droolicious : online games

Gamer Giveaway: Win a Freaky Creatures MMO Starter Pack

Aaron Burgess — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:00:00 GMT

Sure, its heroes may look a little menacing, but that's part of the fun of Freaky Creatures, the new massively multiplayer online game that lets your wee beasties build and battle with their own little monsters. Of course, with this MMO, there are a few real-world items you need to get started, and we've teamed up with the Freaky Creatures folks to offer 5 lucky Babble readers a Freaky Creatures starter pack that includes just those goodies!

Five winners will score a Freaky Creatures starter pack like the one pictured here, which includes two battle-ready creature figures as well as a reusable 1GB flash drive that lets you unlock the game and start customizing your virtual creature with some 3.2 billion different potential combinations. To enter, just email us at babblecontest@gmail.com with your name, address and daytime phone number, and "Freaky Creatures giveaway" in the subject line. We'll draw five winners at random from the pool of entries next Friday, May 1.

Freaky Creatures is rated E10+ for crude humor and fantasy violence -- the game also has some fun community and interactive features that fall outside of the ESRB's rating scope, so be sure to give it a whirl before turning your kids loose in the Freaky Creatures universe. Or, if you're like me, just grab your laptop and play alongside 'em. [Freaky Creatures]

JamLegend Brings Free, Rock Band-Style Gaming Online (Beta Code Here!)

Aaron Burgess — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:04:00 GMT

So you and the kids have already mastered every level on Rock Band 2, and you're too broke to fork over for the added experience of Guitar Hero World Tour. The new private-beta online game JamLegend may be just the motivation you need to keep on rocking in the... OK, bad wordplay avoided there, but facts is facts: This awesome little rhythmic rocker, which you play through your PC, aims to bring a Rock Band/Guitar Hero-style experience to the Web, free, via a continually expanding set list and a massive multiplayer element. And did we mention that it's, like, free? Yeah.

Admittedly, the gameplay in JamLegend -- in which you tap your keyboard instead of strumming or hitting a virtual instrument -- takes some getting used to, but there are varying modes of playability (we've not yet made it past "easy") and an insane number of songs on which to hone your chops. Especially awesome is JamLegend's community element, in which you can compete against other shredders in real time and work your way up the leaderboards.

Obviously, being in beta, JamLegend still has tons of room for advancement, but again, it's free, and with everything from support for Rock Band hardware to expansion into other virtual instruments (keyboard "guitar" is currently all that's offered) on the table, we're psyched to see how far it'll go.

In the meantime, we're also psyched to hear what you and yours think: Sign up for the beta via this special invite code, and rock out with us in the comments once you've had a chance to play JamLegend for yourself. [A hearty "Rock on!" to Gear Crave for the tip.]

Video Game Review: LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Rules)

Aaron Burgess — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:02:00 GMT

Geeks the world over may be frothing over the upcoming be-all, end-all multimedia project Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, but in my house, the only Star Wars universe that matters is the one you make yourself out of plastic bricks and minifigures.

Needless to say, LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, the new, third installment in LucasArts' awesomely, endlessly fun video-game series, has been at the top of my and my kids' Christmas lists this year. Luckily for me (but unbeknownst to them -- hey, they don't read Babble), I got it early. Sorry, little dudes.

LEGO Star Wars II marked the series' entry into next-generation consoles, but The Complete Saga maximizes the systems' technology -- which means, if you're playing on an Xbox 360 or PS3, you're going to notice some major improvements in graphics, as well as some cool new online capabilities. Wii users, unfortunately, don't get either, although the Wii version does make use of the system's motion-control capabilities. DS players, meanwhile, get a LEGO Star Wars experience completely redesigned from the ground up.

Playing like a combined version of its predecessors, The Complete Saga works in LEGO-fied versions of the characters, scenery and scenarios from all six Star Wars films, complete with LEGO Star Wars' trademark cheeky humor to take the edge off. Meaning: Star Wars Battlefront this ain't -- and you'll dive right into playing alongside your kids for just that reason.

Even if you beat the games the first go-round -- and despite the kiddie appeal, that's not as easy as you might think -- there's plenty here to keep you playing. Besides new characters like Watto, Zam Wessell and Boss Nass (with over 120 playable characters in all), you'll find 10 new bounty-hunter challenges, the ability to mix and match characters from all six episodes, and even a cameo by a certain archaeologist movie hero who's about to get his own LEGO video-game treatment.

It's not entirely "new," so calling LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga the season's best kid-friendly video game may be a stretch (and besides, Mario did come back fighting this fall). But for those of us who've enjoyed bonding with our kids over George Lucas' universe, boy, it'll sure feel that way.

Free Racing Game KartRider Creeps Out for Halloween

Aaron Burgess — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:02:00 GMT

Today would be a fine time to grab the free-to-download, free to play online multiplayer racing game KartRider, as the game's parent company, Nexon, is offering players a slew of Halloween-themed tricks and treats.

"Creepy Hollow," a new in-game area, winds through dark forests, around dark cliff roads, and through other spooky corridors, and includes two new tracks, "Hidden Monastery" (screen shots above), and "Fright Fight" (see below), while the new Pumpkin Racer E2 cart packs serious handling and speed in a funny-looking seasonal shell. Until Nov. 5, you can also face off against other racers in "The Great Pumpkin Chase" scavenger hunt, where you'll be rewarded with a spooky-ooky surprise for wrangling the most pumpkins from throughout the course. (Let's just say it's a real, er, head trip.)

As you might've expected, "free" isn't totally free, so while there's a ton of fun content available through the basic KartRider client, there are plenty more upgrades and other goodies to buy after you've gotten addicted to the game.

Safer Internet Gaming: NET JET Controller and Game Keys

Aaron Burgess — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 17:00:00 GMT

If you allow your young ones to dabble in Internet gaming, you know how easy it is for curious fingers to stray from an innocent Flash game to a potentially kid-inappropriate site full of ads and other horrors. Aimed at players ages 6 to 11, Tiger Electronics' NET JET system ($24.99) offers an arcade-style gaming experience in a kid-safe online environment: no ads, no links to unsafe sites, and no ability to play without the proprietary USB controller.

The basic system includes a key to unlock four games in the NET JET arcade, but additional keys ($14.99) unlock four new games each -- from Mission: Paintball and Peak Performance Snowboarding to Nickelodeon- and Cartoon Network-licensed titles such as Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends: Buggin' Out (pictured above). PC and high-speed Internet access required.