Would Mario by any other name be as much fun? In the case of “Rayman Origins” it just might top the reigning platformer king.

                Platformers are some of the most classic games that can be played, they are just as popular today as they were when the original Super Mario World was released in the 1980s.  “Rayman Origins” is a platformer at heart, but manages to execute it to near perfection. On top of this, the game also gives players the option of playing the game co-operatively, working together or against one another to reach the end of each level.

                There are a few aspects of a platforming game that must be done well in order for the game to be fun.  The first is to have an accurate, consistent and fun physics engine.  If the on screen character doesn’t jump the same way every time or react as quickly as the player can, a fun game can quickly become frustrating and impossible.  While the game can be hard, the player needs to feel as if it was a mistake they made that led to falling off a ledge or jumping on a bad guy, not the game cheating them.  “Origins” does this extremely well.  While the levels can be extremely hard, I never once felt as though the game had cheated me or was unfair. 

                Another aspect that platforming games need to do well to succeed is to have intriguing and interesting level design.  “Origins” is done in a fun art style that is very bright and goofy looking.  The creatures and levels are just as much fun to look at as they are to jump, fly and run past.  From the obligatory underwater levels to lush jungles and slippery glaciers, each of the different levels in Origins offers a bit of flavor that makes the game that much more fun to play.

                What sets this game apart from other sin its genre is the multiplayer it offers.  While newer Mario games also offer multiplayer, they can be a bit tricky at times.  Players can get stuck behind one another or run into each other, preventing gamers from making perfectly timed jumps that become necessary as the game progresses.  “Origins” implements a perfect mix of player interaction without preventing gamers from having fun with even 4 players playing at one time.  Players can lift one another up if both enter the same movements into the joystick.  They can also smack one another which can send characters careening off course, usually resulting in hilarity.  But the characters do not bump into one another or get stuck on one another, a little change that makes this game immensely more enjoyable than any of the New Super Mario Brothers games.

                The only caveat when it comes to playing “Rayman Origins” is that the game can be extremely difficult.  Not for the faint of heart or the short tempered, even experienced gamers will get stuck on certain levels.  However, it is not so hard that the game becomes impossible or no fun to play.  While I am not normally a fan of these types of games, the multiplayer aspect makes this one a must have.  On top of the social aspect, the accurate physics engine works at developing gamers hand eye coordination, often requiring gamers to move their characters across the screen at high speeds from one narrow ledge to the next.  Even if it is played solo, “Rayman Origins” is not to be missed by gamers of any age.

Find some friends and work together to stop the evil Rudebelly and get your treasure back!

                This little known Wii game is definitely a blast from the past, calling to mind classic titles such as Battletoads and The Simpsons along with the more recent Castle Crashers.  All of these games are classified as brawlers, where players must team up to fight their way through levels of evil bad guys to achieve the ultimate goal, whether it be saving the princess or saving the world.  This title is a little different from the others that I have written about before in a couple of different ways, but the biggest reason I chose to take a closer look at Pirates Plundarrr is the nostalgia it evokes.

                 Brawlers were some of the first co-operative multiplayer games available to console players back during the first few console generations.  Players are required to pick a character, usually having 3-4 options and then work together to advance through levels by disposing of enemy after enemy in often ridiculous fashion.  Pirates Plundarr does little to stray from this concept, which is not a bad thing.  The gameplay is deepened slightly with a few add ons, the leveling up system and the extensive list of weapons to be found and used by your characters.  Each time a character earns enough experience points to level up, a player may add a skill point to one of around 10 skills.  Adding to health increases your characters health, adding to treasure find increases the amount of gold enemies drop when defeated and so forth. This adds a bit of an incentive to playing further, and helps players make their characters unique from one another.  The weapon system is also a fun addition to this style of game.  Weapons range from pirate swords to legs of ham and can be found scattered across each of the levels of play.  Collecting the best, or the goofiest, weapons is a fun side quest in this game that keeps it from growing stale.

                This is a perfect game for kids to have some fun with.  From the beginning it drops players right into the action and keeps going until the end. While I wouldn’t recommend this game to someone playing by themselves, this is perfect for a group of kids to be able to pick up and play together at any time.  And because of the gameplays old school roots, it is also a great one to play with older siblings or parents who have fond memories of gaming in their earlier years.  While this game doesn’t have the educational upside that a lot of the other games I have written about do, that doesn’t mean it should be overlooked.  Games of this type help create a lot of good bonding moments and memories, not of the game but with the people the game is played with.  Playing multiplayer video games with friends and family doesn’t get much better than this.

Hey everyone! Puzzle games are a huge part of the handheld market, and if you haven't played these games you are definitely missing out!

                                   

                  

This is the first handheld game I will have posted about, and because of that I made sure to pick a gem (or five of them!).  The professor Layton series currently has 4 titles that have been released in America “Professor Layton and the Curious Village”, “Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box”, Professor Layton and the Unwound Future”, Professor Layton and the Last Specter”, and the newest “Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask”.  The first four can be played on a Nintendo DS or DSi, but the fifth game is made for the Nintendo 3DS system.  Each of these games features Professor Layton, a college Professor who lives in England who is called upon by various people to solve some perplexing cases.  It is up to the player to solve a myriad of puzzles that will lead the story to its final climax.

The gameplay takes a very slow place, with players touching arrows on the DS screen to move from one area to another looking for clues and solving puzzles.  However, this slow pace takes nothing away from the game and actually helps the player search each screen meticulously for new puzzles and hint coins that help solve the many puzzles.  Speaking of puzzles, these games have some great ones! This is the meat of the game, and each successive version has more and more of them.  Puzzles range from math problems, to navigating mazes and word games.  Some of these can be quite hard, but with the help of the hint coins found in the game they can all be solved.  Solving puzzles progresses the story till its final climax, when Layton and his companions are able to piece together the final conclusion.

This series is an excellent teaching tool for many gamers, especially those 10 and up.  Any younger and some of the puzzles could be quite difficult to solve without some help.  But for those able, the puzzles force gamers to evaluate different situations and think outside the box.  Both math and literacy skills are developed by the puzzles, a great benefit to this fantastic game.  On top of this, about 90 percent of the story is presented through on screen script.  Gamers read a fantastic amount of print in order to understand and appreciate the story.  The game plays much like a book, with a puzzle break every 2-3 pages.

The only downside to this game is that there is no built in multiplayer, but this is one of the few games that I still recommend without it.  A multiplayer mode wouldn’t really make sense or have a purpose to this game and often enough players will need to ask those around them for a little help in solving the puzzles!  For gamers above the age of ten with a handheld Nintendo system I would highly recommend any one of these games.  Each has an excellent story and helps promote growth on many levels from reading comprehension to thinking outside the box and utilizing math skills. Pick any of these up and feel confident that you will love playing it as much any younger gamer.