December2009
Review Hasbro Family Game Night (DS)
Family Game Delight?
Connect 4, Operation, Battleship and Bop It – games that have become household names with which we are all familiar. Translating Battleship and Connect 4 into digital versions for the Nintendo DS was always going to be an easy task; the challenge for EA was to digitize Operation and Bop It to try and emulate the success of...
Review Littlest Pet Shop (DSiWare)
With seven different DS releases to choose from, was this really necessary?
Along with My Little Pony, Polly Pocket, Strawberry Shortcake and a whole host of other toys that now-twenty-something females grew up playing with, Hasbro's Littlest Pet Shop has been given a makeover and revived for the enjoyment of today's generation. Originally released...
Review Foto Face: The Face Stealer Strikes (DSiWare)
A great platformer geared toward kids.
The DSi Shop is currently home to a gaggle of puzzlers and non-game applications, but platformers are sadly few and far between. That said, last week, Gameloft's Castle of Magic hit the service, and this week, EA delivered unto us Foto Face: The Face Stealer Strikes. EA is no stranger to 2D side-scrollers,...
November2009
Review Need For Speed: NITRO (Wii)
You've got boost power!
With lagging interest (read: sales) in their Need For Speed series, EA decided to try something new: instead of half-sim, half-arcade street racing games that lost direction with each new entry, the franchise would be split in two and refocused. Back in September, the Xbox 360/PS3's sim-oriented Need For Speed: Shift was met...
October2009
Pick a number from one to nine
Sudoku was invented in the late 70's and introduced to Japan in the mid-80's, but it waited nearly thirty years to become a worldwide phenomenon. Newspapers publish sudoku puzzles even more prominently now than the crossword puzzles that have held dominance for nearly a century, and there are sudoku books, toys, and...
Review Dead Space: Extraction (Wii)
One of the most polished and immersive Wii titles yet.
Hyperbole is not uncommon on the back of video game boxes; claims that the game you hold in your very hands in the store is the “most exciting” or “mind-blowing” tend to be full of crap. For Dead Space: Extraction, EA studio Visceral Games went with “most cinematic action horror...
September2009
Review MySims Camera (DSiWare)
Ever wanted to share a photo with a My Sim? No, we haven't either...
My Sims Camera is a simple program that requires an equally simple explanation; essentially, it takes animations from the My Sims series and allows you to edit photos taken with the DSi camera by placing characters and stamps into your photos in various poses and styles. The game...
Far from the Madden crowd...
Taking its graphical cues from the recent Grand Slam Tennis, Madden NFL 10 on Wii eschews the hi-def emphasis on recreating every detail of the game, favouring a more stylised - though hardly cartoony - approach to the presentation. Defensive backs are bulky chunks of muscle, wide receivers are gangly running machines...
July2009
Review Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (DS)
More hogwash than Hogwarts
Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince is, as I’m sure most of you are aware, the latest entry in the massively popular series concerning the teenage wizard Mr. Potter. For those muggles out there unfamiliar with the plot “The Half Blood Prince” is where the epic tale of good versus evil really heats up; the...
Review Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Wii)
The world's most famous wizard returns for his second Wii adventure
After being so pleasantly surprised by Harry Potter’s previous Wii outing we approached this latest title with a fair degree of expectation. Promises of realistic potion-making, intense Quidditch matches and generally improved presentation echoed through the office as the disc was...
June2009
Review Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (Wii)
Will Wii MotionPlus help EA land this golf franchise on the green, or is it just a sand trap for your wallet?
The Tiger Woods games are the current ‘serious’ golf games for PCs and consoles, but let's be honest: how seriously can you take a game of golf that you play with a keyboard or analogue sticks? Tiger Woods 10, (the 12th game in the Tiger...
Review Grand Slam Tennis (Wii)
It's got the courts, it's got the players and it's got MotionPlus support. Does Grand Slam Tennis provide the definitive Wii tennis experience?
It's here, people. After months of feverish anticipation, Wii MotionPlus is upon us. Finally, Wii owners the world over will have access to the kind of precise, fluid and nuanced motion controls that...
