So Sony (and David Jaffe) has thought it fitting, and I agree, to release Twisted Metal for the PlayStation 3. There isn’t a number suffixing the title, which indicates it might be a bit of a reboot for the series, but believe me, that isn’t the only thing tipping me off that this is a brand new game. Can you say helicop… actually, I’ve already said too much.

Let me start by saying this game is what I’d like to call “beautiful chaos”. It is one of those games where the developers have put extra thought and care into making the destruction of the world as pretty, if not prettier, than the world itself. I’ll get into that a bit more later, but just know that this game is gorgeous.

Twisted Metal doesn’t skimp on variety, either. This game almost feels like Gran Turismo 5 whereby they both look gorgeous and manage to feature a ton of variety in their vehicles. While Twisted Metal doesn’t have the one-thousand-plus cars that you’ll find in GT5, there is a ton of variety both on the road, and in the air. Yes, for this version of Jaffe’s baby, in addition to the ridiculously awesome death-on-wheels vehicles, you’ve got things like a helicopter, a vehicle that closely resembles the ECTO-1 from Ghostbusters (!), and, well, a tank with a car strapped to the top. Yes, you heard that correctly:

A tank. With a car. Strapped. To the top.

One thing I didn’t mention about that helicopter (got caught up in the whole tank with a car thing) is that its probably one of the most normal looking vehicles in the game, until you pick up a car with it and drop it to the ground from a few hundred feet up. Then, not so normal. See that’s just the thing about this game. It’s crazy! In the same way Burnout went crazy with racing games and Saints Row went nuts with open world sandboxes, Twisted Metal has reinvented, well, itself, and created a massive disgusting over-the-top weird wrecking ball of a masterpiece. It’s bizarre in the best of ways.

When you’ve got vehicles like a massive armoured police SUV, you might expect it to be a bit hard to maneuver. Actually, pretty much everything in Twisted Metal handles like butter. The controls aren’t perfect, per se, but they’re good enough to keep you playing. Not necessarily frustrating, but not the best ever. But hey, the game lets you drive a tank with a freaking car strapped …. okay, okay, you get it.

The cutscenes in the game are live-action, and they’re pretty well produced. They remind me of the older Command and Conquer PC titles, which is a nice throwback for me personally, even though it wasn’t intentional, I don’t think. The style of the cutscenes isn’t for me, but they’ve got that Death Race, Grindhouse kind of feel which, if you dig, you’ll love these ones.

Truthfully, the storyline kind of blows. I mean, there are three characters you can follow through to the end of the game, but traditionalists aren’t going to like the fact that you’re no longer forced into driving a specific car depending on your character. For me, it doesn’t really matter since I’m not one of those traditionalists, but if you are, and Twisted Metal is your thing, be prepared for at least a couple of changes.

The multiplayer is pretty robust for what might seem like a chaotic throw-it-all-together game, albeit there is no online co-op for the storyline. The multiplayer matchmaking isn’t nearly up to par with what I think is the gold standard: Halo Reach. However, it works, and there are some pretty neat modes to choose from, in addition to your standard Deathmatch. My favourite is tossing your enemy’s chieftain into a missile launcher and blasting the hell out of their statue until it crashes to the ground in a flaming puddle of madness. Okay, some of that was hyperbole, but it really happens, try it!

All in all, Twisted Metal is a great game. The storyline could use some work, but otherwise, it is a truly fun mess of a game. And I mean “mess” in the best way possible. It’s a really great game. Actually, it’s really a great games is what I should be saying, because when you buy Twisted Metal, you get a code for a download of Twisted Metal Black, which is widely regarded as the best Twisted Metal game ever created. Of all the pack-ins, that’s the one you want. Good job on this re-imagining of a classic franchise, Sony. Hope to see more from this one!

As an added bonus, here is Sweet Tooth’s Ice Cream Truck from Sony’s E3 2011 Press Conference. Enjoy!

Now, Sony is obviously one of the big three in the gaming industry, but they put to use their knowledge of tons of other industries – computing, cameras, television, etc. – to make some really smart moves in the industry. And that’s my first point:

1) Sony puts everything they’ve got into their devices. No, literally.

