Years ago, in a pre-internet age, people would play chess by mail, one move at a time separated by the time it took for letters to travel back and forth. The same principle is in play with Robot Entertainment’s new Hero Academy which offers chess-like fantasy gameplay taken one turn at a time.

The Parent Perspective

Hero Academy would be appropriate for a teen audience, due to the light cartoonish fantasy violence and the heavy amount of slow-paced strategic gameplay required. The official rating is 9+, but the cut off point for this game is really going to be determined by your level of interest in the style of play.

The most important thing that parents should know about Hero Academy is that it is entirely a multiplayer game, with the opportunity to play with either friends or random strangers. With text chat available in-game, parents should definitely keep tabs on their children’s online interactions.

While the initial download is free, Hero Academy also features many add-ons available through microtransactions, with the promise of many more to come. Some of the paid additions have little impact on the game, but additional character sets, including the first extra set of Dark Elves that also removes ads from the game, sit somewhere been useful and borderline necessary.

The Review

There are two things that are absolutely essential to enjoying Hero Academy: friends and patience. Sure, you can get by with little to none of either, but that only scratches the surface of the game. Instead, if you have friends to play with, and the patience to learn the game and handle the unusual multiplayer, there’s a lot to like in Hero Academy.

The GamerPops Recommendation

Hero Academy is an interesting, and largely effective fantasy chess-like game. It’s not for gamers seeking fast-paced action, but the back and forth nature should definitely find an appreciative audience. As a free download, Hero Academy is worth at least checking out, and it certainly feels like the game, if successful, will be supported by extensive but inexpensive add-ons.

A review copy was provided to GamerPops.

So, let me get this straight. Twister Mania is a game for Xbox 360 with Kinect. It uses the camera to see where you are in space and how your body is posed. It heavily utilizes the minimalist aesthetic and colour scheme of Twister. It comes with four coloured circles about the size of coasters that match the colours used in the game. It promises an “outrageous fast-paced party game” offering “over-the-top hilarity.”

So why is there no actual version of the game Twister in Twister Mania?

And further, why doesn’t that matter?

Break It Down is like Arkanoid, but You Are The Ball.

The Parent Perspective

Fact: There’s no actual Twister game in Twister Mania. The only association with Twister proper is the licensing of the name, and similarities to the body-bending party-game atmosphere that traditional Twister provides. Otherwise, this game is closer to Hole-In-The-Wall-type games. This makes it fairly easy to play as all modes of the game require the player(s) to pose their body in a particular way to accomplish the given task. My kids didn’t need very long to get the gist of what was needed.

One thing they did encounter problems with, though, was the height requirement. Certain game modes expect an adult-sized person. So for tasks like trying to knock out as many blocks as possible, or matching a specific pose, it is almost impossible for children to complete as they won’t be able to reach the higher points. It’s a limitation of having a fixed camera, though it would have been nice if the Kinect sensor could be made to self adjust when a smaller gamer enters the picture. This aspect caused some frustration for the kids. For this reason, Twister Mania might be more appropriate for families with older children, though there are co-op modes where an adult could give a helping hand to the vertically-challenged.

At times, quick and full body movement are required. It’s surprising how much exercise you can actually get with Twister Mania. This is one of the aspects of Kinect that I’ve always liked and after some time playing Twister Mania I could actually feel a bit of sweat starting to form.

There are three levels of difficulty for all minigames, which allows you to select an appropriate challenge for your fellow players. The beginner levels provide something anybody in your party can do, while the advanced levels will make you wish you’d taken up yoga. Play can be competitive either solo or in teams of two, and there are co-operative modes available as well.

Content-wise, there’s certainly nothing to be worried about here, unless the occasional exploding bomb offends your sensibilities.

They'll never forget trying to match this shape.

The Review

Where Twister Mania succeeds as a Kinect game is in playing to the strengths of the sensor. By focusing on pattern matching with relatively generous timing and forgiveness, the game avoids a lot of the frustration that you can typically expect out of most Kinect titles. At all times you can see your outline on the screen, giving you feedback and an idea of what you need to do to accomplish your shape matching task. Even menu navigation was good. The only thing I really noticed was that the game wants you to stand closer to the sensor than I’m accustomed to in a typical Kinect game.

There are three main game modes to choose from. Quick Play lets you jump right into the action either solo, facing off with somebody, in co-op, or in party mode in up to four teams of two. All minigames are available from the start with no unlocking necessary, which is an appreciated touch for a party game. Party Play is metagame where players or teams take turns spinning the famous Twister spinner to decide which minigames you’ll compete in. Performance in these minigames will advance you a number of spaces on a game board, and the person or team that crosses the finish line first is the winner. Finally, the ambitious single player or co-op team of two can play a campaign mode called Play It All where you have to clear all the game’s challenges. I saw 90 available ones in each mode, though most don’t last too long.

Game types fall into one of four categories: Shape Frenzy games see you trying to match a given shape; Twist & Fit is similar to Hole In The Wall where you try to pass through a virtual wall while trying not to knock blocks out of it or in some cases trying to take out as much of the wall as you can; Break It Down sees you using your body to clear blocks away, while new ones come from above (think Breakout with gravity); and Spot On is like a game of H-O-R-S-E where you have to try and match your opponent’s poses.

