December2015
Review Petit Novel series - Harvest December (3DS eShop)
A novel experience
The visual novel is without a doubt the most niche game genre in the West. While some visual novels that combine more traditional game elements have found success — Ace Attorney and Zero Escape come to mind — the vast majority of visual novels are not considered for western audiences. CIRCLE Entertainment's eShop release Petit...
August2015
Review Mercenaries Saga 2: Order Of The Silver Eagle (3DS eShop)
It’s just like Final Fantasy Tactics, but with a cheaper hairstylist
In a time where titles such as Project X Zone, Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. and the upcoming Fire Emblem Fates are renowned for spicing up the turn-based strategy genre, Mercenaries Saga 2: Order of the Silver Eagle opts for keeping the original recipe intact. The result is a game that...
July2015
Review Glory of Generals: The Pacific (3DS eShop)
War never changes
Whether fighting in fantasy worlds or gritty reality, 3DS-owning strategists have had a steady stream of wargames to keep them busy since the system's launch. CIRCLE Entertainment has been responsible for a particularly prolific eShop invasion, with World Conqueror 3D, European Conqueror 3D and Glory of Generals all joining the...
June2015
Review Samurai Defender (3DS eShop)
Five Samurai
CIRCLE Entertainment and the Nintendo 3DS eShop go hand in hand. Boasting nearly 50 titles with its name attached as either a publisher or developer, seeing a CIRCLE game pop up on the eShop update list has become the norm. With so many to its name, it's no surprise that CIRCLE's games run the gamut from top-notch to downright terrible...
April2015
Review Karous -The Beast of Re:Eden- (3DS eShop)
Not exactly the beast
The "shmup" genre is relatively niche but is also, among its devoted fans, one of the great pleasures in gaming. It's a difficult genre to create games for, however, as the nature of the gameplay is rather limited and simple, with innovations being hard to come by. After all, there's only so many ways one can pull off...
March2015
Paper play
We don't all claim to be linguists or experts on Japanese language or culture here at Nintendo Life, but being the dedicated journalists that we are, we're always willing to do a bit of research. It turns out that origami, the art of paper folding, has a very interesting linguistic background. When broken down, "ori" means to fold or...
Review Adventure Bar Story (3DS eShop)
Will battle for food
Adventure Bar Story sees players taking on two seemingly disparate roles: a chef/restaurant manager and a monster-slaying adventurer. Though these two sound like they would make a questionable mix, the result is actually quite charming and addicting; the ultimate challenge for this quirky RPG is to satisfy the appetite of...
February2015
Review Quell Memento (3DS eShop)
Worth remembering
Creating a working puzzle takes a certain level of skill, even more so if you wish to make it interesting. The Quell series really seems to pay a special mind to the puzzle as a form of craft, presenting its challenges to the player while also attempting to build a serene journey through them. Quell Memento, the latest iteration to...
December2014
An Ys-y purchase
The RPG genre is still rather popular, with several big-name releases arriving every year. While these are usually grand spectacles, Fairune keeps things quite simple. As with many "retro-esque" games these days, it attempts to emulate the look and feel of a classic '80s game, and that comes with matching game mechanics. Combat is...
Review Castle Conqueror Defender (3DS eShop)
Just another castle to conquer
CIRCLE Entertainment's Castle Conqueror series has seen a healthy number of instalments in its release history, so it's no surprise when a new game hits the Nintendo eShop. The series has stuck to a simplistic RTS (real-time strategy) style of gameplay for the majority of its entries, but the developers decided to...
November2014
Review Castle Conqueror EX (3DS eShop)
Back to basics
Four years ago, at the time of the original Castle Conqueror title's DSiWare release, we made a somewhat snarky remark in our review about the absence of Real-Time Strategy games on the Nintendo DS. With its touch controls and capability to display information on one screen and action on the other, the dual-screened console seemed...
October2014
Review The Legend of Dark Witch (3DS eShop)
Just short of legendary
As both a developer and a publisher, CIRCLE Entertainment has been paramount to the rising indie games scene on Nintendo handhelds. Starting on the DSiWare digital service and eventually moving forward to 3DS eShop titles, CIRCLE has managed to have its hand in around 40 releases since 2010. With that many games in its...
