Author Profile
- Username
- PatrickElliot
- Articles
- 34 (24 reviews)
- First Article
- Wed 28th, July 2010
- Avg. Review Score
- 5.7
Review The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Ages - An Engrossing Tale And True Series Classic
A song for the ages
This review originally went live in 2013, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival in the Nintendo Switch Online Game Boy / Game Boy Color library. Ever since The Legend of Zelda released on the NES, Nintendo has played the franchise relatively close to its chest. Series creator Shigeru Miyamoto has had...
Review The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Seasons - An Underappreciated Old-School Adventure
Battle seasoned
This review originally went live in 2013, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival in the Nintendo Switch Online Game Boy / Game Boy Color library. The combat of The Legend of Zelda series has seen several iterations over the decades. The classic top-down gameplay of the original was morphed into a faster,...
Review Dragon Crystal (3DS eShop / GG)
Manageable masochism
For a system known for its incredible appetite for AA batteries, the Game Gear makes quite a strange home for the hardcore, permadeath-filled roguelike Dragon Crystal. With absolutely no save option or password system, the game must have caused some incredible bouts of rage when those last spurts of juice ran out. Dragon Crystal...
Review Fun! Fun! Minigolf TOUCH! (3DS eShop)
Put some putt in your strut
The second 3D golf title to hit the eShop, Fun! Fun! Minigolf TOUCH! offers a miniaturized approach compared to its counterpart Let’s Golf! 3D, but promises at least three times the level of exclamation points. A close cousin to the pricier WiiWare game Fun! Fun! Minigolf, this title delivers short, simple courses...
Review Stonekeep: Bones of the Ancestors (WiiWare)
Rock-solid or balderdash?
Stonekeep: Bones of the Ancestors, a remake of Interplay's mid-90's first-person dungeon crawler, sounds pretty good on paper. The Wii is a bit short on quality RPGs — especially on WiiWare — and Stonekeep was a decent-looking, competent RPG back in its day. But pre-rendered 2D environments and FMV characters are no...
Full of fun or made of cheese?
While many portable games praised for their accessibility and simple controls are often times associated with mobile game platforms, DSiWare is not without its own quality pick-up-and play titles. Games like Reflect Missile, Pop Plus: Solo and the Art Style series offer satisfyingly simple gameplay perfect for short...
Review Zombii Attack (WiiWare)
iinsufferable
Zombii Attack is a very silly game. Its main mechanic — firing zombies out of a giant slingshot — is strange enough, but even more preposterous is the fact that this game actually got published on WiiWare. The game is so horrendous that the campy feel and OK music don't even come close to saving it from its abominable controls and...
Review Big Bass Arcade (WiiWare)
Cast from the past
Just six months back, Big John Games released Big Bass Arcade on DSiWare, offering up pick-up-and-play fishing action on the go. While the game certainly did what it said on the box, the overly simplistic design left us wanting a bit more content-wise. Enter Big Bass Arcade on WiiWare, a revamped port of that game offering updated...
Review Pinocchio's Puzzle (WiiWare)
Pinocchio goes to pieces
Chances are, when you're deciding to pick up a puzzle game for your console of choice, you don't think of actual jigsaw puzzles. They just don't fit easily into the genre's landscape. Popular puzzlers like Tetris and Angry Birds have an immediacy to them that encourages quick play and gratification, while a real jigsaw...
Don't step to this
The Wii is a great console for combining a love for gaming and fitness. Casual workout titles like Wii Fit offer laid back activities like yoga and jogging, while third-party titles like EA Sports Active offer up more rigorous cardiovascular routines. But what about WiiWare? Sure, retail offerings are great, but Nintendo's...
Gripping or griping?
Battery power. It is both the benevolent force that makes portable gaming possible, and the cumbersome reason some gamers choose to keep their games at home. Throughout gaming history, handheld consoles have been subjected to a slew of power-boosting peripherals promising more game time at the cost of extra bulk. The Nintendo...
Review Horizon Riders (WiiWare)
Well balanced?
