Video Game Mom

Wall-e is not so new anymore, but he is still so cute and fun to play. My youngest daughter was playing Wall-e, and she was having loads of fun with it. He is so cute with his funny faces, cute sayings and whining over Eve.   

Playing as Eve is fun, but you have to learn to control her. As my daughter was moving along with Wall-e, she jumped with him and Eve caught him to lift him up for a brief amount of time to take him to the designated area. Sometimes, this was a bit more trying for her, but she finally mastered it. Playing with Eve is fun, because you can use her arm to shoot your enemies, while Wall-e is moseying along his way - what teamwork!

Ratchet and Clank is a fun game that is full of colorful adventure, mayhem and all those intriguing and unique weapons. There was never a dull moment in the Ratchet and Clank games, that’s for sure!

Ratchet’s Weapons - So Cool!

One of the weapons allowed you to turn your enemy into a chicken - funny. Talk about taming the wild beast! Ratchet knew how to do that with the Morph-o-Ray. You could give the enemy a nice punch with the Walloper, which was a big punching glove. The Suck Cannon would allow you to suck up some of your enemies, depending on the size and shoot them back out. The Lava Gun was very effective and worked great, especially when battling the enemies in the fighting ring (quick way to earn bolts). Push the button on your controller and a rope of fire comes out for you to whip your enemies and mow them down. 

Collecting Bolts

Collecting the bolts to earn enough for upgrades to Ratchet’s weapons for an even more powerful impact on his enemies was time-consuming, but still so much fun. You couldn’t just go through the game in an hour and complete every thing there was to complete. The adventure story takes a while to go through, so make sure you have a memory card for your PS 2 or 3, the saves to the hard drive.

Nothing Like the R.Y.N.O.

The final weapon, which was my favorite was the R.Y.N.O. It would destroy the enemies much
quicker .. some with one blow. When you had to fight some of those nasty enemies, this is an important weapon to have.

Now, Xbox is bringing Ratchet and Clank to the Xbox 360 - and I cannot wait! That will help to ease my plans for getting a PS 3, for now. I can only imagine the achievements for that baby on the Xbox 360!

Oh … the memories of the confident Ratchet and his rhetorical sidekick, Clank. 

Photos by www.ign.com

When I think about and see the enormous variety of games available now, it makes me think back to the simpler games like Ms Pac Man. I can remember when I used to play this game, and how those stinkin’ enemies pestered the tough yellow female with a bow.

Eating the pellets, while chasing enemies and the many fruits was Ms Pac Man’s specialty. She was definitely in control, as she would go from this side to that side, up here and over there eating her way to rid the maze of the pellets in her path. She had to carefully dodge her enemies, as she traveled through the maze and eating her way out. The big pellets in the corners of the maze give Ms Pac Man the infinite power to go faster to eat her enemies, as she becomes invincible. Once she eats her enemies, their eyes will travel back to the middle and recreate - talk about having eyes on you!

Needless to say, the pellets do not last long, and soon her enemies will turn back and come for her. Then the race is on again. Ms Pac Man must eat all the pellets before you can complete the stage. The more fruit you eat, the higher the score, which is helpful when trying to earn extra men … so eat healthy!

Photo credit by www.gamespot.com

My sister is the new gamer in our family and is making quite a collection for herself. Although puzzle games are her favorite, she has decided to step out of her usual and try something different - Wall-e.

Seeing that Wall-e is so adorably irresistible and one of her favorite characters, she bought the game for her Nintendo DS. She tells me how she cannot figure out what to do with the blue blocks that explode when Wall-e drops them. I laughed and told her the blocks are meant for charging the machines that open gates. She just said, “Ohhhhhh …. I didn’t know that.” 

I am very proud of my sister for expanding her choices of video games and trying something other than the puzzle games, which she has conquered quite well. She has a long ways to go with action, adventure or shooter games, but she is gettin’ there!

Wall-e is an exciting challenge for my sister that seems to create a determination to learn something new. Yep, my gamer sis is steppin’ up in the gamer world!

In Super Mario 64 DS for the Nintendo DS, you have the option to play the mini games. The mini games offer a bit of a change for the game play, plus it gives you time to rest from the long journey to find Bowser and the kidnapped Princess Toadstool (Peach). 

Find the keys

Toad is responsible for the keys to the secret drawers in Princess Toadstool’s room. He seemed to have lost them for some reason or another, and he has asked Yoshi, Mario or whomever you are playing at that moment to find the missing keys, so he doesn’t get into trouble. The more keys you find for the drawers, the more of the mini games you will be able to play. 