August2014
Review Demon King Box (3DS eShop)
Put a lid on it
Prolific publisher CIRCLE Entertainment’s latest eShop effort takes players down into the world of demons, where the once mighty Demon Lord now sits boxed up and bodiless. Unable to reconquer his kingdom alone, he enlists the help of several of the underworld’s finest fighting spirits; that’s where you come in. While it’s...
July2014
Review Glory of Generals (3DS eShop)
Inglorious
The 3DS is no stranger to war games, and CIRCLE Entertainment has been a particularly prolific profiteer, with World Conquerer 3D, European Conquerer 3D and this latest effort, Glory of Generals, all hitting the eShop within the last year. A turn-based strategy game set in World War II, Glory of Generals attempts to stand out from the...
Review European Conqueror 3D (3DS eShop)
Go ahead, mention the war
European Conqueror 3D is a title that might inspire a bit of déjà vu in observant eShop gamers, coming less than a year after the release of CIRCLE’s slightly more ambitious-sounding World Conqueror 3D. Like its predecessor, this is a turn-based strategy game that takes cues from tabletop classics like Risk and Axis...
May2014
Review Parking Star 3D (3DS eShop)
Back it up and dump it!
There are so many driving games on the market today, we've been oversaturated with choice; whether you want a hardcore racing sim, a lighthearted arcade game, a futuristic hovercraft racer, or all your favourite corporate characters go-karting together, there's something out there for you. But you know what the driving game...
April2014
Review I Am In The Movie (DSiWare)
I am in disbelief
Have you ever wanted to be a film director? Have you ever wanted to capture life through the lens of a camera and use it to craft your own cinematic masterpiece? Do you have even a fleeting interest in special effects? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, now’s the time to leave all of your hopes and dreams on the...
February2014
Pixel-by-numbers
Tappingo is a game for those who enjoy methodically teasing order out of an apparent mess. Really. When you begin one of the 100+ puzzles, the upper screen that displays your goal in progress looks like an NES sneezed on it. Yet by working out the numbered blocks on the grid below, colours and form fill in until you’re rewarded...
Review Quell Reflect (3DS eShop)
A rainy day delight
Puzzle games are masters of covert time consumption. Some, like Tetris, keep players on their toes with an unrelenting pace and an addictive “one more try” appeal. Others, instead, offer a calmer, more contemplative experience, letting the player move at his or her own pace as they descend into the logic and rules of the...
November2013
Review World Conqueror 3D (3DS eShop)
Tanks, but no tanks
Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell of the British Army once said that “war is a muddle” and, quite frankly, we couldn’t agree with him more. The conflict he described was that of World War II; that's the very same that World Conqueror 3D strives to simulate, with messy results. No more than an overcomplicated clone of...
October2013
Review Brunch Panic (3DS eShop)
Piece of cake
Brunch: a late-start, laid-back, Sunday morning meal where carbo-loading is king, and it's perfectly acceptable to pile as many waffles onto your plate as physically possible. Panic: a state of uncontrollable fear and anxiety; also an excellent Sega CD game. These are two worlds which don't often collide, perhaps — but they come...
August2013
Easy to learn, difficult to pronounce
What if the Rubik’s Cube only had one side? It seems this question has kept the ironically named developers at CIRCLE Entertainment up all night, and those sleepless hours have resulted in a quality puzzle game that relaxes and taxes simultaneously. Wakedas is a straightforward affair that slowly ramps up the...
May2013
Review Swords & Soldiers 3D (3DS eShop)
Finally facing its Waterloo
Four years ago, Swords & Soldiers made its debut. WiiWare has always been a mix of titles ranging from brilliant to terrible — with a thick middle section of "mediocre" — but Swords & Soldiers immediately established itself as a must-have. We awarded it a much deserved 9, taken as we were by its charm, its...
Review Publisher Dream (DSiWare)
This game development biz is confusing...
CIRCLE Entertainment has published a good variety of games on DSiWare, covering almost any genre that can feasibly work on the ageing service. Its own take on the sim style began with Bookstore Dream, which while owing much to similar smartphone games was a solid effort. Unlike that book publishing title,...
Review Color Commando (DSiWare)
Mini-masterpiece
Quirky, innovative puzzle-platformers are becoming something of a calling card for Goodbye Galaxy Games, and this latest release fits nicely into that oeuvre. The final panel in a DSiWare triptych that includes the Flipper series and Ace Mathician, Color Commando similarly revolves around manipulating the environment — here via...
