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- Philip_J_Reed
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- 264 (214 reviews)
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- Tue 10th, March 2009
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It's pool! In the 90's!
The Berlin Wall has recently fallen, Seinfeld is dominating television and Justin Bieber has just been born. Yes, it's the 1990s and, for some reason, we're playing pool. We'll leave the jokes about the title to you folks in the comments, as 90's Pool doesn't really leave us in much of a mood for fun. And for a video game,...
Review Arc Style: Soccer!! 3D (3DS eShop)
Like real soccer, it's better with friends
Hoping against hope to sweep the award for most cumbersomely titled game in the eShop, Arc Style: Soccer!! 3D is here, and it's brought with it a slew of impressive options for customisation. Unfortunately, the gameplay seems to have been sacrificed on their behalf. As with just about any sports game, Arc...
Review Zombie Slayer Diox (3DS eShop)
Dead to us
It's too late. The zombie apocalypse has not only begun, it's already over. The zombies have won, and there are few — if any — survivors other than Diox, who continues to roam the streets, slashing away at the undead with his guitar. Diox is on a mission: if he can find the magical amp, he just might be able to destroy all the...
Review Pirates Assault (DSiWare)
Stealing your money in more ways than one
CIRCLE Entertainment has carved out a fanbase for itself with the DSiWare crowd, due in large part to the consistently excellent Castle Conqueror series. It's had a few misfires along the way — see The Seller — but, by and large, gamers have been able to count on CIRCLE's releases to feature a hefty...
Review Shinobi (3DS eShop / GG)
On-the-go ninja, go ninja, go.
The Shinobi series has been sneaking about the gaming world for over two decades, and the 1987 original arcade entry remains a classic to this day. The 1991 Game Gear instalment — also called Shinobi — has now infiltrated the 3DS eShop, and we're happy to say that it's aged better than we would have expected. You...
Tiny ship, big adventure
There's a new threat to civilization, and this time it's something we can't see: the Nanostray virus, which is deadly enough to serve as an immediate threat to humanity as we know it. The solution? Well, as anyone who's seen Fantastic Voyage (or, erm...Innerspace) knows, it's time to shrink a spacecraft down to microscopic...
Review Zuma's Revenge (DSiWare)
An expensive addiction
We'll say one thing for PopCap — it sure knows how to transform simple tasks into madly addictive experiences. And from Peggle and Bookworm to Plants vs. Zombies, Nintendo fans have been able to enjoy excellent ports of some of its most popular games. Zuma's Revenge is the most recent PopCap title to make the jump to...
Review Metroid (3DS eShop / NES)
The classic that inspired so many still holds up today
The NES section of the 3DS's Virtual Console expands by another notch with the addition of Metroid, regarded by many as one of the best entries that amazing series has to offer. The great news is that it's every bit as wonderful as you remember; the bad news is that it's no more interested in...
Review Aahh! Spot the Difference (DSiWare)
Spot the indifference
Greetings, fans of two-pictures-that-are-seemingly-identical-but-are-actually-slightly-different-to-one-another! Aahh! Spot the Difference is here to make you happy people indeed — as long as you don't mind the fact that it's short, bland and totally forgettable, that is. Adding another log to the bonfire of similar titles,...
Review Super Mario Bros. (3DS eShop / NES)
Yet another way to experience a masterpiece
Mario. Say it loud and there's music playing. Say it soft, and it's almost like praying. Super Mario Bros. was, is, and will always be one of gaming's great masterpieces, and its availability on any additional format is a good thing. Now it's come to the 3DS Virtual Console, and we couldn't be happier. For...
Review 2 Fast 4 Gnomz (WiiWare)
Gnome mercy
WiiWare first met the Gnomz four months ago with the release of the appropriately named Gnomz. This time they're back with a mission to rescue a princess — and bring back lots of socks. The game opens with the king blisteringly commanding you to do these seemingly disparate things, and it's a riot. The visuals and the soundtrack come...
You certainly can't claim false advertising
So far, GameOn has made its name on DSiWare with simple games executed well. Box Pusher does nothing to buck that trend, offering a gaming experience that manages to be both vast and shallow, but what this game lacks in personality it easily makes up for with its strong and clever central conceit. Box...
