Sports packs are nothing new – they popped up right when the Wii came onto the market. The novelty of them is matched by a few inconveniences, which generally means that you either love them or you hate them. The new Nerf Sports Pack probably won’t change that opinion in the slightest.

Fans will love the lighter weight and softer texture of the equipment, which translates into less unintended injuries to fellow players (and hapless lamps). Having even a fake golf club in your hand encourages you to work on your stance, and swinging even a small foam bat or racket is just more fun than swinging a plain controller.

However, people who got hung up on the inconveniences of sports packs before will have the same complaints with this product – sometimes the responsiveness of the Wii suffers a bit for the added heft of the controller, and more irritatingly, the controllers have to be switched out fairly often. This quirk is especially exasperating while playing baseball – while it is possible to pitch with the bat attached to the controller, it certainly seems inconvenient and more than a bit silly.

So, while this product won’t change your mind one way or the other about sports packs, it’s not a bad investment. At a reasonable price, it is well made and might be worth the extra cost to have a more accident-proof way to better imagine yourself sweeping the World Series.

The game has the same controls as Excite Truck. If you’re not familiar with that, it’s one of those video games you can just “pick up” and magically know how to play. Well, that game was so popular this is a spin-off with … well, excitebots! Heh. How can you not like a name like that? You can even choose to be the frog. Ribbit! Ribbit!

Nintendo Wii is coming out with some great games and this is one of them, especially if you like action racing games (or frogs.) As with Excite Trucks, this uses the special Nintendo Wii Driving Controller, which is kinda cool. (At least I like it. If you disagree with me, first – how dare you! Second, leave a comment so I can defend myself at least!

Ok, back to the video game.

Up to six of your friends can race online via a Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection in both the Excite Race and the Poker Race modes. Broadband Internet access is required for online play. (Duh.)

You can activate in-race mini-games including:

• Soccer
• Bowling
• Darts
• Clowns
• Sandwiches

What other game combines high-speed robot racers with bowling, poker, clown faces and sandwich making? Not many. Leave it to the Nintendo Wii to come out with such a game.

If you have any Excitebots: Trick Racing stories, we really do want to hear from you. (Seriously – some night I lay awake for hours wondering why there are no real comments on the blog. Smile. Just kidding. It’s free to join the conversation, though!)

Til next time, excite your bot.

While there is a version for the PC, the Nintendo Wii version of the game really shines when it comes to the simulated operations. Using the Nintendo Wii remote, you actually have to perform the operations and procedures in the game. For some this might be taking it too far, but for them there’s also all the great human interaction in the game. That’s right – you don’t like two characters getting together, you can split them up in your storyline. Or, if you want to see two characters together, you can make decisions to get to that point.

This type of simulation won’t be for everyone, but if you’re a fan of the television show, there’s a good chance you’re going to get something out of this game. If you’ve always wanted to play as the stars of Grey’s Anatomy and have wanted to influence the storyline of the tv series, there’s a very good chance you’re going to love this game.

For everyone else, this title may be a little hit or miss. If you’re into surgery, though, you may still get something out of it. It’s kind of strange to have surgery and emotional character interaction in the same game, but it’s different enough to be fun for a little while.

If you’ve played Grey’s Anatomy for the Nintendo Wii, leave a comment and let us know what you think!

The graphics in the game are some of the best currently available for the Nintendo Wii. There are some issues at some points in the game with the graphics, but overall, they’re going to pretty much amaze you.

The story behind the game is a bit zany and over the top, but so is the zombie killing action in this FPS (first person shooter.)

You don’t get to move a lot through the world, but that’s not the fun of this game. The fun comes in blasting mutants and finding power-ups so you can more effectively blast mutants.

The mutant enemies (even the bosses) aren’t much of a match, which makes this game kinda fun and light (for a gruesome mutant blasting game anyway), but there are ways to get to a ‘director’s cut’ of the game, with longer levels and slightly tougher enemies.

The soundtrack for the game is pretty good, with the music sticking in your head even after you turn off your Nintendo Wii. The voice acting isn’t too shabby either.

Overall, if you’re looking for an easy, laid back shooter for the Nintendo Wii with great graphics, The House of the Dead: Overkill should be on your hit list.

If you’ve played House of the Dead: Overkill, we’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment and let us know what you thought of the game.

Until next time … keep your eyes open for mutant clowns.

The only two humans in the game are voiced by Billy Bob Thornton and Dennis Hopper. (Heh. That should be enough to buy the game by itself, eh?) They’re more of background noise, though, for the different places deep in a mine where you’ll do battle with “deadly creatures” as a deadly creature.

Unlike a lot of other Wii games, Deadly Creatures is not a port from another system. It was built with the Nintendo Wii in mind. What makes it so special, though, is that it takes a new approach instead of being just another fighting game or just another shooting game. On the other hand, it’s not too far out there of an idea – playing a spider or scorpion that is.

Not all the game is spent fighting, though. There are also a lot of opportunities to show off your skills at getting around as a spider or scorpion – might be a little trickier than you think at first. Overall, it’s the individuality and uniqueness of this game that’s gonna make it a hit. Every once in a while, a videogame comes along that breaks all the rules and goes off in some new direction. This is one of those games. Hopefully there aren’t a lot of copycat games thrown out, but other game designers could learn something from the concept of this game.

If you’ve played Deadly Creatures for the Nintendo Wii, leave a comment below!

