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GAME DORK
by doug elfman
The Latest In 3-D Some people hate 3-D movies. Roger Ebert is the leading hater, probably followed by podcasting comedian Doug Benson. They don’t like the glasses, or the physics, or I-don’t-care-what. I am quite fond of 3-D movies and 3-D games. In fact, I hope for the day when games and movies become interactive holograms to be played in the middle of your living room. So it should be no surprise I’m a major proponent of Nintendo’s handheld 3DS. You don’t have to wear 3-D glasses. Its games project different images to each eye, while using a visual filter to keep each eye’s images from mixing into the other eye. It’s genius. The 3DS suffered poor sales when it launched last March, largely because Nintendo didn’t release any must-have games at launch. But Nintendo has since dropped the price to $170. You can also watch Netflix films and TV shows on it, via the built-in WiFi. It’s backwards-compatible, so it can play regular DS games in 2-D. And the holidays just ushered in a handful of new, good 3DS games, so sales of the handheld system have jumped and remain strong. People’s exposure to 3Ds helps. Over the holidays, I let my sister and one of my best friends play a game on my 3DS, and they too were astonished at the awesome effects. Still lacking: There aren’t any great adult-themed 3DS games. But if you’re a kid or parent weary of violent games, that’s a good thing, I suppose, which is why my nephew just got a 3DS. That said, I have four recommendations for games. 1. “Super Mario 3D Land” (Nintendo; rated “E”) is the most fun Mario game I’ve played in a long while. It’s a pretty platform adventure. You run, jump and fly as Mario, figuring out how to navigate puzzling jumps and secret alleys, while battling mushrooms, turtles and the villainous Boswer. You travel a wondrous series of lands. The difficulty level is not too hard for casual gamers, and not too easy for serious gamers. And the 3-D effects are fantastic, especially when Mario bounces up
into your face. 2. “Mario Kart 7” (Nintendo; rated “E”) is a very good arcade combatracer, as I said in a recent review. The driving is quite fun on new and revamped tracks against eight competitors, against the computer or against gamers online. 3. “Tetris Axis” (Nintendo; rated “E”) is exactly what you want from any “Tetris” game. Blocks fall from the sky. You organize them into the correct position to fit together. “Axis” comes with different
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modes, including falling pieces that form jigsaw puzzles. It’s addicting. 4. “Sonic Generations” (Sega, rated “E”) is a greatest-hits of “Sonic,” featuring super-fast levels from the past 20 years of “Sonic” games. It’s much harder than “Mario” games. But if you dig on tradition, “Sonic Generations” is a sleek and cool resurrection of the world’s most famous hedgehog. (“Mario Kart 7” by Nintendo retails for $40 for 3DS — Plays fun. Looks good. Easy to challenging, based on settings you choose. Rated “E”. Three and onehalf out of four stars.)
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(“Sonic Generations” by Sega retails for $40 for 3DS — Plays fun. Looks good. Challenging. Rated “E.” Three and one-half stars.) (“Super Mario 3D Land” by Nintendo retails for $40 for 3DS — Plays very fun. Looks great. Moderately challengi n g . R a t e d “ E .” Four stars.) (“Tetris Axis” by Nintendo retails for $35 for 3DS — Plays fun. Looks good. Moderately challenging. Rated “E.” Three stars.) Doug Elfman is an award-winning entertainment columnist who lives in Las Vegas. He blogs at http://www.lvrj. com/columnists/Doug_Elfman.html. Twitter at VegasAnonymous.
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January 4, 2012