3DS eShop Game Reviews
Review Defenders of Oasis (3DS eShop / GG)
Water way to go
Given the staggering popularity of the RPG genre, it’s amazing that so few titles have broken free of the seemingly obligatory European fantasy setting. Most notable entries tend to feature swords, knights, dragons and all the usual medieval trappings, and as a result some old-school role-playing titles are genuinely difficult to...
Review Tails Adventure (3DS eShop / GG)
Foxtales
Miles 'Tails' Prower has come a long way since his debut as a silent, second-player-controlled sidekick in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, becoming one of SEGA's most beloved mascots and appearing in dozens of games over the past twenty years. It's a bit surprising then that he's only had headlining roles in two titles, both on the Game Gear: the...
Review Big Bass Arcade: No Limit (3DS eShop)
Fish it to the limit
Two years ago, Big John Games angled two fishing simulators towards Wii and DSi owners on the then current gen gaming consoles. It's now decided to take a leap upstream, diving headfirst onto the 3DS with Big Bass Arcade: No Limit. While this third entry in the series does well to live up to those that came before i, does it...
Review Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya (3DS eShop / GG)
Shine on, you crazy portable diamond
The Shining Force series may have retreated from the west of late, but back in the early 1990s it was incredibly popular in both the US and Europe, managing to attract a large audience while Nintendo's rival Fire Emblem franchise remained Japan-exclusive. As well as scoring critically-acclaimed entries on the...
Review Mega Man 6 (3DS eShop / NES)
Mega Man's NES swan song
In 1993, the SNES was already out and Capcom was about to release Mega Man X, but they just couldn't let themselves to say goodbye to the NES and made one last 8-bit Mega Man game for the beloved system. Mega Man 6 was released so late into the system's life that Capcom decided to not even publish the game in Europe — this...
Review Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (3DS eShop / GG)
Emphasis on the “mean”
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine is somewhat of an anomaly. It's a Puyo Puyo puzzle game that takes place in the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog - a short lived but wildly popular television series from the mid-90s - universe, but the blue blur is completely absent. Instead, the only hero here is you, a presumably...
Review Columns (3DS eShop / GG)
Supporting a good time
Way back in the days when video games in general were often referred to as 'Nintendo' games, a little gem called Tetris was packaged-in with the Game Boy, and it helped catapult the handheld to dominating heights. A couple of years later SEGA released the Game Gear, and in what can only be seen as an attempt to capitalize on...
Review Sonic the Hedgehog (3DS eShop / GG)
Put a ring on it
As one of gaming's most iconic mammals, Sonic the Hedgehog needs no introduction; he's graced consoles, comic books, crossovers and clothing lines in his double-decade career, and this is where it all began. Well, nearly — Sonic the Hedgehog on the Game Gear isn't a port of the Mega Drive / Genesis classic, but rather of the 8-bit...
Review Mighty Switch Force! 2 (3DS eShop)
The sequel, the sequel, the sequel's on fire
In late 2011, WayForward released Mighty Switch Force!, one of the first eShop titles to make significant use of the 3DS's capabilities. You took control of Patricia Wagon, a cop in search of the ostensibly criminal Hooligan sisters, and the puzzles were all based in some way around the 3D effect, popping...
Review Gummy Bears Mini Golf (3DS eShop)
Golfing here and there and everywhere
When Gummy Bears Magical Medallion, the game so confident it doesn't need a properly punctuated title, was released earlier this month we weren't exactly left clamoring for a sequel or a spin-off. Its controls were stiff and aggravating, its level design bland and empty, its coding sloppy and its 3D effect was...
Review Groove Heaven (3DS eShop)
Some call me “The Human Metronome”
It seems as though rhythm games have really taken off in the past few years, especially on the 3DS. Retail titles have popped up, such as Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy, and more recently the eShop has been receiving musical exclusives such as the wonderfully charming Harmoknight. Now Teyon, a publisher that's no...
Review Crash City Mayhem (3DS eShop / 3DS)
Crash n’ burn
When you read the words “crash” and “mayhem” in a game's title, it’s only natural to think that it will feature action-packed, frantic gameplay and a wholesome amount of wanton destruction. However, despite being suggestively destructive, Crash City Mayhem is a game that doesn't live up to its own name. While it certainly...
Review Bowling Bonanza 3D (3DS eShop)
This is bowling. There are rules.
Bowling as a sport has enjoyed a long and rich history, going as far back — in one form or another — to Ancient Egypt. The activity has become much more refined in recent years, and has been given similar treatment and media attention to that received by more popular sports, including several films on the...
Review The Denpa Men 2: Beyond The Waves (3DS eShop)
Love is in the air
The Denpa Men: They Came by Wave was a wonderful 3DS eShop surprise last year, combining elements of Dragon Quest and Pokémon with AR functionality and a delightfully bonkers style all its own, so we were definitely excited to spot The Denpa Men 2: Beyond the Waves washing up onto our shores as well. This sequel pulls out all the...
Review Mega Man 5 (3DS eShop / NES)
Super fighting robot
Capcom has been very fast with releasing the original Mega Man series on 3DS Virtual Console, and now we're already up to the fifth entry. As you might expect, Mega Man 5 is quite similar to the four games before it; eight new Robot Masters have appeared, and it's up to Mega Man to stop them and their leader, who appears to be...