Despite all the game modes, I did get the sense that the game is a bit shallow. There really is only so much you can do with pattern matching-type games, though Twister Mania does try in earnest to squeeze out as much as it can. But really, all the minigames come down to one of four main types, with some variants thrown in. It could start to feel repetitive after playing for a period of time, or repeated play. In a party setting, this may not be a big deal, but it certainly results in a lack of staying power as a single-player experience (especially with Spot On not being available in single player experiences because there’s nobody to match), which it’s not best suited for anyways.

Okay, spinning the wheel DID make it over into the game.

The GamerPops Recommendation

If you have a Kinect system and you’re looking for a game that will provide a good time for multiple people, Twister Mania is an excellent choice, especially if you’re looking for something not quite as intense as dance games. It really is an outstanding party game, and is something your family can get together and play as well (as long as your kids are tall enough). Controls are tight and the gameplay is frantic and fun. It’s not going to be for the solo player, despite the inclusion of a gauntlet-type mode for single players, as the game loses a lot of its novelty and charm playing on your own. It’s not particularly deep, though that also gives it a level of simplicity that makes it a better party game. And even if it doesn’t actually have real Twister in it, that shouldn’t stop you from picking it up for your next get-together.

A review copy was provided to GamerPops by the publisher.

ESRB Rating Summary

Rating: Everyone

Content descriptors: No Descriptors

Rating summary: This is a collection of multiplayer mini-games (i.e., party games) based on the classic game Twister. Players move and twist their bodies to mimic on-screen silhouettes/shapes to achieve the highest score.

Microsoft’s own Kinect Sports Seasons One and Two are the standard bearers for Kinect sports minigame titles, but with Kinect stealing the Wii’s momentum as the family gaming console of choice, it’s no surprise to see a steadily increasing number of minigame and party titles, each fighting to stand out in the crowd. Smack in the middle of the pack is Activision’s Big League Sports, which offers a collection of minigames with full Kinect controls.

The Parent Perspective

If anyone’s going to really enjoy Big League Sports, it’s going to be a younger audience. It’s bright and colourful, and features six popular sports packaged as quick-bite minigames. The games themselves are sensible pieces of each sport, hitting on major elements that you would immediately associate with the sport.

The good news is that the Kinect controls are surprisingly capable, which will help said younger gamers avoid the frustration that has accompanied many of the initial Kinect titles. With some Kinect titles, the game just never quite feels right, or it doesn’t seem to track your movements very well. Playing through each of the different sports in Big League Sports, I never got the feeling that the game wasn’t doing what I wanted.

The game supports up to four players competing individually for high scores, but doesn’t provide the excitement of head-to-head action.

The Review

So here’s the question, if you’re going to play a sports game, do you want only minigames, or do you want to play a full game? If your preference is for mingames, then Big League Sports might be for you.

Might be.

Might be, because it is the kind of largely generic title that a month from now you won’t even remember existed. That’s because the game, while technically competent and largely successful at the little it aims to do, does a lot of the things we have seen time and time again in the post-Wii Sports world. If you’ve managed to avoid sports minigame compilations over the past five years, you’ll find some new and interesting things here. But if you’ve played any of those games since 2007, expect more of the same.

But while the sports are represented in name, they aren’t truly there in play. Instead, each sport features three minigames pulling out key elements of each sport. In baseball, that means a home run derby, in basketball the three-point shootout, etc. If you’re committed to making minigames out of major sports, this is probably as smart and reasonable a way as you could do it, but it comes off feeling rather shallow without the ability to really play any of the games. Perhaps we’re years away from a true Kinect-enabled sports experience, but Big League Sports puts the idea in your head, and then doesn’t ever come close to that ideal.

For anyone over the age of ten, there’s going to be very little incentive to do anything more than try out each of the minigames once. You can earn and accumulate skill points in each event, or choose three events of your choice for an alleged tournament, but other than that, there wasn’t a lot of effort put into doing anything with the acceptably decent minigames. They just kind of are, and you’re expected to like them as is, rather than make even a modest attempt at wrapping a larger experience around them.

The GamerPops Recommendation

Big League Sports feels like a game that exists because someone at Activision said “we should have a minigame sports title on Kinect” and not because there was any real need or creative inspiration for it. As a result, Activision has staked its claim to the casual Kinect sports title segment with a title that is just okay. Not especially good, not especially bad. It’s just okay. I would say that short of a significant sale, this is a title that’s easily skipped, saving your valuable dollars for a game that shows not just what Kinect can do, but what Kinect can do well. Big League Sports is definitely the former, and not the latter.

A review copy was provided to GamerPops.

ESRB Rating Summary

Rating: Everyone

Content descriptors: Mild Cartoon Violence

Rating summary: This is a sports simulation game in which players compete in a variety of events (e.g., baseball, hockey, golf, soccer) to be crowned King of Big League Sports. In the hockey game, players can perform “checks” against opponents that skate into their way; opponents flail through the air amid slow-motion effects.

The original EyePet game was a novel pet simulation experience using the new PlayStation Move controls to let young gamers raise and play with a virtual pet on their PS3. We gave it a very good review on the basis of being a fun experience that used the new (at the time) Move capabilities fairly well. But since then, things have changed. Move has been around for a while, family and child-friendly titles have proliferated, and the bar has been raised quite a bit. So does the sequel, EyePet and Friends, rise to the challenge?

