Joanne the Coach

LEGO Top 10 movie moments

Love movies, love LEGO, love this:

 

Hit me with your magic stick: Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 Wii game review

Those screams you heard reverberating round the cosmos were not because I had been torturing the children again. In fact, it was the reaction of two small boys when I told them we had been sent the newly released Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 video game to review.

The inevitable follow up to the Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 video game, the plot here follows the last three books of the Harry Potter series. So as you'd expect it's darker in tone and content and leading up to a big battle with creepy noseless guy.

Although there's only so dark you can get when your characters only ever communicate in grunts and mumbles. It's played for chuckles rather than frights.

Knowing the plot of the last few Harry Potter books or films will help guide players through this game, though there are still plenty of puzzles to get stuck on. And you don't need to have played the first Harry Potter video game, (but you'll probably want to).

I set two eight year old boys off on Harry Potter's final mission and this was their verdict:

    "We love this game! We thought it was harder than the first one to play but we managed to work out what to do and where to go. We liked changing and being all the different characters instead of just being stuck with one. Doing spells was lots of fun."

And that was as much as I could get out of them before they dashed off to attempt another level.

This trailer gives you a good sense of the game:

You can also try out Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7  by downloading a free demo to your PC from here.

I am a big fan of the Lego video games. I've played most of them and haven't found a bad one yet. Plus Harry Potter Years 5-7 features a broomstick flight across London - how cool is that?

And if you want a real bargain check out the Lego Harry Potter app which gives you a version of the first video game for only £1.99.

It's rated as suitable for age 7+, meaning that there is some battling to be done, but it's not an aggressively gory game at all. It's more challenging to play than Disney Universe, and I doubt if many gamers younger than 7 could manage it. So the rating feels about right. This game will take persistence to play, but for those who do, the rewards are magic.

Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 is out now for all major games formats. RRP from £24.99. We played the Wii version which is currently at £27.99 on Amazon.

What not to buy for Christmas

This weekend the papers were full of gift guides and advice on what to get for the people you love (and your family) for Christmas.

Nobody advises you on what not to buy.

This I can help with, as I generally prepare an 'un-list' of things I don't want.

Here's this year's top 5. Nobody buy me any of this crap:

Angry Birds child costume
Nothing says Throw me across the room like an Angry Birds costume. This is a trip to A & E and a visit from Social Services just waiting to happen.

 A Christmas Turd
Look, I appreciate the thought, but I can probably save you the £3.99 and make one of these for myself. Don't tell the craft bloggers about it, it could spark a craze for a whole new kind of home made Christmas gift.

 

Gassy Gus 
And whilst we're in the lavatory, let's pause to admire the game that puts new meaning into the phrase Top Trumps. Yes, it's the farting board game. The family that pumps together stays together - they have to really, no one else will give them house room.

 

Christmas pudding bin bags
Well OBVIOUSLY it's important to have your garbage looking appropriate to the season - this is why I shape my bin bags into hearts at Valentine's, and into the face of the devil at Halloween. But I think the bin men would rather have the tenner, than the chance to hoick a wannabe plum pudding on their truck. Clearly designed for in-law murdering serial killers who need to dispose of the evidence. Joy to the world!

 

Handerpants
They're gloves! They look like pants! Sell it to me, Pants Man:

 Er, no thanks

Have you spotted anything less desirable than this lot? What else needs to go on the un-list?

Review: iball3 interactive memory game

I was sent this gadgety toy a few weeks ago, but held off reviewing it because - embarrassingly - I couldn't work out how to play with it.

Despite being educated to post graduate level, could I figure out what I was meant to do with iball3?

Could I bollocks.

Of course my children had no such problems and were off and away with it in no time at all. The big attraction for them is that, as a sticker on the box proclaims, it's been voted No1 New Toy of 2011 by The Gadget Show.

Oh how the juniors love The Gadget Show. They sit there every week, eyes like saucers, soaking up as gospel all that Jason Bradbury and his band of merry geeks have to offer. They grabbed the little blue iball3 orb and chased around the house with it shouting "We've seen it on The Gadget Shooooowwww! The Gadget Shooowwww!"

iball3 was also named as one of Hamleys top toys for Christmas 2011. I didn't tell the kids that. I think they might have exploded.

So if The Gadget Show and Hamleys likes it, it must be good, right? Well, it is once you work out what you're meant to do.

I found the included instructions hard to follow, but eventually turned up this video which explains what to do much more clearly:

 But even then I had to watch it back a few times to get the gist of it.  Honestly, I used to be able to do a Rubik's Cube in 3 minutes, now I'm thick as mince.

Essentially iball3 is a memory game where you have to work out a sequence of lights, with the aim of getting 3, 4 or 6 lights of the same colour to glow together. Once you start, it's really quite addictive, aided by an online league table to track your puzzle solving top times. Just make sure you watch the video first.

