Game Reviews

Believe it or not, this game has been around for over 30 years! Originally published by a company named 3M, later by Avalon Hill, and finally by Avalon Hill/Hasbro. And what a progression this game has made, this version is absolutely beautiful.

Of course, how the game plays is what really matters. When I first heard of this game, I heard about what a great game it is and how it was far superior to Monopoly, yada-yada. Despite all the good word of mouth, I put off playing the game simply because a game about buying stocks, merging companies, and making money, sounded more like real life than a game. I put off playing the game for a long time but eventually I gave in and gave the game a try. WOW! I spent a lot of time thinking about the game and what I did right and wrong for many days after playing it. No game had ever done that to me and I couldn't wait to play it again. Years later this is still one of my favorite games, and it is FAR and AWAY superior to Monopoly!!

If you buy only one board game this year, make it Monopoly. I guarantee you'll be happy you did and you may never want to play Monopoly again!

I have been playing Acquire for a very long time. I started to play when I was eight years old about thrity years ago and it never gets old. Now I starated to play with my eight year old and he loves it.

Acquire is one of the most incredible Money-Hotel/Corporation games to be invented! Fast paced, full of surprises! Mergers, takeovers and upsets. NO two games are ever alike and like the stock exchange, you don't know who is the winner until the "bell" rings! The reason this outshines games such as Monopoly, it that ACQUIRE it is truly a "group" game! All the players play until the end and enjoy the fun equally. In Monopoly the goal is to "wipe out" the other players. If you play with six people, eventually four or so are off doing other things. How exciting is it to watch a greedy mogul in the final conquering stages. In Acquire, everyone plays to the bitter end and more often then not, the winner may be decided by a one note difference; talk about suspenseful endings. Strategies that work one time, will vary the next. I enjoy that there is less luck; as in mind-numbing rolling of "casino mentality" dice, and more strategy. In Acquire you always have six options open to you, but will you make the right choice, or did you hold out too long. The result can change the direction of the game for all. Also, the corporation of the most importance or profit margin vary from game to game. In Monopoly, Boardwalk is always Boardwalk and Baltic Ave is always Baltic Ave. I seriously doubt anyone has ever won investing solely on Baltic Ave. Yet in Acquire, the third class corporations may end up on top in one game, while a middle stock may be the dominate one in the next game. Ahhh! Variety is the spice of life! Finally, the best aspect of Acquire is that the game only takes twenty to forty minutes;whereas, Mononoply may go on for days (for some of the players) Yawn!
I have taught over fifteen people this game and we have regular Acquire nights where we will play two to three games in one setting. Everyone have ACQUIRED their own GAME and have gone on to ACQUIRE other new players. One friend just named their new puppy ZETA... You may wonder where they ACQUIRED that name... get a game and find out! You won't be disappointed, but you may ACQUIRE a new addiction to a board game!

After I discovered Pit from a friend, I went online and ordered my own. It has been the best party game ever!!! I bring it over to a friend's house or take it on a trip, and everybody wants to play. All my friends are now addicted to it. It also is a good way to see the futures market at work.

The rules are straightforward and easy to learn, the pace can pick up very quickly making this game loads of fun- also the more people the better!

This is a very fun game. It can get quite loud when you play. The object is to collect every card of one kind by blind trading. Everyone is trading at one time so it can be loud. O.K. it WILL be loud. Now every time people come over, they want to play Pit. I wish I got a comission for all the people who went out and bought it after they played at our house. I'm giving some as gifts for Christmas because they are hard to find in the stores.

I had heard many good things about NAMCO's new weapon-weilding game "Soul Blade," and therefore decided to try it myself. I was not dissapointed. Soul Blade, while lacking character diversity, is a great fighter. The use of weapons makes the game interesting, and the ability to use multiple weapons for each character is a great plus. To add to it, the way weapons are received was well planned and fit in well with each characters plot. I've searched long and hard, but this is the first game that had interesting plots for each character and movies that actually told those plots well. The opener, music, and sounds are all great, especially the ending theme. Characters are detailed, and weapons are diverse. This all combines to create a great game. The only downside is the lack of characters (most special characters are only recreations of the original ones) and the lack of special moves. If you forget these problems, Soul Blade is amazing. I recommend it to anybody who likes a good plot, enjoys easy-to-use moves, and who simply likes fighting games. And don't worry; the game is incredibly challenging! If you like easy games, lots of movies, and plenty of characters, don't get this game. For the rest of you, make certain you get this game.

