Crave had three games on display and the best thing about them all is that they are all $14.99. That’s right folks it’s bargain basement time, but despite closeout prices Crave delivers on at least two of the titles with full budget quality.

Mojo (PS2/Xbox)
The first game they showed me was Mojo, which if any of you remember Marble Madness (that’s right brush off that dusty collection of NES titles in the back of your brain) then you’ll have a good grasp on this title. There is of course miles and miles of improvement over your little marble in the modern incarnation of spherical insanity and all of the puzzles are color based so fortunately Spot won’t be hogging the controller. The graphics were excellent as far as you can take animating a marble rolling around blowing up cubes (that’s right folks geometric genocide), with a good variety of puzzles and necessity of fine motor skills to get through them. Endless frustration and enjoyment for the price of a cheap DVD, it rarely gets better than that.

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EJay Clubworld (PS2)
With EJay Clubworld Crave does a decent job of trying to top themselves. This holds true of course only if you have the secret fantasy of being a DJ in a hip dance club somewhere in the world. There are something like eight different clubs each with a different musical style from house to dance to R&B… you get the idea. The thing that makes this game so choice is that it is basically an electronic mixing board, so basically it’s a cheap way to make your own dance tracks.

Each club comes with six different instruments and about fifty preloaded sounds for each. Add to that an edit mode that allows you to create your own custom rhythms for each instrument and save them and then save the track when it’s finished (and that can be pretty much an infinite song, all on the same size save file) there is more than enough in the package to justify dropping the fifteen bills.

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Butt Ugly Martians (PS2)
The final Crave title I saw was the most disappointing, but when you stop to consider the target audience maybe it really isn’t. Butt Ugly Martians is a racing title based on the cartoon on Nickelodeon, so we’re basically looking at a title aimed at about 8 to 10 year olds who will beg their parents for it. As a fiscally responsible adult this would be a perfect non-violent outlet for kids, if those were my concerns. As a critical gamer the graphics were good for a budgeted kids title, there wasn’t really much challenge to the races, but again if I were 8 that might be different.

Since I have no children of my own (wait a minute… that’s what alimony means!) I’ve got no particular interest in it, but if you’re looking for a good game to get your nephew, niece, or other little relative on the cheap then look no further. Good quality at the price and the ankle biters will thank you, if their mother prompts them.

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