Gaming For GIrls

Although American McGee’s Alice is no longer being sold, it originally came out way back in 2000, it remains one of the best video games for girls of all time. American McGee’s Alice broke the mould since it was a third-person action PC video game that actually involved a female character kicking some butt. OK, there was Tomb Raider, but Alice blew that out of the water for many girls. American McGee’s Alice takes place in the same world in which the classic story, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland took place. It also featured music written by Nine Inch Nails’ Chris Vrenna. The game is set to take place several years after Alice returned home from her trips to Wonderland in Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. Alice is definitely older, more cynical, angry and depressed. In the game, she must fight to bring Wonderland back to its glory and is helped by a mangy looking Cheshire Cat. She also has to fight off the evil Queen of Hearts and her many minions. Even though the game got pretty good reviews, it never progressed into the PlayStation 2 port that was planned. There is a movie being made, which is based on the video game and is due for release sometime in 2009. Because there is a movie in development, there have been rumours that Electronic Arts may release a remake of American McGee’s Alice. However, don’t count your cards on this news, as it is all speculation.

Blue Tongue’s El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, is designed for the Sony PlayStation 2 and is rated E10, which means it is meant for people over the age of 10. If you have never heard of El Tigre, don’t worry, a lot of us haven’t, but that doesn’t mean you should not try this game out. It is actually pretty good. In the game, Mikla, who is also known as the Prince of Doom, is attacking Miracle City. He has enlisted the help of his AzTech minions and they are successfully creating chaos all over the place by setting the city’s villains against each other and starting battles. In all of this chaos, El Tigre’s relatives, White Pantera and Puma Loco, are kidnapped. Your objective is to save these two and get rid of all of the city’s villains. In the game you can choose to be El Tigre, Frida or Black Cuervo. El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera is a 2D platform game with a pretty straightforward goal and you run, jump, destroy enemies and avoid obstacles. There are four different areas, including Miracle City, Calavera Mesa, Old Cemetery and AzTech Ruins, which are based on scenes from the television show. The game also has all the features of a typical platform video game, such as double jumps, rolling blocks, falling platforms, bouncing pads, spike traps, moving carts and creatures you must avoid at all costs. Overall, El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera is a fun and entertaining game, suitable for girls and boys of all ages. Kids that know the show will get an extra kick out of the game.

While you may be thinking only of video games for your computer, Xbox, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS or Sony PlayStation, there are also a whole lot of video games out there made just for mobile devices. When we say mobile devices, we are talking about your cell phone, mp3 player, iPod or even palm pilot. One such game, put out by Gameloft, is Bubble Bash. This is one of those strangely addictive video games that you just want to play over and over again. It is perfect for passing the time while waiting in a long line at the movie theatre or even on a long road trip with the family. Bubble Bash starts off easy, really easy. Then it gets hard, really hard. You will need to shoot birds with the balloons in a set amount of time, while all the while fighting off little islanders who try to trap you. The levels advance and so do the grinding teeth that will prevent you from winning the game. Bubble Bash is one of the newest and most fun games on the iPod. Actually, there aren’t that many games to choose from on the iPod, so naturally Bubble Bash would be a winner, but even if it were the only game, it would still be well worth it. All you need to know is how to use the iPod wheel, once you’ve mastered it to listen to your music, you can play Bubble Bash.

Did you really enjoy Bee Movie? If you did, like so many other girls, you are probably going to love the fact that there is a Bee Movie Game out there. It was released, for the first time, in October 2007, so if you haven?t already picked it up or rented it, you might want to check it out today. However, if you bought the video game Shrek the Third you may have already seen a demo for the Bee Movie Game since details were included in that. Bee Movie Game is available on a wide variety of game consoles including the Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS and there are even Windows versions. With a range like that, chances are you have the right gaming console for this game! The game is very much like the movie and its star; Barry B. Benson again steals the show. You play this character throughout the game and the objective is to save the bees? most valuable product, their honey. During your adventure you will chase, fly, race and blast your way through the same world that you saw in the movie. This is an action adventure game for those of you who don?t want any type of violence or gore. Bee Movie Game is light hearted and suitable for anyone who wants to have a little fun. It is a great addition to the movie for all fans of Bee Movie.