So it’s no secret that the PlayStation 3 has a ton of technology in it. The cell processor, Blu Ray, massive hard drives, rumble AND Sixaxis control in their controller, not to mention their Move controllers, Playstation Eye, and the memory card slots that came on the original PS3s. Well, let’s look at their latest tech. Holy crap is there a lot of stuff in the PS Vita. This thing is quite literally the device I would dream up if I could choose any specs and put them into a portable gaming device. So here goes:

• FIVE-inch screen – also, OLED – also, touchscreen (that’s three points in one right there)
• Dual analog sticks
• Quad-core CPU & Quad-core graphics processor
• Bluetooth, WiFi-n, and 3G (the latter being optional)
• 512MB RAM (the same as in the XBOX 360; double the PS3′s memory!)
• Rear-touch pad
• Dual cameras: front and back

With a spec list like that, it’s really easy to think that the PS Vita would be easily $500 plus. However, they’ve got the price set at $249/$299, which puts it right inline with the 3DS launch price, but this thing has far more features for the buck, and it is more than worth the extra spend. The battery life is on par with the 3DS as well, and with this many features, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Vita as a developer’s dream since virtually any type of game could be made for it. Good job, Sony – this one is looking great.

2) Licenses, licenses, licenses.

Not get completely caught up in the specs, the launch titles for the Vita are absolutely phenomenal: Uncharted, Wipeout, and ModNation Racers: Road Trip are all on that list. Launch titles usually tend to be pretty lame, if you ask me, but this is an unusually incredible list and should certainly help Sony grab its foothold with the PS Vita.

Sure, you could say that Microsoft has its Halos and Nintendo its Marios and Zeldas. But Sony’s got a massive stable of incredibly hardcore games that could effectively make the jump to a hardware platform like the Vita. I’m just not sure Nintendo can make a hardcore title from their current crop of characters and stories. And of course, that’s just their portable story. In the next few months, we’ve got games like Twisted Metal and Starhawk coming to the PS3 – both of which are highly-anticipated not to mention that they would also make fantastic portable games.

And, maybe if I pray enough, The Last Guardian will make an appearance.

3) Network issues.

So you might think this is a bad thing, right? Well, it wasn’t Sony’s fault that the PSN got hacked last year. But the way they handled it is still being talked about in business schools because it is the way that things are supposed to be done. They acknowledged and apologized about the delay at their 2011 E3 press conference, and never talked about it again. People know what happened, they realize that Sony did everything they could to fix it, and we’ve forgotten about it. That’s some powerful management running the company. And it’s clearly working, because Kazuo Hirai, the President of Sony’s consumer devices division has been appointed to be President and CEO of Sony Corporation as a whole.

4) Awesome integration.

Sony’s got a great advantage in that they’ve been in the hardware design space for so long that they can, every once in a while, merge a couple of their industries to not only create a great product, but to drive adoption of new technologies. That’s exactly what they’ve done with the PlayStation 3D Display. They haven’t just branded a display with PlayStation and thrown it at the market, they’ve made it affordable, bundled it with a game, and added in some new technology called SimulView that lets two players use the whole screen in the middle of split-screen gameplay. Stuff like this is what drives adoption of 3D technology and gaming, just like the PlayStation 3 was likely the cause of Blu Ray’s success and dominance over the long-gone HD-DVD now.

There’s also great bonuses like PlayStation Plus which is actually a more than worthwhile service to join considering all the freebies and discounts you get on DLC and even full games. And speaking of integration, the fact that I can play the same game on my PS Vita as on my PS3 and compete inter-console like that is pretty slick. Sony has this integration thing down, and they’re clearly just getting started with all that you can do with it.

So that’s what Sony does really well. I’ve got my gripes with them also, but all in all, they’re one of the big three for a reason, and there is no ignoring them in the marketplace. If Microsoft is poised to announce their next Xbox at E3, you better believe Sony is listening, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be forced into releasing their next console early. They’re a huge player, and they’re here to stay.

Beneath that door on the Wii lies the Sync button as well as the SD card slot for saving games. I’m pretty convinced no one ever uses it, but nevertheless, Nintendo has said that it would be present on the Wii’s successor. Fine.

But why is the sync button on the outside of that door now? Sure, it might be because the new controller needs to be synced more often for whatever reason. But I have a more radical theory – one that would be absolutely incredible should it pan out.

You see, there used to be this thing called the Super Game Boy, and then the Game Boy Player, for Super Nintendo and GameCube, respectively. They allowed you to play Game Boy games on the big screen very simply with the same controller you would use for the console itself. It was a very elegant solution, expanded the use of the console, and probably even sold some portable games to people without the handheld.