May2009
Review Boom Blox Bash Party (Wii)
Spielberg's block-based baby is back for another helping
The original Boom Blox - a collaborative effort between big-shot Hollywood director Steven Spielberg and Electronic Arts - proved to be both innovative and enjoyable, especially when playing with friends and family. Due to the success of the original, it shouldn’t really come as a surprise...
Review NASCAR Kart Racing (Wii)
Can NASCAR Kart Racing raise the bar previously set by Mario Kart Wii?
Mario Kart Wii has been on the market for over a year now and is regarded by many as the best racer on the platform. Due to its success it’s no surprise that some developers have tried to make their own clone of the game. While many of those clones have ended up pitifully,...
April2009
Is this the definitive version of Trivial Pursuit or does it raise too many questions?
Let’s face it: with the wider and more diverse spectrum of gamers that the console is now catering for, the Wii isn’t short of party-type games. We’ve seen countless conversions of popular board games springing up throughout the Wii’s life so far – many...
March2009
The Sims franchise enters the animal kingdom
The forest is tranquil. The birds are flying peacefully in the sky and the bears are patrolling the ground. Swans swim swiftly downstream and rabbits hop around in the meadow. What could possibly go wrong in a paradise like this? But wait, the predator levels are increasing in the area, outnumbering its...
Creating your own city isn't nearly as fun as it sounds.
When the Virtual Console launched alongside the Wii in November 2006, SimCity was the flagship title for the SNES. Though the graphical limitations of the SNES resulted in a rather dated experience, the core gameplay held strong and the game managed to show newcomers to the franchise that it...
Review Henry Hatsworth in The Puzzling Adventure (DS)
Henry Hatsworth stars in one of the Nintendo DS' best puzzler offerings
First looks can be very deceiving. Just by taking a quick glance at Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure, it isn’t difficult to assume it’s aimed at younger audiences wanting in on a simple and fun puzzle experience. Surprisingly though, there’s actually a rather...
Can EA's cute MySims get the party started?
Over the past year or so, Electronic Arts has been catering to the casual audience on the Wii and Nintendo DS through the MySims franchise. Since the launch of the series back in September 2007, it has gone on to become a worldwide hit. Given Electronic Arts' previous track record for milking winning...
February2009
Easily the softest shooter on Wii.
For those that don't know what Nerf is, it's a brand of children's toy which became hugely popular in the 80's and 90's and continues sales today. The toys sell as a vast range of guns which shoot foam projectiles or "darts". Nerf N-Strike is essentially a light-gun-mini-games title developed by EA Salt...
January2009
Tony Hawk has a new competitor for the skating crown..
When Skate originally appeared on the Xbox 360 and PS3, it was something of a revelation to skateboarding fans who had previously only had the Tony Hawk series to contend with, each iteration proving to be similar to the last. Rather than focus on huge combinations of tricks like the Hawk, Skate...
Review Littlest Pet Shop: Winter (DS)
Your chance to have your very own Pet Shop...
Even though Littlest Pet Shop Winter is clearly aimed at a younger audience, I found the game strangely addictive for a while. Defined as “a special place where your pets will come to life and you can play with them in a whole new way,” the aim of the game is to adopt all of the pets (20 different...
December2008
Review Need For Speed: Undercover (DS)
EA attempts to cram a living, breathing city into the DS - the results aren't pretty...
It’s easy to be pessimistic about EA’s Need for Speed franchise. Considering the staggering number of titles to bear the brand name (this is the 12th game since the franchise’s inception in 1994), there have been precious few true classics. However, we...
November2008
Review Need For Speed: Undercover (Wii)
Need For Speed is back with its latest career adventure, it's time to go Undercover.
You play a wheel man, hired by Federal Agent Chase Linh (played by Maggie Q) who is sent out, undercover, into the world of illegal street racing and other criminal activities. You'll need to progress through events and earn the respect of fellow criminals, getting...
Review FaceBreaker K.O. Party (Wii)
Ever wanted to break someone's face? Well now you can!
Legendary names like Hatton and Calzaghe might give you the impression that boxing is a serious sport, however these are not the views of EA Freestyle. So here we are, introducing their new box-em-up descriptively named, FaceBreaker, Knock Out Party for Wii. You'll instantly realise that this...