Suitable for age 8 to adult, the iball3 is out now, RRP £16.99 or reduced to £14.99 at Firebox, includes a nifty stand to stop it rolling under the sofa.

Taking the Mickey: Disney Universe video game review

 

You've probably seen this game advertised on TV - Disney Universe is one of the hottest new family video games, and it's just been released for Wii, PS3 and XBox.

But aside from the TV ads, the big question is - is it any good to play?

We were sent a copy of the Wii format, and all the family has been trying it out. The USP of this game is that it brings together many well known Disney film worlds. You play as a minifigure, dressed in the Disney character costume of your choice. So depending on how you're feeling, you can swap from Mickey to Nemo to Captain Jack and back again.

The trailer gives a snapshot of the fun to be had:

 

Like Phineas and Ferb Across the Second Dimension, it combines lots of playing styles - little bit of puzzle solving, jumping, battling enemies. With the collecting of golden Mickey ears coins, it reminded me a lot of playing any of the Lego video games.

My 8 year old son agreed: "I like this game because the controls are the same as the Lego games, like pressing A to jump, so I know what to do. It was lots of fun and I love all the little Disney characters you can pretend to be. I give it 8 out of 10"

One advance from the Lego games is that in Disney Universe up to 4 players can play co-operatively - ie they're all in it for a common goal rather than competing against each other, so it's great for groups. I think this game is going to end up under lots of Christmas trees this year, and be played by many families. My son and I really enjoyed playing it together. I thought this game had tremendous charm and was great fun to play - for once you can believe the hype.

It's rated for age 7 and over, I guess because there's shooting and swordplay, but it's certainly not a violent game and I would be happy to let younger children play it. Players control the level of difficulty, so you can choose to either have blue arrows showing you where to go, or work it out for yourself if you want more of a challenge.

Disney Universe is out now on all major games formats, priced around £30. The Wii version is currently reduced to around £22 on Amazon, what a bargain

UPDATE 16 NOVEMBER 2011
Disney Universe have now released a free downloadable demo for Xbox LIVE and Playstation Network.

New Wii game review: We Sing UK Hits

There are so many singing games available for Wii, and the difference between them really boils down to the song choice.

Well, when the postie brought We Sing UK Hits for Nintendo Wii, I was practically ripping off the plastic and bowling children out of the way to get to the mic. And I can't even sing. THAT'S how good the songs are one this one.

That's not to say that they are actually good songs - just that it's a very smart selection of 40 well known karaoke-style hits with something for everyone.

Cheesaholics will need no encouragement to start Making Your Mind Up with Bucks Fizz; big wafty trouser people can Let's Dance with David Bowie; honking geese can go all Florence + the Machine with You've Got the Love; politicians can bellow That's Not My Name through to the early hours, until it's time to Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.

Essentially the main demographic for this game is anyone over 35 who's had two cocktails, and their daughters.

Thrillingly, there was caution against sex and bad language on the box (hence the age 12 rating) but all that turned out to mean was that the odd song had slightly fruity lyrics which had been bleeped out. There's nothing here to corrupt the younglings.

Like most singing games, you gain points depending on how well you sing, but does anybody really play these things for the points? Surely they're just party entertainment for large groups of pre-teen girls and/or tipsy adults. If you're planning a family party this would go down a storm.

The original video plays in the background whilst players sing along - it's all very simple to operate, no matter how many cocktails you've had.

Pass the mic. I feel a song coming on.

We Sing UK Hits is out now for Nintendo Wii. Packs vary from game only, to one or two mics, and price ranges from £29.99-£49.99. Best deal right now is £24.99 for game only from Amazon

Review: Disney's Phineas and Ferb Across the Second Dimension

If you haven't seen the Disney Channel show Phineas and Ferb, brace yourself for an invasion, as this autumn sees the release of a movie and video game, both titled Phineas and Ferb: Across the Second Dimension.

We reviewed the Phineas and Ferb Nintendo DS game a while ago, and weren't wild about it, but when the Wii version of the new game arrived in the post we decided to dive in for another adventure.

If you don't know the movie or TV show (we didn't) it doesn't really matter, as this is a simple game that anyone can get stuck in to, with animated mini cartoons to introduce the plot.

The main defining characteristic is that it's easy to play - if you're between the ages of 8 and 35, you won't find it much of a challenge. Outside of that, you're unlikely to be terribly foxed either. The game combines every video game move you can think of - there's platform jumping to be done, simple puzzles to solve and baddies to defeat. There is some shooting, but it involves popping baseballs or whooshing orange soda at jelly-like apparitions. It's not what you'd call shoot to kill. There are 24 levels, which you'll zip through pretty quickly. There's even a Halloween-themed area for topical autumn gaming fun.