Until the Wii U comes out, there is no way to do something similar with DS and 3DS games because there has only ever been one screen – the TV – and even if both screens were displayed on the TV (size certainly wouldn’t be an issue), the bottom would somehow need to react to touch, which just simply isn’t possible.

You probably see where I’m going with this. Beneath that little door lies not only an SD card slot, but also a 3DS/DS slot.

I have it on official word from Nintendo that this will in fact be a feature touted at E3 2012.*

Here’s the logic behind it: The Wii U controller has a touch-screen, not to mention the exact control scheme – a slide pad and four buttons – as well as about the same size ratio for the top and bottom screen (don’t forget, the distance you’re holding it from your face factors into it, so it would be roughly the same).

Also, the feature would further validate (not to mention spur sales of) Nintendo’s re-release of classic games like Ocarina of Time and Starfox 64, not to mention Super Mario 64 DS and the others. It would also instantly increase the Wii U’s library from a couple dozen games at launch to include the thousand or so DS and 3DS games already out there.

Now, there is also the possibility for 3D to work on the TV screen if the player has a 3D television, which would in effect make the Wii U the first portable, non-portable 3D game console. Hell, even if you couldn’t knock 3D out of this thing, it would no doubt still be a huge feature that the company must have thought up by now. They’re geniuses. Trust me, they’ve thought of this.

Interestingly, it would probably cost a heck of a lot to put this in, right? Actually, probably not. The expense of the 3DS is not due to the cartridge reader, but rather the battery, backlit screens, and of course the active 3D shutter over the screen. You don’t need any of those things, nor a processor, buttons, case, or fancy packaging for this. It’s literally just a slot that would be wired to take advantage of the Wii U’s processor and memory for running the game in what would likely be an official emulator of sorts. It might add to the production cost of the unit by a few bucks (at the most), but Nintendo is sure to sell additional games for the console, or even encourage people to buy a 3DS just to take their games with them once they see just how great the games are.

There has also been word from Nintendo that the Wii U was inspired by the DS. Not so unbelievable considering both are from the same minds at the company, but the fact that they’ve come out and said it doesn’t hurt the case for this theory.

And last but not least, there is more than enough room in that little door for an SD slot and 3DS slot side by side. The door on the Wii U is about 8.5cm (3.34″), which is just shy of a full inch larger than the door on the Wii. With the sync button gone from behind there, what else could be there lurking? Hmmmm….

So that’s it for now. Another E3 prediction of sorts, although this one was thought up almost entirely in my head. Okay, so entirely in my head. But either way, we all stand to gain with such an incredible feature. Let’s not forget, Sony is kind of doing this with some games on the PS3 and Vita, so it would be great for Nintendo to make this native support on their latest and greatest.

*By “official word”, I mean I really, really, really, really hope this happens. Otherwise, no, there’s been no comment from Nintendo and I have no knowledge of this outside of my imagination

For coverage of the Wii U from last year’s E3 2011, take a look at this post.

First up, I want to let you all know that I’m heading down to LA with my good friend Sean Chin, who accompanied Eggplante to E3 2010 where we had an absolute blast. He founded and runs Live In Limbo (www.liveinlimbo.com), a great source for music, movie, concert, and of course video game reviews. So check it out! Now on to our predictions…..

This year will hopefully not be the year of the sequel as it was last year. 2011 brought us a lot of threes, actually: Modern Warfare 3, Gears of War 3, Mass Effect 3, yada yada yada. This year, hopefully we’ll see a lot more original IP, or at least games that, while they’re based on existing story lines, tell stories in a brand new way. For example, Halo 4 isn’t going to be a true sequel. The storyline will pick up from where it left off, but it’s a new studio developing it, it’s a new trilogy, and of course, it’s been five years since Halo 3 launched. My excitement about Halo 4 can’t be tempered, and I can’t wait to get some hands-on time with the game. I just hope they delay it if it isn’t finished because holiday 2012 seems quick for such a massive title, and I really hope they nail it!

