REVIEW – Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (3DS)

A Game Review by Greg Dabkey

Game – Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
Version – 3DS
ESRB Rating: ‘E’ – Everyone 
Price: $29.99
Release Date: 9/24/2013
Obtained – Courtesy of GameMill

Will this game be all clear skies and fun, or will it be cloudy with a chance of not being so good?  Read on to find out!

Gameplay & Controls

The gameplay of this game may be quite familiar if you played Fruit Ninja,  or Cake Ninja.  Basically the player will have a starting time of 1 minute and various items will be tossed on the screen.  The player must ‘slash’ the food items, and avoid the red clocks or flaming marshmallows.  The touch screen will show a grey version of the food and where to slash and if it’s one of the bad items, it will be entirely red.  However, the player will need to keep an eye on the top screen as further along the player gets bonus points for slashing in the food item in a particular direction (shown with an arrow).  Also, throughout the session, some random gifts are tossed and often travel quite fast  which if slashed awards either an item for an invention, or some type of unlock-able.  There are also bonuses such as extending the time by a couple of seconds.  If the player slashes the flaming marshmallow the level is ended immediately.  When the level ends, the score is calculated and the player is given a 0-3 star rating.

There are 6 ‘worlds’ each with 6 levels.  There are also some challenges which are unlocked when the player gets a certain number of stars.  These are more endless modes for some practice or just setting a high score.  The unlock-ables are just characters to use their voice during the main story mode, or some blue prints to unlock inventions.  The story mode also has some variety where the player may have to slash a particular food 10 times (while still collecting other food and items), or to complete the level without missing more than 3 food items.  But mostly, it is just going after the food and avoiding the negative items.  There are some items that take multiple slashes and bonus items that need to be slashed repeatedly.  I was only able to build one of the inventions despite unlocking all 4.  The special items required for building them do not seem to appear very often as I completed all 36 levels and replayed some numerous times for the 3 star rating.

As for the controls, nothing is used besides the stylus.  The stylus is used to slash the food during the game and also used to select the mode.  I would like to point out that the slashing is entirely too sensitive.  If there’s a food item tossed near one of the red items, it becomes incredibly difficult to get the item.  I’ve noticed on numerous occasions where I thought I had a clear shot at the item and the game said I hit both.  Oftentimes it is the item that gives the instant game over forcing me to replay the level.  I understand it is trying to be a little tricky and difficult, but I’ve usually played most of the levels looking at the bottom screen to attempt to avoid the red items on the harder levels.

Visuals & Sound

This section goes half and half for the overall enjoyment of the game.  First off, the good.  The graphics for this game are very well done and each item is filled with detail.  The 3D effects are also very enjoyable and really make looking at the top screen enjoyable.  Now for the not so good part, the music and sounds.  Each of the 11 characters has one particular saying and whenever you slash one of the objects or unlockables, you have to listen to them repeat the one line which can get on the annoying side.  Some of the characters have weird accents or sayings where they get more annoying then others.  Also the music variety is nothing too memorable either and easily forgettable.  The sound effects of the score adding up and the end-of-level options bouncing down also gets on the annoying side as well.

Conclusion 

Overall the gameplay may have that familiar style to other games, however, the theme changes and the food tossed changes.  While there are several unlockables to acquire, some seem somewhat rare making it harder to collect all the inventions.  With the music and sounds more on the lacking side and the controls being somewhat difficult the game could have been better.  The graphics and mode variety try to help distinguish it from similar games and make the game more enjoyable to play.  I would recommend this game to fans of the toss and slash type of gameplay, or even those that are fans of the movie.  The concept is simple enough for anyone may enjoy it and makes it easy to play in small bursts.

Final Score: 7.5 out of 10

+ easy pick and play type of levels
+ variety of modes
+ beautiful graphics and 3D effects
+ plenty of unlockables
- limited sound clips
- sensitive controls
- limited items for inventions
- limited amounts of levels, game is a little short

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WWE '13 is your big chance to wrestle like a professional boxer (Tyson, specifically)

by Ben Gilbert on Jun 19th 2012 9:45AM

Mike Tyson is known for his years as a professional boxer slash professional ear-biter, so you can imagine our surprise when THQ announced this morning that he's appearing in upcoming wrestler WWE '13. Tyson's reprising his role from 1998 as a "ringside enforcer" for D-Generation X. He's also a playable character, though, ya know, he's totally not a wrestler.

"The baddest man on the planet is back – and only in WWE '13," Tyson said in the press release, totally of his own volition and not written by someone else. "Fans everywhere can now relive what I experienced during the 'Attitude Era.'"

Only pre-orders of WWE '13 get access to Tyson as a playable character. The game launches on October 30 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii.

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Skylanders weather report: Warnado warning, chance of Camo and Wham Shell high

by David Hinkle on Apr 8th 2012 9:00PM

The Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure roster has been expanded, with Warnado, Camo and Wham-Shell available for purchase right now. Hit up the gallery below for some screens or get over to your local brick-and-mortar if you're looking to bolster your ranks.

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Tony Hawk says Ride was 'a bit rushed,' still thinks critics didn't give his board a chance

by David Hinkle on Mar 8th 2012 8:15PM

Even after all this time, Tony Hawk's stance is firm regarding the poorly received Shred and Ride games. He thinks critics made up their mind before giving the games and associated peripheral an honest chance -- even in the case of Ride, which he admits "was a bit rushed" due to time spent prototyping the board.

"I think that Ride was a bit rushed for a number of reasons, mostly because probably for about the first half of the development process it was just figuring out how to make a board and how to make it work -- we were in uncharted territory," he told Joystiq during an interview at GDC. "So the game was a bit rushed, but I still feel like the critics never really gave it a chance in terms of learning how to play. They got on it and went straight into expert mode, because supposedly they're expert gamers. And they didn't really learn the mechanics of how the board works, and so I felt like they already had their mind made up before it came out. It was a gimmick and it was a peripheral and whatnot, and they never really took the time to learn how to play it."

Its sequel, Tony Hawk Shred, was the game he thought Ride should've been, Hawk said. "I thought Shred was the game I wanted Ride to be, because I really felt like the board was more than just a skateboard, and it could be used as a snowboard. But by the time Shred came out, the peripherals were fading away, so it was bad timing in that respect, I guess. But I'm proud of the idea and I'm glad we took a chance because it was something bold to try and it was bad timing in the end."

But why make a board peripheral in the first place? Hawk said it's because of the dominance of peripheral-based gaming at the time -- remember Guitar Hero? -- the introduction of the Skate series, and because the Pro Skater series had become "diluted."

"It was mostly because the series had gotten really diluted," Hawk said. "Skate was coming into play and that really split the market for us. So I thought it was really time to do something new and peripheral-based games were very big right then and I felt like we could do something that is more revolutionary -- that's what we set out to do. I really do feel like the board we created was ahead of its time. It read your every motion." And if you're one of those individuals hoping for another peripheral-based skateboarding game from the vert champ, don't hold your breath.

Hawk has no hard feelings toward the Skate series. EA would ultimately bail on the franchise after its third installment -- though EA hasn't publicly said it wouldn't return to Skate in the future -- but Hawk lauded the series for its unique control scheme. "I appreciated that someone could come out with a new control scheme for a skaterboarding game. That was very unique and progressive. Honestly, I was happy that skating had come so far as a genre in video games that you could have two main titles. Prior to that, some people had tried to do skating games, but they were just copying us." Thrasher: Skate and Destroy, anyone?

Hawk's primary focus now is on Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD, something he hopes he'll be able to build upon through DLC characters and levels from other Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games.

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