Game Rating: M
Game Publisher: Atari
Platform: Xbox 360 — Also made for PS3 & Windows Vista/XP
Release Date: April 7, 2009
Buy this at: Amazon for $44.99

“An otherwise fun, but one trick pony type of game, Pitch Black makes ‘Assault on Dark Athena’ all worthwhile…”

One of the biggest titles I’d been looking forward to playing since I’d heard about its release was “The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena.” I’d been checking out the videos, screenshots, and reading up on the impending Atari title for months. Well, the time has come for the release of the game and I just happened to get a copy of it to review!

What a fun game! I’m not a huge online, multiplayer kind of guy, but if one game could sway me in that direction it is this one! While “The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena” shines when it comes to online gameplay, the single player, offline game isn’t half bad either. Okay, it’s pretty awesome. I’m very happy with the entire game, as there is much to do, ensuring I won’t get tired playing this game for a while.

I love the online games the best. Have I said that already? There are a series of different online games you can play with others who own ‘Dark Athena.’ This is the most fun I’ve had in an online game playing environment. The entire online experience is fast paced as you take on other players. They come virtually out of nowhere, and next thing you know, in a split second, you are dead until the next round begins (well, in most of the online games).

I don’t think I’ll get tired of the online portion of “The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena” for quite some time. It’s exhilarating to play these games and it makes the entire purchase of ‘Dark Athena’ worthwhile.

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Written by Dominick - Visit Website
Dominick is in his late 20s. Having been born in the 80s gave him a unique advantage to experience the development of gaming into the massive industry it has become today. From the days of Atari to the purchase of his very first NES (before his 10th birthday), Dominick has been involved in gaming. Initially, a huge fan of Nintendo, he's delved more into the exciting world of Xbox 360, and everything Microsoft in recent years. His favorite games are Action/Adventure, Shooters (especially WWII or Historical based games) and racing games. Of course, some days he enjoys playing an old fashioned game featuring his original gaming heroes, Mario and Zelda. In a wheelchair since age 16, Dominick has the unique perspective of gaming with limited mobility. When not gaming, he is a human rights activist, a creative mind, and he enjoys spending time with his family.

Game Rating: T for Teen
Game Publisher: Sony Entertainment
Platform: PS2
Release Date: October 28, 2008
Buy this at: Amazon for $29.99

I am probably the biggest Country Music fan in my house and on most days that isn’t saying a whole lot. Some of my favorite Country artists include Garth Brooks, the Dixie Chicks, Mindy McCreedy, Colin Raye, The Charlie Daniels Band, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, Carrie Underwood, and Trisha Yearwood among others. These people all have one thing in common. None of them are present on the SingStar Country game!

The fact that Garth Brooks was not on here just floored me. The fact that the Dixie Chicks made one of the mainstream discs, but not the Country was also quite a surprise. Still, the thing that surprised me the most was not some of the missing artists that have defined Country music. It was the artists that did make the cut. In my opinion there were three categories here.

-Good Artist/Good Song (this one was pretty rare)
-Good Artist/Unknown or Less Important Song (we knew who they were but were surprised by the song choice)
-Why are they on here in the first place?!? (a few of the singers felt kind of unnecessary)

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Written by Ashtyn - Visit Website
Ashtyn is definitely the casual gamer in the family. A game fan since she owned an Atari, Ashtyn can remember when her brother rigged the television so he wouldn't lose his Super Mario Bros. game. That is, until the power went out! A fan of all things Mario, Ashtyn is a Nintendo loyalist. She digs playing Mario-style RPG games, watching others play violent shooters (because she sucks at them), and playing casual PC games (like Wedding Dash and Cake Mania). As of now, she is into the Wii and Nintendo DS, though she's certain the games for PS3 and Xbox 360 are more appealing.

Game Rating: T for Teen
Game Publisher: Sony Entertainment
Platform: PS2
Release Date: September 23, 2008
Buy this at: Amazon for $29.99

Hearing that anything Pop is being offered to us can be a catch 22. Many of the most popular forms of music fall under that genre these days. However, when it comes to music we can be a bit non-conformist. To put it mildly, we aren’t always big fans of pop. So, when we received this SingStar title
the first thing we did was turn the case over to find out who was on it. Many of the names we know and like, but there were a few (Ashlee Simpson) that we didn’t like or (Boys Like Girls) weren’t too familiar with.

We found after playing this that some styles of music are much easier for some of us to sing than for others. For example, I am not bad at pop (I ruled this disc), but Dominick offers more strength when jamming to SingStar ABBA, Legends, and some of our other titles. Of course, we would flip flop in each game based on the song and singer, but for the most part, the fact that I knew a lot of the songs here really helped out a lot.

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Written by Ashtyn - Visit Website
Ashtyn is definitely the casual gamer in the family. A game fan since she owned an Atari, Ashtyn can remember when her brother rigged the television so he wouldn't lose his Super Mario Bros. game. That is, until the power went out! A fan of all things Mario, Ashtyn is a Nintendo loyalist. She digs playing Mario-style RPG games, watching others play violent shooters (because she sucks at them), and playing casual PC games (like Wedding Dash and Cake Mania). As of now, she is into the Wii and Nintendo DS, though she's certain the games for PS3 and Xbox 360 are more appealing.

Game Rating: T for Teen
Game Publisher: Sony Entertainment
Platform: PS3
Release Date: October 28, 2008
Buy this at: Amazon for $59.99

SingStar has been around for quite some time. It’s a popular game on the Sony Platform for the mere fact that it works for nearly everyone in the entire family. It’s a casual game based on singing skill. Of course, even if you cannot sing to save your life you can still have fun playing this. It’s good to just goof around with friends playing SingStar because it’s just one of those games where everyone has a good time.

