoting the time to play this one too. I know the boys will feel differently and they did play it for a good bit over the weekend getting maybe 4 or 5 worlds deep last night alone.
- Little King’s Story:
A combination RPG (role playing game) / RTS (real time strategy) created from the ground up for the Wii from heavy hitters in the gaming industry, Little King’s Story has received great reviews as a nice intro to this gaming genre for players that are new to the game. Son #1 played it for a very short time over the weekend and while the initial pacing was a bit slow I expect it to pick up and suck him in.
- Scribblenauts:
Scribblenauts is an innovative DS puzzle solving game that allows the player to take their ideas and create solutions with the stylus. Can’t reach something in a tree? Scribble a ladder and use it to climb up and grab it. Son #2 did spend some time playing it but I didn’t get to see much of it happening myself.
- Mario & Luigi Bowser’s Inside Story:
Son #2 loves the Mario & Luigi series and the Nintendo RPG series in particular. He tore into this one and seems to enjoy it quite a bit. I’m sure it will get played over and over by each of the boys and I will never get to try it.
Professor Layton and the Curious Village:
A puzzle game bought to stretch the thinking process of our boys, this game was highly rated in reviews with many people saying that the brain teasers are fun to figure out. I’m not sure this one made it out of the box yet.
Son #4 made out really well with many new additions to his Thomas the Tank Engine train collection. We had the family over on Friday night and everyone seemed to have a nice time.
All in all a nice Christmas for the boys, which makes me very happy.