November2010
Review Snowpack Park (WiiWare)
An ice game or a total flake-out? You get the drift.
A massive snowstorm has struck Snowpack Park, blocking off roads, causing damage and isolating the poor, poor penguins from each other. Only one person can bring them back: you! Or your Mum! Or Dr. Zoidberg, any Mii stored on your Wii. But, still, you get the idea. Snowpack Park is a game of...
June2010
Review Art Style: Penta Tentacles (WiiWare)
Tentacular spectacular
The Art Style series certainly stands out as one of the safer bets in Nintendo's stable of downloadable software. These are puzzle games with a minimalist aesthetic and focus on simple gameplay; it's like the Tate Modern of gaming only with content and a price point that's accessible by everyone. Though given an unfortunate...
May2010
Review Art Style: light trax (WiiWare)
Racing takes a puzzling turn
After a year-long DSiWare detour, the Art Style series has returned to WiiWare with one of the series' most action-oriented entries so far. It may look like a simple racer, but as the Art Style series has proven time and time again that looks can be deceiving. light trax is an updated version of the Japan-only bit...
November2009
Is this a charming game about an altruistic robot or a shambolic scavenger hunt?
Meet the Sandersons, your atypical dysfunctional American family: Mr. Sanderson is an out-of-work engineer-cum-manchild who lives on the lounge sofa playing with action figures and watching his favourite superhero program Space Ranger Drake Redcrest(TM) (apologies if...
June2009
Review Art Style: BOXLIFE (DSiWare)
Thinking outside the box is strictly forbidden.
If there's one thing that can be said about Nintendo's Art Style series, it's that no two games are alike, and we wouldn't have it any other way. BOXLIFE is certainly another unique entry in the franchise: box 'em up and ship 'em out! Greeted by a cute little theme song you will immediately notice - if...
Review Art Style: KUBOS (DSiWare)
Another fiendishly addictive Art Style puzzler joins the DSiWare library.
Art Style: KUBOS is the fifth game in the popular Art Style series to hit the DSiWare service. Series developers SKIP Tokyo have once again built a game around a creative and abstract puzzle concept; they really seem to have a knack of making simple games that are fiendishly...
May2009
Review Art Style: NEMREM (DSiWare)
The latest instalment in the Art Style Series - NEMREM.
As soon as you fire up the game you're greeted with a visually very pleasing welcome screen that demonstrates a great example of the unique graphical style we have come to expect from the Art Style series. On the stage selection screen something resembling Morse code is “played” in the...
Review Art Style: PiCTOBiTS (DSiWare)
DSiWare goes to bits and pieces.
Creating a killer puzzle game is a difficult task these days, mainly because pretty much all of the decent ideas have already been taken. However, Nintendo (along with developer Skip) have succeeded in cooking up an entirely fresh take on the 'falling block puzzle game' for DSi, and in doing so they've proven that...
April2009
Can Captain Rainbow save the day in this quirky action title?
Let's face it; whenever Nintendo announces a new project, we all grow a little skeptical. With Nintendo creating games that are more accessible and aimed at casual gamers, hardcore types end up feeling more and more sidelined. It's for this reason that when Nintendo of Japan announced in...
Review Art Style: CODE (DSiWare)
An Art Style game based on boring old maths – could it be any good?
If you've been following WiiWare and DSiWare releases closely, you should know all about the Art Style series – loosely based on the Japan-only bit Generations titles for Game Boy Advance (with two of the WiiWare games borne as remakes of these) – the games all feature very...
Review Art Style: AQUITE (DSiWare)
Addictive, entertaining, and a bargain.
The Art Style series has never ceased to impress us; when the first three titles hit the WiiWare service late last year, they blew us away with their overall quality. Featuring elegant design, polished graphics, and pick-up-and-play controls, the Art Style series was a perfect-fit for WiiWare. Now that the DSi...
Review Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol (DS)
Saving our ecosystems, one park at a time.
Chibi-Robo Park Patrol is one of those few great games that many people are just going to skip over because of its exclusivity to select retailers. Well at Nintendo Life we took it upon ourselves to give this game the review it deserves, and we must say that doing so put huge smiles on our faces; the unique...
October2008
Review Art Style: Rotohex (WiiWare)
Is this hexagonal puzzler a welcome addition to the Art Style series?
The one constant of the three Art Style games that have seen release on the WiiWare service so far has been their simplicity. There are no fancy visuals, no epic musical tracks, and no complicated play control schemes to tarnish the "less is more" theme of these unique...
Review Art Style: Cubello (WiiWare)
Is Nintendo's latest Art Style game a triumph of style over substance?
When it launched, WiiWare signalled a shift in Nintendo’s attitude toward developers and gamers. After Dr. Mario and My Pokémon Ranch hinted that it was really just another outlet for them to spawn pedestrian versions of their tremendously popular franchises, many gamers lost...
Review Art Style: Orbient (WiiWare)
Does this bit generations remake keep the spirit of the original game intact?
Back in 2006, Nintendo published a series of games on the Game Boy Advance in Japan called bit Generations, which were a sister series to the DS’s Touch Generations games meant to illustrate the beginnings of video games. One of the games released in this interesting...