Brash Entertainment’s Alvin and the Chipmunks, is a video game based on the movie of the same name and was only released late last year, around the holidays. The game tracks Alvin, Simon and Theodore as they perform their way through small venues to large events. The game has quite a variety of venues based on real places and events, but with a creative twist. There is the small high school prom or civic centre, but there is also the Burning Munk festival as well as the Rockathonapalooza. Alvin and the Chipmunks lets you enter a world where Alvin, Simon and Theodore are the kings of rock and roll, pop and even a little rap. This video game has a soundtrack of about forty well-known pop and rock songs including Blink-182’s, All the Small Things, Run-D.M.C’s, It’s Tricky and Elvis Presley’s, Heartbreak Hotel. There is even The Chipmunk Song; how could that possibly be left out of an Alvin and the Chipmunks video game? Other classic pop and rock songs that you will get to play include Video Killed the Radio Star, California Dreamin’, The Distance, Life is a Highway and You Really Got Me. Many of these songs were featured in the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie that was released in 2007. Alvin and the Chipmunks is designed to be very similar to other rhythm video games, such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band. If you are familiar with those, you will have no problem playing this game.

Crave Entertainment’s Spelling Challenges and More, for the Nintendo DS, should be right up the alley of any spelling and word game lover. It is rated E for everyone and as long as you can form some words, you can play this game. Do not be fooled, though, this is not a ‘spelling bee’ game. It is more of a game that involves the words, not just spelling. First of all, the game is formatted to be just like a game show. There is a funny and cheerful host, who narrates the game. He also gives you instructions for game play throughout and actually explains different tasks to you. The voice coming through the Nintendo DS’ little speakers is perfectly audible and very clear, which might come as a surprise to most. In Spelling Challenges and More there is a ‘career mode’ in which there are plenty of challenges. In fact, there is a series of mini-games that get harder and harder as you play. So, the better you do, the harder the challenges get. The very first part of these challenges is the spelling bee, where you are required to spell at least ten different words correctly. The weird thing about this, is that the host tells you the word as well as flashing it on the screen, so it is more like a memory test than a spelling bee. After you successfully complete the spelling bee, there are four more rounds of mini-games. They are called odd one out, right one and fifty-fifty. These extra rounds are randomly picked and are a lot more fun than the spelling bee, which can get boring, since it really is not much of a challenge. Odd one out; requires you to choose the word that is misspelled from a group of four words. Right one; is the complete opposite and you pick the word that is spelled correctly from the group. Fifty-fifty; has only two words to choose from and you pick the word with the correct spelling. After that, there are a series of other challenges, which are even more entertaining and increasingly difficult. Bomb blast; is an interesting little challenge, in which you must find every single misspelled word, out of a list of four, before a bomb blows up. Mish mash; is a challenge where the game gives you the definition and jumbled letters and you need to make up the word it is looking for. Not noun; has you choosing words from a list that are not nouns. Then there is, fill it in; which is just like Hangman. In addition to these, there are a few other challenges in Spelling Challenges and More. You select your choices by using the Nintendo DS stylus or touch screen and it is all very simple to control. The graphics of this game are really quite simple, but that is all the game needs. The host of Spelling Challenges and More is animated well, but for a game in which a bunch of letters and words being thrown at you, you can’t expect mind-blowing graphics.

