MacGame Store Holiday Bundle: Definitely Decent (and cheap!)

We're giving a score of "decent" for the recent Holiday Bundle offered to MacGameStore.com members (yeah, see, we DO TOO cover games for the Mac!). The price is cheap, and the games are a mixed bag.

For the low, low price of just 24.95 (seriously, that's like, what? less than half of a PS3 or Xbox 360 game? Ever tried playing half a game?), they offered up a total of 12 digital downloads, including the bonus, Jewel Quest III, because they went over some kind of minimum order requirement that we can't quite remember right now (too much eggnog over the holidays, you ask? Well, it may just be so).

Okay, so, what you get, broken down:

Some decent puzzle games, which come in two basic groups: narrative "storyline" scenarios and the "match three or more of the same colored things" games we've all seen before.

hey, you, get off of my cloud

The best of the bunch of the first kind is about an amnesiac who won the lottery and then was attacked. Though the resolution isn't really surprising (spoiler: the husband's a rotter), Hidden Secrets: The Nightmare is full of challenging gameplay.

First of all, you've got lots of "get the tools and then figure out how to use them" puzzles to solve, made more difficult because:

• The animation is occasionally lacking ("what the hell IS that? A coin or a button?!").
  

• They require a leap of logic akin to those old King's Quest days. Remember those games? If you did even one thing out of precise order you couldn't possibly finish the quest. Same deal here: you have to do everything in the order that the game designers thought made the most sense (even when it clearly doesn't).
  

Redeeming feature: this game includes a truly diabolical puzzle section with matchsticks that just boggles the mind. Really. At some points, the only thing stopping you from hurling your laptop out the window as you try to create less squares with more matchsticks is that elite Mac price tag, IFKWIM. AITYD. Oh, and it's timed.

Definitely worth the price tag for that game alone, if you ask us. But there's also Escape from the Museum, with a very similar concept (and yes, the same occasional blurry animation problems) but different puzzles to solve.

For example, there's loads of "find ten of these" screens, and some old-school puzzles reminiscent of that newspaper deal where you get two pictures and you have to figure out what's different between them. Solving puzzles in some rooms unlocks more rooms in the museum, which is frickin' huge by the time you're done. Another good value.

Then, there's the match 'em up puzzles, like Jewel Quest III, which is of course a fine game, and Deep Blue Sea, which is okay, mostly because it has mermaids in it.

Next, you got your "Rip Off The Game Show" type games, Wheel of Fortune Deluxe and Trivia Machine (Wow. Did we even play that second one? Don't think so. We'll have to give it a look).

Then, there's the "OMG, the customers are going to riot!" games that make you scurry around like a madman to satisfy your clientele, expertly preparing you for your future life in customer service. You know, like the classic Diner Dash series.

We have to admit, we're a sucker for those, which no one else around here seems to get at all. But judging from the popularity, we can't be on our own, can we?

The MacGameStore.com bundle offers up Fitness Frenzy and Burger Shop, and Burger Shop is by far the better of the two. Fitness Frenzy, which as it sounds takes place in a gym, gets boring and repetitive, which is always a risk with these types of games.

cowboys eat a lot of burgers

Refreshingly, Burger Shop introduces both psycho clowns and bacon-cheeseburger-eating aliens (yes, really) to keep the action lively. We had hours of fun with Burger Shop, trying to perfect the levels. If you're a Diner Dash fan, you will too. 'Nuther good value.

You've also got an eye-straining pixelated deal called Neon Tango, which even MacGameStore.com found hard to describe. Here's what they came up with:

Pixelated Warrior, Defender of the Bytes! Launch your cybership into battle against the forces of chaos across 50 stages of bitmapped treachery overflowing with glowing enemies and pulsating bosses. Conceived with a gorgeous minimalism, Neon Tango licks the shoot-em-up genre down to its chewy abstract center.

Gorgeous minimalism, that's a nice turn of phrase. We've got to give props on that description, but the game gave us all headaches.

Lessee, what else? Oh, there's Feeding Frenzy, which is just dismal. Not really worth the time.

What?

You want more of a description than that?

Fine.

A waste of good sushi

Here it is: fish eat little fish to get bigger, while avoiding fish that are bigger still.

That's it.

See? We warned you.

Lastly, there's Escape from Paradise. The name had us thinking (hoping) it was another of the puzzle games at first, but nope.

In EfromP, You're a survivor of a cruise ship that wrecked ('cause, oh yeah, that happens all the time), and you have to find a way off the island along with your other castaways, who for some reason are perfectly willing to do all the hard work you assign them, while you play fun minigames. Pretty standard fare all around, if a little repetitive.

So, summing up: Stick with the puzzle games, and the bundle is well worth the (meager) $24.95 price tag.

