Nice thing about a video game that ties into a children's movie -- the children don’t need to go back to the theater over and over and over to re-visit the hero du jour. In “Kung Fu Panda the Game,” making Po perform cool-looking Kung Fu smashes are as simple as grabbing the controller and performing some basic button mashing. So kids can lead Po on his quest to become Dragon Master until the DVD release.
“Kung Fu Panda the Game” is rated “E 10+,” is available for the PC, all the consoles and the Nintendo DS and will blast between $20 and $60 out of your wallet.
The latest video games let players do battle as animated and human martial arts experts. Adam Balkin has more.
Usually, games based on movies launch alongside movies to capitalize on the momentum. But with Robert Ludlum's “The Bourne Conspiracy,” the just-released title hopes to lure fans looking for their latest fix. If you like the way the movies represented the books, then you'll enjoy the game too, since much of the action and fighting closely resembles the type of stuff you saw from Matt Damon in the three Hollywood titles.
Combat is simple to control and just like in the movies you can grab non-weapon weapons, like a book, to help finish off opponents. The game, with a bit of new back story written by the film trilogy's screenwriter, follows most closely alongside the first movie, “Bourne Identity.” The ultimate goal, as in all the stories, is for Jason Bourne to find out who he really is.
“The Bourne Conspiracy” is rated “T for Teen” and is available on the Xbox 360 and PS3 for about $60.
And finally, for soccer fans following the current UEFA European Championship, “UEFA Euro 2008” allows you to guide your favorite team through the brackets even if they didn't qualify for the actual tournament. The newest feature of the game is a “Captain Your Team” mode, where you create a player and then play qualifying matches as just that one player. The better you do at the duties required of the position you choose, the better your chances of donning the armband as your team advances.
“UEFA Euro 2008” is rated “E for Everyone,” is out on the PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and PSP and costs between $25 and $50.