Wii U, 3DS, Wii, DS, DSi, WiiWare, DSiWare, Virtual Console Reviews - Page 35

Dog's dinner

With Go Fetch!, ICM took the simple activity of playing fetch with a puppy and added a timer, health bar and obstacles to create a unique racing game-esque experience that was unfortunately let down by imprecise controls, lack of depth and repetitiveness. The developer doggedly returned to the drawing board to remedy these issues and release Go Fetch! 2, but are the improvements enough..

Koko-crazy

DSiWare is, quite rightly, well known for providing a diverse range of quirky titles to give DSi owners small downloadable gaming fixes. We’ve seen a few ‘off the wall’ concepts on the service, and Go! Go! Kokopolo deserves its place in this category. The title says it all; this is a game that doesn’t want to be taken seriously...

Pac's back to steal your money

Everybody knows Pac-Man. The game's been ported to just about every platform under the sun, including the NES version on the Wii Virtual Console. It's now being released yet again on the 3DS Virtual Console, but is it worth another investment? Of course, there is absolutely nothing different about the gameplay in this...

Unintelligent design

One of the best modes in the Micro Machines games was undoubtedly “Head-To-Head”, in which the goal was to reach the furthest edge of the screen while pushing an opponent to the opposite side. The balance of risk and reward resulted in a nail biting play experience where one mistake would cost you dearly, the most talented players always taking home the gold medal..

New name, same game

May of 2011 saw the DSiWare release of B Team - Episode 1: Dust & Steel. Now, a short three months later, the gang is back in B Team - Episode 2: Ice & Venom. Anyone who played the first game (or read our Dust & Steel review) will know exactly what to expect here. As this game clearly shows, consistency is not always a good thing. Picking up where the first game left..

For super players

Back when Super Mario Bros. 2 came out in Japan — the real Super Mario Bros. 2, known here overseas as The Lost Levels — there was a little label on the box that said “For Super Players.” It meant it, too: Super Mario Bros. 2 is a ridiculously difficult game, often using your knowledge of the first game against you while at...

Prime cut

You know the story. By now, everyone does. In 2002, a new Metroid game was released after nearly a decade of silence, and it was done by a little studio in Texas that no one had ever heard of. Oh, and it was 3D. And first person. It shouldn't have worked, but it did, and the ensuing trilogy would secure that little studio as one of the...

The end of an era?

Another week, another instalment in the venerable Successfully Learning series from Tivola. Successfully Learning German: Year 5 is on DSiWare so young German speakers have another opportunity to return to Freddy the Vampire’s classroom. It’s the final instalment in the series, so prepare to graduate and say goodbye. How does the series end, any exciting changes or variations..

A misfire

Most of us have played one of them before: one of those free online Flash games where your goal is to hit something by firing a projectile, after deciding what angle and what speed the object should be thrown or shot at. Of course, you'll also be familiar with this concept if you've played any Worms game. Artillery: Knights vs. Orcs takes this concept and turns it into a small-scale, two..

Save the fireworks

Stars. Stripes. Rockets' red glare and bombs bursting in air. Deer and antelope playing. America. The United States is a country with enough national pride to fuel a superhero, and that's exactly what Captain America is all about. Does his movie tie-in handheld outing Captain America: Super Soldier channel these well enough to...

You call that a farm? THIS is a farm

Ahh, life on the farm. The sweet taste of buffalo milk, sheep and crocodiles playing together... OK, perhaps My Australian Farm isn't the most realistic agricultural simulator, but at least it makes for a decent money-management time-waster. This, along with My Farm, My Exotic Farm and the upcoming My Asian Farm, all coexist in the 2009 retail release My Farm..

A game that'll rope you in

Step one: create a simple, fun and addictive activity. Step two: throw in an interesting twist. Step three: build on that foundation with something that adds variation and challenge while channelling the essence of what makes it fun. These are the steps to making a great puzzle game, and it's that first task at which many developers fail, making new, original ones appear..

Shinto to go

What do you get when you mix Mikoshi (portable Shinto shrines) and top-down shooters? Oddly enough, you come up with Gamebridge’s newest DSiWare release, GO Series: Portable Shrine Wars. But is this bizarre combination a match made in yomi, or is it just too weird to work? The goal in Portable Shrine Wars is to race your Mikoshi...

Pitch perfect?

Gameloft's Let's Golf! 3D may be the first third-party 3DSWare title to download, but it's not the company's first swing at portable pitching and putting: DSiWare has the original Let's Golf!, so this new outing has to bring more to the table. In some ways it delivers, but it doesn't quite hit the pin. For one thing, you're getting a...

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...

Erledigt

The final outing for the Successfully Learning German WiiWare series is now among us and it's business as usual for the Tivola-developed edutainment tool. As with earlier entries, Year 5 makes no attempts to actively teach participants anything new, instead providing interactive exercises for students of a particular level to practice the language skills they've gained in the classroom..

Around the world, around the world

Oscar's World Tour marks the fourth instalment of the series on DSiWare, and once again finds Oscar in the familiar situation of tracking down Baby Oscars and heading for the Pig Stop. While the game stays very close to its predecessors in terms of gameplay, the developer has tossed in a few new visual twists to give it a fresh new look. But are these cosmetic..

At last

Few titles have successfully combined the puzzler and adventure genres like Chip's Challenge and its ilk. Bobby Carrot Forever is one such derivative, removing the Sokoban-influenced box-pushing and building on a foundation of collectible items and manually-set traps. But is it good enough to make you hop or would Bobby have been better off as stew? Our hero has found himself in a dream..

Your own personal mixing board

Although the music/rhythm genre has fizzled a bit recently, we are still seeing a few releases here and there. And while Just JAM is nowhere nearly as deep or engaging as a Guitar Hero or Rock Band title, it does put quite a bit of musical direction in the palm of your hands via the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, but with a lack of recognisable tunes and far less freedom of..