Oh, and definitely ditch Feeding Frenzy first chance you get.

Seriously.

Fa La La La Foo Fighters

Hey, Dude, want to win Guitar Hero on Tour: Decades for the DS?

Get your Mom (heh, we said your Mom) to enter this contest over at one of our editor, Viv's, other blogs:

Gifts for Gamers!

Oh, and have her check out the whole review--it's full of stuff you know you want anyway.

That's what we're here for, to help you score more loot this X-Mas.

Warning: Lame Game

Even little dudes want cool games for Christmas.

So, here's a heads-up: if you're looking for something for lil bro, keep looking.

According to our editor, Viv, you'll want to steer clear of the famous penguins' latest lame-duck effort. Read her review here:

Madagascar: Back 2 Africa

Short story: The movie had some laughs, and the animation stands up in the Wii version--but monotonous gameplay and less than intuitive controls makes this endeavor a frustrating failure.

Neopets Puzzle Adventure Demo!

Removed by request (auto-playing audio). Our bad--this is an Entrecard no-no. Color us red with embarrassment.

Visit Capcom's site to play the Neopets Puzzle Adventure Demo instead.

Baddest of the Bands from Telltale Press

Baddest of the Bands Demo!

Hot off the presses: Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ Goes Gold!

Are You Ready for the Zombie Invasion?

Little Red Riding Hood’s Zombie BBQ for Nintendo DS™ Goes Gold!

The armies of the undead are about to hit Fairy Tale Land! Destineer and publishing partner Gammick Entertainment are proud to announce that Little Red Riding Hood’s Zombie BBQ for Nintendo DS™ has gone gold and is shambling into stores this Halloween!

It’s up to Little Red Riding Hood to defeat twisted versions of fairy tale characters in this fast-paced, action-packed shooter from developer Enjoy Up! Team up with legendary Japanese hero Momotaro to mow down hordes of the undead with a wicked arsenal and lethal Touch Screen controls! Can you save Fairy Tale Land or are you headed for an unhappy-ever-afterlife?

Features:

Fast-Paced Action: Defeat waves of zombies, ghosts, and more with simple Touch Screen controls! Move, shoot, bomb, duck and dodge, all with the Nintendo DS Stylus!

A Freaky Fairy Tale: Journey through twisted takes on classic fairy tale settings, from gingerbread houses to the Big Bad Wolf’s forest. Take on undead versions of the Three Little Pigs, Pinocchio, Santa Claus, and more!

Two Playable Characters: Choose from Little Red Riding Hood or legendary Japanese hero Momataro, each with unique special weapons!

Wicked Weapons: Red is no damsel in distress! Take down horrible creatures with machine guns, shotguns, bombs and more. Tackle your enemies in Story, Survival and Boss Attack Modes in three blistering difficulty levels!

Little Red Riding Hood’s Zombie BBQ is scheduled for release on October 31 from Destineer and developer Enjoy Up!

Soul Calibur IV: This One's for Your Permanent Collection

What's within your soul?

If you're a fan of the first three Soul Calibur versions (and who isn't?) and you're ready for another action-packed fighting game with glorious visuals, new attacks and customizable characters, you'll want to add this infinitely re-playable game to your collection. (You can, by the way, chose an easy or tough road through the bosses in single-mode play, so there is a campaign challenge for those who want it.)

For those familiar with the earlier versions of Soul Calibur, you won't be disappointed. New in this latest edition to the winning franchise: in addition to the standard I-fight-because-I-have-something-to-prove characters with their built-in storylines, you can also play, in the Xbox 360 version, as Yoda of Star Wars fame. Get the game for PS3, and instead of Yoda you'll fight as the Dark Lord himself, Darth Vader. Playing under arcade mode as either of the two lets you earn the right to unlock "The Apprentice," a sith-in-training who uses Force Lightning to shock his opponents in battle.

As fun as the fighting in the game in, let's face it, the best part of fighting games is facing off against online opponents and kicking some serious butt. Once you've worked your way through the bosses in Soul Calibur IV, you can start making your own guys (and girls), customizing their looks and choosing their style of attacks until at last you have created the perfect fighting machine, thus effectively smashing your enemies into a bloody pulp.

In theory.

In practice, it's not so easy to create one winning fighter. In online battle, it's not uncommon for a player who loses pathetically in one match to then find supreme victory in his very next fight. And more than one match is won by a judicious use of a grapple for a surprising Ring Out just when the battle seems lost.

In fact, that's where the real fun comes in. It's not all about brawn. Winning takes some brains, or at least some strategy. Designing your own army of characters with vastly different fighting tactics and then matching them appropriately to your opponent's fighter is the key to emerging triumphant in fight after fight.

Or you can be cheap, choose Cervantes or Algol and just teleport all over the place.

Your call.