Music Reviews

okay, here is my advice:buy the musicly hopeless pakage. trust me. i actually bought both sets and this is the second best

Fun, easy to learn, and kind of useless. I say buy this if you're in a band and need a harmonica for a song. I learned how to play well in 2 hours. Kids will quickly get bored with this though. Buy if needed or if you desperately need a hobby.

This is not a deep, deep sim of ancient life, warfare and economics.

It is, however, a deeply engaging game that has a lot more complexity that first glance would make one think.

The game mechanisms include city management: handled by the usual mechamism of building and upgrading structures by city. The most compelling part of this is that at each level of development your city can only hold so many structures. Build too many farms and you can't build barracks for better troops. Same in reverse, build to many troop producers and you'll startve. Getting this balance right across your empire is critical.

Economics are handled by a simple trade interface that allows you get buy resources you need and sell goods you overproduce. The concept is simple but reasonably dynamic in terms of supply affecting demand.

Combat is handled a la Legion where you deploy your troops before a battle and then turn them loose and they are outside your command. This feature aggravates a lot of gamers but it is a very unique feel that keeps this game from being another same old, same old. I love it despite some nits about it. Troop types really matter and failure to balance an army is a fatal flaw.

Diplomacy keeps this from being a 5 star type game. Simply put, there is no diplomacy. The designers claim that treaties and such things meant nothing in this age (likely true) but it means you are, in effect, always at war. You have relationship levels with other countries but good or bad relations do not, to me, appear to mean anything.

Overall I liken this game to the old Conquest of the New World or maybe, on a more well known level, to Axis and Allies. Games that are not of the depth of a Civ or Europa Universalis but aremore accessible to all gamers but still really fun. in the end, that is what matters and this game is fun.

I'm glad to be the first one to write a review about this game after all the hard work developers, programmers, producers and betatesters (I was one of them!) put into it.

The game is located in the middle east at 2500 BC. A complex mosaic of tiny nations which recreate from the most known realms and empires (such as Egypt, Hitites, Assyria, Ur, etc) to the least known (Makkan, Dahae, etc). The game situates them all together at the same historical time to enable you to possibility to live the hypothetical clash between those different nations. Purists will complain about it, but it's fun to have the choice to see a battle between Sumer and Persia for instance. And I like to call them the "what if" possibility.

The game has a similar concept to Legion (it's made by the same designers, Slitherine) which will enable Legion fans to quickly be comfort with it, BUT it has many new features and a new front end:

New features

* You have a trade addition which will allow you to sell your surpluses of stuff and buy the items you do not produce or own.
* Happinesss is now a serious problem to deal with! Keeping your citizens happy is a must. Consider building a strong religious concept or your population will start revolting and halting production.
* Diplomacy now contemplates the ability to send diplomats to foreign nations and accept other nations representatives as well.
* Grand campaign scenario (to play the whole middle east from Egypt to Persia) or regional scenarios (Asia minor, Egypt, etc)

The graphics are really good, the music is nice and you do not a "super computer" to play it with lots of Ram MB or 3-D board.

Overall, the game will assure you lots of hours of action and entertainment with multiple nations to choose and scenarios to play at a reasonable price.

This is the absolutly the best controller for gamecube. It has:

turbo
wirelss
programmable
mini

So I reccomend this to evryone out there.

This controller is the best. It has 2 rumble paks. You can porgram it. It is wireless. It has turbo. And best of all it is mini.This is the best gamecube controller.

This is a surprisingly fun and exciting game. Graphics and sound are superb, and it's actually quite challenging. Vroom!

This game is great! First off the the trucks look just like thery do in real life! The tracks are great and the trucks handle prety much like they do in real life! The only problem I have withe this game is that you have to work to get Grave Digger. But overall this game is superb!

