Red Bull Crashed Ice Kinect Game Review

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Dragons and Fairy Dust

Until recently I did not know that Red Bull Crashed Ice is an extreme winter sport. The object is to skate downhill as fast as you can on a track a bit like a bob-sleigh run. It is not quite as simple as going downhill fast as on the way there are steep turns and jumps. Competitors wear ice hockey type outfits to protect themselves.

Now you can experience the fun at home in the Red Bull Crashed Ice Kinect Game. You get to pick an avatar and skate downhill madly in your own living room.
You can choose an avatar from actual competitors of the Red Bull Crashed Ice Championships or just use your own choice. They are all fairly dumpy in appearance due to the padding. Once you have chosen your character you stand at the starting gate and in order to get moving you need to swing your arms madly as fast as you can. The faster you swing your arms the faster you go.

It is not quite as simple as just swinging your arms as there are obstacles on the way that you need to duck under and jump over. You can also grab stars to gain power ups. Achieving high scores lets you get extra equipment for your avatar like helmets, t-shirts and so on.

The game is quite good fun especially the two player version. It gives you quite a good work out and my son and I had a good laugh playing it. It is not a game that we would keep returning to play. There are only a few levels so it can easily be completed in an afternoon. Having said that it is only 400 points on the xbox market place (£5) so it is good value for what you get.

Disclosure: I was sent a code in order to try the game to do an honest review. I was not told what to write and my opinions are my own.

British Bulldog Board Game Review

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Dragons and Fairy Dust

I remember playing British Bulldog at school, we had great fun doing it. You had to play on a large area and some people were chosen to be the British Bulldog. They got to stand in the middle of the field. All the other players, the runners, had to get from one end of the field to the other without being caught by the bulldogs. If you get caught you become a bulldog as well. It was great fun and used lots of energy.

Now, just in time for Christmas, Little Wigwam have created the British Bulldog board game.
It seems the game is not played in playgrounds as much any more, so now you can play in your own home. The game is for two players and I was looking forward to playing it with my son.

Inside the box you get the board, which folds up nicely, two dice, the counters, some stickers and the instruction booklet. The first thing you need to do is to stick the stickers on the playing pieces. The blue one is the bulldog and the other ones are the runners.

One of the dice is a normal number dice, the other has arrows showing the directions you can move in, a x which means you miss a go and a picture of a teacher which means you can move to the teacher square and be safe from the bulldog.

The instructions are very clear and easy to follow.

The board has two red walls at either end. One person chooses to be the runners and chooses which wall to place their counters on. The choice is decided by a dice roll, whoever rolls the highest number chooses. The other person is the bulldog and has to start from a bulldog square. There are four bulldog squares and four safe teacher squares.

Play is simple, the runner rolls the dice. One dice shows the direction they can move in and the other shows the number of places they can move. They choose which of their pieces to move. The bulldog is allowed to move one square at once in any direction. The runners try to get to the far end and the bulldog tries to capture the runner. If the runner is captured the bulldog is placed on top of that piece and the two counters are moved as one. The bulldog gets to move an extra square for each runner he captures. The bulldog can not move onto or through teacher squares.

The game ends when all the runners are captured, or all the runners reach the other side. If this is not achieved then you start again but go in the opposite direction.

The game is very simple but it is good fun. My son really enjoyed playing, he was the bulldog and was very gleeful when he captured my runners. His comment was that it was a bit like draughts but more strategic. You do need to think about your moves and it is very frustrating when you have to miss a go and the bulldog is nearing your pieces. If you are looking for a fun game for Christmas this one is definitely worth a look.

The British Bulldog board game is available from Little Wigwam or Amazon RRP £14.95

Disclosure: I was sent a British Bulldog board game to try but I was not told what to write and my opinions are my own.

Elite CommandAR Game Review

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Dragons and Fairy Dust

Elite CommandAR is an augmented reality game from AppGear. Augmented reality aims to combine the real world with the virtual world. In Elite CommandAR a toy gun is combined with a phone and you scan the room around you to reveal aliens which you shoot to gain points. The plot is simple, earth is nearing destruction by alien forces and you are an elite space commander tasked to save the world.

The box clearly identifies the phones that the game will work with. Opening the box you find the gun, some targets and the instructions.

The gun comes in two parts which need to be joined together using a screw. This is simple to do.

The gun also needs two AA batteries. Once the gun is connected the phone can be placed in the cradle at the top. There is a button you can press to open the phone holder and then you just push it down until the phone is held tightly. I was a bit worried that the phone may fall out but it does seem to be secure which removed that worry.

Before you can start playing you need to download the app for your phone. This is found in iTunes if you are using an iPhone and in Google Play for Android. It is a free download and installs easily.

To get started you need to turn the gun on and then attach the phone using a wire. The gun will tell you it is ready to start and you can begin playing.

