Review Chronicles of Vampires: Awakening (DSiWare)
Bloody good?
It seems that popular culture's obsession with vampires may be entering its twilight years. If contemporary films, books and TV series focusing on gothic lore ever felt fresh and exciting, that effect has worn off and the bloodsuckers have come to feel a bit bland and tired. Still clinging onto the trend is the second in Teyon's hidden...
Review May's Mystery: Forbidden Memories (DS)
Never send a kid to do a professor's job
We've seen the rise in popularity of a few new or previously underappreciated genres within the current generation, among them rhythm-based games, brain training titles and life simulators. Another is the puzzle- and brain teaser-centric adventure, which rose to popularity with Level-5's Professor Layton...
Review Back to the Future: The Game (Wii)
Make like a tree and read this review
They say that if you were to travel back a million years and step on a butterfly, you could wipe out an entire species and change the world forever with that one seemingly infinitesimal move. When Marty McFly took a shorter excursion, back three decades to 1955, he almost erased his own existence in a similar...
Review LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 (3DS)
Half-blood, whole fun
Isn't it about time TT Games did something new with its LEGO franchise? How many others have gotten away with utilising near-identical gameplay formulas this many times? Not that it's a terribly bad thing – we'll happily trek through another humorous toy-sized tribute as the team rarely misfires. Delivering the same casual...
Review LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 (Wii)
Let's finish this the way we started it... together
Legend has it that every time Billy Joel drives to a holiday party that has a piano, he knows that he's going to end up playing Piano Man by request. He's played it countless times before, but when he plays it again, people will like it. It won't be surprising or innovative, but it will be...
Review Slingo Supreme (DSiWare)
Will it eat your baby?
Some games just don’t translate well to the video game format, among them bingo and slots, unless you can bet real money on them. They’re both completely up to chance, and that’s generally not enough to drive a gamer. It’s strange, then, that combining the two works so well. Slingo Supreme does a decent job of bringing...
Review Chronicles of Vampires: Origins (DSiWare)
Not so original
If we made a list of things that we've seen just a little too much of in recent years, vampires and hidden object games would sit somewhere near the top. If that weren't enough to temper our excitement over Chronicles of Vampires: Origins, it happens to have one of the clumsiest titles we've read in recent memory (maybe because The...
Review WordJong Arcade (DSiWare)
Will it put a spell on you?
A DSiWare shopper with yet another mahjong solitaire game is like a mule with a spinning wheel – no one knows why he got it, and darned if he knows how to use it. But WordJong Arcade stands out from the pack as it gives the game a Boggle twist; instead of removing matching pairs of tiles, you'll form words as you clear...
Review Paper Wars: Cannon Fodder (WiiWare)
Not the worst game ever
At the back of every game shelf, at the bottom of every YouTube favourites list, in the dark recesses of every gamer's heart, they live. Games with which we are far too familiar, games that some of us have taken a near-masochistic pride in seeking out. Superman. E.T. Super Noah's Ark 3D. These are some of the worst games ever...
Review Play & Learn Chinese (DSiWare)
Might leave you hungry for more a few hours later
DSiWare isn’t just for games, you know. Comprising a small, inconspicuous corner of the market, a handful of language applications serve to assist those who can’t quite afford a pocket translator or a class at the civic centre. So far we’ve seen entries in German, French and Spanish, and now...
A new leash on life
Porting life management simulator The Sims to handhelds has proven a mixed experience with more missteps than successes, but when The Sims 3 debuted as a 3DS launch title the series hit one of its lowest lows to date. The obvious rush job felt like a cynical slap to the face, EA having sped the title to store shelves in a direly...
Review Nikoli's Pencil Puzzle (3DS)
Sharp?
It's hard to believe, but there was a time before fancy Tanooki Suits, space-foxes and Lon Lon Milk defined a good game. It was an era without joysticks, Wii Remotes or Power Gloves. How could anyone possibly have had fun in such a world, you ask? Well, back then, people were satisfied with a simple pencil and pad of paper, and that was...
