1 vs 100 on Xbox Live

My husband and I have been playing 1 vs 100 on the Xbox 360. Despite a lot of people saying it was awesome, I was skeptical. I expected the typical online gamers to ruin it. Luckily, I was completely wrong. The game is awesome. For those of you that don't know what 1 vs 100 is, it's basically a trivia game. On certain "live primetime" days, you can win prizes. From what I understand, the prizes are mostly Xbox Live credits, but the last time we played, they were giving away copies of Braid. Anyway, on the live days, you have the opportunity to either be "The One" or in "The Mob." The One tries to outlive The Mob, If you answer a question wrong, you're out. Whoever is left (The One or however many Mob members) wins.

During non-live days, you can still play. There just aren't any prizes. But you do rack up points that the game uses to determine who will be The One and who will be in The Mob. So playing on non-live days is really beneficial. We're not playing much this week due to the Torchwood mini-series, but we'll be back next week!

Game review: Diner Town Tycoon

I really wanted to get the memory of Mr. Biscuits out of my head. So I downloaded Diner Town Tycoon. Diner Dash has rarely let me down. And this is no different. Well, I lie. The gameplay is completely different, but it's much more enjoyable! Instead of waiting on tables, you are trying to stop the evil Grub Burger from taking over your town. You start off with one restaurant, where you control what dishes are being served and how much they cost. It is your job to make sure you have enough ingredients for each dish so you can feed the hungry hoards that populate your town. As you try to keep your restaurant afloat, there are daily goals for you to accomplish. With each goal reached, Grub Burger loses their hold on the people.

I found myself completely mesmerized by Diner Dash Tycoon. I expected the traditional 'run around serving tables' game, but was surprised by how different and innovative this version was. There was a little bit of Diner Dash (each customer has specific tastes) mixed with a little bit of the 'Tycoon' games (the game view looks over the town as a whole instead of focusing on one business). If only I had more thumbs to put up for it!

Game review: Mr. Biscuits: The Case of the Ocean Pearl

It's been quite some time since I've played a hidden object game. I really was hoping that the time away from them would refresh my mind and save me from the tedious task the developers continue to present. Unfortunately, Mr. Biscuits: The Case of the Ocean Pearl is truly an awful game. The actual hidden object part isn't too bad. However, in order to progress the storyline, you need to find a mini Mr. Biscuits (a dog) in each scene. If you don't find him, you don't get the next clue to solve the murder of the dog's owner. It truly is annoying. I had hoped that the dog would be a cute little Scooby-Doo-type addition. Sadly, it is not. You can just skip right past this one.

Game review: Detective Stories: Hollywood

Considering I'm a big fan of movies and a huge fan of hidden object games, I figured that Detective Stories: Hollywood would be a shoo-in for a good review. Sadly, it is not. The hidden object aspects of the game are pretty good. A lot of them revolve around trying to find and match an object to its outline. It's slightly more difficult than finding items on a list but it makes the game more interesting. Where the game lacks is the mini-games in between the hidden object parts. I am still stuck on a game that I can't solve and I can't pass. More than anything, I find this extremely frustrating. If a developer wants to add these mini-games to make the overall game more interesting, fine, but code in a work-around too. I'm sure I'm not the only one that sucks at those types of puzzles.

Otherwise, it's a pretty nice game. Too bad the mini-games ruined it.

Game review: The Hidden Object Show: Season 2

Last year, I panned The Hidden Object Show game. I think someone, somewhere must have been listening because the Season 2 version is much better. No longer are you scouring dark shadows for objects. (Well, maybe once in awhile but not nearly as often as you were before.) The overall premise of being on a game show is still a little annoying. However, the rest of the game is pretty fun so it's easy to overlook the rest. Just mute the gameshow host and everything will be dandy!

Game review: Mystery Legends: Sleepy Hollow

I took a bit of a break from gaming for awhile. I found myself getting burned out. When I decided it was time to return, I found Mystery Legends: Sleepy Hollow waiting for me. The tale of Sleepy Hollow is one of my favorite stories so I was excited to see how a video game revolving around it would be. Luckily for me, it was pretty darn good. In the story mode, you try to solve the disappearances of a variety of townspeople. Clues that you find by searching through their houses and other areas will help you determine how they died. As I played the game, it wasn't too difficult yet it was challenging enough to keep my interest. Yes, there are some objects hidden in dark areas in the room but I think that will be the norm in these types of games now. Either way, if you like Sleepy Hollow, I think you'll enjoy this.

Games: Ringorang

I've been playing Ringorang for a little while now. Ringorang is a trivia game that you can play via a widget on your desktop. (I believe you can also participate on the website.) They ask a question about..well..anything randomly once every hour. Depending on how quickly you answer and whether or not the answer is correct, you get "Dallions." Dallions are basically points. The contest runs from Monday to Friday. The top 10 winners get a t-shirt and the top 3 get other prizes. I think those prizes vary every week. It's a pretty neat game and it's easy to get addicted to!

Game review: Westward III: Gold Rush

Last year, I played Westward II. Since I enjoyed it, I decided to give Westward III: Gold Rush a try. For some reason, this storyline didn't seem to progress as quickly as the second one did. It took a long time to get through the tutorial, much longer than it did before, and then the game seemed to just dump you. I spent a lot of time wandering around the borders trying to figure out where I was supposed to go next. (Well, 'next' in the storyline after the tutorial. The game sticks you in a new area and leaves you there.)

However, there were some interesting changes. Instead of just finding food laying around, you now have to hunt for it. You don't have to aim your gun like you did in Oregon Trail but it's still requires a bit more interaction from the player than just finding a bundle of food. Sadly, I did not make it far in the demo of the game. There is a possibility that it gets better later on but it's difficult to see how it will.

Xbox Live + Netflix = Fun!

I'm sure many of you know about this now. I'm going to talk about it anyway. If you have an Xbox 360 that is Live enabled and a Netflix account, you can stream movies and television shows right to your television. And it's not just a huge list of crappy movies either. My daughter is a big fan of Hannah Montana so we've queued up the entire first and second seasons of the show for her. My husband likes Red Dwarf so we have the last three seasons set up for him. I love Japanese dramas and anime so there's things like R.O.D. the TV on my list. It's a great way to spend a relaxing weekend - catching up on old TV shows or watching movies. If only there were more hours in the day for me to work through our queue!