The Wii U is obviously going to play a huge role at E3 2012, and while I don’t think we’ll see any new Zelda for Wii U or 3DS this year around, I think the focus will be on Mario games like Super Mario Galaxy 3 (although truth be told, I’d prefer a new start to the Super Mario series, myself), Super Smash Bros., and of course a ton of third-party support. Speaking of Zelda, however, I do think we’ll be seeing a Majora’s Mask remake for the 3DS. You can get the game for Virtual Console on your Wii right now with Club Nintendo points, so that could be good or bad. On the bad side, people might play it now and get it out of their system and not buy a 3D remake again. However, Nintendo might be using the adoption rate on the Virtual Console to see if it would be a viable game on the 3DS. If the latter were the case, I’m not sure there would be enough time for them to conduct the research and then make the game if there is enough demand for it. But one can hope!

New PS Vita experiences will also be on display, of course, although with the handheld out and about, I hope that Sony announces something regional for the console. By regional, I mean something that makes it awesome to use the Vita in these big convention centre spaces. Last year, we were all crazy about our StreetPass functionality with the 3DS, and if Sony has people pulling out their Vitas all over the place to play around, it certainly couldn’t hurt more than the announcement that they’re using AT&T for their 3G service. Awkwaaaaard.

Speaking of Sony, it would be great if we would finally see something about The Last Guardian. I still remember that trailer as almost making me cry, but we haven’t seen anything about the game since E3 2009, and truth be told, I’m not sure it’s going to be worth the wait anymore!

On the Microsoft front, I don’t think we’ll be seeing any new hardware from the folks in Redmond. We’ll of course be getting the Kinect-blast again this time around, but hopefully in more hardcore games, and with much speedier voice-recognition support. Halo 4 will be there, of course, and I’d say a mention of the next chapter in the trilogy would be there, but before we play Halo 4, they can’t hint at what happens next. I mean, what if the Chief dies or something?

In terms of what we will be seeing from Microsoft, I think the big thing will be new experiences for a new console vision like Nintendo showed off with the Wii U last year. While we won’t see hardware or specific tech specs, there will be tech demos showed off. In the off-chance that we do actually see some hardware, I think the controller will remain mostly, if not completely, the same (it is widely regarded as the best controller of the current generation, after all), and Kinect will be in the box, but not physically built-in to the console. Doing that would force the person to put the console under their TV, or worse, on top of it, which just isn’t always possible. Hard drives will be standard across all the units (no “core” models here), but Blu-Ray is a toss up. It would only serve to fuel Sony’s position in the Blu-Ray space, but they do need a higher-capacity medium if the rumours of 6x the power of the XBOX 360 hold true.

So what will happen at E3? The above is all just musings on the industry and what I see happening. Stay tuned in May for our “E3: What Will, What Might, and What Won’t” post that is quickly becoming an Eggplante tradition.

Oh, and Splinter Cell 6 will finally be announced. Just saying’. In the meantime, take a look at some of the biggest events from E3s of years past.

So does the game hold up to our recent review of Forza Motorsport 4? Well, based purely on numbers, yes. And based on gameplay, well, sort of yes. On numbers, GT5 XL easily blows Forza 4 out of the water with more than double the cars, although Porsche is still missing (damn you, EA). However, when it comes to gameplay, while this game is absolutely on par in terms of look and feel of state of the art, right up there with Forza 4, there just isn’t as much content. But I have to clarify that.

See, in Forza, you’ve got Top Gear, wicked awesome Kinect support, and that in-car mode that just can’t be topped. With that said, if you’re a car buff, that stuff all goes out the window if what you want is CARS. I can’t stress just how many cars over 1000 actually is. If your favourite car isn’t a Porsche, I can virtually guarantee you that it’s in here. And when it comes to value, this is the XL edition, which means you’ve got to be getting something more than you would’ve got when you bought the original title way back when, right? Actually, yeah, you get quite a bit, too. There’s more than $20 of add-on cars, tracks, and other goodies that will do their best to

Probably one of the best reasons to own this game is something that has more to do with the console it runs on than this specific piece of software: 3D. You’re just not gonna get 3D from Forza 4. In one of their developer interviews, they said that 3D just didn’t make sense unless they could create a new way to show driving off. I don’t think they could be farther from reality, and GT5 XL exemplifies it: when you’ve got a car going 120mph on a straight track, sometimes having 3D on is the only way to tell what’s going on. Okay, not really, but my God it’s beautiful.

