PixlBit

Time to gush.

I absolutely love this game. I got it back when it first came out for Christmas and proceeded to play the ever loving crap out of it. I managed to get all of the game's gold medals, unlock the hard mode and get all of the gold medals in that.

There's something about the concept of the game and its execution that makes it so exciting for me. Basically, there are three tiers to every level. The first is just clearing the path for the nuclear weapon, the second is razing the entire level, and the last was to unlock the fast timing. This basically meant that I could play each level in a variety of ways to accomplish all of the goals.

Even better, each level is wildly different in its design and execution, and the variety of vehicles make for some interesting puzzle solving and destruction.

There's so many layers of depth to the title it's pretty amazing for an N64 game. The true shame is that it has never been followed up by Rare (or Nintendo, I have no idea who owns the rights), especially when there is so much promise for a game like this on a current generation platform.

Like Kathrine said, at face value, it's a whole lot of fun to wreck stuff, even if you don't want to explore any of the depth of the title. Everyone with an N64 needs this game.

The email sent out by Microsoft touted the introduction of Hulu, ESPN3, and Video Kinect as great new features, which are likely the cause of the price hike.

At this point, Microsoft should really just tier their gold service into gold and platinum, and keep all of these extraneous features only in the platinum service, leaving gold members with the ability to play online and have access to demos and such early.

You're right Anon, the diffusion beam is a new power-up, but one that makes such a minimal difference in the game it's easily overlooked. I suppose it is occasionally helpful, but not often enough for me or Chessa to have really noticed an impact.

I'm extremely excited to listen to this. Honestly, I have no idea how you managed 40 mins of airtime without anyone to interact with. Also, you have definitely lit the fire to do a new episode of PixlTalk, which is long overdue at this point.

I had a chance to play this at a friend's... I believe, 13th birthday party. None of us had ever played the game before, so we were all on a pretty even field.

Long story short, I remember having a pretty good time with the game given the unique nature of the combat, particularly the full 3D arena complete with a short flight ability. I haven't played it outside of that one night, but I recall thinking for years that I needed to pick up the title when I had some cash and the game received a significant price drop.

I'll have to get a copy at some point in the future and try it again. I'm sure it's terrible now, but it should be interesting to see what I once thought was pure gaming gold.

I probably won't write a true full review on it, but Chris and Jason gave me the comparable DSi case. In short, I hate it.

It's bulky, ugly and it completely ruins the sleek form factor of the DSi for me. I'm not quite sure why someone would want to stick the thing in such a casing.

Honestly, while you are playing the system, there isn't a ton of concern with dropping it, and wear on the external case is unlikely. The most logical reason to have such a casing is for safe storage when not playing the system. In my opinion, if you want something to protect your DS system, grab a closed case for storage when you aren't playing your system.

This will eliminate any possible issues with dropping or pressure, and will keep the system looking nice. You can avoid the hideous casing the Catalyst provides, as well as the faux leather that will undoubtedly degrade over time.

While I understand your point, that flies in the face of the review policy set in place. The bottom line is that the game does, and will have, limited appeal for the majority of people who play the game. Simply because I can overlook the repetitious nature of the game, doesn't make it any better.

Part of my job as a reviewer is to have enough insight to know when I'm overlooking a flaw due to my own biases. The game has a very limited number of tracks with little to do aside from racing to the finish. That's a massive issue for all players who don't enjoy an extremely one-dimensional experience.

For me personally, this game is a 4.5/5, but due to the extremely limited appeal and the wording of our review policy, this game fits snuggly in the 4 star rating.

The bottom line is that this game is an absolute blast if you enjoy arcade racing games based on perfecting your runs. I'm itching to play the game right now as a matter of fact.

Looking good, the rest of the year is pretty solid for Nintendo games. Hopefully Nintendo will be announcing the release date for the 3DS soon.

It's no surprise to me that this game was rated well in Japan, it's right up their alley. If the battle engine wasn't as different as it is, I'd go as far as saying that this is a below-average game thanks to the straight level grind.

As far as this being the Wii's first traditional JRPG, I'd say that's 100% true. Every other one that might match the RPG or JRPG description have been far from traditional.