The simple fact of the matter here is, this is a great game. Compare it with any other fighting game on the Playstation console, and Soul Blade holds its own and more. The gameplay itself is outstanding and the graphics are as good, if not better, than all of the games that appear higher on this list.

The thing that sets this game apart from the rest is the Edge Master mode. Each character in the game is given a quest to seek out the ultimate weapon, Soul Edge. Along the way the characters aquire weapons for completing missions along their given quest. Each weapon has its own attributes that help its user advance further and further. Generally, as the character gets deeper into his/her quest, the weapons become deadlier and stronger. This feature makes the game's replay value much higher than the average fighting game.

If you are not satisfied with this game (especially at this price), then maybe you should stay away from fighting games in general.

this was an absolute dream to play. it may be slow at times, such as losing your weapon, but the gameplay more than makes up for this amazing game. it had a great storyline, characters and a huge array of weapons. the weapon master mode was frustrating but enjoyable. basically, buy this game, you need it, it will fill the void in your empty lives.

I stumbled across this thing in the Urban Outfitters magazine. Laughed it off.
Two months later, I bought one. Now it is an essential part of my gaming experience. Well, tv. as well. I make my girlfriend squeeze on it and watch "24."
If you wanna get sucked into the t.v further than you ever have by being engulfed in sound. I suggest you get this, and hook up external speakers. Get it before Halo 2 comes out, and you probably won't need to leave the house.

I saw this thing at CES and I have to admit feeling is believing. I laid down on this thing and forgot where I was for about a half an hour. The bass rumbles along with your controller and the sound is all around you. It was really cool for gaming and I bought one from amazon and i love it.

Face it, you're probably staring at this thing thinking- what the....
That's how I stumbled upon this piece of furniture, looking for computer speakers and randomly taken to the pyramat item. After reading the near perfect reviews, I decided to splurge a little (it was the end of the exam period- i deserved a toy). This thing is pretty amazing. Here's why if you have the money to buy this, you should:
1) Comfort: this thing is better than most pieces of funtiture in your house/dorm room right now. Forget the fact it has sorround sound built in, I'm talking about the material and comfort of it. All my friends who have used it have loved the comfort.
2) Sound: amazing. the built in speakers simulate a sorround sound effect very well. However, plug in 2 [bad] external speakers (for $... at any electronics store) and get real sorround sound. Pretty amazing, awesome to use for watching or listening to anything.
3) Customer Service: My first pyramat was actually busted. I called them up, no wait, talked to somebody in managment immediatly, they sent out a new pyramat the next day and set up a paid home pickup for my busted mat. Best service I've ever encountered.
4) Just plain cool. Your headrest is a subwoofer. You are sorrounded by sound. You can't really beat that.

Drawbacks:
-The 4inch sub could be more powerful, although its right next to your head, but it still could be a little more powerful without getting too dangerous.
-These aren't Altec Lansing speakers...but for the price for everything included you shouldn't expect them (nor are they too far off from the quality of the altec's I have on my computer)

So if you're looking for a fun new addition to wherever, seriously just buy this and check it out. For the price it's probably the best, most useful toy you will have bought in a while.

I bought this for my two year old's birthday. We played it with her 5,6,11,12,& 13 year old Uncles and cousins. The older kids played it all that night and all day the next day. My two year old thought it was fun to run around on the pads, but she was able to point at her nose when they said "nose" and point at her knee when they said "knee". Even some of the adults got in on the fun. Very fun game for all ages.

My 3 year old daughter got this game as a gift and she LOVES to play! My 7 year old also LOVES this game! It is really cute and anytime they play - someone is giggling. (...). It is a good oppotrunity to teach children about being a good winner/loser no matter who wins. That said- this game is just plain fun! I've even played this one with my kids and we all have a good time. You can't go wrong with this!

I bought this for my two 4 1/2 year-old grandchildren. They really liked it at first until one child "won" several times in a row and the other hadn't "won" at all. The idea is basically very good, but I don't like the "winners-losers" aspect at all. It's totally inappropriate for this age, and even for older children, there is nothing they can do to "win"- it's all random. In addition, I would have liked it to be a little slower paced for pre-schoolers (more time to "skip to the square" or do a dance between games, etc.). I wouldn't buy another one or advise others to do so.

