April2009

  • Review Lux-Pain (DS)

    A dark and twisted adventure that takes the player deep into the depths of the human psyche - both a truly rewarding and at times painful experience.

    Lux-Pain has a tried and tested set-up common in many Japanese visual novels; an idyllic suburb of a Japanese city where all is not what it seems. Fans of the genre will be pleased by the wealth of...

  • Review Flower, Sun and Rain (DS)

    Flower? Nope. Sun? Very little. Rain? In buckets.

    Flower, Sun and Rain is the first DS game from game director Goichi Suda, aka Suda51. It started life as a Japanese PS2 game, but it's been ported over to DS presumably to take advantage of the feature-rich console. Or so you'd think... Known by many as the mastermind behind classic style-driven...

March2009

  • Review Populous DS (DS)

    Handheld heaven or a portable pariah?

    A few years ago, EA tapped a rich vein of old-school strategy games by revamping Theme Park and Sim City for the DS's touch screens. A few years later, Bullfrog's famed God game has received similar treatment, but is it the second coming or just a slap-headed Samson? The DS's twin screens are a natural fit for...

  • Review XG Blast (DS)

    It’s a blast!

    I promise that’s the first and only pun you’ll see in this review - If you’ve played any of the popular Geometry Wars games on Xbox 360, Wii or DS you’ll be perfectly at home when you fire up XG Blast. From its instantly gratifying action and futuristic aesthetic, it borrows from any one of a dozen classic shooters, but does...

  • Review Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon (DS)

    Use the hoe!

    For years, Natsume’s Harvest Moon series has been repeating the same old formula – grow crops, brush cows, get married and live happily ever after. The first DS release was the snappy Harvest Moon DS, which lazily reused graphics from GBA’s Friends of Mineral Town (FoMT) and the town and characters from the Cube’s A Wonderful...

January2009

  • Review Colour Cross (DS)

    Now you can paint by numbers on DS!

    This review has already been delayed twice in the past month; first by Royal Mail taking two weeks to deliver the game, then again by my inability to put the game down long enough to review it. Colour Cross is a new take on the Nintendo favourite puzzler Picross, but with its own pigmented personality. Each puzzle...

March2008

  • Review No More Heroes (Wii)

    Otaku assassin Travis Touchdown finally lands on European shores - has the wait been worthwhile?

    When you fire up a game and see that the loading screen proudly proclaims that ‘Punk’s not dead’, you know you’re in for something of an unorthodox experience. The enigmatic Suda 51 and his team at Grasshopper Manufacture are arguably one of the...

December2007

  • Review Bomberman Story DS (DS)

    Hudson pulls Bomberman out of the multiplayer arena and drops him into another game type. Is it a successful transition?

    When a company succeeds in creating a strong mascot chances are it will milk the character for all its worth. Mario has driven karts, gained a PhD and hosted numerous parties, for example. However, there’s a fine line between...

November2007

  • Review Honeycomb Beat (DS)

    Another week, another DS puzzle title hits the shelves - but is this one worth your valuable time?

    Here at NintendoLife we’re constantly surprised by the steady stream of puzzle titles released on the DS; rarely a month passes without a new game appearing on the shelves hell bent on exercising your flagging grey matter. The DS touch screen...