Review Swords & Soldiers 3D (3DS eShop)
Finally facing its Waterloo
Four years ago, Swords & Soldiers made its debut. WiiWare has always been a mix of titles ranging from brilliant to terrible — with a thick middle section of "mediocre" — but Swords & Soldiers immediately established itself as a must-have. We awarded it a much deserved 9, taken as we were by its charm, its...
Review The Starship Damrey (3DS eShop)
A short story adventure
There's a reason that some gamers get excited at the news of Guild01 and Guild02 localisations in the West, as Level-5's collections gather some of the Japanese development community's finest names to produce small titles of, well, whatever genre they feel like trying out. The Starship Damrey is the first of the second...
Review Dress To Play: Magic Bubbles! (3DS eShop)
Mix and match-three
Late last year, Coder Child's Dress to Play: Cute Witches! flew onto the 3DS eShop with a unique blend of dress-up and side-scrolling soaring, a promising premise that we felt it didn't quite live up to. Dress to Play: Magic Bubbles! follows the same format of combining character customisation with simple gameplay, this time...
Review SpeedX 3D Hyper Edition (3DS eShop)
Lightspeed Lite
Last year's SpeedX 3D brought Gamelion's endless tunnel racer from the mobile phone market to the 3DS, adding a third dimension and physical controls and proving that mobile games can make excellent eShop experiences. Now the race returns with SpeedX 3D Hyper Edition, and while it's still a whole lot of fun, it's neither the sequel...
Review Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move (3DS eShop)
Don't Panic
At times it feels like Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move is designed as a time trial to measure the shortest amount of time in which players will fling a 3DS across the room. Once the game is afoot, every trick in the book is deployed to trigger urgency: Constant unstoppable motion, ticking clocks, shaking tiles and frenetic music...
Review Balloon Fight (3DS eShop / NES)
Balloons don't float forever
In Balloon Fight you manipulate a little fellow who can flutter through the skies thanks to a pair of balloons strapped to his back and vigorous arm flapping. The world is a dangerous place for the intrepid defier of gravity, particularly when it comes to jealous birds — also illogically equipped with balloons — who...
Jumping the Shark
The Nintendo Video service on 3DS has played host to a number of original series since its inception, including CollegeHumor's BearShark. These 3D animated comedic shorts tell the story of a rather unlucky man named Steve, doomed to be forever hunted by the most fearsome predators of both the land (Bear) and sea (Shark). The show's...
Review Gummy Bears Magical Medallion (3DS eShop)
Bearly playable
The product description for Gummy Bears Magical Medallion promises a "classic adventure platformer with a Gummy Bears twist". That twist, apparently, is that the game is awful. The excusably nonsensical plot revolves around the evil King Sour Berry stealing the Magical Medallion from...well, nevermind where he stole it from, or who...
Review Mega Man 4 (3DS eShop / NES)
The Blue Bomber vs The Red Menace
In 1991 the world got a fourth entry in what had quickly shaped up to be one of the NES's most popular series. This game was Mega Man 4, and expectations were high. After all, the first game laid down a solid — if static — template that resonated very well with gamers, the second game refined the formula...
Review Crazy Construction (3DS eShop)
More like Crazy FUN-struction
On the surface, Crazy Construction sounds like the epitome of shovelware; a generic puzzle game that slaps together tired ideas and a dash of zany alliteration to garner enough sales to crank out the next one. Take a closer look, however, and you’ll discover a cleverly designed arcade-style title that boasts a fun,...
Review Mystery Murders: Jack the Ripper (3DS eShop)
Serial Filler
Mystery Murders: Jack the Ripper is a hidden-object game that tasks you with solving the mystery that has puzzled the world for well over a century now — just who was Jack the Ripper? Here, you’ll be transported to the Whitechapel district of London during the Autumn of 1888 to attempt to stop the infamous serial killer before he...
Review Super Little Acorns 3D Turbo (3DS eShop)
Just a squirrel trying to get a nut
In early 2012, Little Acorns was released for iOS. It was a simple but charming title in which bespectacled squirrel Mr. Nibbles sought out acorns to prevent his family from starving. When we spell it out that way we realize it sounds rather morbid, but in practice it was a fun and addictive experience that we...
Review Soccer Up 3D (3DS eShop)
Own goal
These days, soccer games tend to fall on one of two ends of a spectrum: there's the relatively realistic sports simulation found in annual FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer instalments, and then there's the zany over-the-top action of the Super Mario Strikers and FIFA Street series. In the golden days of the Amiga, however, there were other...
Review Alien Chaos 3D (3DS eShop)
Clean shooting
Alien Chaos 3D may be one of the eShop's cheaper titles, but it's fair to say that it's absolutely stuffed full of action. Developed by Ludosity, this 2D shooter has a fairly simple premise which is boosted by some fun and inventive gameplay features. The end result is a game that's surprisingly inventive, chaotically fun and rather...
Review Dillon's Rolling Western: The Last Ranger (3DS eShop)
Spinning in place
It's been just over a year since the release of Dillon's Rolling Western, an interesting spin — pardon the pun — on the tower defense formula, starring a steely armadillo prone to communicating through loaded silence. As you can see from our review at the time we liked it, though not without reservations. Now we have a sequel,...
