Author Profile
- Username
- Kid_A
- Articles
- 40 (36 reviews)
- First Article
- Tue 17th, August 2010
- Avg. Review Score
- 6.1
The bore gang
The Kore Gang has been a long time in the making, a fact reflected in the final result. At its best, it’s colourfully innocuous and fun, while at its worst it can be frustrating and infuriating. It’s likely to be divisive as a result, so we’ll do our best to break it down. You know what everyone likes, though? Good intentions,...
Shoots too narrow
On the Wii Shop Channel, EnjoyUp! Games describes Soccer Up! as being "a funny soccer game." We're willing to bet you and EnjoyUp! Games have different senses of humour. But we're also willing to bet you have different definitions of "total control," "inertia" and "soccer." Indeed, much of...
Review The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (3DS eShop / GBA)
Small but mighty
Those poor Hylians just can't have any fun, can they? Just when everything seems to be all well and good, some creep with bad skin comes along, unleashes a whirlwind of evil and shrouds the land in darkness. It's tough for us to feel too bad for them, though. Because as history has shown, bad news for Hyrule means great news for...
Review Battle of the Elements (DSiWare)
Elementary, dear Watson
Lists. Who needs 'em? Whether it's a shopping list or a year-end "Best Of" list, you just know when you're writing it that you'll end up forgetting something important. When the year ends, Battle of the Elements probably won't be on our Best Of list. If you're the kind of person that makes lists of games to buy,...
Fun with a capital Z?
When we first started playing Gnomz, we were excited: here's a game that's joyously silly, bizarre and simple enough that anyone willing to pick up the controller could play it and have an absolute blast. The graphics are colourful. The soundtrack has a giddy urgency to it. It's got a good sense of humour. WiiWare's Angry...
Feature Nintendo - Gaming in Black and White
The continuing appeal of retro
In the midst of lively, colourful menu tiles that spin with a blow into the microphone and play charming tunes when selected, many 3DS's are littered with other tiles that are glaringly less interesting. They don't play charming animations on the top screen, and when selected, the greeting is nothing more than a little...
Review Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (GameCube)
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...
Review Metroid Prime (GameCube)
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...
Review Roller Angels (DSiWare)
Angelic
Roller Angels doesn't know what it wants to be; it's torn between Canabalt's forward-moving platforming action, Jet Grind Radio's alt-rock rebelliousness and de Blob's sense of beautification, without really committing fully to any one of them. Maybe that's a good thing. Yes, it lacks the first's pitch-perfect mechanics, the middle one's...
Review Big Town Shoot Out (WiiWare)
John Marston died in vain
You're stuck in traffic on a rainy day. Positioning yourself between the cars ahead and behind you, avoiding collision with the merging vehicles, occasionally reading street signs; these things don't require skill so much as a sort of passive awareness. It's not your first time in traffic. You know the drill. It's a test...
Review Radar Mission (3DS eShop / GB)
Sonar, so good?
Miyamoto's latest pet-project, Steel Diver, released to mixed critical reception; some found its slow-paced, strategic gameplay fun and refreshing, while others found it...well, boring. Suffice it to say that if you fall into the latter camp, you likely won't get a whole lot of enjoyment out of Nintendo's 1990 Gameboy title, Radar...
Review The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (3DS eShop / GBC)
A Game Boy classic
You wake up on an island; your boat shattered, your sword swept away by the storm that caused the crash. And at first, it almost doesn't seem like a bad thing. The islanders are kind enough (one girl in particular has caught your eye) and Mabe Village is one of the cozier little towns you've visited. The cozy feeling doesn't last...
Review 3D Classics: Excitebike (3DSWare)
Very Excite
Excitebike was never about throwing pies. Sometimes we forget that. The game's first sequel, Excitebike 64, was a near-racing sim, with at-the-time cutting edge, realistic graphics, and a plethora of tricks and combos — no doubt a response to the massive popularity of the Tony Hawk Pro Skater franchise, while the two Excite games for...
Say it ain't flow
Overflow is possibly the most frustrating game you'll play all year. You'll be frustrated at the countless times you'll fail a level for reasons you don't even understand; you'll be frustrated at the finicky pointer controls that you're forced to use; you'll be frustrated at the camera, which doesn't always scroll up and down as...
Review Gabrielle's Ghostly Groove: Monster Mix (WiiWare)
Don't give up the ghost
Gabrielle's Ghostly Groove: Monster Mix. You really only have to read the title to figure out who the intended audience is for this game: younger gamers. Kids. And that's not intended to be a jab, by the way; gamers often use the “kids’ game” moniker as a way of implying shallow game design, but that's not an entirely...
Features Re-Examining Zelda: Twilight Princess
Playing it safe, or changing the game?
You can tell a lot about a game from its opening scene. In the first few minutes of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time we're shown a sweeping, first-person view of the Kokiri Forest, as Navi flies frantically to awake a hero-to-be. In Zelda: The Wind Waker we're shown, in a beautifully minimalist art style, an...
Review Word Searcher Deluxe (WiiWare)
Word down
It's hard not to question the practicality of a game like Word Searcher Deluxe. Word search books are almost literally a dime a dozen these days, and even the cheap-o books are becoming a little unnecessary considering the number of free options there are on the Internet and mobile app stores. As if that wasn't enough, Digital Leisure...
Review Play with Birds (WiiWare)
Play with Turds
Last year, the revamped WiiWare version of the beloved indie game La Mulana was delayed upon its submission by publisher Nicalis, as it was deemed "not good enough” by Nintendo's quality control team. Nicalis must have sent Nintendo a dirty diaper with the words “La Mulana” scrawled crudely on the side instead of an actual...
Take the bait
Hey there! Do you want to play some WiiWare game called Planet Fish? Didn't think so. Well then, do you want to play a highly original and puzzle-based spin on the fishing genre that's big on fun and creative problem solving? Ah, well then you do want to play Planet Fish, a game that is able to transcend its unappealing title and...
Review LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (3DS)
A well-honed clone or a droid to avoid?
Back in 2005, if you would have told someone that six years down the road, LEGO Star Wars would still be one of the most bankable and consistently enjoyable franchises in gaming, you would have been laughed at. Many called the idea a shallow cash grab, yet here we are in 2011 with another instalment in the...
JellyCar or SmellyCar?
JellyCar 2 is a tricky one. It's a quality driving-platforming game with a variety of content; and while that really should be all that matters, the fact is you can download the game for $4 cheaper on an iOS and get more content. Paying more for less stinks. That's obvious. But if the DSi is all you've got, the fact remains:...
Review My Little Restaurant (DSiWare)
Diner Dash meets... Diner Dash
There's really no point in beating around the bush about it: My Little Restaurant is Diner Dash in disguise. In fact, if it wasn't for the different sprites, the two would be virtually indistinguishable. But while it's hard to sing praises to something so unoriginal, the fact still remains that as of now there's no...
Review All-Star Air Hockey (DSiWare)
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...
Review Digger Dan & Kaboom (DSiWare)
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...