Excruciating game as well as mind-boggling and fun to play. Probably the best educational game I have played. You enjoy time with your friends making allies, enemies, and neutralities. The best part is your parents can't complain because it's educational and you watch TV and other things that parents which there children would abide by.

This game goes right along with Axis and Allies, Battle Cry, Risk, History of the World, Illuminati, Machiavelli, and all those other popular war games that are so fun. The cool thing about this game is that you do not use dice, counters, or anything to determine the result of the game. It all depends on lying and cheating on people at the right time and strategizing your moves correctly. It takes place during different seasons in the early 1900's when the "powder keg" of Europe had already exploded. If you are looking for a game that will last for hours and give you communication, and most importantly FUN, buy this game. You have nothing to lose. It is a great family game. I personally play the game in a club in my school. I learned how to convoy, support, and gain territory all thanks to the communication I had with my fellow peers.

Diplomacy is the greatest game ever created, it's simple and complex at the same time. From the first time that i played diplomacy I was hooked. Diplomacy has two big disadvantages. Firstly it can be hard to get seven people together to play, secondly games can last hours, MANY hours. I can remember games that went on for five or six hours that were no closer to an ending. Besides this pitfall diplomacy is probably the best game ever made.

My Step-son has this Mancala set and he brought it over from his Mom's house to teach me how to play one day and I wasn't sure exactly how to play but after playing it several time I got to remember that Mancala is also played in the Philippines but it's called Sungka there. The rules are pretty much the same but this game is awesome and teaches you counting and thinking skills even at my age it's good to brush up on those skills. I recommend this game and I'll probably buy my own so I can play with my husband bcuz he's a pro at this game bcuz he played when he was a child in the Philippines.

Mancala is a game of Marbles,take marbles out and try to be the one with the mast marbles on your side and you will win.Mancala is a game for children,teenagers,and adults,spend hours playing it with family and friends.

This is a marvelous games for young minds to learn strategy and counting with. The game is deceptively simple which makes it appropriate for fairly young kids (5+) to be able to play. However, in order to do well at this game, kids need to think ahead -- not only to set up their future moves but also to think about how to prevent their opponent from getting some easy scores.

The board size of this version is pretty much perfect. It's large enouch that the stones can't get lost yet it's ability to fold in half makes it possible to bring along as a travel game; because it folds, the game pieces can be easily stored inside. (Note: like any game with game pieces, the stones/pits can be lost. The great thing with this game is that they can be easily replaced with beach pebbles if necessary.)

This game can be entertaining for hours. And, because there is some strategy, it is also fun for adults to play. We highly recommend this game.

I played Heroes III earlier this year at a friend's house, and I was hooked. I was about to buy the Mac version when I saw that 3do was finally coming out with the expansion set for Mac. The only flaw in this game is that it sucks up your time. If you are not careful, that "one more turn" can keep you up until the rooster crows and it's time for work.

The game is a nice combination of role-playing and strategy games. I prefer turn-based games like this to real-time games like Warcraft, as it is based more on strategy and less on dexterous mouse-clicking. This game is also great for multiplayer, either online with Game Ranger, or the hotseat version with multiple players taking turns on the same computer. The only caveat is that the first player seems to have a better starting position in most scenarios.

The only critisms of this port would be the lack of the map and scenario editors which are available in the PC versions. While there are plenty of scenarios and the randomly generated maps are challenging enough, it would be fun to create your own. The other is that the manual, which should have been printed and not just included on the CD so that you can use it while playing the game, is not comprehensive and uses the tired scam of trying to get you to spend more money to figure out how to win the thing.

That said, I can't think of a better game to buy for the Mac. This one was well worth the wait.

I can't really say that Might and Magic is actually similar to this game, but if you liked the other Heroes of Might and Magic games, you should like this one. The old Mac game 'King's Bounty' was basically the direct predecessor of the Heroes games... Heroes III encompasses all the old creature names, etc., and concepts (MP, HP, Exp., etc.) Retrospectively, Heroes III is essentially a glorified version of its predecessors... spectacular animations, decent music(adding a great environment to the world) and an enhanced interface, allowing you to manipulate your heroes and empire even more. For a new gamer, it takes a while to learn all the functions; I myself am still learning new features. You can try and perfect your strategy in a Hotseat game(playing with other human/computer players on the same computer), Online Multiplayer Game(play against other human/computer players on-line), a regular campaign game, or one of the many scenarios.