The Parent Perspective

Not a lot has changed with the formula with EyePet & Friends. Some of the activities may be different, but when all is said and done, it’s still a fun pet simulation game. Along with the basic fundamentals of caring for a pet, there are also many activities you can engage in with your virtual pet, including a number of minigames that can be unlocked in the Toy Box. I would have liked it better if you weren’t given access to only one game off the bat. The rest have to be unlocked with Pet Tokens that you earn by doing most basic tasks in the game. At the rate that tokens are dispensed, it will take a bit of time and/or repetition to access all the possible minigames, meaning the game could be a bit of a grind.

If your kids are the creative type, there are loads of customization options and other ways to unleash their creativity. You can customize toys, outfits, stickers, cards, and many other objects. It’s a significant part of EyePet & Friends to be sure.

There’s a good amount of pointing required to do a lot of things. Younger gamers sometimes have difficulty with this so be prepared to help out littler ones or be ready for a bit of frustration. Pointing is done like you would with a Wii Remote and works just fine.

Your background video results may vary. And likely will. Seriously, what lighting did they have to pull this off?

There isn’t a lot of reading required, and a voiceover guy will provide a very verbose explanation of any activities the first time you try them. Unfortunately, the game won’t let you do much while he talks, and older gamers may not want to hear the whole speech on how to put a new hat on your little creature. Fortunately, you can press the triangle button to skip the description. This does make the game more accessible to the non-readers.

Finally, the biggest change with the sequel is that you can have two EyePets going at the same time, meaning (hopefully) no fighting over the controller as each player can try the activity at hand. For cleaning/feeding/etc. type activities, you work on your own while the games are typically a bit competitive. Both players perform the same activity together, so be prepared for some arguing over what activity to do next. Folks who see the glass half full will look at this as a good chance for kids to learn how to share. Might be best to have an older sibling (or parent) take the lead and let the younger gamer play along. Unfortunately, there is no drop-in, drop-out. You have to choose one or two players and stick with your choice. Quitting the game is the only way to change number of players.

The Review

There is one significant problem that really hurts the experience. And it might be exacerbated even more for kids. The pacing of the game is, quite frankly, terrible. This is because every time you do a new activity, you’ll be graced with horribly long load times. And by long, it can be 30 seconds or more. To give you an example, when you come back to the game, your pet tends to be automatically hungry and dirty. So that’s a separate load sequence to get to the initial interaction with your pet to be told to take care of them, another to load up the washing sequence, and another before feeding. Then another when you finally get to do something. Your kids will spend a LOT of time waiting. This tends to be “not a good thing.” I really don’t know how this wasn’t addressed or if it couldn’t be, but it takes away from the fun. And to add insult to injury, there are cute animations that usually go across the screen to keep you entertained, and there’s framerate issues with them. The PlayStation 3 is a powerful piece of hardware. How does this happen?

If you've got creative types, you'll have lots of fun with this game with all the customization.

Speaking of framerate, the addition of the second player sometimes comes at a cost. The added animation seems to cause framerate issues when two pets are on the screen on occasion. It’s especially bad during cleaning. Like, it crawls.

An issue that didn’t (or couldn’t) get fixed from the first game is the fact that the augmented reality aspect of the game gets diminished somewhat by the high resolution pets playing on the terrible backdrop provided by the PlayStation Eye camera. I found better lighting improved the visuals a bit, so keep that in mind if you’re going to pick this game up.

There will be times where control will be an issue. Getting your pet to do certain tricks with the Trick Wand is frustrating. The game will show you what pattern to draw with it, but be extremely picky about doing it perfectly. Plus, since the minigames pretty much all involve pointing at the screen and using buttons to control, it results in some games having really clunky controls.

Oh, and be warned. If you go to the EyePet Store, there are two things to note. One, it will give you the opportunity to buy DLC. Two, it effectively ends the game. Exiting the store actually takes you back to the main title screen and you have to reselect the number of players, then rewash and feed your pet. That’s pretty clunky. If you’re going to offer a store in-game, it’s got to be more seamless than that.

I’m bagging on the game’s problems quite a bit, but it does have moments of fun. I don’t think it’s added a lot to the formula, beyond adding another player and adding some activities, but when they are actually involved in activities and not waiting for them, your kids will certainly have fun. The little pets are adorable, they do cute things, and you can dress them up. And they do a fairly good job of interacting with what you’re doing, so it isn’t all bad.

The wait for the minigames is almost worth it.

The GamerPops Recommendation

EyePet & Friends is a fun but flawed kid and family experience. It’s not a full-fledged game so much as it is a pet simulator with some bonus content. Unfortunately, the bar has been raised on quality family gaming experiences since its predecessor came out, and this game has sort of stayed the course more than anything. Sure, adding the second player is a welcome addition and an excellent idea. Unfortunately, the pacing is ruined by the long load times and there are some other technical issues that frankly shouldn’t be manifesting in a second effort. It won’t be so bad as a value title perhaps, and the fun of interacting with a virtual pet may be enough for you to overlook its problems. But at its launch price, I’d expect something a bit more polished.

