Listen to the new Moguls from ifrogz.com | Review

 So Mashbuttons.com has taken on a few new products as of late to review, and apparently it's new headphone week.  This time, iFrogz.com has sent us their top-of-the-line Moguls, a classic DJ-Style set of ear speakers that we were really hoping would blow us away...they didn't, but that's not to say they don't have an audience.

In today's fast-paced, everything is electronic world, most are listening to the newest Jimmy Eat World albums from their iPhone, iPod's or Android phones, (mostly) lost are the days where real high-fidelity meant something.  Instead, most consumers don't really know what great (or even good) sound is.  The stock earbuds for most devices aren't worth even taking out of the wrapper, but where does one go if they want a good set of headphones?  Well that depends on your budget.

Not everyone can afford a $300 pair of beats by dr. dre but most can justify a sub-$100 pair of 'phones as an upgrade from the stock.  Are iFrogz' new Moguls the answer, coming in at a SRP of $69.99, but found online for around $50 on Amazon?  The new Moguls are an over-the-ear style set of cans that don't really fit OVER the ear, but more "rest-like-pillows-on-the-ear" type.  The best headphones are able to block out external noise by completely covering up, almost cupping your delicate ear drums, in this case the Moguls just rest on top...like pillows of sound. 

Their sound quality is better than those of the stock variety, sporting 50mm drivers and a frequency range of 10-30,000 Hz, so there is some bass here; but I found the full-range lacking in the highs and mid-range.  I'm used to using Sure in-ear buds however, that typically have more of the mids and highs, and not quite as much bass, a typical trade-off of the smaller form factor. 

As a test, I had a fellow co-worker try out the new cans that doesn't have much knowledge or experience in the headphone department, usually content listening to his Pandora from the built-in monitor speakers of his PC, who had this to say of the headphones..."These are great, I love them, so much better than the built-in speakers".  Of course they are.

And so my point of who these headphones would be ideal for is presented before me.  These are perfectly fine units for those who want to upgrade from the stock equipment, however if that same person is an audiophile, they will quickly be looking elsewhere to much more respected names in sound (Bose, Sony, Sennheiser, etc), but to the uneducated, I can see alot of users happy with these.

The overall build quality is about on par with the $50 price-range, and the multiple design/color options is always a nice plus for those looking to stand out, but for the time being, I'll be sticking with my Sony's.

MotoGP 09/10 Review

Upon receiving Capcom's latest, MotoGP 09/10, I really had no interest in the game.  Although I love a good racing sim, (Forza and Gran Turismo Series), I've never been into a pure street bike racer.  This is likely due to my love of cars, but not so much of street bikes.  Not to say that I dislike, or even loathe street bikes, I just have more knowledge of the 4-wheel variety of transportation/racing.  However, after a few races, and then a full-on jump into the Career Mode, MotoGP has me hooked, and in some ways more than my beloved Forza or Gran Turismo does.

Read on for the full Review

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers | Review

Synopsis: Square Enix is the latest company to fill our mailbox with a review title, this time for the Wii, in the form of a really, really long title, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers. The recent entry to the Final Fantasy franchise comes to fans in the form of an Action RPG, taking on the role of Layle, a mercenary that is a crystal bearer, which possesses magical abilities that is looked down on by the public. The Crystal Bearers is the first Final Fantasy game that has been developed exclusively for the Nintendo Wii, incorporating motion-driven gameplay, intuitive controls, and open interactive environments. The crystal bearer powers help the player take on enemies, move objects, and navigate through the interactive world. With an extra remote, spectators can jump in and help out during special areas of the game.

Praise: Finally, a Final Fantasy title I can play on a console rather than on the Nintendo DSi and is not a remake. The Crystal Bearers is different from the previous entries that were predominately turn based but still includes most of the elements that make Final Fantasy stand out from other RPG titles. The game starts with an action sequence and then the game’s story truly takes off, while there is still traveling and fights against familiar and new enemies, the boss fights and interactive story sequences had me hooked. The animated cut scenes looked amazing and were exactly what I would expect from a Final Fantasy game, full of action, airships, and a conflicted main character teamed up with a band of misfits. The gameplay is more of a real time action game, so rather than waiting to attack, you use the remote to aim at, pick up, and throw enemies OR use objects to throw at enemies, which may use less strategy than playing the typical jRPG, but added more of a challenge. While the story is great and the soundtrack being equally good, there are also more than three hundred medals to achieve for those looking to discover and complete all that the game has to offer.

Gripes: The first thing that I noticed missing from this game is the inability to level your character up, learn new abilities, and equip weapons, however there are three accessory slots to equip items made from the loot of your fallen enemies. The camera controls haunt the player throughout the entire game, as the player has to use the directional pad on the remote and it is awkward when you are mid fight using the “B” button to lock onto and throw baddies while trying to adjust the camera. Navigating to the next point of interest can be difficult at times with the map available in the menu screen being of little help, if the map was a little more detailed or an indicator to help guide you to the next location, there would have been a lot less time spent looking for where I had to go next. Lastly, the length of the game was a lot shorter than previous Final Fantasy and Crystal Chronicle titles, being that it took just shy of ten hours to complete, and that was with getting lost and not trying to complete my medal collection.