The mini-games weren’t really needed in the game, but they may have been thrown in to make the game (ported from a PC with different interfaces and controls) more Wii-like. Whatever the case (Get it?), if you can get past the mini-games, there is a rich and detailed mystery for you to solve as Nancy Drew.

The storyline is typical Nancy Drew type material. (What, you haven’t read all the Nancy Drew books?!) There’s a lot of detail in the storyline, which lets you get drawn into the world and story of the Nancy Drew universe. Then a mini-game is thrown in, which pulls you back out as you try to shake or twist the Wii remote in just the right way.

The mini-games fit in the storyline by being tasks that Nancy has to complete while she’s undercover working. I’m sure they could’ve released the game without adding them, though. But enough of the annoying mini-games!

If you like Nancy Drew (the movies or the books), you’re going to like the story and attention to details that will really draw you into the game. It’s not a good game for everyone, but if you like mysteries and adventure, you’re gonna want to check it out.

If you’ve played Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek on the Nintendo Wii, leave a comment below and let us know what you think. (How much do YOU hate the mini-games in this game? Do you wish they would make a version specifically for the Wii instead of porting an older one? Let us know!)

Til next time, keep hunting clues.

Enter Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine. I’m not saying it’s as bad or worse than the E.T. game of ill repute, but … well, let’s just say maybe it’s similar in that it’s based on a popular franchise (Iron Chef America) and perhaps not a lot of time was spend in “preparation” for the game. Oh, it might be kinda interesting for a die hard Iron Chef America fan, but only if you want some laughs maybe.

In the later levels of the game you do get to pit yourself against some of the master Iron Chefs from the television show, but you have to go through so many things to get there that it might not be worth it.

The game is made up of several mini-games that make you dice, chop, mix, boil, etc. The controls have been said to be a little wonky, though, making the mini-games not so much fun as boring and tedious – without any food at the end.

Overall, Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine may be ok for a tried and true fan of the series, but for others, you might want to pass this dish up.

If you think we’re wrong, we’d love to know why! Leave a comment below.

Til next time, keep that trigger thumb in shape.

This interstellar game allows you to watch stars collide, have stars start to orbit around you. There are big, bad things in the universe, though. You have to avoid things like black holes to make it to the harder levels.

The game is really easy to “pick-up” without reading a novel length rule book or instruction manual. That said, it might get a bit repititious after a while.

In the game, you don’t control your planet directly. Instead, you use the gravitational push or pull from nearby suns to guide your celestial orb into the right position. This is where the strategy and fun come in. As the game progresses, you’re able to envelop larger and larger entities – through 50 levels.

Art Style: ORBIENT isn’t for everyone, but if you’re a puzzle lover, you’ll want to check it out for the Nintendo Wii.

If you have download  Art Style: ORBIENT and played it, we’d love to hear from you. Whether you loved or hated the game, leave a comment below and let us here at Video Game Freaks know so we can share with the rest of the world.

Until next time, keep gaming!

Not only that, the ‘starter game’ only includes a couple bosses and not too many levels. Additional “packs” with more levels and cool things cost extra money. If you have a deep wallet this may not concern you, but there maybe should have been a version with all the levels that you could purchase in a retail outlet or online to have it delivered to your home.

Despite all that, a lot of people are going to plunk down the money to get the cool levels of this game. That’s almost a guarantee. Space Invaders has been with us for 30 years. That’s a long time – time enough for several generations of gamers to have played the game at one point or another in their life. It’s a classic and is going to attract a lot of people via the nostalgia aspect alone.

Beyond that, the game is kinda interesting, being from the perspective of the aliens instead of the human. And don’t worry, it’s not a two dimensional game like the original Space Invaders … Which brings up an interesting thought – will anyone ever release a 3D version of Space Invaders? (Perhaps there already is such a game – if so, leave a commend below…)

The game lets you control a UFO that has a hundred smaller invaders circling and buzzing around you. Some of the visuals are a treat – again, if you fork out the extra cash to get the expanded levels.

It’s up to you, though. Some won’t be able to resist the allure of this game and will have to have it. If you’re one of those people, let us know why by leaving a comment below.

That was back then, though, in the 1990s. Ever since Sonic made the leap from a side scroller to a 3D virtual environment, the game just hasn’t been the same. Maybe it has something to do with it being more awkward to move so fast in a 3D environment or that it takes more wrangling of the controls to get Sonic to go where you want, but whatever it is, the recent incarnations of Sonic the Hedgehog just do not match up to the Sonic side scroller games from the 90s.

Beyond the controls or other problems in this latest incarnation of the game, it’s been said that the gameplay just isn’t up to par. From enemies that stand around absentmindedly until you attack them to repititious levels, there seems to be more frustration than fun in Sonic Unleashed. There are two styles of gameplay in the latest Sonic game – platforming (where Sonic used to shine, running fast, fast, faster!) and combat (beating up monsters.) Unfortunately, both types of gameplay have more things wrong than right, which makes for a not too fun game, especially when you add all the problems with controlling Sonic in a 3D environment.

All that said, if you’re a Sonic fan, you’re going to want to have this in your collection. If you agree that the creators of Sonic need to get back to basics with the game, email or write them a letter. Or better yet, send them many letters begging them to take a little more time and talking with gamers about what used to make Sonic the Hedgehog such a great game.