Author Profile
- Username
- Philip_J_Reed
- Articles
- 264 (214 reviews)
- First Article
- Tue 10th, March 2009
- Avg. Review Score
- 5.5
- Find Them On
- Twitter/X
Jedi school dropout
Originally released to arcades in 1984, Space Ace sought to recapture the magic of its predecessor, Dragon's Lair. And by "magic" we mean "ability to eat money." Gameplay was not high on the list of priorities for the team that designed these games, but flashy presentation certainly was. As a result, we are...
IT BURNS!
At last, the do-nothing, poorly-constructed, mindless fireplace simulator of your dreams has come to WiiWare. The only explanation: we've all been very bad boys and girls this year, and Santa's relying on digital download services to distribute his coal. Let's face facts: if you're reading this review, you already know full well whether...
Review Airport Mania: First Flight (WiiWare)
First class, or terminal illness?
Air travel is well known for many things: overbooking, lost luggage, expensive food, cramped quarters and, most recently, a choice between having your crotch grabbed or letting airport security take naked pictures of you. It's not really the sort of experience that you'd expect to lend itself to a positive gaming...
Review Snowpack Park (WiiWare)
An ice game or a total flake-out? You get the drift.
A massive snowstorm has struck Snowpack Park, blocking off roads, causing damage and isolating the poor, poor penguins from each other. Only one person can bring them back: you! Or your Mum! Or Dr. Zoidberg, any Mii stored on your Wii. But, still, you get the idea. Snowpack Park is a game of...
Review Triple Running Sports (WiiWare)
Run! No, seriously. RUN.
Every once in a great while, an already great series gets a new entry that not only renews the enthusiasm of fans worldwide, it reinvents and reinvigorates a classic formula. It raises the bar not only for its own series, but for gaming in general. It's the sort of event that has even non-gamers talking, nodding in...
Review Family Party: Fitness Fun (Wii)
Witness fun, but not much fitness
Hang around any Nintendo-themed internet forum, and you're bound to find similar posts over and over, all declaring the same thing: The Wii needs more party games! Alright, obviously that's not the case. The poor little Wii has more party games than it knows what to do with, making it difficult for new entries in...
Review Kidz Bop Dance Party! The Video Game (Wii)
Your children would prefer a spanking
As a franchise, Kidz Bop is a strange one. While compilations of popular dance songs are nothing new, Kidz Bop releases are actually compilations of covers of dance songs, all performed by a troupe of prepubescent moppets whose voices are auto-tuned and otherwise processed until they arrive, indistinguishable...
Review Triple Jumping Sports (WiiWare)
Jumping? In a video game?! Now we've seen everything!
Wading in to review this third entry in an already less than impressive series, it's fair to say that our expectations were not very high. Therefore it could be seen as some kind of accomplishment that Triple Jumping Sports still managed to not live up to them. If you've played either of the...
Review Absolute Brickbuster (DSiWare)
Bustin' used to make me feel good
Absolute Brickbuster is not an easy game to review. For starters, it gives a reviewer so little to work with: it snuggles itself into the cozy framework of other, better-known brick breakers, and falls asleep before it thinks to introduce anything new. That doesn't make it a bad game, but neither does it make it...
Review BIT.TRIP VOID (WiiWare)
Don't avoid the VOID
The third release (of six) in Gaijin Games' BIT.TRIP series has quite a bit in common with its predecessors. And that is a good thing. Even better, though, is just how much VOID manages to stand apart from its popular older brothers. Rather than striving to recapture their specific glories, VOID charts territory of its own. And...
Review Pokémon Rumble (WiiWare)
Rumble or fumble?
One thing we've learned time and again (sometimes painfully) is that when it comes to WiiWare there's no necessary correlation between quality and cost. Of the most expensive games available, for instance, one of them is arguably the best game on the service, and another is ...not. And so when a new release scurries into view...
News We Pray - Coming To A Console Near You?
Wii is getting cross...
File this one under "Huh?", "What?", and...you know what? Let's not file this one at all. We Pray is set to be the motion-controlled minigame-based church simulator to end all motion-controlled minigame-based church simulators. If, of course, it really exists... Check out the trailer below. According to...