Mini games

In one of the mini games, you match items (cards, sounds, pictures, etc.) to eliminate them - I like to play this one. I can sit there for the longest trying to match the mushrooms, stars and clouds.

Another one, you try to find hidden Luigi through the many faces on the screen. In another mini game, you have to match the heads of Mario and Yoshi to their other half on the ground below. You have to strategize with this one, because you have to figure out the best path to travel by drawing a line to help you get there. The more you complete, the more it can become quite the pain.

Watch those colors

My favorite mini game is the one with the Bob-ombs. Red and black bombs come out of two doors, and you have to drag them into the colored carpeted rooms where they belong. If you put the black one in the red room, your game will be over and vice-versa. If the red and black meets outside the rooms, boom! It’s a lot of fun to play!

I enjoy Super Mario 64 DS for the Nintendo DS, especially knowing we can take it anywhere we want to when we want to play Mario. There are no limitations, because it’s portable and can be taken anywhere - Mario to go!

Photo credit www.gamespot.com

My daughter plays Super Mario 64 DS, which is like the Nintendo 64 version. Except, you can play as Mario, Luigi, Wario and Yoshi.

The game starts out with Mario, Luigi and Wario heading to the castle, of course where Bowser is hiding, while Yoshi is snoozin’ with a big bubble coming out of his nose. Mario, Luigi and Wario don’t come back, so Yoshi has to go after them.

I was watching my daughter play Super Mario 64 DS the other night, and she was playing as the always adorable Yoshi. As I watched her maneuver Yoshi here and there to catch a rabbit, I started to laugh. It was funny to watch. 

Needless to say, she caught the rabbit. Yoshi has to stick his tongue out, not swallowing the rabbit but spitting him out. The rabbit bounces out of his mouth and begins to talk to Yoshi then gives him a key. When she kept going to the rabbit, he would tell Yoshi he wasn’t his lunch - to leave him alone.  

The Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo DS is cute and amusing. I like being able to play as Yoshi. I think he makes the game more fun, and so does my daughter.

My daughter just had a birthday, and she received her very own pink Nintendo DS. Along with the Nintendo DS, she was given several games, which she has enjoyed playing.

Playing Super Mario Bros 

Super Mario Bros is one of the games that was given to her. When she’s not playing it, I grab up that DS and play it for myself. It has been a long time since I played Super Mario Bros, and I’m enjoying it. 

Collecting the Goodies

My children and I used to play Super Mario Bros on the Nintendo and take turns going through the multiple stages and challenges, collecting the stars, coins, mushrooms and what is the funniest to me is the shrinking mushroom.

Mushrooms - Big or Small

The shrinking mushroom makes you so small you can go through the itty bitty tunnels. The giant mushroom does the opposite and allows you to grow, grow and grow as you stomp your way through and past your enemies.

Yea, Super Mario Bros. definitely brings back the memories of the simple gaming my family and I used to enjoy. I’m glad to know I can still play some of the many games I used to love to play.

The other night, I was getting ready to play the Xbox 360 (shockingly) and saw a game I used to love to play — Bomberman. Out of all the games I’ve played, I almost forgot about this one.

Blast em’!

In Bomberman, you go through the levels blasting your way through walls, obstacles and enemies by laying down bombs (of course). As you blast them, there will be many walls, obstacles and enemies that leave a weapon behind. If they do, you can pick them up to increase your power, strength and abilities. The more you pick up, the more powerful the weapons. 

Grab the Weapons

Some of the weapons in Bomberman will the allow you to do specific things. Picking up a bomb will increase the amount of bombs you have to lay at one time, and you should collect as many as you can.

Fire causes the bombs to emit a fiery blast; a detonator will allow you to control when the bomb goes off, a life jacket/vest (silly, I know but sort of makes sense) and others. Don’t get caught, or you’ll have to begin collecting the power-ups and weapons all over again.

Bomberman not only allows you to play in adventure, but you can challenge others to see who is the last guy standing. You can play this game on basically any system or computer.  

In Feeding Frenzy for the Xbox 360, you swim around and gulp up your meals as a fish, as you try to eat your way through the “food chain” of fish. But, beware to make sure that the fish you eat are going to be smaller than you are, or you will be the one on the menu.

This game is fun, because the more fish you devour, the bigger you grow. You go through multiple stages doing this, and you can even eat the star bubbles coming from a mermaid at the end of a stage.

Be strong in Feeding Frenzy, and you will make it to the big fish stage where you can be a shark and a whale, then ultimately have to bite the boss, himself down to size, so you can eat him, too.