The multiplayer is the real difference
Fans of spot-the-difference puzzles will know exactly what to expect from EnjoyUp Games' latest release, iSpot Japan. Players are presented with two similar photographs, and they must identify any details that differ between them. It's simple, and it's a perfect fit for touch screen gaming. Unfortunately,...
Feature Nintendo Characters Looking for Love
Will you be their player two?
Like so many others, we at Nintendo Life get swept up in the romance that is in the air during St. Valentine's Day. We love the smell of the flowers, the taste of the chocolate and the irresistible allure of digging through the online dating profiles of strangers, hoping to find something amusing. Surprisingly, we got...
Review Maru's Mission (3DS eShop / GB)
Mission: Unbearable
Several months ago, the eShop saw the release of Avenging Spirit, a gleefully eccentric title that made us all sorry we missed it the first time around. Lightning doesn't strike twice for Jaleco with Maru's Mission, however, as this time the publisher has dusted off a forgotten title that really should have stayed that way. The...
Review GO Series: Undead Storm (DSiWare)
Frighteningly good
To date, the GO Series has been a bit of a mixed bag, ranging from the disappointingly average GO Series: Pinball Attack! to the brilliant dungeon-crawling puzzler PicDun. As such, it's understandable that one might be sceptical of the latest title in the series, GO Series: Undead Storm. We're pleased to report, though, that...
Review Lola's Alphabet Train (DSiWare)
On the right track
Lola's Alphabet Train is both a learning tool and a game, but it's quite clearly more the former than the latter. This isn't a bad thing at all, but it's important to know that when setting your expectations. Lola is a chirpy panda bear who, aboard her titular train, presents children with a series of spelling and vocabulary based...
Review Newton Vs The Horde (WiiWare)
An experiment to be ab-horde
We're going to say this up front because there won't be much room to say nice things later on in the review: Newton Vs The Horde has an utterly fantastic concept. The idea is to destroy approaching zombie-like creatures by using physics puzzles either found in your environment or created by you. That's an interesting...
Review Anne's Doll Studio: Gothic Collection (DSiWare)
Doll-orous
Anne's Doll Studio: Gothic Collection is your chance to slap drab Gothic accessories on two dead eyed dolls that look like charmless rejects from the movie Corpse Bride. That sentence is a complete and accurate summation of this title, and it's probably the only thing you'll need to read in order to decide if you want it. Anne's Doll...
Review 101 Pinball World (DSiWare)
Deaf, dumb and blind
101 Pinball World is, quite frankly, confounding on every level. Teyon's latest misguided attempt to cram large numbers of poorly-designed levels into half-baked games has resulted in a broken, hideous, aurally offensive, shambling monstrosity of a game. And that's being polite. Releasing in North America alongside the...
Holey-er than thou
Quick Fill Q is the story of a pink ball rolling across featureless terrain at a glacial pace. Every so often he — this ball is a living creature, for some reason — will come across a hole that looks suspiciously like several Tetris pieces were removed from the ground, and it's up to you to fill it. That's the game, in its...
Talking Point Why Is It So Hard to Make a Good Christmas Game?
Coal in the stocking
Merry Christmas, everyone! It's that magical time of year again, a time for all of us to indulge in Christmas movies, Christmas music, Christmas TV specials and Christmas video games! Alright, we admit... not so much the last one. But that poses an interesting question: why not? Christmas-themed video games have been around for...
Review Elite Forces: Unit 77 (DSiWare)
Definitely forcing it
On paper, Elite Forces: Unit 77 sounds great. A number of high-profile and wealthy individuals have gone missing all over the world, and it's correctly assumed that this is just the first step in a global terrorist plot. Desperate, the world turns to a renegade troop of no-nonsense butt-kickers: Unit 77. Unit 77 consists of...
Hide and don't seek
Hey, kids — remember the movie Ghostbusters? Remember how exciting and fun it looked? Well, be prepared to have that illusion siphoned out of you by The Hidden, which takes the concept of ghost busting and marries it to the embarrassment of walking in circles in public places. The Hidden bills itself as an "augmented...