Horizon Riders is definitely a Wii-exclusive experience. A game that makes use of both the Balance Board and Wii Zapper, Sabarasa's on-rails shooter is tailor-made for the console. If you are one of the millions that bought Wii Fit, consider yourself in for a treat, as the game makes good use of the peripheral and really shouldn't be...
Review Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked (3DS)
Cool as hell
Nintendo 3DS owners don't have many choices when it comes to picking out a new RPG nowadays. Aside from DS games, the only title currently out in the genre is Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked, which is itself a port of a 2009 DS game. Atlus's decision to bring the title over to the 3DS may seem a bit confusing at first,...
Review Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Stealth Force Edition (3DS)
Transformers! Now with less transforming
When you think of Transformers, you likely recall the catchphrase “robots in disguise.” Autobots and Decepticons can go from behemoth robot to your average GMC in a heartbeat, able to fool unsuspecting eyes into thinking they are no more than your everyday automobile. So it seems a bit strange to then...
Review Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion (3DS)
Smash Bros. Lite
Punching a Powerpuff Girl in the face is always a welcomed experience. So is hitting Dexter in the head with a giant candy cane, or drop-kicking Samurai Jack off of a cliff. In Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion all these things happen and more, as numerous Cartoon Network franchises come together to duke it out in an Super Smash...
News Check Out The First Hour of Pandora's Tower
Enter the Tower
While Nintendo may be gearing up for the big E3 reveal of its Wii successor, the company still has a few aces up its sleeve for its little-white-box-that-could. While the Wii hasn't housed the most robust selection of RPGs over the years, Nintendo has been playing some serious catch up with games like Mistwalker's The Last Story,...
Review Samurai Warriors: Chronicles (3DS)
Shogun fun or just ho-hum?
Tecmo Koei's Warriors franchise is a bit of a strange beast. While many entries in the series have garnered little critical acclaim, the games have a dedicated fanbase and continue to support the series after countless entries. It's no wonder, then, that the company decided to bring its hack-and-slash franchise to the 3DS...
Interviews Richie Knucklez - The Kong Off
"the most important person in video gaming right now"
In the documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, Steve Wiebe travels to FunSpot Arcade to put a stop to all the naysayers disputing his record-setting Donkey Kong skills. To the amazement of everyone watching, he achieves the first ever kill screen on the Funspot Donkey Kong machine...
Interviews Doctor Kong Director Alexis Neophytides
We catch up with Alexis and Hank at the film's Brooklyn premiere
The saga over high scores in Donkey Kong is no longer a tale of two dudes. While most of us came to know the world of modern day Donkey Kongers through the epic rivalry between Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchelll, it wasn't long before a third player emerged out of left field. Hank Chien,...
Are you ready for this jelly?
Ports can be a tricky business. Change too much about beloved game and fans of the title will likely gripe, while not adding any new content earns the moniker “lazy port.” Still, lots of games on WiiWare have managed to straddle this fence successfully, like Lilt Line and Crystal Defenders, while others like Space...
A tidal wave of fun
WiiWare is no stranger to quirky, innovative games, with the platform delivering such wonderful titles as World of Goo, Lost Winds and the BIT.TRIP series. These titles all take full advantage of the Wii Remote, pairing novel gameplay concepts with smooth, accessible motion controls. Yet such stellar releases don't come along all...
A charming little hole in the wall
WiiWare is no stranger to the puzzle genre, offering up classic experiences like Tetris Party and Dr. Mario alongside more unconventional titles like the Art Style series. Nintendo's latest title, ThruSpace, hopes to try something new to stand out in the sizable crowd. How does it do it? By combining the shape...
You got Franken in my Castlevania
There is some common confusion surrounding the tale of Frankenstein, namely the fact that Frankenstein is not really a monster, but rather the mad scientist who creates the bolted-neck creature. Developer MotiveTime avoids this common misstep in their game by simply combining the scientist and monster into the same...
News 3DS To Get Revamped Online Shop
Better interface, faster menus and a new Virtual Console
Nintendo's Wii Shop Channel and DSiWare Shop may have some great games on them, but browsing the services for content could be a bit easier. Unless you go in there knowing what you want, finding something new and interesting can be a bit cumbersome, as sifting through menu after menu can take...