MTX Mototrax is the worst racing game of all time.First of all, the controls are not all that great.I really don't like the gameplay at all.I can't say too much about the xbox live on there.Everytime the host has to change the tracks he has to exit the room and start a new room.There is no lobby you race around until the game starts.I'm going to try to get my money back cause this game sure wasn't worth it.

I can't believe the reviews this game is getting! This game is amazing!
Not to mention it has the best music for a game since Tony Hawk's Underground! With the new SLIPKNOT song on it, "Don't Get Too Close".

Oh by the way, amazon.com has wrong information, the new Slipknot cd (Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses) comes out MAY 25, Not April 27! www.RoadRunnerRecords.com if you dont beleive me. Check for yourself.

Outside of Slipknot, some of the featured artists and tracks on MTX: Mototrax are:

A.F.I. - "The Nephilim"
Black Label Society - "Doomsday Jesus"
The Descendents - "Everything Sucks Today"
The Distillers - "Dismantle Me"
Disturbed - "Intoxication"
Dope - "Burn"
Faith No More - "Digging The Grave"
Jet - "Take It Or Leave It"
Metallica - "Motorbreath"
The Misfits - "20 Eyes"
Pennywise - "Now I Know"
The Stooges - "Funhouse"
Thrice - "Artist In The Ambulance"
....and more

also for Slipknot fans, A three-minute Slipknot video will is included in MTX: Mototrax as well as a secret character and bike designed by the band. A special cheat code to unlock the secret character will be placed on the band's upcoming album.

Trying to make a 'Blitz' suitable for everyone, has made a game that no one will want to play. You buy a Blitz for the unabashed and totally NON-PC violence, kicking, punching and general mayhem. This sanitized pap will revolt Blitz fans, and fans of 'real' Football games will not like it.

Buy this game when it hits the $1.99 bargin bin. Which should be Dec. 26 when stores are tying to unload a warehouse full of these coasters.

the game is tite because you can pick no first down as a cheat and you can put tite cheats and you can get on fire and knock somebody helmet off and the only way to do that is to sack the QB and you get to ingur people and they call in new people to take there place and there cheerleader now and couchs to and there people celebrate on the side line and when the people are down you can hit them and there is a another cheat that you get to run out of bounce

This is a good deal on some of Pangea's most popular titles. I'd rate each game like this: 1) Otto Matic -- best game of the bunch, extremely creative, somewhat challenging, though it seems to be written with kids in mind, hence not too tough, great graphics. 2) Enigmo -- fantastic puzzle game, never seen anything quite like it. Very challenging, especially if you try to beat the clock and get the bonus points, great graphics. 3) Bugdom 2 -- also extremely creative, easier than Otto Matic to complete, suitable for kids, great graphics. 4) Cro Mag Rally -- this was ok, I'm not a fan of racing games, but it's very suitable for someone looking for a cartoonish racing game. 5) Billy Frontier -- This game was mediocre and I would've rather see some other game included in the collection instead of this one. Besides average game play, I didn't care for the spewing blood that frequents the Billy Frontier experience and stands in stark contrast to Pangea's record of making fun, yet psychologically sound games. I contacted Pangea, and they said there's no way to turn off the blood effects which makes Billy Frontier, imho, unsuitable for children or anyone with a sense of humanity 8-) --------------------------------------- Overall, it's a nice collection at a reasonable price. Each game ran perfectly at max settings on my 1.25gz G4 Power Mac running 10.2.6 w/ 768 MB of memory. My only other complaint is also part compliment. Of the games I liked, which was 4 out of 5, I found each game a bit short and left me wishing for more. 10 levels on Otto Matic is not nearly enough!

