We talk about the Problems with Video Game Films

What is the future of Star Trek?

And we get a little serious at the end.

Check out this weeks show The Issues Program Ep 34: Trek-The Video Game Film

The Maw

This game is incredibly unique and probably my favorite of the whole bundle. Twisted Pixel’s The Maw is one of the most unique games I have ever played. It’s a 3D platformer with lots of puzzles. In the game, you feed a little creature and as it eats it gets bigger and gains different talents. While playing, the thought of Yoshi or Kirby would pop up, even though the game feels nothing like either of those franchises. The similarity comes from the whimsical feel and sense of humor of the game. Not to mention having an alien creature eat things and gain abilities definitely reminds one of those titles. The game is fun and looks great. The only issue is it keeps you wanting more! Hopefully in the future we get a sequel, because the gameplay was very addictive! Twisted Pixel, please make a Maw 2!

Splosion Man

Splosion Man is an insane game, in all the best possible ways. You play as Splosion Man and an experiment went wrong, so you explode constantly. You are like the guy from Heroes that almost blew up the city mixed with Willy E. Coyote. The game is your escape from the lab, where you have to explode yourself in some of the most interesting platforming levels one could imagine. The game is hilarious, from the reactions of the scientists running from you, to the ridiculous sound when your character runs around destroying everything he touches. Splosion Man is basically a 2D platformer with over 50 levels and believe me when I tell you, this game gets hard. You can also play this game multiplayer with two to four players teaming up to tackle fun platforming puzzles. There doesn’t seem to be much to say wrong about this game. It is truly successful in what it is trying to achieve. It’s funny, challenging and a great party game.

Ms. Spolsion Man

Ms. Splosion Man is to Splosion Man like Mrs. Pacman is to Pacman. An expansion on the great idea of the first game. This time Ms. Splosion Man, the main character, is a crazy valley girl that has you cracking up right from the main menu. The levels look crisper and more diverse than the original game. It is even more fun to play and, not to spoil anything, the final boss is worth the price of the whole bundle.

Comic Jumper

Comic Jumper is a bit different that the rest. There is a bunch of dialog, but oh is it hilarious! The main character, Captain Smiley, ironically has a big smiley-face and he also has a talking star on his chest who is his sidekick. The pair are ridiculously funny together and the things they say back and forth make me want to replay the game repeatedly just to pick up on the things I may have missed. The game play is difficult and varied. Sometime you are playing a beat-em up and other times a side scrolling shooter. You can unlock different bonus content, which keeps you wanting to play more, and the crazy story about this out of work superhero gives ones as much joy as watching the Tick. Most comic and superhero fans will find a great deal of enjoyment in the world Twisted Pixel created.

I’m all for deals and if you have not had a chance to play these games yet I highly recommend picking up this bundle.

The Twisted Pixel bundle is a must buy! 4 kick ass games for $30!
10 out of 10

This is the first of many Commentary Casts we will have at The Issues Program.

Hope you all enjoy! The Issues Program: Episode 5 Super Mario Movie Commentary-Cast

While watching, I always wanted to be on the show but as soon as I heard the Weird Al Yankovic Song “I Lost on Jeopardy” and getting destroyed by my cousins in home games fear set in, and I released it was not in my future. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t get better at these home versions of the show.

I had the Board Game, the Computer Game, NES and rented pretty much every other inclination of Jeopardy ever made. I love trivia games and party games so Jeopardy in a video game always seemed to make perfect sense. But for some reason recent games in the past generations have not quite gotten it as right as the original console and computer versions. So how does it fare on Wii-U? A system that one could argue is built for game show simulation.

Atmosphere

Right from the get go it does feel like an episode of Jeopardy. Maybe a slightly more cartoon version, but it’s the real thing. The announcer does his signature introduction. Alex comes out and does his little bit and presents the categories. Then the players are introduced and nothing is custom they just blandly call you player one, two or three.

If you are playing on easy mode the answers (or questions- you know what I mean) are multiple choice. If playing on Hard or Medium one needs to type in the answers, but it’s kind of broken with the predictive text. So once you start to type a response you can quickly guess or know your completely off if your answer is not a choice.

Between rounds if playing multi player there are mini games that go from partially fun to useless and completely convoluted. They really add nothing except frustration for the most part.

With no story, no career mode and player creation being not worth even mentioning, Jeopardy does very little other than window dressing to give the player the game show experience.

Feel

When playing with the Wii-U pad there is some touch screen functionality to pick answers or categories. Nothing special here at all. But it does work. The Wii-motes on the other hand do have some issues having to point at the screen to type out answers which can be a pain at times.

The unlockables are worthless and really don’t add to the game at all. You can unlock some concept art and different hair styles/cloths to custom the look of characters. But with the inability to name your characters after you edit them, this option was pretty much useless.
A lot of wasted potential in player creation and feel.

Addiction Rating

The truth is I did want to play this most evenings for about a week after getting receiving it. But that soon faded and not because the answers repeated. Because of a lack of anything to really do in the game except the same set up over and over. Maybe if they added Online play or some Challenge Mode it may of increased the games addiction rating, but as it stands I will forget about this game pretty soon.

Heres to hoping someone takes the next Jeopardy game more serious and creates something lasting.

Issues

Ok here we go.

If they really wanted to do Jeopardy right on Wii-U, even just for Player 1, give us the ability to write our final Jeopardy answer and wager on the pad. I know it may seem like a small gripe but this pissed me off. When I first heard about getting this game, that was the first hope that came to mind about playing on WII-U. It may be small but that alone would of made the experience worth it for me.

I also would like a real character creation and names. This is going backward from the NES game. In that game you could at least enter in your characters name!

Where was a career mode where you have to work you way up through the try outs? Then make it on the actual show. Play for a while and if you win enough be invited back for the tournament of champions. You could have a Junior Jeopardy, or College, or even a Rock and Roll round with guest host Jeff Probst.

Also how about some classic videos to unlock, instead of useless concept art. Different era Jeopardy sets would of been cool as well, so we can play on the 80s or 70s sets. Instead we get a flatline of a game.

It seems they should do this right and make a game show video game that pays homage to the history and what is truly fun about the show. Well, besides winning money. It can be done, just give it some love and if you make it, we will come!

In the end

Nothing exceptionally bad about this game. Just blah, with nothing lasting. I over hyped myself for a WII-U version and was hoping for something truly special. I was disappointed to say the least.

This version of Jeopardy isn’t broke and with 2000+ questions it will have you playing for a while if you are in to it. A very playable pre-fab house of a game.

Likes

Lots of questions

Fun multi player

Issues

Unlockables are insulting

No online matches or challenges

Not bad, just..EH
4 out of 10