Considering the intense critical and commercial acclaim Hajime Isayama's Attack on Titan has been receiving, the emergence of a game based on the events portrayed in the anime and manga series was more of a question of “when”, rather than “if”. The more surprising news is that the game’s actually quite good, and a long way off being a bare-minimum, cash-in effort.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Following Ubisoft's decision to delay the launch of Rayman Legends on Wii U and take the game multi-platform, many Nintendo fans were so irate they insisted that they would be boycotting the release come August (or September if you're in North America) time. Sadly, the negative reaction may have dented the game’s chances on the Wii U, as it has since passed from being a launch hopeful to almost an afterthought — Nintendo’s strong promotion of the game has faded to nothing since the multi-format announcement.

Having had the chance to sit down with the latest version of the title, we have to say that it’s a little unfortunate that the spotlight has shifted from Rayman Legends. It may be coming to other systems, but there’s no denying that the Wii U edition is the definitive version; the game’s designers have clearly constructed the adventure around the capabilities of the console’s GamePad controller. In fact, having spent some quality time with the game, we’d even go as far as to say that Rayman Legends is the most effective illustration of the system’s potential since Nintendo Land.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

As we wrote earlier this week, Activision has announced the next game in the Skylanders series: Swap Force.

At the New York event we had a chance to see some early levels of gameplay. What was immediately obvious was the higher fidelity of visuals this time round. With new developer Vicarious Visions delivering this year’s game it seems there has been more time to finesse the experience.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

For those who don't know, Mutant Mudds began life as a 3D polygonal platformer called Maximillian and the Rise of the Mutant Mudds that was to be released as a retail title on Nintendo DS. Sadly, the retail release and a pitched DSiWare rendition were never able to get off the ground, leaving developer Renegade Kid to wonder if it would ever be able to get the game developed in its current format.

Thankfully, it didn't give up on the project, instead deciding to move it over to the 3DS eShop and transform the game into a classic retro-styled 2D platformer. And while some may scoff at the game's rather simplistic look, after putting the game's 40 levels through their paces these past few weeks, we've found out that there's actually a lot more to this unique platforming romp than meets the eye.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

The last time we played Super Mario 3D Land, we came away confident that Nintendo was taking its mascot forward, as our preview explained. That was based on a four level demo but we've since played the game's opening two worlds, so does that first impression still hold true?

Well, it all depends on your point of view. Mario is famous for his huge leaps forward, but the series has been walking parallel paths for some time now, sidestepping between 2D and 3D to suit the occasion. Super Mario 3D Land is unique in that it's designed to occupy the space between the two, all viewed through the console's 3D screen: whether that's Mario's full potential on 3DS is something only time will tell.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

When Gaijin Games released its first BIT.TRIP title BIT.TRIP BEAT back in 2009, the game took many players by surprise not only with its unique musical and visual presentation, but also with its extremely addictive gameplay. And as beloved as BEAT would become, the series would only get more interesting as each new release took gamers further along into CommanderVideo's bizarre journey.

Now here we are, two and a half years later and the series of six games is finally complete. But Gaijin Games wasn't satisfied with its collection of WiiWare hits and decided to up the ante a bit with not one, but two new BIT.TRIP retail collections: BIT.TRIP COMPLETE for Wii and BIT.TRIP SAGA for 3DS. Now fans can not only have all six BIT.TRIP games on one Wii disc, but they also have a collection of the titles that they can take with them on the go.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Nintendo could have gone in any number of directions with its first Mario outing on 3DS: an enhanced remake of a previous game a la Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, an extension of the Super Mario Galaxy series or a sequel to the mega-selling New Super Mario Bros.. It's done none of these, or possibly all of them at once.

For a start, it's out with the coin-powered health system favoured in the 3D games: we started each level as Super Mario, with contact from an enemy taking us down to regular Mario (with no hat). Mario's missing a few of the moves he mastered to get through his 3D adventures too: you can't backflip from a crouch, for example, and the running long jump is gone too, replaced by Mario's new forward roll.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

In all the Wii U commotion at E3 this year, Link's next and final outing on Wii was rather lost, but we were able to reconnect with the Hero of Time at a recent preview event in the UK. Three levels in total were playable: an aerial bird race, a dungeon and a face-off against Lord Ghirahim. With Wii Remote Plus in hand we set off to see if Wii's final big game will send the console out with a bang.

Jumping right into the dungeon, it doesn't take long to adjust to MotionPlus controls and the game smartly throws a few weak enemies at you with weak spots that can be exploited with full sword control. Spiders can be flipped over with a slash from low to high, then stabbed in a purple spot on their underbellies, with wild sword swinging often getting you a very tight squeeze from the eight-legged fiend. The Stalfos miniboss is also overcome by smart swordplay, or Jimmy Fallon-style flailing.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Masuhiro Sakurai's game of two halves continues to delight and frustrate in almost equal measures. When we played the game back in January we came away thoroughly impressed with the aerial sections but less enamoured with the ground fighting elements, and this hasn't changed based on our latest hands-on time with the game.

Three levels were available in this preview build, including the 'easy' stage we played in January and a new boss battle against bickering three-headed dragon Hewdraw.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Plenty of Nintendo fan ire has been drawn by the lack of an F-Zero game for the Wii, and with Wipeout exclusive to Sony consoles there's a huge gap in the market for sleek-looking futuristic racers. WiiWare developer Shin'en Multimedia is hoping to fill that with its upcoming WiiWare title FAST – Racing League, due to reach Europe on 27th May.