This is a great game! It does get you hooked, though, so be careful. You can always save the game, however, so if you limit yourself you can always come back later to finish a scenario. In this game, you are... well... you are you. You don't have one character that's you, you are as many characters as you recruit. These characters are called Heroes. There are different types of Heroes, all having different abilities and statistics. In the beginning, you can either start was is called a campaign, where it's usually 3-4 scenarios all towards the same goal - in some you carry on your heroes to the next one, in some the first 3 are all different, and in the end you pick the group you want to use. There are more than 15 different campaigns.
For a single scenario, it's just one scenario, you complete it, and you're done. When doing this, you can either start with completely random things, or you can chose what different castles you want, what resource you want to start with, and what single hero you will begin with. There are 9 different castles, and for each castle there are maybe 10 heroes. For resources, you get to choose between gold, an artifact, or a different resource (depending on the castle you've chosen). Then you begin the game. In each scenario and campaign you have a different goal - most of the time it's to defeat all your enemies castles and heroes, but there are some where you have to kill a monster, gather all resource supplies(?), get a certain amount of gold, collect an artifact, kill a certain hero, or defend one of your castles from being captured by the enemy. When you start, it all depends on the certain scenario on what you have. Some start with your only hero, and you have to get a castle before you can really start playing - and in this game, if you are without a castle for a week, then you lose. In other scenarios, you start with one or more castles, and sometimes more than your chosen hero. In your castle, you can buy something to improve it once a day. It has barracks for different creatures to recruit, resource silos that will earn you some resources each day, mage towers that enable your heroes to learn magic spells, castles to improve the defences of the castle, and the greatest thing is the Capital, which you don't get until you get a few other things first, but once you do, it increases the amount of creatures in your barracks each week, and it gives you the mighty sum of 4000 gold per day. In your castle you can also recruit heroes, a choice of two per week - unless you recruit one, then a different one fills its place. And don't get me wrong - it takes money to recruit your heroes and creatures. You can also find money around the map with your hero, but most of the time you'll find yourself short of cash - unless it's a really long game and you've bought everything in your castle, have the limit of eight heroes, and your money is just piling up.
But enough about the castle - it's very important, but what you're trying to do is achieve your goal, and unless it's to accumulate gold, you can't achieve it by doing nothing with you hero. In any case, you have to have your hero capture resource places (ore pits, crystal mines etc.) so you have the resources to buy the things in your castle. You hero has a certain amount he/she can move each day - this increase with certain statistics you can get, or certain artifacts. There are also spells, if your hero is advanced enough to learn them and you have the right mage tower (and level) that enable him/her to transport somewhere on the map. That map in the beginning, by the way, is black, and you can only see things once you've explored there. If you have an ally, then you get to see where they've explored as well. Your hero sometimes starts out with a good army, but normally you have to wait to fight anything until you get enough troops in your castle. You hero has 8 'slots', which you can fill with an unlimited amount of 8 different creatures. There are different levels of creatures as well, and some are better than others. Your hero fights creatures around the map to get places, to gain experience (enough allows him/her to go up a level), to gather resources and artifacts, or to win the game. When you attack 'a' creature, sometimes they will flee and you can chase them (not on the map, your hero stays in one place) or let them go, and sometimes they will join you, which is always nice. You can also kill enemy heroes, but take in mind that if their army is better, you can die. You can make your hero retreat, however, and recruit him/her in the tavern in your castle. You can sort of view an enemies army by putting your mouse over them and holding down a certain key - I think it's the control key, the tap key, or the option key. Some heroes are also better than others from experience. You can also gain experience by doing other things besides killing beasts.
So now you have this very long narrative, and I still haven't told you everything about this game. Don't worry, you can figure it out yourself (I'm so nice). This is a really great game, for children and adults alike. It does involve strategy, however, so maybe you should be at least 10 before playing. It's a great game, and I recommend it to anyone who likes computer games - this version is for Mac OS, but there are Windows versions. This pack comes with three heroes games, all having many different campaigns and scenarios - as you can pick levels to each single scenario, that is almost an unlimited amount. You can also create your own map, but I haven't really figured out how to do this the exact way I want to, so I can't help you there.
I hope this review has helped, even it was really long. I hope you enjoy the game!