If you and your friends like trivia video games, you are probably going to love EA?s Smarty Pants for the Nintendo Wii. This game is truly innovative and advanced, much like the gaming console it was designed for. Smarty Pants is a trivia video game that actually adjusts its questions to suit the age and location of the player. How amazing is that? The most important thing that you can do at the beginning of Smarty Pants is to carefully pick your Mii. Choose your age group accurately so that the Wii software can select the right level of questions for you. If you are only ten years old, don?t tell the Wii you are 25, otherwise you may get a whole lot of questions you won?t know the answers to, unless of course, you are a child genius, which you probably are. When choosing the details for your Mii, you also need to tell it where you live. You can?t choose just any place, as it is limited to North America, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Italy and France. Once you have inputted all the information the Wii will take your age and location and customise a game that is right for you. As you play Smarty Pants the game will adjust the difficulty of the questions it gives you, based on your performance. If you continually answer the questions right, it will begin to give you harder questions. If you answer the questions wrong, it will stay at the same level or even reduce the difficulty a little. Smarty Pants is very much like playing the old board game, Trivial Pursuit, but without the board, cards and game pieces. In all, there are three game play modes, solo, family and friends and all of them are a lot of fun. Solo has a time limit and it is just you, answering as many questions as you can within that limit. You will be set questions from a bunch of different categories, which include places & people, games, sports, science, fashion, entertainment, books and art. When you are in solo mode, you cannot play as yourself and track your scores, since the game will only allow you as a guest player. Friends mode is a competitive mode and you will need at least two separate Wii remote controls to play. Each player will customise their preferences and take turns spinning the wheel, answering questions and beating the pants off of each other. Family mode is very similar to friends mode, but it is more collaborative than competitive. Smarty Pants is one of the smartest trivia video games around. It?s a game that all ages can play and have a lot of fun with and it offers a lot of versatility. Not only can parents play, but also your little sister and your best friend, all without feeling that the game is too old, too young or too hard. Just remember that there is a limited number of questions, so you might start seeing them getting repeated if you play a lot.

Racing games like Mario Kart Wii are fun for everyone, no matter how old they are or what gender they may be. Mario Kart Wii is rated E for everyone and can provide loads of fun for all who play it. Mario Kart is a video game that has many versions, since it was one of the first games on the original Nintendo Entertainment Systems, back in the 1980’s. Mario Kart Wii is still a cute and fun game that everyone can enjoy. There are plenty of tricks and cheats that add to the challenge and excitement of playing the game. In many gamers’ opinions it is actually one of the goofiest, but challenging video racing games of all time. With Mario Kart Wii, the game controls are done through the steering wheel accessory. Its true that the wheel is not as easy to use as it may look, but if you find that you cannot master it, the Nintendo Wii will allow you to use the Wii nunchuck instead, which many people find to be a little easier. Using the Wii nunchuck on its side is very much like using the classic Nintendo game controller. Unlike many new versions of video games, Mario Kart Wii is not all about progressing into new versions of the same old game. In fact this one has some changes that take it back to older versions of itself. Nintendo actually seem to listen to its fans and have brought back game play features that were in some of the older versions of Mario Kart. In Mario Kart Wii, gone are some of the special items that each character had, but new items and features have taken their place. For example, there is a new POW Block that can make you spin out of control and lose any special items that you may be carrying. There are also a few new characters like Rosalina, (Mama from Mario Galaxy) and Baby Peach. The driving and racetracks in Mario Kart Wii are very challenging. There are a few new ones that we haven’t seen before, but again Nintendo has brought back some of the classic ones from every past version of the game, including the original NES, Nintendo 64, GameBoy Advanced, Nintendo DS and Nintendo GameCube. These racetracks provide a great challenge, especially to gamers who are new to Mario Kart Wii. In this game, you are not limited to only your standard kart, but also have the option to choose a motorbike, which is very exciting. Don’t be shocked when you notice that the motorbike feels and controls very differentlt from the standard kart. It will all take some getting used to. Mario Kart Wii is also available online, so you can play against other gamers no matter where they are, which makes it even more exciting. It used to be that you were limited to those opponents in your own living room, but now you can challenge a player on the other side of the globe.

