Life Quest (PC Game)

Description from the Big Fish Games website:

Want to accomplish your life goals? Find out if you’re up to the challenge in Life Quest! Discover your fulfilling career, dream home, and happy family in this fun and quirky Simulation game! But look out, your high school rivals are lining up to beat you to the punch! Can you be the talk of your high school reunion before all your rivals? Use your time and resources wisely and you may just succeed!

The supposed challenge in Life Quest is to reach certain milestones before your classmates, but it isn't terribly difficult to do. It is just tedious. In the beginning, there is a tiny bit of strategy involved because you don't have enough hours in the day to do everything you want. However, by the time I got to the point where the challenge was to start a family, I ended up sending my character to bed with a full time meter so I could rush the days and get to the marriage. I maxed out on all the classes available for my character at the college and the gym before I got halfway through the game simply because I had so much time and money on my hands.

Most casual games are time-wasters, but at least they engage you with amusing graphics or some sort of strategic challenge. Life Quest has neither. It might have been more intriguing if, like Farmville, your real friends were controlling those high school rivals in the game. Without that component, I can't find a reason to recommend this game.

Celebrating Mother's Day with Band Hero

I spent most of Mother's Day afternoon playing Band Hero with my girls, which we just got from GameFly this weekend. When the game was first released, I remember reading criticisms from reviewers that it was dumbed down for family play and didn't rock as hard as Guitar Hero or Rock Band. That may be true, but my kids sure love it. They enjoy Rock Band, too, and many of the songs have become favorites. They didn't even know who Bon Jovi was before playing that game, but they love "Dead or Alive" now. However, there is something to be said for having a game where you already recognize a lot of the songs. That's what Band Hero accomplishes.

Got a Wii Fit Plus! Now What?

ABM got our tax return in and immediately purchased a Wii Fit Plus bundle (balance board and game). We had talked about buying one at Christmas when we purchased our Wii console but decided to wait. I think my enthusiasm for fitness games helped ABM make up his mind. He's been working out a lot and he wants us to get in shape together, but I have trouble sticking to an exercise routine. However, I've logged 30 miles in the past two weeks with Walk It Out! I guess he figured he should get me another exercise game while my enthusiasm is high :-).

Anyway, I would love to hear from any of you who have a Wii balance board. What are your favorite games that utilize it? I've already decided to try it with Walk It Out! to see if I like using the balance board better than the Wiimote and nunchuk. I've also heard that there is a DDR game that used the board instead of a dance pad. Any other suggestions?