If you’re one of the lucky people that happens to have a Playstation 3 with backwards capability (not everyone does) then you can enjoy a wealth of different SingStar titles. Everything from 80s and 90s to Country is available with more titles being released all the time. We are lucky enough to have one and since we have received SingStar Vol. 2 we have begun to amass quite a Sing Star collection. In fact, at last count I believe we were up to six titles. In addition to this review, you will soon be able to read reviews on Sing Star titles such as 80s, ABBA, Legends, Country, and Pop Vol. 2.

The goal is simple. You have to sing your heart out. The hard part will be getting those lyrics down in the right beat with the right tone, rhythm, and pitch. Other than that, it’s a piece of cake! The best thing you can do is choose a title with artists and songs that you are familiar with. If you haven’t ever sung the songs or don’t know them very well it’s going to be much harder than if the song is like second nature to you.

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Written by Ashtyn - Visit Website
Ashtyn is definitely the casual gamer in the family. A game fan since she owned an Atari, Ashtyn can remember when her brother rigged the television so he wouldn't lose his Super Mario Bros. game. That is, until the power went out! A fan of all things Mario, Ashtyn is a Nintendo loyalist. She digs playing Mario-style RPG games, watching others play violent shooters (because she sucks at them), and playing casual PC games (like Wedding Dash and Cake Mania). As of now, she is into the Wii and Nintendo DS, though she's certain the games for PS3 and Xbox 360 are more appealing.

Game Publisher: Sony
Platform: PS3’s Playstation Network
Release Date: September 11, 2008

I’m not a major game show fan. Most of the people in my house are. My son is a game show fanatic. In fact, one of his favorite television stations is Game Show Network. If he could play game shows on the computer or on video games every waking moment, he would. I just don’t really like game shows all that much. The only ones I can stand to watch are test your knowledge games. I’ll watch Jeopardy and the Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader. I’m not so fanatical about these shows that I can’t miss them, but I do enjoy playing along with them when they are on.

On a side note, as a kid, I was in love with the Match Game. It was the craziest, kookiest game and I loved to watch reruns from the 1970s. It had to be the outlandish nature of the celebrities that participated on the show, that made it so fun to watch. That being said, it’s insanely clear to me that I prefer the games where I can actively participate in the game, by answering questions and gauging how I’d do if I were competing against the contestants. Just watching people do things that I can’t participate in is not much fun. I’m pretty sure that’s why I never dug The Price is Right.

When I found out about the Playstation Network offering Jeopardy for a downloadable purchase, I knew I had to get this game. Not only would I enjoy it, but the rest of the family would go ga-ga during time spent together. I knew that Jeopardy would be a crowd-pleaser in the Evans household. That’s part of why I’m writing this review, right now. I had the chance to download and play several games of Jeopardy, both online and off.

For the most part, Jeopardy is exactly like you’d expect. You get to play the part of the contestant on Jeopardy and to answer questions. You get to play two rounds and answer daily doubles if you select them. You get to play final Jeopardy. It’s all there. You can play in a single player mode, against family and friends locally or online against other players. Of course here are some disappointing aspects, that make this game a little less enjoyable than it could have been. Had these issues not been a part of the game. I’ll get into what’s wrong with the game a little later in this review.

Game Play:
What’s there to say about game play? It’s Jeopardy. You get to use your own customizable character to take on others in a variety of settings (locally – single and multi-player and online vs. other players). You can play friends online or complete strangers. No matter how you play, the gameplay is identical. In single player, local games, you get to choose the first category. In online games and multi-player local games, you might or might not get to choose a category first. You have so much time to read a question and then you press a button to answer the question. All of your answers are selected, multiple choice, from a list of four questions.

The questions are ones you’d expect (and may have seen before) when watching Jeopardy on television. There are questions for every subject you studied in school (i.e. Science, Health, World History), Potpourri, Pop Culture, Politics, and a plethoric selection of other topics. You make money from questions you get right and lose money from questions you miss. While there are over 2,500 questions, one downside (or upside if you want to make a lot of money) is that when you cancel a game in the middle, you have to restart that exact same game over the next time you play, locally. The categories and questions also repeat from online to offline formats. This can be an advantage for a player who has gone through all of the clues.

There really isn’t much more to this game. If you’ve seen Jeopardy on television then you’ll know exactly how to play this game. If you like Jeopardy, on television, you’ll love it when you’re actually in the driver’s seat, playing your own game of Jeopardy. I played on my own and with the family, which is pretty cool to play as a single player, because you’re more likely to get the answers to the questions right with so many opinions and knowledge levels being represented. Of course, the game does get old after awhile, so I don’t recommend having 12-hour Jeopardy playing marathons. In fact, this game is best played in short bursts with kith and kin.

Enjoyment/Fun Factor:

Features:
One of the most noticeable features of Jeopardy for the Playstation Network, is the custom Avatar option. I wish this was more customizable. You get to choose from a few different guys or girls, with different skintones, choose their hair color, make a few, minor modifications and you really can’t customize much more than that. You can change your avatar’s name to your own and then you might just have to play in a game versus the customized avatars your family members create. Ashtyn found this bothersome, when the AI took over my Dominick avatar, who was whooping her butt! I would rather the AI not have access to character-created avatars, but that’s just my personal choice.

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Written by Dominick & Ashtyn - Visit Website
Dominick and Ashtyn Evans are gamers. That's all you need to know!