Let's Yoga is one of the coolest games on the Nintendo DS. It was produced by a company called Konami and is rated E for everyone. You can pick it up in almost any video game shop or even online and you really may want to, since more and more video games are being used to encourage us to get physically fit, not simply entertained. Yoga is supposed to help us relax and strengthen both our bodies and minds and if you have parents or siblings that already do it, you probably have a good idea of what it is all about. The video game itself is a great introduction to the basic principles of yoga, which is why Let's Yoga for the Nintendo DS is so cool. Taking yoga lessons from your Nintendo DS isn’t as silly as it sounds. Since the game console is small enough to carry about anywhere, you can do just that. You can take it on a sleepover to a friend’s house, to school or even on vacation with your family and never miss a yoga class again. Consider Let's Yoga to be your very own, pocket-sized, personal yoga trainer. The game really is a great way for newcomers to yoga to get started. It is also a good way for people who practice yoga on a regular basis to stay active when they travel and may not be able to make it to the yoga studio. The game allows you to choose your gender and enter your name. You then make up a personal avatar in the settings menu, so that your preferences will remain in the game’s memory. Its fun to choose these details, as you can pick your background colour, your breath meter indicator, your clothing options and even the type of mat you want to use. The game offers a guide menu that will help you understand the exercises you will be doing. You will also find a few basic tips in the guide that comes with the game, as well as onscreen indicators and a glossary of common yoga terms. You have a choice of five different options, which include the short set, random yoga, chair yoga, my yoga and pose list. Let's Yoga allows you to have a diverse workout or even to select your favourite poses and do only those. The choice is yours. The pose list is by far the best feature of Let's Yoga. It is a list of all the different poses offered in the game and shows you what the pose looks like and what it does for your body. The image can be rotated so that you can see what the pose looks like from all angles, which is really helpful when trying to figure it all out. Because yoga cannot be done correctly when holding a Nintendo DS gaming console, Let’s Yoga allows you to place it on the table or floor, watch the video and listen to the instructions. You can also rewind, pause and fast-forward the poses. Let’s Yoga is a great alternative to the everyday video game, as it will help both your mind and body. By all means don’t forget to play your favourite game every now and then, but a good session of Let’s Yoga will be great for you.

Even for fans of the movie, High School Musical and all the other High School Musical video games, High School Musical 2: Work This Out! designed for the Nintendo DS, is not one of the best games out there. This Disney Interactive is meant to appeal to girls who love the High School Musical franchise, but just doesn’t seem to cut the mustard. The basic idea behind the game is that characters from the High School Musical movie get summer jobs to pay their way so they can participate in the Star Dazzle talent show. As a gamer, you can take on the personality of Troy, Sharpay, Taylor, Gabrielle, Ryan or even Chad. You can even change characters to complete special tasks throughout the game. The main theme of High School Musical 2: Work This Out! is adventure and exploration, with a couple of rhythm mini-games thrown in. There are many different activities and tasks that you must complete in High School Musical 2: Work This Out! which you will see on the top screen, while on the bottom screen is your map. However, you are never really told how to find something or given any clues. The only way to figure out how to get around the game is to explore, which can get a little annoying after a while. The mini-games are not very difficult or challenging. You are usually given a particular item to retrieve and must roam around trying to find what you need. If your time runs out, you can always start again and at least when that happens you know where not to go. The mini-games are not all retrieval quests, but they are all based on rhythm and clicking something at the right time. The loading time, between areas, actually takes a really long time, so if you are impatient or even slightly bored with this game already, the loading times will probably make you want to chuck your Nintendo DS out the window. When you move through rooms or new areas the game always take several seconds to fade out and then come back into the new area. A lot of other Nintendo DS games are not this slow, so it is hard to understand why High School Musical 2: Work This Out! is. The overall pace of this game is slow. Despite it being a slow moving game, it does have some good graphics, though nothing better than some other games out there. The perspective is a bird’s eye view of everything, which makes it hard to find certain items during your timed tasks. The movement is also jerky much of the time. The best thing about High School Musical 2: Work This Out! is the music, which is pleasant to hear throughout the game. However, don’t expect to hear it right away, you will have to unlock it during game play. Until you do, you get to hear the same two versions of ‘You are the Music in Me’ over and over.