We liked the turtle Agent T, the evil robots, the mini puzzles and wacky gadgets. This trailer gives you a flavour:

Made for one or two players, a second player  can pop in and out in co operative play, so it's good for teaching kids the benefits of working together rather than beating each other up. It might also teach your kids that you can defeat a giant jelly monster with a bottle of Fanta, but that's a risk you'll have to take. 

Phineas and Ferb Across the Second Dimension is out now for Nintendo Wii & DS and Playstation Move RRP £34.99, or currently at a much better £17.99 on Amazon

 

Review: Playmobil figures it out

When I went to the Playmobil factory in Malta, one of the highlights was getting to build my own little Playmobil figure. This is a special attraction only available to people who take the factory tour so I was feeling pretty privileged.

But now a new concept from Playmobil means that any bugger can feel as special as me (wouldn't that make a great advertising slogan?). Plunk down your £1.99 and you get one of these mystery packages:

Open it up and you too can play at being a Playmobil factory worker, as you build one of 24 figures. You won't know which figure you've got until you open the packet, so the range has been dubbed "fi?ures". Oh those Playmobil dudes. They like a laff.

We were sent two from the blue range and two from the pink, which turned out to be this band of rogues: a blue knight, a pair of pop singers and a mermaid.

The Playmobil Fi?ures range is marked as suitable from age 5 and over. My children struggled to put the figures together at first, especially fixing on the hair. Be prepared to take over supervise if your children are doing this. The idea is that you can then mix and match the set, but we were so pooped with the effort of putting them together that we had no energy left for that.

As pocket money toys, these are very good value at £1.99, which includes the figure, accessories and a mini collector's poster. They'd make a great party bag alternative. The girls' range scores points for being girly but not sugar sweet (An outlaw! A grumpy teen!), whilst the boys' range is fairly villainous-looking. What little boy hasn't wanted a toy executioner in his time?

As ever with Playmobil, the quirkiness of the range leaves many questions unanswered. Why so many tattoos? Why is the pizza square? Why does the witch have glasses with a bird's beak attached? Why is the mother figure holding two giant spoons? Thinking about it, that question mark is well placed.

Playmobil Fi?ures are out now in major toy shops. You can get a closer look at the range and play with the fab online figure generator here

Boogie Nights: We Dance for Wii game review

Recently the postman brought an unexpected parcel containing a dance mat and Wii game. I have no idea who sent me We Dance for Wii, but it came at a welcome time, since at that moment I had four children under my roof, all going slightly feral and in need of something to channel their energy.

We Dance is the kind of active, follow the moves on the screen type of game that Wii does well (though Kinect may start to steal its boogie thunder). You can play with up to four players, if you have enough mats.

The object is to rack up points by copying the choreography on screen. I filmed myself playing it and the result was horrendous - my body looked like a walrus in heat, whilst my face looked like I was concentrating for A Levels. So to spare you that, here are some glamorous people to show you how it works:

Saving the earth, one Lego brick at a time

Of all the new pruck on display at Toy Fair 2011, I really liked the new Lego Alien Conquest range. It's the design, reminiscent of 1950's b movies, that's so appealing. Even the little green aliens with their exposed brains look cute, and that's a hard look to pull off.

The range has just gone into the shops, so when Lego sent us an Alien Conquest set to review, we set our phasers to stun and prepared to defend the earth from alien invaders, Lego-style.

Between us, it took about 2 hours to build the Alien Conquest Jet Copter Encounter set.

Son of Mine is chief Lego builder, my role is more one of finding the right bits and passing them to him. I must admit that my inner brat started to emerge, with lots of Can I have a go? followed by Pleeaase give it to meeee! I want a tuuurn! , which is not very dignified, but at least I am still in touch with my inner child.

At this point Son of Mine sacked me as his assistant, and I got sent to my room until I could learn to play nicely.

One problem we found with this set is that it's not the sturdiest of models, and the underside in particular has a tendency to come off. I found it helped if I went through and pressed all the bits together to strengthen them, but then my son got miffed as he wanted to do it all himself. This set is suitable for age 7-14, so needs some concentration and skill to put together, but the instructions are as clear and well set out as you'd expect from Lego.

As a launch pad for imaginative play, the Jet Copter Encounter is great - the scenario is that the main helicopter is piloted by a space police officer. There are also two mini space ships containing the aforementioned brain dripping aliens. The small ships shown here can also fit together to give you a bigger alien craft to try and out run the space police.

We liked the cool colours and design, expecially the blue of the main craft. Best of all, we liked the fact that the helicopter contains a prison pod (shown here) which one alien figure will fit into - assuming you can catch him.

This is a good value - if slightly wobbly- set with plenty of play potential for trainee Men in Black, Torchwood applicants and alien catchers everywhere.

 

The Jet Copter Encounter from LEGO Alien Conquest is out now, RRP £30.99 and currently reduced to a bargaintastic £23.99 on Amazon