Phoenix Wright's greatest strength is in its storytelling, and this game's final case brings it in spades. Not just case 5, but Trials and Tribulations as a whole, is a thrilling story and an impressive conclusion to the series. Very satisfying.

Progress: Complete

Me and my brothers and uncle got this for my dad for x-mas, along with the Wii to play it on, so comparing it to Wii Sports golf was pretty convenient. At first, Tiger Woods was a visible failure. Its interface is hideously convoluted; a forceful first-time tutorial is nearly impossible to get through; and there are even graphical issues, especially when text is on the screen. But Tiger's real strength comes out with continued play, in some pretty impressive depth.

The gameplay system is one thing. Tiger gives you a lot more options for clubs, shooting times, and strength of the shot, with more possibilities for lie, wind, slope, and what forth. Different golfers even have different strengths, though nothing I've seen so far seems able to beat John Daly's superhuman drive. And there's a confidence system that allows you to build up players with experience if you so choose. I gotta say, though, the coolest thing about Tiger is the courses. A slew of real-life golf courses, from Sawgrass to Pebble Beach, have been put right in the game; so not only are there a ton of holes to play, they're all based on real pro golf situations.

So in the end, while there is a definite learning curve, even for real golfers - enough that it's hard to make a case for Tiger as a "casual-friendly" game - the rewards for a true enthusiast are pretty nice. If only EA cared about polishing their games.

Progress: Gave Up

My second trial was interrupted by demonic tiles, so I had a spot of difficulty getting through it, but it's also worth mentioning that the plot of the case really threw me for a loop. I didn't see the truth of the incident coming until it was right in front of me.

Case 3 is really interesting, and is operating as a showcase for the writing talent behind Phoenix Wright. They've managed to fit in a wide spectrum of scenes and witnesses, and after two days of investigation, there are still a lot of mysterious unanswered questions.

But I really, really wish that, at least once, the word "than" would not have been misspelled as "then." Like I said about Justice For All, it's obvious that the game's script was proofread by a machine rather than human eyes, and this is still a bit disappointing.

Progress: Third day of case 3

This game is pure evil. It's amazingly easy to pick up; even huge Normal-mode puzzles rarely take more than half an hour. But at the same time, the nature of fast-paced step-by-step puzzle solving is super hard to put down. I never thought a puzzle without rising or falling blocks could be so addictive.

Progress: Normal Puzzle 8-F

Getting the game from my Capcom store pre-order was an ordeal, but I'm finally starting into Phoenix Wright's third installment. There's been a lot of backstory-building since the first game, but Trials and Tribulations has done a great job of bringing me back up to speed.

I can also see that the action is really heating up; in the second case, I'm already running into a slew of hooks into the overarching backstory of Phoenix, Edgeworth, and the Feys. Godot is shaping up to be an interesting character as well. And what's really got me excited is the structure of case 2; I thought it was going to be over at the end of the first day, but some loose threads coalesced themselves into a dramatic turn for the case. It's already got me guessing in a way that the previous games didn't really get to until case 4 or 5.

Progress: Second day of case 2

I needed a distraction for my plane ride, and Picross is dirt cheap, so I decided to give it a whirl even though I didn't really understand how it worked. The super-good tutorial brought me right up to speed, and now I've wasted a good part of the past three days making my way through these picture puzzles.

The puzzle mechanic is pretty cool, in that it's more logic- than panic-based. But the really amazing thing about Picross DS is the amount of content in it. There are over 300 puzzles of varying difficulty built into the game, plus!, you can download more, and even make them yourself and trade with people online (the puzzle editor checks to see if the picture you draw is possible as a picross puzzle).

So while Picross DS is pretty good for puzzle game fans, I can see it being even better for people who just like to sit down and fill out a crossword or a sudoku, as this game will last them a long time.

Progress: Normal Puzzle 3-M

The endgame collectible stuff wasn't really all I had hoped for. For one thing, to get all of anything (e.g. "hidden treasures"), you pretty much have to collect everything (soundtracks and movies and all that). For another thing, there is no reward except in the accomplishment itself, which would be fine if not for the utter arbitrary difficulty of several hidden items.

Anyway, the main game is fun, and for most people should be plenty, if not more than.

Progress: 100%

While a few parts seem arbitrary, as is bound to happen in any puzzle game, on the whole Zack & Wiki provides a delightful challenge. Many of the game's levels are just plain cool - figuring out the grand puzzle unveils an awesome event to reveal your prize. It's always figure-outable, even the parts that are really, really brain-bending, which I like.

Something I don't like is the shaky motion controls. Most in-game items / actions are controlled by Wii remote movement, and while many of them work very well, many others do not. I've never had so much difficulty tossing a spinning lasso or dropping an object. Just the same, most of the remote's uses are good, and some are really clever.

There's a ton of extras in the game; I would say too many. Collecting them is only a reward in and of itself, with the exception of some endgame hidden treasures, which promise that there is something in it for me once I Catch 'Em All. Anyway, the superfluous hidden items don't detract from the game, and add a nice little feature for the obsessive completionists.

Zack & Wiki is a really fun, really smart game. Some people may not be smart enough for it; so even for them, there are buyable Hints and Revives (I have to admit that I used a few of the latter). So if you enjoy being mentally challenged, regardless of your skill level, this is a must-play.

Progress: Beat game, tooling around

This may be the coolest game preview video I've seen in a long time.

Recent previews have showed me two things about No More Heroes-

1) Graphical interface elements reminiscent of Contact (pixelated retro-throwbacks)

2) Wanton physical violence

Awesome.

I've gotten up to a Hard-ish skill level on the Bass and can dabble in the other stuff. Rocking the band is really fun. The problem is, the rest of the game.

The networking blows. When an XBL-enabled account is playing, the game takes a minute or longer after every set to communicate with "Rock Central," a task that should be trivial (sending the band name and a few scores along with a small band logo image). The menu system, as I've mentioned, is retarded. And the hardware reliability has really gone down the tubes; drums are being broken now, one of the ports on the USB hub is acting up, and I think the mic may be losing sensitivity.

Of course there are easy kit replacement programs in place - and there may very well be patches on the way - but the game is doing its best to make the fun part unnecessarily inconvenient.