Trial Review: Teddy Tavern

Posted on February 16, 2007

Teddy Tavern: A Culinary Adventure was recently released on PlayFirst. I’m not sure of its availability on other sites that feature game downloads, so you should check into that. So, now for the beginning of the actual review on the one hour I was allowed to play during the trial period.

Teddy Tavern (don’t you just love cutesy alliteration) is about as cute as the title makes it out to be: sickenly so. The main character is a teddy bear aspiring to become a great chef (sadly, he works as a short order cook in a popular teddy hangout). All of the customers are also stuffed animals come to life. Well, more specifically, teddy bears.

In order for your teddy to get out of the drudgery of his short order cooking job, he needs to earn medals from restaurants around the world! Thus, each stage is in a different country with different dishes that the teddy bear must serve. While this is starting to sound an awful lot like the set-up for games like Diner Dash, Believe in Santa, and Cake Mania, the gameplay is original enough to merit this title some recognition.

Each level is set up in the same way. For the ones that I’ve played, there are three ingredients on the bottom of the screen with which the teddy can make different dishes. Usually, dishes are made with two of the three ingredients. For example, hamburgers were made with bread and beef. Then you need to send the food up into the air so the appropriate customer will catch it. Yes, you effectively play with your food by flying it in the air. Then you have to clean up after your messy customers by throwing sponges at dirty tables. No kidding!

Although this game is satisfying solely due to the fact that it goes against all conventional wisdom: don’t play with your food, it also has some great game play mechanics. It’s quite simple: everything, from mixing ingredients to throwing food to your customers (I guess “bounce” would be a better term) is done with the mouse.

The simple game play is offset by the frenetic pace that begins quite early in the game. Soon, I had to keep track of ordering teddies, angry teddies, and dirty tables. It is actually harder than it sounds, since much of what you need to do is on the bottom of the screen, and much of what the teddies are demanding that you do are on the top of the screen.

I thoroughly enjoyed Teddy Tavern, but I don’t feel like I absolutely need to buy the full version to fulfill myself. It’s a great download on the trial run, and enjoyable while it lasts. The cute factor may turn off some guys, though.

Monopoly Here and Now: Same game, new package

Posted on February 13, 2007

Monopoly Here and Now Edition (I downloaded it from Shockwave) is based on the new, updated version of Monopoly. What with the new spaces that say, “Credit Card Debt” and “Fenway Park,” the 21st century has definitely hit Uncle Moneybags. But is that really enough to keep the game afloat? Well, sure. Because it’s Monopoly.

Let me put it this way. If you enjoy Monopoly, you’ll probably be delighted by the ease of playing and the neat little extras that a computer game provides. If you don’t like Monopoly, you’ll feel bogged down for the same reasons you would playing the real life game: too long and too tedious. This review, then, is for people who are on the fence about the board game in general and want to know how this is even a little different.

When you first start the game, you are asked to choose players. You can play with other humans (not on-line, but, you know, humans in the same room as you, using the same computer as you) or with the computer. The game pieces are also updated to include a cell phone, hybrid car, and a jet airplane. After you pick your players, you can change the rules to fit your own “home rules,” like collecting money when anyone lands on Free Parking.

When the game begins (and if you don’t change this in the options), you will have to watch each computer player go through the motions of rolling the dice, moving, and buying property. While it may be interesting at first (the cell phone seems to place a call to the Mother Ship every time it’s its turn to roll), it will become increasingly annoying. Which is why the fact that you can turn off the animations linked directly to the computer players off.

Other things haven’t changed so much. The place names have been changed considerably. I’m slightly gratified by the fact that Waikiki Beach managed to become a red property. Although, in my humble (albeit biased) opinion, it should have been blue. I mean, Fenway Park? Really? (Don’t hurt me baseball fans!) The Community Chest and Chance cards have also been updated. I received one that sad I made second place in a reality TV competition. I hope it was Project Runway, and not something as soul-stealing as Survivor.

Everything in the game is done with the mouse. While that keeps the whole thing simple, it does make trades a little tedious, especially if you’re offering someone $2 million for Waikiki Beach to complete your set of reds, so you can start building houses. (The money is something I forgot to mention; it’s basically the same system with a couple of zeros tacked onto the end of each bill and property).

One thing that was left out of trading mode, which I would have liked to see, is the inclusion of futures and waived rents. That would be very useful when trading high-ticket properties like the blue ones (not the measly light blue ones, mind you). Of course, that’s just a minor complaint on the whole.
While everything is suitably flashy and up-to-date, this game is still Monopoly. There’s not much more to say about a franchise that has done so well on the same formula for so long. I guess it has something to do with being the capitalist nation’s dream game. But hey, it’s still fun.

Amazon Deals: GBA Version

Posted on February 10, 2007

Pokemon: Fire Red Version is selling for just about $20 at Amazon. You could probably find it cheaper at the nearest Gamestop (and used, nonetheless), but those who like everything shiny, new, and Pokemon, this is a pretty good deal.

Yes, Pokemon is old and some people think it’s cheesy, but I’ve always enjoyed the RPG formula. And Fire Red is based on the original Pokemon to boot, so you can relive the glory days of the Gameboy with your GBA. Or DS. Whichever.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories is also just under $20.  The most impressive part of Chain of Memories is the cutscenes.  They look as if they came off of the PS one themselves because they were rendered so nicely.

The gameplay is card-based.  Attacks can be combined using different cards that Sora, Donald, Goofy and the other playable characters have.  While the idea is neat, it does get to be a little like a glorified game of War.  But if you finished KH and KH2 on the PS2, this might be a good investment.  This somewhat links the two games together.

Note that I get a little commission if you choose to buy one of the games after clicking through the link.

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