Let’s not beat around the bush: Gran Turismo 5 XL is Gran Turismo 5 with some add-ons. If you’ve already got the original, don’t buy this one, or you’ll be wasting your money. But if you don’t have the original, you owe it to yourself to buy this one. I’m not a huge racing game fan. In fact, I kind of loathe racing games that aren’t Ridge Racer or Wipeout. But Gran Turismo 5, and more specifically the XL edition, makes me love the virtual leather-wrapped steering wheel all over again. It’s a fantastic game, it’s visceral, you feel the love from it, and it deserves your dough. Just remember when you’re done playing and actually driving on an actual road, speed limits do apply.

1) Tauntaun Sleeping Bag – $100 - Because let’s be honest, the actual cutting open a Tauntaun and sleeping in it would just be too much work.

2) The Big Bang Theory Stuff – $17-$62 – It’s a nerd’s show about being nerdy. Get with it.

3) Star Wars Cufflinks and Tie Clasps – $60 - May the force be with you (holding together your garments). Bonus: get 10% off with coupon code “E10″ at the link below!

4) Pretty much anything from ThinkGeek.

5) Elemental Rings – $205-$6500 – If you’re a nerd and you don’t want these things, you’re not a nerd. They have pendants, too. PS – it just might get your girlfriend into the whole nerdism thing. It is jewelry, after all.

So there you have it – our first, albeit short, guide to some pretty awesome nerdy things you can use to nerd up your life a bit more than it probably needs to be. But either way, enjoy!

The classic Mission formula is there, sure: the gadgets, disguises, rogue agents, and split-second decisions that really put you on the edge of your seat are all intact. But they’re all elevated, literally and figuratively.

If you have any interest in this movie, well, you’ve already seen it and made a judgment for yourself, and/or you know about the massive action sequence at the top of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Tom Cruise did his own stunts for that one, including running along the side of the building, jumping out from it, and swinging through the window a half dozen floors below him. Don’t believe me? YouTube it – it’s really him. But all that aside, was the sequence worth it? I’ll tell you that I have actually never been on the edge of my seat in any movie theatre from a jumping sequence. The movie does such an incredible job of really getting across the feeling of height, danger, and improvisation, which in real life, would all add up to one really long fall. However, this is Mission: Impossible, so of course, it’ll all work out in the end. It’s an incredibly gripping sequence, entirely unnecessary, but at the same time necessary.

The girls are not your typical James Bond hotties, but in the Mission series, they never have been. Don’t get me wrong – they’re all gorgeous – but they aren’t supermodels or perfectly-built maidens. They’re just real, hot women. And seriously, that makes them hotter.

The storyline wasn’t contrived the way I felt Mission: Impossible 2 was, nor was it too simple. There were some moments that the technology simply wouldn’t be possible – a magnet so powerful for example, that could keep a person suspended about eight feet in the air without damaging the computers and circuitry all around him. But if you let yourself believe that stuff, you’ll be in for a really great thrill ride.

Overall, it’s a great movie, with an incredible action sequence smack dab in the middle of it all, bookended by a historical explosion – the Kremlin, of all things – and a great finale in a simple way that is classic to the series. I won’t give anything away, but let’s just say that even though he isn’t credited officially, Luther Stickell makes a great appearance in true Mission fashion.

It’s a must-see movie, and this is in fact the best Mission: Impossible yet, even with classics like the first and third in the series. This isn’t a mission for you to choose to accept. Just accept it.

It’s not all bad. In the end, this is a board game on a console, and while those tend to be pretty lame, this one is better than most. Bright like Mario Party, entrepreneurial like Monopoly, the game suffers from a really slow pace that I just couldn’t get away from. I mean, Risk plays faster than this game, and that thing takes a half hour just to set up!

The game functions almost identically to Monopoly in its most basic way: you land on spaces, purchase them, they become your property (a store pops up in Fortune Street), and other players who land on it have to pay you cold hard moolah. You can upgrade your shops, increasing the money charged when a player passes them, thereby increasing your net worth all the same.

The game splits from the Monopoly-style at that point, however. You play in one of two settings, and while you might think that changes the computer’s strategy, it actually changes the rules. I played in Easy mode most of the time, if only because I didn’t want to bother changing my play style. But in standard mode, the game switches into a district set up where you have to pool your properties in the same area to get bonuses for multiple properties.