I really can't say enough about this package of creative games: Bugdom 2, Cro-Mag Rally, Billy Frontier, Enigmo, and Otto Matic. Each game has its own style and theme; the diversity is outstanding. All of them demonstrate the same quality of graphics, music and versatility of action as the original Bugdom. Since I loved that software, this package wasn't a hard sell for me. Brian Greenstone of Austin, Texas is the owner of Pangea Software which recently incorporated in 1999. He contracts artists and musicians, so it makes sense that some of the products in this package have a distinct look and feel. The background style, weaponry, and action of Bugdom 2 and Otto Matic, are reminiscent of Bugdom, yet the games are different enough that they have an element of excitement, mystery and surprise. I was drawn into each new level of each game with "so, what's going to happen here?!" I love games with a quest and I love exploring new frontiers within each level. All of the games were rated high by the gaming magazines and most have downloadable demos on the internet for folks to sample before investing in the pack. All in all, the total price for each game purchased separately is $115, so the Super Pack is quite the bargain. I can't imagine how many hours of great exploration this package might offer. It would be a great gift for older children on travel with their laptops (ok, with their parent's laptops!).

Bugdom 2 revolves around Skip, the grasshopper (at least I think that's what it is) who loses his knapsack to a bad bug right in the opening scene. On his quest to retrieve his sack he has adventures with snails, friendly talking chipmunks, white rats caught in mouse traps, water toys, and garden gnomes (you know, those ugly little statues in English gardens). There's even more bad and good bugs, but that should give you a flavor for this rich and varied landscape. I had trouble sewer-surfing and still haven't mastered the last few levels, but found this game to be equal to the original in fun and required skill.

Otto Matic is a space nightmare over ten different planets or levels. The Giant Brain from Planet X is determined to take over the universe and the player, in the form of an otto matic robot, of course, is out to save humans and escape in his/her rocket ship (Thanks, Brian Greenstone, for not making this one gender -specific). There are 25 different space creatures and many different weapons in this colorful and action-packed game. The robot tries his/her hand at skiing, riding soap bubbles, bumper cars, and being shot out of a cannon, but that's not all. Very cool game with loads of diverse settings and tasks to master.

Cro-Mag Rally is a series of race courses involving a caveman in different vehicles. He avoids obstacles and picks up weapons like bone bombs and bottle rockets. Two players can be displayed on a split screen; multi-players can play over the internet (but the last is only supported by OS 9 and won't work with OS X). I'm not a race fan, so this one didn't appeal to me that much. Key driven only, this game doesn't use the mouse. I didn't like the voice or music in Cro-Mag Rally either, so I guess it just wasn't for me.

Billy Frontier is different altogether from the games already mentioned. It has a strong cowboy theme and the enemies are space creatures. Maybe it's better to kill a space monster, but the game does involve squirting blood... over and over as the player masters the keystrokes to win. I wouldn't recommend it to kids and was even a little grossed out myself. Target practice involves replicating arrow key sequences within the time allowed. The action is keyboard driven only; like Cro-Mag Rally, there's no mouse here. There's also stampedes, duels, and shootouts requiring different levels of skill and a repeating theme with chili peppers. The look and feel of the game is totally distinct from Bugdom, Otto Matic, or even Cro-Mag Rally, so it offers interest, a distinct change of pace, and a totally new challenge to the player.

Enigmo is still even more different. The action in this game requires logic and experimentation in solving 50 levels of liquid puzzles. Each level involves droplets of liquid (water, oil or lava) and a variety of tools (including bumpers, slides, accelerators and/or sponges). The object of each level is to combine the objects in a manner to capture the droplets in a repository or repositories. It's an amazing challenge given the configuration from "drip" to "bucket." I loved trying to figure out which tools to use where and the variety of combinations that were possible. I'm told that players can even make their own puzzles and post them on the internet or email them to friends. The game includes an additional 20 levels for kids; I could see the educational value right away. Very different and very cool! Excellent exercise in logical thinking for all ages.

Each game has different system requirements, but for all games to run, the user must have Macintosh GS3/400mhz, 256MB RAM, Mac OS 10.2.6, and ATI Rage 128 3D accelerator. Most computers since 2000 meet these requirements, but be sure to check. Pangea is also great in supplying free updates to its products.