ESRB Rating Summary

Rating: Everyone

Content descriptors: No Descriptors

Rating summary: This is a pet-care simulation game in which players can feed, bathe, and play with whimsical animals called Eyepets. Players can engage in a variety of mini-games with their Eyepet: performing tricks, customizing their appearances, and monitoring their health/well-being.

Dragons vs. Spaceships is a classic Peanut Butter Cup scenario: taking two things that are great on their own and mixing them up to create something better. Like Plants vs. Zombies, this game takes two individually cool things that wouldn’t ordinarily be seen together and pits them head to head, in this case in classic top down shoot’em up (or shmup, as the cool kids call it) style.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve gotten to know some of the guys behind Dragons vs. Spaceships, and have seen the game evolve from just a logo through to its release as an Xbox Live Indie Game.

The Parent Perspective

Dragons vs. Spaceships is a classic shmup, a genre that peaked before most of today’s kid gamers were even born, and other than the occasional appearance as minigames, it’s something completely unfamiliar to them. So don’t expect kids to necessarily gravitate towards this game.

There is multiplayer action, which makes the experience more fun for grown ups (though not necessarily better), but there’s still little incentive to get kids playing Dragons vs. Spaceships.

The Review

I’ll admit, like a whole lot of other Xbox 360 owners, I’ve completely ignored the Indie Games section of Xbox Live. With all of the retail titles and Live Arcade games, the Indie Games are easy to bypass. In fact, were it not for the fact that I personally know the folks behind Dragons vs. Spaceships, I wouldn’t have even known this game existed. So if nothing else, Dragons vs. Spaceships has provided a different perspective on the Xbox 360′s game offerings.

Unfortunately, that might also be the best thing that Dragons vs. Spaceships offers. In what is otherwise a throwback to the golden age of top-down scrollers it doesn’t bring anything new or compelling to the table.

As one of four colourful dragons, you’ll take on wave after wave of mechanical enemy as you scroll through the game’s three levels. Three different weapon power-ups can combine to offer different primary and secondary attacks to help you fight on the spaceships, which you’ll need as your fragile dragon can be killed with just one enemy bullet.

And your dragon is certainly fragile, which isn’t helped by clunky controls and wonky collision detection that seems at times to decide at random whether you’ve been hit. And that’s only part of the frustration in a game in which you constantly feel slow, weak, and underpowered. Despite the variety of weapon combos (at one point my dragon was shooting ninja stars), the weapons just never provide the sense of awe and power than the best titles in the genre provide. It feels like you’re just moving from one basic weapon to another.

Spending your time on the defensive is par for the course in shmups, but Dragons vs. Spaceships never gives you the feeling that you can take the advantage, go on the offensive, and lay waste to your extraterrestrial enemies. Instead, it’s just your dragon slogging around the screen, trying to dodge enemy fire and avoid running out of lives.

The game is at its best when played with other players, but that’s due more to a general sense of chaos that an enriched experience.

What I don’t understand is that when you lose all your lives, you are given the choice to either continue or quit. Which really seems to mean start over or quit, since you can’t actually continue. Even though the game is relatively short (only three modest length levels), only the most experienced and dedicated shmup-lovers will make it to the end, and any casual players will likely only give it a once over and then move on.

In that sense, the game’s price is its best asset and worst enemy. It’s cheap enough at 240 Microsoft points to be worth a splurge, but not enough of an investment that you’ll really care to stick with the game for more than 10-15 mostly mediocre minutes. It’s certainly an accomplishment to see any small group of developers get a game onto the Xbox, but simply getting there is only part of the success; being able to create a fun and fundamentally sound game is equally important.

There are also reports of technical glitches around the first level’s boss, but I can’t say that I experienced it personally, but be aware that may or may not be an issue.

The GamerPops Recommendation

Dragons vs. Spaceships is a great concept, but the game doesn’t really do anything to move beyond simply being a concept. This is dated shoot ‘em up gameplay without a hook to really grab gamers’ attention. While the price of 240 Microsoft points is reasonable, there’s just not enough here in quality or quantity to justify more than a passing interest.

A review code was provided to GamerPops.

Bakugan: Rise of the Resistance is the latest in a line of games based on the Bakugan Battle Brawlers TV show and card/strategy game. Not every game based on the series has used the strategy game mechanic (Defenders of the Core used a mix of action/adventure and fighting), and Rise of the Resistance follows in this vein, employing a mix of RPG elements with a core Tower Defence system for battles. And while Defenders of the Core was a bit more accessible to casual, or even non-fans, Rise of the Resistance caters to fans who know the series well and all its intricacies.

The Parent Perspective

I’m going to go ahead and say that it’s a prerequisite that your kids should be fairly familiar with the Bakugan Battle Brawlers universe. The game assumes quite a bit of the player, like you’ll know the various characters and Bakugan themselves. Plus, it is really helpful to know how the various attributes (classes) of Bakugan interact with each other as the game doesn’t really hold your hand on which Bakugan are most effective in battling other ones. With only a passing knowledge of the ins and outs of things, I found it difficult trying to figure out what Gate Cards to play and who I should be using in a battle. Plus, not knowing by heart how the symbols matched to the attributes put me at a disadvantage.

