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Customer Reviews:
Very Impressive…
The best way to review this game is to draw comparisons with GT 3 & 4, since most people considering this game probably have these already; and of course, GT 3 & 4 are considered by many to be the best racers on the PS2.

To start off, I have only owned this game for three days. I will update this review later as I play more into it.

Graphics: The GT series has the more realistic graphics. Toca has more of an arcade racer look, sporting more vibrant colors with less detailed textures. As a result, the texture “sparkle” effect that’s prominent in the GT series is not as noticeable in Toca. As for the car models, they are more detailed in GT. Toca has a nice cockpit view that all racing games should emulate. You can actually look to your left and right by clicking the shoulder buttons. The frame rate and sensation of speed is about the same.

Control: Toca wins this one hands down. This is one area I never liked about the GT series. Toca has a very intuitive control scheme that anyone can get into right away, but without feeling cheap. The GT series control has always been too floaty for my taste. I remember playing GT 3 for the first time and having to struggle just to stay on the road…and this happening to a guy that has been playing racers for 25 years. Yeah, you do get used to the GT series control scheme, but you should not have to.

A.I.: Again, Toca wins this one easily. The GT series is infamous for its cheap A.I. This is not the case with Toca. In addition, you cannot get away with bumping up against the other cars in Toca. Not only will your car sustain damage, but you will get penalized for careless driving. Your pit man talks to you along the way and he’ll warn you when you bump into the opposing cars. If you remain careless, you receive a black flag and get penalized on your time. If you continue your carelessness, you are disqualified. In the GT series, you can bump against opposing cars while entering a corner to gain an advantage. This technique is not only cheap but unrealistic. These are areas in the GT series that should be addressed. Toca gets is right.

Variety: When it comes to the number of vehicles available, Toca cannot touch GT. However, Toca has an advantage in the number of tracks and variety of vehicle types; I would much rather have a larger number of tracks and fewer vehicles. There are no fantasy tracks here; all the tracks are real world. Although there are fewer cars to choose from, the variety is much greater. You can choose from open wheel, Endurance, Stock Car, Rally Sport, Go-Cart, Mini GT, etc. No other racing game offers this kind of variety.

In closing, this is a must-own game for all racing game enthusiasts who own a PS2.

Customer Reviews:
Not worth the money
The unit was bought for my 11 year old daughter. She used it until with one set of batteries without a problem, then after she changed them a “door open” sign flashed on te screen making the unit useless. I do not recommend it.

Buy something else
The 45 sec. skip protection is a joke. It skips just sitting the unit down. No battery display, only tells you when it is low, really, really low. When you stop it wont restart at the exact place you left off. The unit will only restart at the begining of the track you left off at. Not good it its a really long track.

Customer Reviews:
it does what it says
There are three sets that are nearly identical, and differ only in the type of camera: this one (hidden camera), the outdoor starter kit, and the indoor starter kid. for more comprehensive reviews, look at those other kits as well.

As for my opinion, this set does what it says it does in a pretty seamless fashion: you install the software, plug the camera into the wall, plug a USB adapter into the wall and your computer, make some minor configuration changes and you are all set. I have no doubt we could have gotten a better system cheaper but not one as seamlessly integrated.

We looked at many different systems and bought this one instead because:

- most spy cams broadcast for TV…you then need a TV/VCR to record, or a separately purchased adapter to make it work with your computer, and we weren’t technically confident enough to want to buy different pieces and figure out how to get them working together

- some spy cams are self-recording (they contain memory internally) but these tend to be pricey AND they limit how much you can record; they will fill up if you don’t clear them out regularly, and for our purposes that wasn’t practical

- most “wireless” spy cams work on a WiFi wireless network, which is great if you have one, but we wanted this for use in a place we didn’t have wifi; this one works by transmitting over your home or office electrical system.

- the cost of the system includes a website you can set up to view your camera remotely (although if you have a firewall you’ll only be able to watch 3 minute pieces; if the system can connect directly, which might require configuring your router which some people will find daunting, you can watch constantly).

So, that said, here are some cons:

- only works on PCs, not macs

- 95% of the configuration is a piece of cake, but some aspects are confusing, like how to schedule alerts, and setting up for emailing alerts

- the program has many features that are in the program but you can’t click on them — they are there as advertisements for a “platinum” version of the software that costs $80 a year. It’s annoying to have a screen full of buttons you aren’t able to click, and to have advertising be such a prevalent portion of the interface

- this one is kind of petty, but it would be nice of the clock that hides the camera had an alarm, since we had to remove a “real” clock in place of this one

- the camera is fine for security, but the image is kind of strange - it appears to be infrared? Which means the colors are bizarre. Reds turn yellow, greens and blues turn white. Which is probably fine for security purposes, but don’t be expecting to get a high quality video out of it

Customer Reviews:
Works well with Rock Band on Wii
Bought it so my wife can play rock band with me on the Wii. Hooked it up through wireless and it works great. She can move around the room and it picks up her voice no problem. It is a real microphone and comes with an adapter and wire you can use to plug it into an amplifier or karaoke machine if you were so inclined.

The only downside is that both the wireless transmitter and microphone use batteries and must be switched on when you are ready to play. In addition, you must use the wiimote to join the band and make song selections. So it gets a little cumbersome to setup, but I would think this would be the case with any microphone that wasn’t specifically designed for use with Rockband. However I would still definitely recommend it.

Poor reception
I really wanted to like this item. I do both Singstar and Rock Band with friends and family and was hoping this would solve the problems inherent in a wired mic (people tripping on it, etc). However, the mics only sometimes seem to work at all with Rock Band, and have a high pitched squealing sound when they do work in either game. It may be different for the Wii, but I can’t recommend them to anyone otherwise.

Customer Reviews:
great!
These knives are really wonderful. Everything is useful and easy to use. I love them all. But you have to be careful not to cut your fingers.

Customer Reviews:
LeapFrog, what do you think?!
I have a new nephew and do daycare. My nephew is almost a month old and we have him over a few days a week. He is not able to hold this rattle yet but when my children or I play with it with him he seems to love it. I have been using LeapFrog products for quite a few years and would, again, recommend another of their products.

Great little crab
The baby has loved this toy from the start - at 3 months she crinkled and chewed on the feet, at six months she took it everywhere and chewed on it some more, and now at 11 months she realized it is also a great musical toy and she shakes it like a maraca! also great for travel.

Somewhat dissapointed…
Although this toy is a great idea, it is much smaller than I thought it would be when I read the review. It is small and flat: great to stick in a purse or diaper bag for “emergency entertainment,” however I’m not impressed with what the toy offers. My daughter loves toys that have the crinkle sound, but the color tabs with the crinkle inside on this toy are so small that it is hardly effective. The claw rattles are nice and visible, but the toy itself doesn’t seem to be realistic for tiny hands to grab.

Fun!
Thought this toy actually spoke the colors. Its still super cute and fun to have.

cute but looked used
this is for my niece and still don’t know how much she’ll like it but this is a cute and colorful toy. what i don’t like with the one i got is that it looked used, lots of scratches.