I bought this game thinking it is going to be just like mike tyson's punchout for nes. Actually, the gameplay is quite similar, but the main difference is that there is a stamina meter that runs out after a few consecutive punches, which [is bad]. However, you'll hate the game at first, but after you get used to it, it is quite fun and challenging. Oh yeah, the graphics and music I would consider to be average. Overall, it is a descent game.

Although Punch King is already being overlooked, it is one of the funnest boxing games I've ever played. Is it like Punch out? You bet. Only now it's enhanced and portable. The signature boxing moves remain, the sound is fantastic and this game's quite a challenge. I'm very impressed.

I remember being about thirteen, coming home from school and playing this game on my Apple IIgs. Hours upon hours wasted. Well, now I can waste even more because Capcom has released it on Xbox and Playstation, completely updated yet very faithful to the original.

The story starts with you as Robin Hood in Sherwood forest. You have to defeat the Sheriff of Nottingham in a similar style of play that made the original Defender so great. It's a territorial battle, where the number of men that you recruit and have stationed in a province will determine your ability to protect that province against attack. This part of the game is rather quick and thrown together. They would've done better to extend it, since it is the primary difference between this updated version and the original release.

From here you enter into the original storyline. England is in disarray and it's up to you to save it. Several other nobles are vying for the same properties as you are, and you must choose your properties and fortify them with castles and men, all the while watching your back against attack. The ultimate goal is to defeat other nobles and claim their territories, and essentially be the last one standing when it's over.

As a standalone game it's hard to recommend very highly. It's relatively simple compared to the monolithic games of today, and doesn't have a lot of "sparkle" to it. But as a fan of the original it's like being reacquainted with an old friend. They pay homage to the original scenes, even lifting some of the actual text and cut scenes directly from it. One of the almost humorous additions is the animated princesses after you rescue them. Instead of the simple silhouettes in the window, you now see a scantily clad vixen straight from a Victoria's Secret add. That probably wouldn't have fit in too well back in the 80s. On the most part the scenes are great, especially in the swordfighting sequences. They now take place in 3D castle settings and utilize unique camera angles and perspectives to show some amazing animated scenery.

Overall it's a simple but still great game. On this review page, the major complaint was that the game is "hard." Even if this were true it doesn't mean it's a bad game. And with a little practice you can easily master the elements of the game, from catapult launching to swordfighting to basic strategy. If you're a fan of the original, buy it without hesitation. But if you're new to the game, I'd suggest renting first to see if you like it, since it's so different than what's currently popular in the market.

This game is Awsome! It is very realistic, in Castle Raid missions if you are killed you are then held captive and have to either Attempt an Escape or Bribe the Guard with 100 Gold. If I were you and had to choose between playing some game like Ninja Gaiden and playing this I would most certainly choose Robin Hood: Defender Of The Crown

THIS GAME IS AWSOME!!!

It is a cool game, alsome theme, and great fighting. The bad thing, if considered bad, is the grafics.If your new with the Jack let me tell you, after being put in the future by a evil morfing, thing named Aku, you have to fight your way though the lands, to go back in time and undo the evil that was placed upound him. Let me tell you, this game is great, if you like fighting and nija stuff. Samurai Jack is alsome.

I'm not sure if that says more about me than the game but anyway...If you're not sure you like Samurai Jack this game is definately a rental but if you love Jack you've got to have this game. It's not really much more than your standard platformer but after playing Metal Gear Solid, Hitman, GTA (series) it's refreshing and hard to put down. I finished it in one night (granted, that night went from 7 PM to 2 AM) hence the rental comment above. The only flaw, and it could be considered a big one, is the camera control. It will take you forever to get used to it and I never ended up being able to say it was okay. It makes it way too hard to keep up with enemies on the screen, especially the flying ones. But again, if you like Jack, you'll like this game in spite of it's (one minor) flaw(s).