Previews
Hudson Entertainment has been a favorite of the editors at Family Friendly Gaming for a long time. There is a long history with this publisher. Oops! Prank Party is a game I had the pleasure of playing at E3 2010. I really got into this game, and had a blast. Our friends over at Hudson Entertainment did one of my favorite things. They sent us a demo of the game a few months before the final retail product is available. It flashes DEMO quite often, but aside from that it contains a lot of the Wii game. This has allowed us to dig into Oops! Prank Party, and get a real good feel for it. The mini games are various, and the prank part of this mini game compilation is very interesting. The winner of a mini game gets to pick another player and put a humorous outfit on them. That means there can be some cross dressing going on and you have no choice in the matter. Before you play any mini games in Oops! Prank Party you get the option of reading about the controls. This helps, but it would have been nice to try it before it becomes final. There is a mode in this Wii game that lets you practice any of the mini games as much as you like. The board game (which is the party game) was not available in the demo Family Friendly Gaming received. I would have liked to test drive that. I can be patient for a reviewable unit of the full retail version. Oops! Prank Party is shaping up to be a lot of fun for families. {08/15/2010} - Paul
Sega had a fantastic floor space at E3 2010. There are so many games being developed that will interest families that is can be difficult to discern which ones to cover. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 is one of those games that stood head and shoulders above many of the games at E3. I was very interested in getting some time on this upcoming downloadable title that the Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 will be getting. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 did not disappoint me in one way, shape or bit. The levels that I was allowed to play at E3 were remakes of the original Sonic the Hedgehog levels. The spit, and polish in this game really helped Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 shine. When I fought the first boss I saw that Sega had thrown in some additions to make this game even better than the original. I hope Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 makes it into homes by Christmas in the year of our Lord 2010. Family Friendly Gaming will continue to cover this game as new information comes into our offices. {07/16/2010} - Paul
I had the pleasure of getting to try out various family friendly titles at E3 2010 in Los Angeles, California. Lego Universe was one that really stood out. First off the Lego based video games have been impressing families all over the world for years now. So an online community of Lego characters makes perfect sense. Lego Universe looks fantastic, and what I played was not the final build. If you make a mistake your character falls apart, and is quickly rebuilt. The concept of dying is not in Lego Universe, as the gentleman who gave me the inside track explained. I was started out in the start of the game where players learn how to play Lego Universe. This Personal Computer game had a real console feel to it. Jumping around in 3D was a lot of fun. I look forward to Lego Universe because there are so many different things, and themes that could be used. I would also love to see this game make a hop over to the Playstation 3. Families will find a robust moderation system that stops offensive content. Alan is playing the beta version of the game, but we can not share any new insights at this time. No worries friends, we will provide as much information as we can, when we can. {07/15/2010} - Paul
