DSiWare Reviews - Page 12

More polarising than magnetic

Magnetic Joe first became popular as a mobile game back in 2006, using its simplistic control scheme and colourful visuals to garner a fairly decent audience over the years. Now the game has come to Nintendo's DSiWare service, and it remains very similar to its original incarnation. However, the "ball rolling" experience has somewhat passed its prime in the..

Ready, set, no

Last year saw the release of both AiRace: Tunnel and AiRace, two fun and highly regarded aircraft racing games from QubicGames. This year, the folks who brought you those two gems are back and have taken to the ground with their latest release: Remote Racers. Taking on the role of miniature vehicles in big environments, does this...

Faceez of evil

After last year's photo-fiddling app Faceez, Neko Entertainment has returned with a sequel of sorts, with a new twist. The question is, is this series worth revisiting? You wouldn't expect this to be anything but a short, fun experience for 200 Points, and thankfully it turns out to be just that, making great use of the DSi camera in the process. The simple premise is as follows:..

Not even if it was the last game on the planet

Tivola has three Puzzle to Go games under its belt already, with almost a year between the second and third instalments. The first two games were, understandably, very similar, but with almost a year between those and the third game, you'd think the team would've taken the time to refine some of the...

Like Lemmings, but in formal wear

Arctic Escape revolves around guiding a group of adorable little critters past obstacles and away from fatal hazards, herding them in an orderly fashion through an exit so that the next stage can load and you can do it all over again. Sound familiar? It should: it's the gameplay formula that made the Lemmings series so immediately addictive, popular, and memorable..

Soba, so good

Korean cartoon character Pucca has appeared in two downloadable games in the last few weeks: first there was WiiWare adventure Pucca's Kisses Game and now DSiWare has got its own cutesy noodle simulator with Pucca Noodle Rush. It may not be the tastiest dish on the DSiWare menu, but those with an appetite for restaurant-based time management titles may find it to their liking. Playing..

Slow-motion sickness

When it comes to the G.G Series, the plan is simple: choose a particular genre of gaming and produce an entertaining playing experience using not only a simplified musical and visual theme, but also a very basic set of play controls. So far that formula has worked well enough, but now this idea has been incorporated into the...

Rapper's delight

As the third entry in Cinemax's musical series following last year's Rytmik and Rytmik: Rock Edition, Hip Hop King: Rytmik Edition will be familiar to anyone who's dabbled with the series' previous releases; naturally, though, the soundscape here is vastly different. Where the original favoured electronic dance samples and the follow-up was all guitars and beefy kick drums, this..

At least they're endangered

Hey, kids! If you like pandas, disorientation, horrible graphics, pressing buttons that only sometimes work, and games ported so lazily that they completely disregard the limitations of the console you're playing on, then Panda Craze is for you! Panda Craze finds you controlling Tik-Ling, a panda who must climb ladders and collect lanterns, which will cause a magical..

Between a rock and a hard place

We've seen a rash of games on the various download services take a page or two from the games of years gone by, some better than others. Treasure Hunter X attempts to capture a bit of the magic of some of the classic computer games like Boulder Dash and Lode Runner and build a unique gaming experience around it. But while there are plenty of familiar gameplay..

Are you pretty enough?

The life of a photogenic model is well known amongst the Nintendo Life team, and now Tivola is giving all DSi owners a chance to live the dream with Model Academy, a simulation game that sees you progress from girl in the mall to World Supermodel. The question is, does this title provide a fun experience, and can you walk the...

Not even Shawn Johnson can save this one

Despite nearly 350 current releases on the DSiWare service, we've seen only a handful of sports titles. Now with the release of Shawn Johnson Gymnastics, Zoo Games is looking to cash in on this lack of sports titles by offering up not only a fairly well-known name in the gymnastics world, but also the first release of this particular sport on the service..

Will you catch puzzle fever?

Gold Fever is a title that has arrived on the DSiWare scene with very little known about it. Developer Tik Games LLC has only released one title on the DSi download service, Rocks 'N’ Rockets released late last year, and latest title Gold Fever is a puzzle game that borrows elements of various classics to tickle your puzzle fancy. Presented with a range of coloured..

The water's fine

Some of us are old enough to remember when all you could do with a virtual pet was feed it when it beeped, play "guess the number" and wait for it to eventually die. We've come a long way since then, arriving now at 101 Dolphin Pets, Teyon's follow-up to its more ferocious shark-based smorgasbord of 101 Shark Pets. The sequel doesn't provide a sea change of improvements,..

Floaty puck action for one

What's the most endearing aspect of Air Hockey? Is it the rapid pace? The frantic mix of offence and defence? The unique floatiness of the puck? The smell of Chuck-E-Cheese pizza baking in the background? No; like most pseudo-sports found in arcades and questionable bars, the magic of Air Hockey lies in the spirit of competition that it can instantly stir up between..

All the right angles?

Pitched as a spin-off title from WiiWare platformer Furry Legends, DSiWare puzzler Boom Boom Squaries is very similar to Flash and iOS game Chain Reaction: you tap the touchscreen to cause a small explosion that detonates any enemies it touches, causing a chain reaction. Boom Boom Squaries has a few variations on this theme, though. Classic mode asks you to detonate a certain..

A puzzle best left unsolved

It's been almost ten months since the last time we received a Puzzle to Go game. We've clearly stated our complaints about the previous two games in our past reviews, but have the developers taken the time to improve this latest outing? When you first start you'll notice that the menus look, expectedly, exactly the same as those of the previous instalments. That indeed..

Is this ferry on choppy waters?

Ferryman Puzzle is the latest release from Engine Software, a developer that, aside from the Just Sing! games, has focused on DSiWare in the form of basic titles with a budget price point. The concept here will be familiar to those who have stumbled across it in Professor Layton games: you are a ferryman tasked with...

Dig it

Digger Dan & Kaboom, right off the bat, has a lot going against it. For one thing, its title sounds like the name of some rejected Disney Channel cartoon trying to channel the success of Bob the Builder, and its awful CG concept art isn't doing much to combat that notion, either. Combine that with the fact that this game came completely...