Overall, The Crystal Bearers was a fun game with a good story, memorable characters, and unique gameplay. Though it was not what I expected from a Final Fantasy title in regards to the style of gameplay, I do not feel that this takes away from the experience, as it is a fresh take on the series. It takes a little bit of time to get used to, but once you get the controls, the game becomes enjoyable and extremely interactive, from navigation and battles to the cut scenes. Though there is not a lot of replay value, but I still felt this title was a solid entry to the Final Fantasy series pleasing both die hard fans and newcomers to the Final Fantasy universe.

Mashbuttons.com gives Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers a 8 out of 10

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers is available now on the Nintendo Wii.

Madden NFL 10 | Review (Xbox 360)

Since Dom and Joey’s sports prowess is *cough* lacking, they needed my expertise to review the biggest video game of the year, Madden NFL 10. This is a game that I anticipate moments after the NFL season wraps up, scouring the internet, pouring over screenshots, reading every blog I can for any scrap of information of the next installment. This year, my patience, has been rewarded with a very polished and extremely well done product.

Just looking at the cover of the game, gives me something to look forward to; the Madden curse. If you're not familiar, the Madden curse, is the belief that every cover athlete will have a horrendous season or become injured, etc. This year the cover athletes are Larry Fitzgerald (Arizona Cardinals) and Troy Polamalu (Pittsburgh Steelers), of my two least favorite teams.

From the second you fire up your first game within Madden you will see an instant difference in the presentation of the game and a new level of realism. Games start with an outside shot of the stadium and zoom to fans buying merchandise and concessions within the stadium. The coolest part of the pre-game presentation is showing the star players of the home team with their helmets off, standing for the national anthem while Airforce jets fly over head. They've also added a more realistic broadcast touch by giving a real TV-like sign out at the end of the game.

This year, they've slowed down the pace of the gameplay to make for a more realistic speed for the players, and also make their moves seem more fluid. The biggest feature add in Madden NFL 10 is the Pro-Tak tackling system that causes the player to “fight for every yard”. It just means that instead of the ball carrier just falling down when tackled he will fight to stay up and sometimes even fight off the tackle for more yards. They also added multi-player tackles and players even fight for the ball in the scrum, adding several additional layers to the realism.

The franchise mode is by far the most important aspect of the game for me (yep, I’m an armchair GM). This year’s franchise mode has its ups and downs, but overall I am ok with the finished product. They removed the ability to improve players through weekly drills and instead give every player a potential grade (A-F system), that will determine how good a player can get in their career. Other factors that play a role in play progression are age and how they did the previous season.

Overall (Mashbuttons) I give the game a 9 out of 10. The realism of the game play is above and beyond what I’ve ever seen in any sports game. The franchise mode isn’t great but it’s still really good (but then again I am really picky when it comes to the mode). Finally, the soundtrack is great, including a lot of 80’s rock and even a Slipknot song (big plus with me).

Madden NFL 10 is available now for Xbox 360, Playstion 3 and Wii

A Pop-Cap Triple Play - 3 iPhone games reviewed.

Pop-Cap, a company that's synonymous with creating fun, quirky titles that are so addicting, it's no wonder they've garnered the nickname of "Pop-Crack" over the years.

I've spent the past week or so, playing with all that Pop-Cap has to offer currently on the iPhone platform. While we don't have a ton of iPhone coverage, (it's status as a viable gaming platform is still under review), we do have to share the love for our good friends over at the developer.

Lets get this part out of the way first, on all games. You've seen or played these games a billion times already on other platforms...there's nothing new to them in this regard. However, if you like your "crack" on-the-go, then we have just the thing. Starting with Bejeweled 2.


Bejeweled 2 is a simple,"line-up-same-colored-tiles" or jewels, with at least 3 in a row. At first, what seems like a random set of coincidences, turns into a strategic battle of racking of the highest score. There are a few other modes here - the first, just play as long as you can until you have no more moves. The second, play under a time-constraint, the more you score, the more time you keep to continue. Lastly, you can play "continuous" yet without any challenge or end-goal.

Next up is Bookworm - a fun, "scrabble-like" title, in which you use touching letter tiles to spell out words. Obviously the longer and more rare the word, the more points it's worth. Again, you rack up as many points with your vocabulary as you can. Just watch out for burning letters - if you let them get to the bottom of your screen - you're toast. Almost masked as edutainment, this title actually proves to be quite enjoyable as well.


Lastly, is Peggle - one that needs little introduction, (party cause we've already covered it extensively on the site) - but this is true to form Peggle on the iPhone. You can't beat the feeling catching a fever on the iPhone as you ride in subways, take flights in airplanes, or wait in line at the bank on payday.


In fact, the same can be said of all three - Anytime you get a 3-5 minute span of time to kill, you can pick up any one of these for a few solid minutes of gaming. Very easy to jump in and out of, you won't find yourself fumbling through menus and taking a lot of time, just go.

Now we just need more Pop-Cap - give us more!!!

We have more reviews coming!

Life here at Mashbuttons can get busy and hectic at times, but don't you worry, we have all (read: some) of the latest game releases in our queue set to review. Just a few that we have getting ready to peek out of the barn:

Battlestations: Pacific (Xbox 360)
Terminator: Salvation (Xbox 360)
Broken Steel (Fallout 3 latest DLC) (Xbox 360)
Wallace and Gromit: Episode 2 (PC)

And a few more in the incubator include:

Punch-Out (Wii)
Boom Blox Bash Party (Wii)
Bionic Commando (Xbox 360)

And we're hoping to have Protype as it's released in the next week. So we're busy, but we'll continue to work hard to bring you the unbiased news and reviews you have come to expect from Mashbuttons.com - Stay tuned!