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Top Six Characters that Need to Come Out of Retirement

Pato Banton sang a song with UB40 -- Baby Come Back. There are plenty of video game characters who have been retired for one reason or another. Some of them we would like to see again. If absence makes the heart fonder, then I am as fond of these characters as I can be. So please join me as we explore the Top Six Characters that Need to Come Out of Retirement. Maybe just maybe someone out there reading can help bring these characters back. 

Big Three Embrace Indie Games

The video game industry goes in trends. We have seen a variety of trends over the decades. Numerous companies tried to create an iconic character in 2D side scrolling adventures. The industry went crazy making 2D fighting games. There was a mad rush to create 3D fighting games. Many companies rushed to put out FPS games. Want to know what the latest trend in the video game industry is? Indie Games. Sony is talking about it, Nintendo is talking about, Microsoft is talking about it, and its all over Steam.

Gaming that is Inclusive

Every so often I get an email, or meet someone at a trade show that asks why do we ignore the 'M' rated games. There are a plethora of reasons to do so, one of the most prominent is I support gaming that is inclusive, not exclusive. By its very nature a game that is seventeen and older only is excluding a large percentage of the family. They are exclusive games that contain content children should not be exposed to. Children and younger teens are being told by the secular gaming media the exclusive games are cool. That is what you aspire towards. I disagree with that molding of the gaming population.

cg-now

RHYTHM PARTY

 

 

SCORE: 87

 

RHYTHM PARTY 

 

For what seems like years I have been encouraging Konami to bring DDR into the Kinect realm. RHYTHM PARTY is sort of like testing the waters for Konami. This is a dance game that is not really a dance game. Confused? Hopefully I can explain that statement in the coming sentences and paragraphs. Otherwise I will look pretty foolish.

Family members can dance all around while playing RHYTHM PARTY. This Xbox 360 Kinect game does not require it though. There are balls and hoops in RHYTHM PARTY. The balls move into the hoops. The player must get a body part over there at the same time. So you can dance all around, but it is not needed. You can do cheerleader poses, or martial arts poses if that fits you better. But you can also dance around.

I played RHYTHM PARTY both ways. I danced to the music and got body parts into the balls and hoops at the right time. I also posed throughout the levels. Both ways are a lot of fun. I will warn you that kicking something above chest level can send you to a menu screen. Kicking something at chest level is a nice achievement. Those of us high kickers have that notch on our Xbox 360 belts. HI-YAH!

The visuals and special effects in RHYTHM PARTY are AWESOME! The game puts you into the screen. Well some levels do that. Others will pixelate you. What makes RHYTHM PARTY stand out is the special effects. The better you do the more changes the screen will show. For example I was turned into a robot in one level. I got wings and a crown in another one.

The music in RHYTHM PARTY is pretty limited. The good news is since there are not a lot of songs, there is less of a chance of something offending your family. The bad news is you will go through all the songs pretty quickly. I personally found a couple of songs that I enjoyed. The biggest shock in RHYTHM PARTY is Vanilla Ice is making a come back.

RHYTHM PARTY is much better than I was expecting it to be. The ten dollar price tag for this downloadable game is lower than most games on store shelves. The trade off is there are less songs in RHYTHM PARTY. All in all I found RHYTHM PARTY to be a fun game to play. I hope to see more games like this Kinect title in the future.

The dancers in certain songs may raise some eyebrows.
- Paul

 

Graphics: 92%
Sound: 85%
Replay/Extras: 79%
Gameplay: 93%
Family Friendly Factor: 87%
System: Xbox 360 (Kinect)
Publisher: Konami
R
ating: 
‘E’- Everyone
{Alcohol Reference}

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pbury@familyfriendlygaming.com