On the surface, the game shares much in common with Nintendo's renowned high-speed racing franchise: its rollercoaster-style tracks fly by at high speed, though it intentionally stays below the same kind of eye-melting pace that GameCube achieved with F-Zero GX, and with good reason: it has a trick up its sleeve.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Last year's E3 conference was full of 3DS announcements, but one moment that still sticks in the memory after a year is the revelation of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D for the console. With less than a month until the game hits shelves worldwide, Nintendo UK invited Nintendo Life to a special preview event to take Link's remastered adventure for a spin.

The London venue was decked out with images of the Master Sword, Hyrule Shield and a tree, with tunes from the game setting the aural backdrop. Several stations were available to try the newly three-dimensional game, as well as an area to try out the N64 original.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

As its sequel itself is keen to point out in a tongue-in-cheek manner, it's been 24 years since Pit flapped his wings up, up and away in his nail-biting platform debut Kid Icarus. The NES original cribbed the best bits of franchises like Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda and Metroid and crafted an ambitious, albeit flawed, little cult gem.

In our hands-on with the game in New York City and Amsterdam last week, we weren't really surprised to see that 24 years later, the series is lifting the best bits from another franchise for half of its gameplay: the forward-moving airborne portions of Treasure's Sin and Punishment: Star Successor. Or, if your gaming vocabulary is a bit more old-school, Space Harrier.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Another long-abandoned fan-favorite series, PilotWings debuted on SNES but hasn't seen the flight of day since the N64 launched way back in the mid-90's with the lovely PilotWings 64. But despite the series' rarity, the third installment, PilotWings Resort, which we were able to go hands-on with in Amsterdam and New York City last week, zips over familiar territory for those who have spent time on Wuhu Island in Wii Sports Resort.

Because, you see, that's the island you fly over and around all stereoscopic-like. Cracked the name, we have!

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Namco's Ridge Racer series has been around the block a few times on Nintendo platforms, starting out with Ridge Racer 64 all the way up to Ridge Racer DS with a pit stop on Gamecube in between. Now the franchise is drifting on over to 3DS with the appropriately named Ridge Racer 3D, and we took it for a spin in New York City this past Wednesday.

The preliminary verdict? Hey, it's Ridge Racer. If you like what the series has been doing all along then you'll most likely get a kick out of this stereoscopic lap.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Of the two games in the horror series slated for 3DS, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D is at first blush the least interesting. Where Resident Evil: Revelations looks to be taking the atmosphere back to the series’ spooky roots, Mercenaries is a complete embracement of the third-person shooting action of the franchise’s modern entries.

What’s not so interesting about it is its lack of mystique; Mercenaries is something players of Resident Evil 4 and 5 likely know and have already experienced through its inclusion as a bonus mode in those games. It remains to be seen whether the bonus mode can stand on its own two legs when it’s released sometime in the 3DS’s launch window, but the two-stage, four-character demo on offer in New York City last Wednesday proved that, yep, the concept itself is still really fun.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

For those of you who love a good scare or just enjoy a playful romp through the latest survival horror title, Hudson's got just the game for you. In fact, they were even kind enough to send us over a preview build of their upcoming horror release Calling to check out and we have to say, this is easily one of the spookiest titles to hit the Wii console to date.

As the game begins, you'll see an internet chat playing out with various people talking to each other about a mysterious black web page that will supposedly allow people to speak to the dead. The next thing you know, you're waking up in some abandoned and rather rundown bedroom with no recollection of how you got there, or even where there is. You know, your typical survival horror storyline kicking into action.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

As the agonizing wait continues for Team Meat's upcoming WiiWare release Super Meat Boy, we can't help but turn into a bunch of giddy schoolgirls each time we're fortunate enough to get our hands on a new preview build of the game. We had only just begun to wipe the grin off of our faces since the last preview when this newest build arrived to us today courtesy of the guys at Team Meat.

While we did cover quite at bit of the game's basic mechanics in the last preview, there are some new things to cover this time around as well. This newest build of the game not only features all levels of World 1 and 2, along with the warp levels, but it also features the boss fight from World 1 that was missing in the last build we previewed. So without further ado, let's get to it.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

The kind folks over at Press Play were nice enough to send over a preview build of their upcoming WiiWare puzzle platformer Max & the Magic Marker for us to try out. Now that we've spent several hours playing through the game's 15 levels, we'll give you an idea of what you can expect from this rather unique WiiWare title.

Please keep in mind that this was a preview build of the game and some things might change in the final release of the game.

At the beginning of the game, the first world is already unlocked and you can choose to start at any of the world's five levels. Since the levels tend to offer up bits of information on how the game is played, it's best to start with the first level in order to get your feet wet.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

The guys over at Yullaby were kind enough to send over a preview build of their upcoming WiiWare puzzler Magnetis for us to try out.

I got to spend a few hours with the game today and I have to say, it's really surprised me. Now I expected it to be a good puzzler, but the game has a very unique feel to it and some very challenging game play to go along with it. So how does this puzzler stack up against a WiiWare service that's seen its share of puzzlers, some rather mediocre?

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

The multiplayer component of Sega's highly anticipated Wii-exclusive FPS The Conduit was set to finally be revealed to the press several hours ago at a private event. Unfortunately, things didn't go as smoothly as intended, with Nintendo's own servers going down just minutes before the demo began. Unable to demonstrate The Conduit's online features, the publishers went on to further display the game's single-player modes.

Umm... yeah.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com