Wandering the overworld will resemble the Pokemon games with not as many random battles for you to worry about. You’ll mostly be doing fetch-type quests and will travel back and forth between six different areas, with the odd random battle to progress the plot. Battles themselves are a modified Tower Defence game where you have to prevent enemy Bakugan from getting to your single replicator. The paths that the enemies will take are highlighted on the map, so at that point, you can utilize strategy to decide which Bakugan to place in what spot. As the game progresses, you’ll have many Bakugan options you can utilize, each with its own strengths and weaknesses vs. the enemy forces. In addition, you will have your companion Bakugan available which has free roam of the map and can attack enemy forces, plus can either boost your attacks or negatively impact enemies. There is actually a very deep amount of strategy that can be employed here, which is great for analytical thinking skills and quick decision making. In addition, the RPG-like leveling system adds further strategy in deciding who to deploy for various battles.

Content-wise, it’s all Bakugan on Bakugan violence with projectiles, explosions, fire, and the like. Since you’re really only going to see fans of the series playing the game, there should be no surprises and if you’ve watched the show, the game should be fine.

Given the advanced strategic nature of the game, and the knowledge needed to be effective, you’re looking at a game that is more appropriate for an 8-13 age range.

The Review

Rise of the Resistance has two main parts to it. You’ll have an overarching story that will see you wandering around an overworld (which seems relatively barren, to be honest) in top-down perspective. Along the way you’ll acquire the ability to deal with certain roadblocks you’ll encounter like trees and boulders, and also collect coins and Gate Cards for use in battles. You’ll also encounter the odd battle along the way. Instead of turn-based battles though, you’ll play a tower defence mission. You do, though, get the services of your companion Bakugan, which adds an action component to the proceedings. You must protect your replicator, which means making sure enemies never get there. It can withstand a few enemies getting to it, but you want to minimize that as much as you can because you get additional XP with more hit points being left on it.

The game does get a bit repetitive as you navigate the same six areas, and in some cases you have to leave an area to go somewhere else, only to meet that objective and have to return back to the same place you just left. Kids may not care about the repetitive aspect though. Battles are mostly the same, but get more complex as you progress in the game, requiring more strategic thinking than brute force. As you kill enemies you get more “currency” to build your “towers” which have different capabilities. It does get quite challenging at times as well.

The game isn’t particularly long, with some gamers likely able to finish the story mode in a few hours. You can try to go back and replay battles for a bit of replay, but I’m not seeing a lot of reason to do so. Still, the story mode itself is quite fun, and the modified tower defence gameplay is entertaining and requires a lot of thinking. There are RPG elements in that characters will level up as you go, which will also increase the upgrade level capacity of the Bakugan you can deploy in battles. The RPG element might be overstated a bit though, as the leveling isn’t all that involved and only your performance and choice of battler have any bearing.

The GamerPops Recommendation

Bakugan: Rise of the Resistance is a fun game meant for fans of the series that really understand it. With a mix of exploration and tower defence gameplay, it presents another alternative play mechanism to the traditional marble and card strategy type of game for fans of the series. It’s not all that accessible to non-fans, and doesn’t really try to be. It’s unique enough and has enough moments that it’s worthy of consideration for the Bakugan fan in your family, as long as they don’t need much of a primer on the universe and can handle some advanced strategic gameplay. Given the relative lack of depth, it feels like a $20 game or perhaps a rental.

A review copy was provided to GamerPops.

ESRB Rating Summary

Rating: Everyone 10+

Content descriptors: Mild Fantasy Violence

Rating summary: This is a role-playing game in which players assume the role of a boy and his friends who must save their planet from a mysterious alien threat. From a top-down perspective, players defeat waves of fantastical alien creatures by using tower-defense tactics—arranging small combat units along set paths that shoot projectiles at approaching enemies. Players can also move a creature around the screen to assault enemies directly with fire, ice, and laser attacks; combat is highlighted by brief impact sounds and colorful light effects. Some cutscenes depict creatures firing laser guns at each other, resulting in large, colorful explosions.

Sprinkle Jr. is a streamlined version of Sprinkle designed to cater to a younger gamer on your iOS device of choice. It’s the story of firemen on an alien planet that are seeing their home bombarded with flaming meteors. They need to go to various fires and put them out with their big water cannon. In later levels, flaming meteors will be introduced, forcing you to have to deal with them in addition. When all fires are out, you clear the level. It has a lot going for it, to be sure, but there is one nagging little problem.

The Parent Perspective

You can tell that the game was designed with young children in mind. It looks adorable and is very easy to play. While a wide age range is appropriate, the cartoony aesthetic and relative ease will make it appeal most to very young gamers. Controls are simple as you would expect with a touchscreen game. You basically touch the cannon to shoot water and then slide it up and down to aim. Some levels also include moveable objects for you to manipulate, and multitouch is supported, and in fact needed.

Many of the levels can be completed fairly easily, though there was one particular level that was difficult to solve because of how it was set up. Your kids will need help with this one. I think it actually come down to poor level design vs. being difficult, because it sticks out among the others. Beyond that, my oldest two sons (8 and 4) both solved all the levels with some help from dad on that one particular level and both really enjoyed the game.

This is the level you'll need to watch out for.

