The “game” starts up with a breif tutorial on how to use 4 basic instrument styles then puts you on a piano and tells you it’s time to play twinkle twinkle little star, something I can play very well on the piano. How do you play? You get some bouncy balls on the right that keep the rhythm (a metronome) and you wave the Wiimote (or nunchuk or both, your choice) to the beat of the song. The catch? You can play it as fast or as slow as, and with as few or many notes as you want. Without a grading system you could essentially sit there and still win.

I played through a Jam Session (which works as I described above only you can choose your position and instrument and have your band backing you up) to Do Rei Mi from the Sound of Music. I went with the default instrument, which was electric guitar, and since I’m familiar with the song it went very well. Pleased with my sucess I rated my performance 100, created a very lame over from the small selection of styles and background and saved my jam video to watch later. I moved onto Grandfather’s Clock and switched from the default piano to electric guitar. I tried to play the song upspeed but failed miserably since the rest of the band remained slow. After a terrible performence, I tried again, this time in the cat suit I unlocked earlier. I meowed to the slow tempo and did rather well.

Desperate for better feedback on how well I was doing, I tried some mini games. One of which allowed me to be a maestro (think back to the old Wii music footage before the Wii came out) which basically let me free conduct and scored me at the end. Finally.

Waggling the Wiimote and nunchuck around does not feel like playing a piano or guitar. (and I should know) You have no choice what notes you hit, just how many, the tempo and the volume. The waggling’s glitchy and this is another game that’d benefit from Wiimotionplus. (wouldn’t they all though?)

This isn’t a game to me and therefore I can’t score it. Even my daughter’s more interested in hitting the keys on my Portable Grand than waving the Wiimote. If you want to play an instrument take some lessons. Not only will you actually be able to play instead of pretending, you’ll also develop a better understanding of music and rhythm.

She’s getting so big now and always makes me proud.

Platform: PC-Windows/DOS

Screenshots:

Where to get it: Download it here

About The Game: 

Monkey Island is a fantastic adventure game from Lucaasarts. You play as a young wanna be pirate named Guybrush Threepwood. To become a pirate you have to perform 3 tasks to appease the pirate elders. While this is going on the Ghost Pirate LeChuck is trying to marry Governor Elaine Marley. It’s up to Guybrush to stop the evil LeChuck from completing his plans.

Why it’s a classic:

Where do I even begin? Despite the fantastic storyline the humour in this game is what makes it a classic. The game is literally laugh out loud funny. With things like insult sword fighting, giant monkey heads, ghosts, and a whole shwack of references to other lucasarts games this is one of the funniest most enjoyable adventure games of all time. If you havn’t ever checked this game out do it as soon as you can!

Samba De Amigo Wii
Gives you that nostalgic feeling of the DC maraccas which is not necessarily a good thing, but being packed full of songs and modes saves it.
8/10

De Blob
Blissfully rolling around and painting a city is fun and the collectibles make it worthwhile.
9/10

Sim City Creator
A game franchise that should stick to the PC to avoid shoddy controls and pointless gameplay additions.
6/10

Harvest Moon DS
Best Harvest Moon game since the N64.
9/10

Rhythm Tengoku Gold
Great sequel to the best rhythm game on the GBA, if only the touch screen didn’t get old and the games weren’t so hard.
8/10

The Sims 2 Apartment Life
This expansion does lots I’ve wanted done for awhile, including controlling multiple (but seperate) families and being a witch.
9/10

Beautiful Katamari
A game that should have been on the PS3 with paid to unlock content and hopecrushing levels.
6/10

Samba De Amigo (Wii) - Controls are kinda crappy but the game is still crazy fun and worth the pickup - 7/10 (Pick of the Week)
Wario Land: Shake It! (Wii) -  Wario turned into Saberman, not a bad thing. - 9/10
De Blob (Wii) - Best 3rd party, full priced Wii game to hit the system. - 8/10
Sonic Chronicles The Dark Brotherhood (NDS) - The best Sonic game since Sonic 3 and Knuckles and it’s not developed by Sega, imagine that. - 8/10
Line Rider 2 Unbound (NDS) -  Fun little puzzle minigame not worth the price tag. - 5/10
Megaman 9 (WiiWare) - I don’t remember ANY game being this hard, ever. - 8/10

The expansion pack is called the Sims 2 Mansion & Garden Stuff and that’s exactly what it is… Stuff to design mansions and gardens. Nothing useful or practical for your Sims. (well moreso than usual)

Here’s the info from the Sims 2 website:
“Design impressive estates and meticulous gardens for your Sims with three all-new architectural styles. Infuse your Sims’ mansion with the intricate beauty of new Moroccan designs, add a touch of retro-modern style with stately and new Art Deco elements, or build in the imposing new Second Empire style. With a host of new architectural and landscaping items to choose from, your Sims mansions will look more stunning than ever!”

It concludes with “More info coming soon”, although what more information would you need!

Hot Fuzz

From the creators of Shaun of the Dead, this cop action movie is quite hilarious. It’s about a big city cop that gets transferred to a very small town because he’s too good at his job and making everyone else look bad. Disgruntled he moves and meats up with their main cop. He’s lazy and doesn’t really do much, since he only got his position because his dad is sheriff. Deciding that the town needs turining around, the big city cop takes authority over his partner and changes him to be better at his job.

As the partners progress not only do they become friends and more devoted to their jobs, they make a shocking discovery. After investigating a car accident the partners believe it to have been a murder. They soon unravel a deeper secret the entire town is working to keep underwraps - they’re all too devoted to earning the “most beautiful town in England” title year after year.

A great comedy, especially for those who like Shaun of the Dead or British humour that features a suprising twist.

This is a movie that I only first saw rather recently. It’s about a troubled boy, Donnie Darko, who awakes one morning on a golf course, which he slept walked to that night. Back at his house it turns out an airplane engine fell out of the sky onto his room. The rest of his family’s left unharmed but no one can explain where the engine came from. There was no plane to report such an incident.

Donnie soon discovers a light coming out from him and leading outside the room. He follows it to the fridge then sees in turn away. This is his fate path. He can change it.

There’s book exerts throughout the move that when read give you a better understanding of what’s going on and why.

This movie is very interesting and well written and will leave you analyzing and speculating. It’s definatly one of those movies you have to watch multiple times to really understand.

If you decide to watch this, and you should, ensure you get the director’s cut. It contains lots more then the original, plus the original barely makes sense.

This is one of my favourite movies of all time and something I watched tonnes of times throughout my childhood.

Milo and Otis is the story of a farm kitten and puppy who become good friends. One day they are down by the river and Milo (the kitten) climbs into a box and invetiably floats away. Otis, being a good friend, chases along side of him. Eventually they get separated and thus they must work to finding each other. They’re shown each on their individual adventures and meat a lot of crazy animals along the way. The movie spans over an entire year as the friends hunt for each other and eventually have kittens and puppies of their own.

The entire film features nothing but animals and therefore features no talking. There’s storybook style narration throughout the film and the narrator says what the charcters are saying. For example “I’m frolicking!” exclaimed Milo.

With a comedic story and a feel good ending, this Japanese made movie is a must see.