Then you can throw in stock market fluctuations and chance encounters in mini-games that switch things up a bit, taking the entire game away from pure skill and throwing in the requisite chance element. The game gets very interesting when you really want to mess with your opponents. If you’ve got a lot of cash to burn through, you can forcefully buy out your opponent’s properties (albeit at several multiples of the asking price), or offload a bunch of stock your opponent has invested in to make its value plunge. Just be aware that your opponents can do the same thing to you!

Overall, Fortune Street is not a bad game. I’m probably a bit let down because of what I was expecting out of the franchise, and when I saw Dragon Quest characters in there as well, a game I’m not a huge fan of, it pulled me away from the experience a bit. With that said, it’s a title that is staying in my collection if only simply because it has the business and gaming aspects of my life that I love all rolled into one tidy, albeit slow-paced, little package.

If you do a search for “Lights” on Eggplante, you’ll get quite a few hits. She happens to come up a lot on this blog, and with good reason: she’s awesome. Her latest album, Siberia was given a great thumbs up from yours truly, and I got the chance to see the last show of her latest tour at the Sound Academy in Toronto.

Now, she’s played at the Sound Academy before, the first time with Owl City who, at the time, had a huge hit “Fireflies” on their hand. That fizzled out, and Lights took the stage solo this time, and she killed the crowd. Sound Academy is a massive venue, and there’s really nothing between it and the Air Canada Centre in terms of size. Short of Justin Bieber’s level of fame, Lights has hit the big time.

Her set had a bunch of classics as well as the required new stuff, but all of it was top notch. She didn’t start with a slow instrumental or sweet ballad, either – she came out, blasted her voice to Banner, one of her hardest hitting songs on Siberia, and didn’t let up until the night was over.

I’m not sure how many more ways I can say that this girl has talent. Sure, if you’re not into synthesizer pop/rock, you’re probably not going to be too interested in her music. But if you have a chance, I urge you to at least listen to a few songs on the album. They’re quite catchy, deserve more radio airtime than they’re getting, and are a definite hit among fans of the genre. Take a look at some shots from the night and tell me you can’t imagine the show being awesome!

Let’s start with what Nintendo gets right: this is Mario Kart. Now, while that is also my problem with the game, at its core, it is a good arcade driving game. The power ups are fun, although very repetitive, and the tracks are well designed. The 3D doesn’t do much here, but that is the case with most 3DS games sadly. It provides a bit of an experience upgrade, but not enough to warrant the purchase like Super Mario 3D Land does.

There is some new stuff in the game, like hang gliders for soaring through the clouds and propellers for those underwater moments, but they’re just not enough to really make the experience fresh. It might be that Nintendo just doesn’t want to upset its fans – after all, people weren’t huge fans of Double Dash, even though that was spades better than this Kart game – but they should be taking a few more risks, even with their key franchises.

There are a ton of tracks in the game, I can give it that, and even more characters and kart customization options. What I can’t wrap my head around though is how short the game actually feels. Sure, they extend the length of the game by giving you three difficulties and really feeling like you need to complete each one. But let’s be honest: the 100cc races barely give you a challenge, and the 50cc ones are a joke. 150cc races are adequately challenging, and really are the only reason to play the game, but even with eight sets of tracks, the game feels very thin. You can race through it (no pun intended) in about an two hours, give or take. Not an ideal way to spend $40 in my opinion.

There is some extension to the gameplay, and that is multiplayer. It’s a much welcomed addition to the gameplay, and Nintendo pulled it off rather smoothly, I must say. It’s probably the best implementation of multiplayer I’ve ever seen on a portable device, and coming from Nintendo, that’s saying quite a bit, considering how long Sony’s PSP has been in the online portable multiplayer game (not to mention the thousands of iOS and Android apps with online mobile multiplayer).

If you haven’t played Mario Kart since the Nintendo 64 days (or even earlier), you’re in for a real treat here. It’s got classic tracks redone with some subtle changes, but all the best stuff you remember is still there. However, if you’ve played a Mario Kart game on the DS or Wii, you’re not going to see a whole lot of new stuff here. For the Mario die-hard, it’s a must have, but in that case, this review won’t sway you either way. For younger children, it’s a great game, and for the older ones, it’s a great time-killer. With that said though, there are a few better ways to spend your time on the 3DS. Can I suggest the red plumber and his brother in another game of choice? Super Mario 3D Land, if you didn’t catch my drift there.