Full of hot air?
There are few things more terrifying than sentient balloons. Just close your eyes and picture them: living, moving latex orbs, floating down a path in your direction. Such is the basic premise of Bloons TD, which takes the charming, monkey-populated world of puzzler Bloons and moulds it to a tower defence formula. And, like its...
Review Centipede: Infestation (3DS)
Covered with scorpions
Modernised versions of old school arcade games are quite common; we've already seen two on 3DS so far, Frogger 3D and Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions, the latter comprising even more classic call-backs of yesteryear, but one game that hasn't seen much love in the remake department is Centipede. Bucking the trend, Centipede:...
Not so precious
In 2003, explorers daring enough to venture deep into the recesses of that oppressive structure known as Generic-Looking Game Boy Advance Puzzler Mountain came across a small treasure – a mix between Bust-A-Move and Arkanoid that proved about as fun as it was unexpected. Now comes its successor of the same name, Gem Smashers, but...
News Excavate the Pyramids Facebook Page for QR Levels and Tips
Enjoy Gaming celebrates NA release with new stages
Pyramids released last week on the North American eShop, and publisher Enjoy Gaming is celebrating with a new QR code stage, which you can scan below. The company also let us know that for those players who find themselves stuck in a particularly challenging spot, the team will happily provide...
Fun to the third power?
Mahjong solitaire has appeared on just about every console since the dawn of video games, though their developers generally remain content with sticking to the basic formula. Mahjong CUB3D takes a different path in exactly the way the title suggests – by wrapping the puzzle around a 3D framework. But does the new take on...
Feature The Development Process of Go! Go! Kokopolo
How a stray cat, a passion for classic gaming and a dream coalesced into a DSiWare delight
A little while back, a little gem appeared as if from a cloud of smoke onto the DSiWare service – Go! Go! Kokopolo, from young indie developer Tanukii Studios. In speaking with Keith Webb, the company's founder, we discovered that he was also its only...
Rumour Monster Hunter 3 G Lurching Toward Europe
So have your swords sharpened by Autumn 2012
Update: We have received word from Official Nintendo Magazine that the posted Autumn 2012 date is not official confirmation of the game's European release. Capcom's official statement about the game is "we have nothing to announce at this time." Original story below. Capcom's popular...
Review 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (DS)
Fine, fine, fine
You wake up in a cabin on a ship, clueless as to how you arrived. You soon remember a mysterious figure in a gas mask and an odd odour filling your apartment. Before you have time to put the pieces together, the window cracks and water begins to flood the small space. Either you find a way out of the locked room, or you drown. This...
Review Brunswick Pro Bowling (3DS)
Split!
What's not to like about bowling? The feel of manoeuvring the ball in your hands as you launch it down the lane, the crack of the pins, the fun of going out with your buddies or your team, trying on a pair of communal shoes – ok, not that last one. It was only a matter of time before Crave's Brunswick Pro Bowling series made it to the 3DS,...
XY oh why
X-Men is the type of comic series that makes it tempting to visualise yourself in a starring role. Its heroes are just like the rest of us, give or take a few chromosomes, and its universe works both as an allegory for coming to terms with your identity as it does for the larger issue of race relations. But does X-Men: Destiny mutate into...
News Europe, Your Next Original 3DS eShop Game Launches on 20th October
Visit Pyramids before the end of the month
It's been slim pickings as far as 3DS eShop games go, and that counts double for non-3D Classics. That's set to change on 20th October with Pyramids, a puzzler-platformer from Enjoy Gaming and Visual Impact. The publisher has also informed us that it's set to retail for €4, or about £3.60. The game is...
Feature Resident Evil's Nintendo History
Undead on the big N, past, present and future
The claustrophobic darkness. The creeping undead. The hideous monsters. The Resident Evil series has brought such thrills and chills to our TVs since 1996, and it’s taken quite a unique path when it comes to Nintendo consoles. With the month of All Hallows’ Eve upon us, we decided to take a look at...