The Review

Unfortunately, Sprinkle Jr. is short. How short? My four-year-old finished the game in maybe 20 minutes, save for needing help with that one level. The content that is there is fun, and looks really good. The water physics are great, and are borderline spectacular if you play on an iPhone 4 or 4S with the Retina Display. It’s just that there are 22 levels and that’s it. And with many able to be cleared in about 10-15 seconds, the experience just doesn’t last all that long. It’s sad to say, but at $1.99, that doesn’t really cut it. With so many 99 cent games on the App Store providing a lot more gameplay, Sprinkle Jr. looks overpriced by comparison. This is a shame, because the content that is there is great. It goes for the same price as Sprinkle proper, though the latter also lets you buy level packs while this game is confined to the 22 levels included.

Now you may say that there would be replayability in going back and playing levels again to try and beat a score or time. Except that there’s nothing to beat. While many similar games do things like track time to solve or keep a score, Sprinkle Jr. does nothing of the sort. You either clear the level or you don’t. There really is no incentive to try again unless you just want to replay the level for the heck of it. This can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. Younger kids don’t have to really concern themselves with scores, stars, times, or anything like that, another sign that the audience for this game trends very young.

This guy does NOT like spicy blocks.

The GamerPops Recommendation

Sprinkle Jr. is a fun little game for your kids to play on an iPad, iPod Touch, or iPhone. It’s simple, involves basic puzzle solving, and is very easy to play. It just needs a lot more content to justify the two dollar price tag given the level of competition on the App Store. Otherwise it’s an ideal game for pre-school and kindergarten-aged children. You’re best served seeing if the price drops to 99 cents, as that’s a more appropriate price for this game, even if your kids will run through it quick. Perhaps some credit should be given for making a version of the game that doesn’t allow in-app purchases and avoiding the headaches that could come from that, though it should have come with an associated price drop to reflect the limited content.

A review code was provided to GamerPops.

Egg Punch is the latest in a long line of quick and fun to play iOS titles that are all over the platform. With an adorable aesthetic, fun gameplay, and low price tag (and by low I mean free) this should be a no-brainer title for those of you with iOS devices. Of course, things aren’t always that easy, and there’s one significant gotcha that parents will need to be aware of before downloading this one.

The Parent Perspective

The concern with Egg Punch for parents lies not with content or controls. There’s nothing violent going on, and the game overall has a very “cutesy” look. It plays like mini-golf in that you simply aim and gauge for power by pulling back on the little bird in its egg. The strategy is in picking the right angles and maximizing your score. It’s got a lot of things going for it that make it a fun little diversion for kids.

No, the concern you need to have with Egg Punch is its “freemium” model. The game itself is free, which in itself would provide value (math nerds can spare the “divide by zero” comments). But nothing is ever free, really. You’ll get frequent pitches to buy a new egg with your coins, or to buy an upgraded ability like feather magnet or hole seeker. These are purchased with coins won in-game. Of course, coins are a precious resource and once you complete levels, it gets harder to get more coins out of them. Of course, if you like, you can always buy more coins from their shop with real money. And that’s where the “-mium” part of “freemium” comes in. Most people will remember what happened with the Smurf Village game and buying Smurfberries, and I’m constantly keeping an eye on my boys when they play Pocket Frogs. You’ll need to make sure you disallow in-game purchases or else monitor your kids if they play this game.

You do have the opportunity to get more coins in other ways, though. Sign up for their newsletter? 25 coins. Watch an ad for another iOS game? 15 more coins. This latter option can be done multiple times. These are good ways to get the precious coins needed to buy upgrades (though parents may not line inundating their children with ads), but more importantly, open up new levels. Yes, unfortunately you cannot open new levels by completing previous ones, you need to amass enough coins and feathers to purchase the unlock to more levels. And with an escalating price, you do get to a point where you will need to go back and replay levels multiple times to grind enough coins to progress, especially if you took the game up on its offers to sell you a different coloured egg or an upgrade.

I’m also noticing that some levels are impossible to get a gold medal on initially. Even with perfect aim, your egg just doesn’t have enough power initially to make it all the way to the hole in some cases, and when a hole-in-one seems to be the only way to get the gold, it’s a little disheartening. Since power is an upgrade, there’s a replayability factor in getting to come back and try it. But at the same time, you can see what they’re up to with this.

There’s nothing wrong with the freemium model in gaming. It’s becoming more and more prevalent. And you can’t really complain about a game that is free. Just understand the flip side to this, especially if you’re going to let your kids play this game on their own. You’re either looking at a large amount of grinding (whether it be gaming or ads), or requests to let them buy coins.

Buttons and gates and traps, oh my!

The Review

Egg Punch fits the typical mold of a fun iOS title that you can spend little bits of time on here and there. The game resembles Mini-Golf, as you need to get the egg in the hole while using/avoiding obstacles on the course itself. However, you are also tasked with trying to pick up feathers along the way. Gathering feathers, hitting obstacles, and other actions build a meter that will affect your score for a hole. Actions like shooting, lining up your shot, and going off course will reduce your meter, so while taking the fewest amount of “strokes” isn’t required, it will maximize your score. Still, with an escalating bonus point system for gathering feathers, your focus should be on those. There’s actually quite a bit of strategy involved in each hole because of this, again, fitting the forumula of other successful casual titles that are easy to pick up, but take time to master.

