Mondownloaday!

Good morning, friends!  I hope that your weekend was amazing!  I know mine was.

This week, we get 4 DSiWare games and 2 WiiWare games.  Let’s get to it!

Photo Dojo (Nintendo, 1-2 Players,  200 Points [starting June 11]): This game lets you take pictures of yourself or others and put them into a fighting game.  It has made a great impression on most people who play it, and Nintendo, being the awesome company that they are, are giving it away for the first month!  Awesome!

Earthworm Jim (Gameloft, 1 Player, 500 Points): The good ol’, hilarious, insanely hard SNES game, with some additional DSi Camera mini-games thrown in.

Chess Challenge! (Digital Leisure, 1-2 Players, 500 Points): Chess, with local multiplayer.  Joy.

Flips: The Enchanted Wood (EA, 1 Player, 500 Points): The next entry in the downloadable book series.  I haven’t read it.  So that’s all I can tell you.

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations (Capcom, 1 Player, 1,000 Points): The final entry in the fantastically entertaining Phoenix Wright saga.  Play as Phoenix Wright and uncover the truth behind various murder cases.

Chess Challenge! (Digital Leisure, 1-2 Players, 500 Points): The Wii version has online play, leaderboards, and Mii Support.  Joy again.

Well, there you go!  Starting at noon ET, I would definitely recommend Photo Dojo, considering it’s free for the first month, starting today!  And while there are no Virtual Console games, you can still get a SNES or DS game with Earthworm Jim or Phoenix Wright.  Fun times!  So get out there and play!  Or stay inside.  In case it’s cold.

-benjamines

3-D Wormage!

Good day to you, friends! I hope that you Monday is not full of fail! In any case, the game I will tell you about today follows the ridiculous and hilarious adventures of Earthworm Jim. Specifically, Earthworm Jim 3D for the N64. This game was kind of based on the cartoon, which by the way is hilarious. Jim gets conked on the head and the villians take over his brain, forcing Jim's superego to intercede and force the bums out.

Anyone who knows Earthworm Jim knows that the games are about as insane and games come. Some level objectives in previous games included launching cows, bouncing small dogs into a meat grinder, and battling giant snot wads. This one is no exception. As always, expect plenty of cows, falling refrigerators, and total insanity. The objective is to collect all the golden cow udders, which are kind of like stars in Mario 64. My favorite part? Jim is talking to Elvis and Elvis says, "That guy lured me in here. I wouldn't have followed him, but he offered me a cheeseburger." LOL! Also, you get to shoot old ladies in the face. And there's plenty more insane plot (or lack thereof) in this game.

Sadly, the goofiness is hampered by the extreme and unforgiving difficulty. The first few levels are easy enough to accomplish. After that, it's almost not worth it. As an example, one level requires you to float around and collect marbles in the air. The problem? Jumping pirahnas that pop your balloon instantly. And that's not even the worst part. It took me 20-30 lives to even get that high in the level, and that was with an invincibility cheat turned on. So, I had to go all the way back up and try again. About 20 times. This is only one of the insane udder locations.

Also, you can't beat the game unless you get every udder. Not that it's worth your time, because the boss battles are stupid. No, seriously. You ride a pig through a sty and collect marbles while the boss shoots missiles at you. The first time was semi-amusing and mildly annoying. But then, every boss battle after that is the exact same setup, but with a faster boss and more marbles to collect. DUMB. In short, the game would have been ten times more fun with less difficulty. I will say, however, that the music was really good. So... listen to the game. It's more fun than playing it sometimes.

All things considered, it's not a terrible game. But know this: I was using a cheat device which game me unlimited lives and unlimited energy, and it was still incredibly frustrating. So, you'd probably really like this game if A: you like challenging games, B: you're a masochist, or C: you're dumb. Feel free to select multiple answers.

Pros:

• Hilarious missions
• Excellent music
• Classic demented humor

Cons:

• Too hard (especially the repetitive boss battles)
• Jim's voice can get annoying
• Also, too hard

This game has earned a Blatantly Biased: