Wii Game Reviews
XY oh why
X-Men is the type of comic series that makes it tempting to visualise yourself in a starring role. Its heroes are just like the rest of us, give or take a few chromosomes, and its universe works both as an allegory for coming to terms with your identity as it does for the larger issue of race relations. But does X-Men: Destiny mutate into...
Review Spider-Man: Edge of Time (Wii)
Here come the Spider-Men
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions had a lot going for it last year with its snappy presentation of four incarnations of the webhead powered by a scrappy developer. While not quite in swinging distance of comic game king Batman: Arkham Asylum, Shattered Dimensions brought a massive jolt to a franchise on life support — and...
Don't touch this
When a genre of game saturates a market it's fair to expect that any new title coming out within that style of play must do a good impression of the leaders in the field, in the very least aping what made the forerunners successful, hopefully providing an interesting alternative. As the number of first person shooters, mini-game...
Great Britain, average game
Is it OK to be competent? Is it OK, not to excel, not to push the boundaries, but just to be totally fine? It's fair to say that we all want this medium to drive forward and provide us an experience you can't find elsewhere, but when a product doesn't claim to be groundbreaking should we really expect a revolution in game...
Review BIT.TRIP COMPLETE (Wii)
Aptly titled
The BIT.TRIP titles have been wildly popular on WiiWare, but despite being able to purchase the games individually, fans of the series have been clamoring for a Wii compilation disc release since the series was completed. With the release of BIT.TRIP COMPLETE, fans not only get the collection they've wanted, but also a wealth of brand...
Review Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii)
A true epic
It's been a strange year for the Nintendo Wii, with a sparse release schedule and many proclaiming the death of the console. Yet here we have Xenoblade Chronicles, which debuted in Japan simply as Xenoblade in June 2010. This current release is only available in Europe and PAL regions, prompting fan-group protests in North America. To be...
Too little, too late
What do Arzest, ChunSoft, Good-Feel Co, Mitchell Corporation, Prope, Skip Ltd, Vanpool, NdCUBE and Nintendo have in common? They all worked as developers on Wii Play: Motion, which acts as a companion to the Wii Remote Plus. It also serves as a sequel to Wii Play, a compilation largely criticised for its mediocre mix of...
Review Captain America: Super Soldier (Wii)
Shield your eyes...
There's been a fair amount of hyperbole thrown around for Captain America: Super Soldier in the gaming community, with many people making wild claims that SEGA has done for The First Avenger what Rocksteady did for The Dark Knight. While there are definite hints of Batman: Arkham Asylum in High Voltage's Wii outing for Cap', the...
Review Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave Incident (Wii)
Worth the search
When Nintendo announced Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave Incident as one of the only Wii titles it planned to publish for the quarter it set itself the lofty task of creating a hidden object puzzle-based game on which the Big N could feel proud to put its name. If such a release fails to stand out in quality, it amounts to yet...
Review Dragon's Lair Trilogy (Wii)
Is Dirk still daring after all these years?
If you were a child of 80's or 90's, chances are you hold a Don Bluth cartoon close to your heart. Though Disney or Looney Tunes may be the first names you think of when it comes to classic hand-drawn animation, at least inside the United States, such beloved films as The Secret of NIMH, The Land Before...
Review Thor: God of Thunder (Wii)
Thundering quest or blundering pest?
The Asgardian warrior Sif has fallen, and Thor, son of Odin, wields his mighty hammer Mjölnir with vengeance. His mischievous brother Loki seizes this opportunity and uses Thor's rage to engineer an attack on their home, resulting in the fall of the Nine Worlds. It's a story well suited to its mythological roots...
Review LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean (Wii)
Pirates pillage the Wii
LEGO video games are plentiful on the Wii, and LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean has arrived to claim its share of the spoils. Is this franchise another treasure in the series, or an empty chest? Fans will no doubt be delighted to see all of the films, including the latest release, included in this title. Playing through all four...
Review Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters (Wii)
A master stroke?
The seasoned PGA Tour Golf series shoves Tiger out of the way this year, instead choosing to put “The Masters” tournament front and center. The case, promotion and advertising for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters are all Masters-centric, perhaps in a first step toward abandoning the long-running Tiger Woods branding...
It'll take more than a new lick of paint to save this franchise
When High Voltage Software first decided to enter the Wii first-person shooter space, competition wasn’t exactly something they really had to worry about. Sure, there had been a few half-hearted ports of popular franchises, but The Conduit was the first proper FPS developed...
Review Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest (Wii)
“It is but a shadow and a thought that you love. I cannot give you what you seek.”
As a hack-'n-slash game based on the famous movie franchise, Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest enters a field that is already well-plowed by earlier releases. But with it's unusual twist on storytelling, is there something here worthwhile to nudge burned-out fans...
Oooh yeaahh!
There's something undeniably special about a wrestling match. Combining colourful characters, high-flying acrobatics and riveting rivalries, it's an exciting spectacle that too often gets the shaft for being a fake sport than a real piece of theatre. At least, that's the sentiment you might share at a live event, your enthusiasm and...
Review LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (Wii)
Not just a clone
A long time ago in a development studio not terribly far away, the idea was hatched to combine a beloved children's toy with a paradigm-shifting film franchise to make one of the most innovative licensed games to date. Since then the LEGO train has kept chugging along, claiming series after series as it goes to which to add its...
Tied to the rail tracks
Rango is a new CGI movie coming to a cinema near you. You gamers all know what that means, a video game tie-in! Rango is a chameleon that becomes stranded as the sheriff of a mini Wild West town populated by animals of the desert; snakes, lizards, rabbits and a mariachi band of owls. So far, so typical of a CGI movie. The...
Square Enix mixes it up with Mario, but is it any good?
Mario is one of those annoying people who seems to be good at whatever he turns his hand to: not satisfied with merely being a tennis champion, golf champion, kart racing champion and constant saviour of the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario is trying out four new sports in Mario Sports Mix for Wii and...
Steeeeeeerrrrrike three!
Say what you will about Hudson's Deca Sports series... it at least keeps trying to get things right. Each release makes at least some small attempt at forging the way forward, whether it's something as simple as a refined gaming experience or a complete reimagining on a totally different platform. We've had two prior...
Review I SPY Spooky Mansion (Wii)
A mansion any youngster would enjoy haunting
Seek-and-find video games have become commonplace these days, arriving in every form from the kid-focused Adventure on Lost Island: Hidden Object Game to the dark but educational Real Crimes: Jack the Ripper. These probably got their start, however, when an unknown group of bored friends decided to pass...
Review Raving Rabbids Travel in Time (Wii)
An historic event for the Raving Rabbids, or time to put them down?
Whatever happened to poor old Rayman? The armless wonder was there to hold the Rabbids' hands on their Wii launch debut, Rayman Raving Rabbids, way back in 2006. Since then, Ubisoft’s onetime mascot has joined his arms and legs in just fading away, leaving the Rabbids to spread...
Review Scooby-Doo! and the Spooky Swamp (Wii)
A Scooby Snack's worth of fun
The latest game based on the hit animated franchise now creeping into its fifth decade, Scooby-Doo! and the Spooky Swamp, is a platformer that should feel familiar to fans – as a licensed game, it taps into the huge built-in audience of the show that has, over the years, demonstrated a very high tolerance for...
Review Family Feud Decades (Wii)
Middling child
Family Feud's been on the air since 1976, and it's especially unique from other trivia shows as it challenges contestants not to give the correct answer but what they believe others would guess is the correct answer, ranking the choices by how many out of a surveyed group picked them. Both this and its longevity make it uniquely...
Review Super Mario All-Stars 25th Anniversary Edition (Wii)
With exclusive bonus item: Dissatisfaction
Nintendo has a lot to be proud of. Its heritage and stature in the video game industry is unrivalled, and the firm has presided over some truly significant moments in the relatively short lifespan of the medium. It goes without saying that the video gaming landscape would be near-unrecognisable were it not...
Review Disney Epic Mickey (Wii)
A well painted canvas or a thin premise?
The very trademark of Disney itself, Mickey Mouse personifies the company's library of cartoon characters. How ironic then, that over the years Mickey himself has at times teetered on the brink of falling into the “Wasteland” of seemingly forgotten Disney characters no longer in use. In an effort to...
Review Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 (Wii)
Should you sign up for Tiger’s swingers club?
Tiger Woods’ games, like the man’s affairs, come with a certain regularity. Once a year you can expect an updated game of golf to come rolling out of publishing giant EA’s headquarters. This is no bad thing mind, as in the case of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 the recent introduction of Wii MotionPlus...
Review Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I (Wii)
Worthy of a life-long Azkaban sentence
Without doubt, Harry Potter has become a huge cultural phenomenon over the last decade. The series, created by J.K Rowling, spanned seven main books and a successful set of films set around the various adventures of the wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, students at...
FacePalm
We really hope people don't judge the Wii RemotePlus based solely on this, because it's really capable of so much more. FlingSmash is a take on the paddle-and-ball genre that has you assuming the role of Zip, a dull yellow dot creature. Your mission is to liberate Suthon Island from a bad guy named Omminus and yes, the entire story uses...
Review We Sing! Robbie Williams (Wii)
Somethin' stupid
Over the years, the Wii has seen a lot of karaoke games in the vein of Sony's SingStar series: Boogie, Disney Sing It, We Sing. Published by Nordic games, We Sing: Robbie Williams marks the third entry in the series after We Sing and We Sing: Encore, with the release being timed to coincide with the title star's new greatest hits...