The controls are fairly solid, with the odd issue rotating the screen to see other angles for your shot. The game plays well and has its own fun art style, with a cute protagonist (the bird in the egg) and the evil rabbits who stole his feathers. The course design is actually pretty strong, except for the rare occasion where you can tell that you need upgrades to finish it properly. There are six different courses with nine “holes” each, and each course has its own theme which will introduce new obstacles, switches, etc. Plus the courses get harder as you unlock them. The only thing that really holds things back is the freemium model already mentioned. There will come a point where you have to make a decision: grind to continue, pay to continue, or stop playing.

The GamerPops Recommendation

If you just played what was available with Egg Punch for free, you’d have a fun little iOS title that will help you pass the time. It’s well done and potentially addictive. It does seem, though, to aim at a younger target audience at times. It was #1 in the iPad App Store for Games/Kids, and the marketing on the game has tried to emphasis “family friendly.” Content and gameplay wise, I would have to agree. Kids will love this. But there’s a slippery slope involved when you market a freemium game to younger kids, as the Smurf Village controversey showed. I’d have actually recommeneded this game more if was a $1-2 title that didn’t push the add-ons so heavily and didn’t make it so difficult to progress after a certain point. As it stands, there’s no reason not to download it if you’re looking for something fun for the kids or yourself, just be aware of what comes attached.

A review code was provided to GamerPops.

Don't get blown away. Unlike the apparently steel feathers.

As a trivia game fan, I’ve played variations of Trivial Pursuit for years, and I will concede to be something of a purist. There’s just something about that wheel-shaped gameboard, the pie pieces and the trivia questions that used to be difficult that appealed to my sensibilities. Over the years of course, the game has broadened its horizons with a variety of themed versions, but at its core, it was always that same gameplay.

But that wasn’t meant to last forever I suppose, and now we have Trivial Pursuit: Bet You Know It, which keeps the pie and trivia, but adds wagering. Can I, the purist, be swayed by this new spin on the classic Trivial Pursuit gameplay? I don’t see myself ever saying that this new version is better, but it is a positive twist that maintains what’s good but adds an enjoyable new multiplayer wrinkle.

The Parent Perspective

Trivial Pursuit: Bet You Know It, much like the regular editions of the board game, seems geared more towards adults, as many of the questions are going to be foreign to all but the smartest teens. As a result, I wouldn’t recommend this as a family experience, but for up for four adults, it can definitely be a good way to spend an evening at home.

Plus, you might actually learn something, which is always a positive.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Review

Trivial Pursuit: Bet You Know It is an interesting variation on the classic Trivial Pursuit. While still being based around answering questions to earn pie pieces in six different categories, the old game board has been replaced by a spinner that chooses your category. But the biggest change is that Trivial Pursuit now includes gambling.

Before each question is asked, other players can wager on whether you will answer correctly or not. Get the question right and you’ll earn a coloured wedge and all of the money bet against you; get the question wrong and your opponents win double their bet. Wager correctly and you can rack up plenty of points, and there are several important uses for them, so you’ll want to bet wisely.

On your turn, if you land on a buy space, you can purchase any coloured wedge, or use your points to choose a different category than the one you may have landed on. If you turn the option on, you can also use your points to swap out topics for your opponents, which can make for a very cutthroat match. These new twists mean that everyone plays on every turn, creating a much better multiplayer experience. It also adds plenty of strategy, as you have to gauge just how well your friends may know a particular category.

This new gameplay also leads to a much shorter game, as things can be potentially wrapped up in only six turns, though the back and forth of wagering and stealing can make it a very intense experience.

There is a single player mode in Bet You Know It, but other than trying to cheat by learning some of the questions, I can’t imagine why you’d want to play it. I understand as developers you kind of have to put it in there, but it really just seems dumb to play a board game solo, as there’s no virtual opponents to compete against. But get up to three friends playing with you? Now you’ve got something.

The GamerPops Recommendation

Trivial Pursuit: Bet You Know It is a good digital representation of the classic board game and this newer variation. If you already have the board game, I wouldn’t worry about getting the Wii version, but if it’s been a while since you played any version of Trivial Pursuit, and you’re up for some trivia, this collection of new and old is fun for adults, though not exactly a kid-friendly experience.

I’d like it better if it was a $30 title, but if you plan to play a lot of Trivial Pursuit, you can hopefully get your money’s worth.

A review copy was provided to GamerPops.

ESRB Rating Summary

No rating summary was available at the time of posting.

Have you ever played The Sims 3 and thought to yourself, “This is great and all, but wouldn’t it be great if I could play as a dog?” Then for you, the one person in the world who probably asked that question, The Sims 3: Pets fulfills your dreams and more. For the rest of the world, The Sims 3: Pets is an interesting effort that expands on the world of The Sims 3, but doesn’t quite convince gamers that a console Sims can top the PC version.

Parent Perspective

Despite the presence of adorable and playful pets, The Sims 3: Pets isn’t a game for kids or most teens, despite its T rating. Yes, there’s some fairly mild sexual content and language, but it’s not sexual content that’s the issue here. It’s the regular content, which is geared, in pace and challenge, to a more obsessive casual player. Teens can certainly play the game and those who can appreciate this style of gameplay will have fun, but they shouldn’t expect action or excitement here.