The game is great, you get the best basketball players. The multiplayer is good. And the the story is well-built.

In the beginning, there was NBA Jam. And it was good.

But lo, then the NBA Jam series began to be less good. Various other basketball games came along, and for a while it seemed that we would be subjected to "serious" basketball simulations for the rest of eternity, or else just horrible ripoffs of NBA Jam. And it was not so good.

But then, along with the next-gen systems came NBA Street, a slick basketball game that wasn't a full-strength simulation and yet wasn't a (complete) NBA Jam clone! It was good.

And now there is NBA Street 2. And lo, it is very good.

They've taken the gameplay of the original NBA Street and polished it up real nicely. The new cel-shaded engine looks awesome -- it gives everything a sort of cartoonish 70s edge without becoming goofy or overly unrealistic. They added dozens of new trick moves, tons of new (and old) players, and some much-needed new abilities (such as trick counters, special passes, and a way to control someone who's not the ball carrier). You can also play 3- and 4-player games now, while Street 1 limited you to just 2.

Other improvements include the new "Be A Legend" mode, where you can build a custom player up from humble beginnings (you start out at a neighborhood court in New York City) to be a national powerhouse on the street-ball circuit. There are a number of real-life courts featured in the game, rendered in fairly amazing detail (including a great-looking 3D crowd). They've also ditched their annoying announcer (Joe "The Show") for a real NYC DJ, who provides some high-quality (if occasionally odd) commentary that takes much longer to get old. Custom teams can now only have 5 players on them (down from 15), which means you can no longer have *every* good player in the game on your team at the same time. Gamebreaker shots (which subtract points from your opponent) are back, as are new, hard-to-pull-off-but-unblockable "Level 2 Gamebreakers" (which are just pretty damn cool to watch). There's also a new set of music, featuring the new "EA Trax" feature (basically, EA licensed a bunch of artists whose music is featured in all their games now).

Is there a downside? Well, you can play 3- and 4-player games, but you can't put 3 human players on the same team! That's kind of a bummer. Also, the AI is still pretty weak, even on the highest settings (the game compensates by basically crippling your characters stats' at the higher settings, which is *not* the way you should do it!). But it's still a lot of fun, and the multiplayer's great.

Anyone who enjoys arcade basketball will find NBA Street 2 to be a great game, and a big improvement over the original. If you're not sure, give it a rent, and it'll probably win you over.

The first NBA street had alot of cool characters that you could rally up against or place beside you on your team. Also you can create your own player and the items that you the player have to unlock are countless. This is the exact same for NBA Street Vol. 2 but with a little more. I love how they suped all modes up and the pace of the basketball game is even better on screen than before. I still wish they had a few different camera angles to play the game but that works easily for instant replay mode where you can move around your whole character to watch every millimeter he made to make that fabulous dunk. Anyways this is a good game to buy mainly because I'm not a real basketball fan but I really like this game and the length it takes to complete everything and unlock every cool hidden item the game contains is very lengthy!

You may have played Pikmin 1, but now the sequel is coming.One of the cool things about pikmin 2 is that you get to play as a co-op(two people playin at once). There is a multiplayer part where you play against other people and you get to kill each other. There are also new pikmin!There are still the old ones too.
Red-Survives fire, normal pikmin
Yellow-Picks up bombs, thrown extra high
Blue-Survives in the water
White-Poisinos to bulborbs(the mushroom dog things)
Purple-It is fat, Stronger than other pikmin
If you buy this game, then prepare for new challenges and harder enemys. If you play this game, then your mind will go crazy, because this game if filled with puzzles.When this game is out,GET IT!

People have been waiting for so long that they can't wait until agust 30 2004 thats when its coming out i checked 10 different websites and thats what they all say. Plus to make it better there is co-op (2 people playing at the same time) and 2 new colored pikmin. Plus the old ones to.

Red- can stand fire
Yellow- can hold bomb rocks and can stand electrity
Blue- can swim
white- poisinous
purple- they are fat and can esily kill things when you throw them on your enemy.
I beat pikmin and pikmin 2 looks even better i heard every time you beat it the levels change but i'm not sure? I'f you like pikmin you'll love pikmin 2.

P.s. Buy this game

I can't wait till Pikmin 2 releases in stores. I beat the first game easily so I want to play Pikmin 2 really bad! I think the purple pikmin and white pikmin will be so cool though you can only get them underground because they don't have Onions.