Review Dragon Master Spell Caster (WiiWare)
Dragon Master Spells Disaster
In Dragon Master Spell Caster, you mount your pet dragon and take to the skies in search of thrilling adventure (or floating balls), engage in epic struggles with (or shake your Wii remote randomly at) elementally-themed opponents, and fly on into your new life of fame and fortune (or...turn your Wii off and think about...
Review Doc Louis' Punch-Out!! (WiiWare)
What's your favourite WiiWare download, Mac? Mine's chocolate.
Before the release of the Wii version of Punch-Out!! earlier this year, rumors began circulating that a few "surprise" fighters would make appearances in the game. One of those rumors was that Mac would have to face his trainer, the rotund and irresistibly optimistic Doc...
Interviews Big John Games - Thorium Wars
Big John Games talk Thorium Wars.
Earlier this month we saw the release of Thorium Wars on DSiWare. The game was a pleasant (and unexpected) surprise, and we recommend it highly. Needless to say, we were excited by the opportunity to have a few questions answered by the developers. Read on for insight into the retail version that never was, the...
Review Rock-n-Roll Domo (DSiWare)
It's still rock-n-roll to Domo.
Closing off our title-by-title wade through Domo's résumé, we have Rock-n-Roll Domo, which finds our fuzzy brown friend fronting a wildlife-staffed garage band. It's a rhythm game that might strike many as a little too simplistic, but compared to some of Domo's other outings, this one's not half-bad. The gameplay...
Review White-Water Domo (DSiWare)
Preferable to drowning. Just.
Our week-long Domopalooza continues with a look at White-Water Domo, which finds our fuzzy, angular hero kayaking along a periodically-treacherous stream. As a single component in the larger cluster of Domo DSiWare titles, White-Water Domo doesn't do much to stand out, but neither does it do much wrong. In fact,...
Review Hard-Hat Domo (DSiWare)
Domo needs his hard-hat because of all the falling quality
With five Domo games to choose from this week, it's more or less a given that some are going to be markedly better than others. That's okay: we like it when games are better than others, and we're sure you do, too. Of course, the flipside of this implication is that some are going to be...
One of the first titles announced for WiiWare finally sees the light of day.
Among the very first games announced for WiiWare, we might have expected to review Gravitronix around two years ago. But, as they say, life gets in the way. Plans change, things don't work out the way we expect them to, and release dates slip further and further away. It...
News Christmas in November? Club Nintendo Prepares to Ship Rewards
Your Mario hat - or permission to punch Doc Louis in the face - is on its way!
Good news has made its way to the inbox of many in the NA region who qualified for Elite Status this past year: Club Nintendo is getting ready to drop its bagful of goodies. If all goes well, Christmas might come a little early for those fortunate gamers who earned...
One more proton and you'd be playing Protactinium Wars.
It's always refreshing (to us at Nintendo Life and also, we imagine, to you folks at home) when a game is released for WiiWare or DSiWare that fills a tangible gap, and the first thing you'll notice about Thorium Wars is that it's like nothing else available through DSiWare. That uniqueness...
Review Art Academy: Second Semester (DSiWare)
Less of the same.
Two weeks ago, Nintendo released Art Academy: First Semester. We reviewed it and were happy to do so. The title was impressively functional, easy to use and very much successful at fostering creativity. These are all good things. We were painting apples and red peppers like there was no tomorrow. The sun was shining. We were merry...
Review You, Me, and the Cubes (WiiWare)
Are these cubes worthy of Rubik, or just rubes?
Anticipation for this title has been somewhat high 'round these parts, thanks to some excellent first impressions by our own Sean Aaron. The only question was whether or not we would ever get our hands on it, but as of this week, we have. And so should you. Brainchild of the mad genius Kenji Eno,...
Review Art Academy: First Semester (DSiWare)
Paint Misbehavin'
Much moreso than WiiWare, DSiWare has seen a significant number of non-game releases. Applications, utilities, programs...call them what you will, but they're not games, and they've not been exactly welcomed universally, either. Art Academy may well be poised to change that, not least because they've selected as their focus...
