Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

Well, for all those at attendance at E for All, Nintendo decided to pull out all the stops and make Super Smash Brothers Brawl the focus of their booth. They had a big set of bench seats that you had to sit on and wait your turn to play the demo. They had four stations with four players each getting into the game. Then you would play your way onto the main stage. Well somebody else would, because I have never played a Super Smash Brothers game before now.

Getting up to one of the game stations, they handed each of us a Wiimote, now in a WiiCondom.., errr, WiiJacket. They also made sure that we were wearing the strap accordingly. Of the characters on the screen, I recognized Sonic, Samus, StarFox, Picachu, Princess Peach, Zelda, and I believe Mario. No one used him in my match, but I am sure he was there.

First off, you can use motion controls, or you can use the Wiimote as a standard controller by holding it sideways. Already at a disadvantage, I decided to use the Wiimote in a standard configuration. Choosing a person and level is pretty easy, and before long we were in a match.

First thing I noticed was that the game moves very fast. Combat is fast and furious and there was no time to take a breath. It was rather easy to get the grasp of the controls. Double tapping up was a jump, and a various set of attacks were performed with button presses and directional movements. As you performed successful moves, a power meter slowly went up telling you the power available for your bonus attack.

The game also looks and sounds really good. I know that people make light of the graphics on the Wii, but they look really good. Lots of light and explosions and the sound was full and large. It really won me over. I have not really found any game beyond WiiSports that caught my eye on the Wii, but the speed and the combat system in this game really won me over. This looks to be a big hit on the Wii, but as we are all aware, it was delayed until early next year.

Also, later tonight, I will have video of an entire match of the game. They told us no video taping would be allowed, but I was able to avoid the LAPD and get some footage. So look for that once I get out of the show and back to the editing studio.