There are three modes, training, campaign and battle. The training mode is useful to help you understand the game. There is also a two player mode if you need some help defeating the aliens.

My son tried this out and he really enjoyed playing the game. The graphics are great and it is really clever the way you can see an alien attack in the living room. You can shoot them by pressing the trigger on the gun and there are extra buttons which allow you to reload, raise your shield and other actions. To move around the game you just tilt the gun. It is really simple to play and great fun, while also being a unique idea. There are also upgrades available, you can earn points to buy and upgrade your weapons.

The game is aimed at children aged 6 and over, but it is a game that adults will enjoy as well. Check that your phone will work with the game before buying, currently you need an iPod 4th generation; iPhone 4; iPhone 4s or for android phones they should support Google Android 2.3.3 and have 1GHz processor, 512MB, for example Samsung SII or Samsung SIII.

Elite CommandAR is RRP £19.99

Moshi Monsters: Moshlings App Review

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Dragons and Fairy Dust

My son is a great fan of Moshi Monsters and was delighted when we were sent the Moshi Monsters: Moshlings App to review. If you have children you will be familiar with Moshi Monsters, its a virtual world where you get to adopt your own pet monster. Children can chat with friends, play with their monster and complete games and challenges to get items for their monster.

The Moshi Monsters: Moshling App allows you to customise your own Moshlings. You can choose from over 60 Moshlings.They are divided into rows of different types, you just need to scroll up and down to choose which one you want.

Once you have made your choice, it can be a difficult decision as they are all quite cute, you pick from over 100 stickers to customise your Moshling. I opened my iPad the other day to be greeted with Big Bad Bill, which was a bit of a shock.

My son was in the middle of customising him. You can see some of the stickers you can choose from at the bottom and you just scroll them to the side to see more. As well as writing you can choose from different mouths and other features to change the look of the Moshling. Each sticker can be resized and rotated so you can get the look you want. When you have finished you also have the option to take a photo which will save the picture for you.

If you press the i button it brings up information about the Moshling and where you can find it in the Moshi Monsters game. It tells you all about their personality, habitat and more.

If you play the on-line game you will know that Moshlings can be quite hard to get a hold of. The Moshi Monsters: Moshling App also has a number of secret codes allowing you to get Moshlings in the on-line game which is another incentive to play.

My son enjoyed playing this game and it seems I may have lost the use of my iPad for some time to come. He really enjoyed giving the Moshlings different looks and came up with some very bizarre creations, which he kept rushing through to show me. He is also happy that he now knows how to get some Moshlings in the online game, something he has tried to do for some time with little success.

The Moshi Monsters: Moshling App is available for the iPhone and iPad and is aimed at 6 – 12 year olds. You can find it on the iTunes App store here:

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/moshi-monsters-moshlings/id526001906?mt=8

At the moment it is free and will be until 14th July 2012

Disclosure: I was sent a code to try the app but the opinions are my own.

Other reviews you may be interested in:

Playful Minds Maths App Review

Bubble Melody App

Redakai Trading Card Game

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Dragons and Fairy Dust

If your son is like mine they will loves all the different collectors cards and different trump style games that you can collect. I was asked by Blogmatch to review a new card game called Redakai. I was sent the starter kit for my son to try out which has everything you need for basic game play.
The Redakai starter set contains two packs of the cards, the instructions and a plastic box which is ideal for storing the cards in. The Redakai cards are different from the normal cardboard cards you get, they are made of plastic and have a holographic look and feel to them.

As you hold the card in your hand the designs seem to move, lightning bolts shooting across the page, water splashing about and monsters jumping out at you. This makes the game more visually interesting before you even start playing it.

There are three different types of card. There are two hero cards which represent the players. There are a number of different style attack cards which you use to attack the other player with and there are also monster cards which help to increase your power. Game play is simple and the rules are easy to follow. You start out with your hero card and the rest of the attack and monster cards are shuffled and divided between the players. You then take it in turns to draw a card. If its a monster card you get to add it onto your hero and it increases his attack or defensive capabilities. An attack card gets placed on the opponent and if it succeed it can wipe out one or two of the red life bars. If all three life bars go red you lose.

The stackable nature of the game makes it unique and also very visually appealing. You can easily see how strong a character is and how near death they are. It is also very easy to play, we were playing it within seconds of reading the rules. My son loved this game and he wanted to play it again and again. The handy box for carrying the cards in makes it very easy to transport without losing the cards which is a problem with some of these card games.

The game is based on a show which is on CNN but you do not need to have seen the show to be able to play. The starter pack is £9.99 and you can also buy individual packets of cards at around £3.99 to supplement your collection. It is a good game and I can see it becoming a playground hit. It is aimed at boys aged 6 – 12 years old but I am sure girls will also enjoy it.

For more information visit the Redakai website

Disclosure: I received a starter set for the purposes of this review but the opinions are my own

Other reviews you may be interested in:

Bumpeez

Pairs in Pears game