Because this is a life sim, that also means death is in play. And not necessarily a cartoonish or typical video game death, but the end of your Sim or Sim pet’s life. You can expect a long life filled with plenty of adventures and activities first though, but it’s doubtful younger games will have the patience to last long enough in the game for their characters to die.

The Review

Depending on your appreciation for The Sims, you’re probably either going to love this game or hate it. If you love handling the minutia of your Sims’ lives, then you are definitely the right kind of gamer. But for most, the combination of obsessively detailed gameplay and a rather slow-moving experience will not be engaging enough to draw them into a fairly hefty game.

And that’s not a flaw specific to this game, as it’s just the way the entire Sims franchise has been structured. You have a variety of smaller goals and challenges, as well as larger mysteries that string together a series of quests, but there’s nothing really driving you to complete anything thanks to the game’s completely open gameplay.

Want to go wander around? Go for it. Dig up someone’s lawn? Have at it. Try to see how long you can go without peeing on something? That’s an option as well. If it wasn’t such an obvious part of the game’s design, I would think that maybe aimless wandering with the occasional diversion into pointless destruction is a fairly accurate representation of life as a pet. Throw in stealing food off the counter, and you pretty much have my family’s beloved dog.

Yet, while playable pets are introduced, the game doesn’t go all in and make this all about the dogs and cats, instead coming off more as a fairly expensive expansion of the core gameplay with some extra pet content added in. Essentially, new animal characters are subbed in for Sims, with new interactions and objectives, but ultimately it’s just a variation on the gameplay, rather than really trying to reinterpret the game from a pet’s perspective.

To an unfortunate degree, the game still revolves around the humans, so even while you are playing as the pet, your actions are still connected to the humans in your lives, and dependant on what they are doing. If your humans go to work and leave you home alone, the aimlessness sets in, and not in a good way.

What the game does offer is a large sandbox of options to be explored, though many of them feel more like chores than exciting options. There are quests and adventures to be had, citizens to interact and befriend, a family to love, and a whole city to be peed on. How you choose to do that, or whether you choose to do that is completely up to you.

Despite a fairly extensive tutorial, The Sims 3: Pets is not the easiest game to get into, especially for newcomers. With tried-and-true gameplay that will be instantly familiar to long-time players of the series, it asks a lot of others to figure out what all the icons, interaction options, and on-screen elements mean. It takes a while to get used to everything, but practice and repetition is the key.

What becomes immediately clear however is that the game’s interface was obviously designed for a keyboard/mouse combo, and while a valiant effort was made to make a console controller work, this is a PC game, and if you can play it on a PC instead, you probably should. And that’s without factoring in the fact that the PC version gives you more pet options beyond just dogs and cats.

The Kinect version features a number of voice commands, for your Sims and your Sim pets, but it’s completely optional, and quite honestly, ignorable.

It’s also worth noting that this game definitely needs to be installed to your Xbox’s hard drive, especially if you have an older model. Otherwise the endless (and I literally mean endless) grinding of the DVD will drive you crazy, if the resulting load times haven’t already done the job. And boy, does this game love its load times, especially if you leave the confines of your home to venture out into the surrounding areas.

The GamerPops Recommendation

For the average gamer, The Sims 3: Pets is an all or nothing proposition; you’ll either want to put in endless hours nurturing or tormenting your family, or you won’t want to put in a single minute. There’s really no middle ground, and I have a feeling that despite the presence of playable animals, most gamers will opt for the latter.

For gamers who are willing to invest the time into a pet life simulator, The Sims 3: Pets is miles ahead of the typical virtual pet game. There’s a full slate of activities to pursue or not, utilizing both the human Sims and their cats and dogs, but it’s still the same Sims gameplay, which doesn’t make the most of the new canine and feline additions.

As an Xbox title, it’s not necessarily an ideal experience, but in general it does the Sims justice. Considering this is essentially an expansion pack, the $50 price feels high, and unless you are willing to sink in a lot of hours pawing around the virtual world, there’s just not enough here to justify the cost. In an odd way, The Sims 3: Pets puts quantity over quality, and for this game that’s not a recipe for success.

A review copy was provided to GamerPops.

ESRB Rating Summary

Rating: Teen

Content descriptors: Crude Humor, Sexual Themes, Violence

Rating summary: This is a “sandbox” simulation game in which players create, customize, and control characters—including household pets—called “Sims” through their daily activities. Players are free to pursue a variety of daily goals as they observe and attempt to influence other Sims in town. Players can socially interact with Sims to build relationships, and are free to pursue more intimate encounters, such as the ability to kiss, “make out,” or engage in WooHoo (i.e., sex) with another Sim: this action depicts the Sims squirming, giggling, and moaning under the covers until hearts float around the bed. (The WooHoo option is available to both heterosexual and same-sex couples.) Sims maintain their health and hygiene through eating, exercising, bathing, and using the toilet. They sometimes vomit, expel flatulence sounds, or urinate on themselves if their hygiene is not properly managed. Some interactions lead to fighting, which is depicted by sounds of struggle and partially obscured “fight-cloud” effects; other animations include Sims drowning in pools, getting electrocuted by household appliances, or dying in fires—a Grim Reaper arrives as dead Sims turn into ghosts.