While the wii is out visiting the repair shop (no word yet on when its due back) I thought I’d go ahead and do something I’ve been meaning to do for a while… Review some games. You’ll notice I’m not a hard core gamer. Most of my games are games the kids can play as well (and ones they often beat me at) so you won’t find reviews of the latest shoot ‘em up game here. You will find kid/family friendly reviews on games like Guitar Hero, Mario Kart, Disney Princesses, Happy Feet and others.

Today’s write up is on one my wife brought home because it looked like fun and it had Pirates in it, Pirate’s: The Hunt For Blackbeard’s Booty. I was a little put off at first as the game looks a little too over done, but its not really. There are several ‘levels’ or locations on the map to play. Each location has the same games, Sword Fighting, Rowing, Digging for Gold,SquidBall and sailing. The cool thing is that even Em the 3yr old can play the sword fighting game as all you do is swing the wiimote around and around. In fact, Grace has beaten Amy and I several times.

The other favorite game in the bunch is squidball, a Pirate’s take on crochet. Its easy to do as well, you use the joy stick on the nun-chuck to point and then swing the wiimote to hit the ball. First one through the course gets the poison squid and can then target the other players to win. These are the favorite games. Rowing takes coordination that isn’t always there, but its fun for a laugh and digging is ok. The hardest one is where you use a “fan” to control where your boat goes. We still haven’t mastered the art of making it work the way it should.

Game play unlocks new pirates (different versions of the main ones) and you earn gold along the way to purchase new weapons, boats, etc. with and each “section” you complete unlocks another, as well as a trophy. You can then compete with for the trophy’s as you collect them.

The back story of the game is one the little ones will enjoy (especially if they like pirates) and is easy to follow. The game is for four people and requires the wiimotes and nun-chucks. We haven’t tried to play with out them, but for the most part you would want to. Another nice feature about Pirate’s: The Hunt For Blackbeard’s Booty is that young ones (as young as 3) can play with little help. Grace, (6) is playing by herself with a little guidance from her mom and I as we help Emma with the other controller.

If you’re looking for a fun game the whole family will enjoy, Pirate’s: The Hunt For Blackbeard’s Booty is a good one to add to the collection.

Talk about a major WTF?!?!?! We went by the mall this past weekend, something we rarely seem to do these days but we had a coupon or something IDK, anyway we stopped in to the GameStop there and perused the growing display of wii games and came across two games we thought looked interesting.

I’ll get in to the second game another day, as we actually play it and the little one is fairly good at being a penguin… its the first game I want to talk about today.

Octomania cannot possibly be described with words. We purchased this game because it resembled Super Puzzle Fighter II on the playstation. Or at least the little images on the back of the box did. Boy were we wrong.

Part of it is like SPII in that you can battle against another player (either via the network or the second controller) and they do fight based on the number of Octipi you remove from the screen but thats pretty much where it ends. The screen is full of boxes with numbers and the point is to get a certain number of same colored octipi in the square based on the number. You can then “kill” more octipi by linking them to the “cloud” of dead ones.

All of this is accomplished by rotating the octipi in a square pattern to get them where you want, needless to say, its a little frustrating. Add to it, the odd japanimation back story and this game makes for a splended waste of $15.

If you’re looking for an interesting game that will cause you no end of pain, look no further!!