Review Moshi Monsters Moshlings Theme Park (3DS)
Goopendous or a Moshi-mess?
Moshi Monsters Moshlings Theme Park is based on the Moshi Monsters website, a popular Neopets-style virtual pet game that lets you adopt a monster, customise its home and play mini-games to collect prizes. The franchise's first video game outing took the monsters to a zoo, and now they're taking a break to vacation at a...
Review Gardenscapes (3DS eShop)
Hidden Horticulture
Who hasn't dreamed of leaving it all behind, of quitting the city and hopping a train to the glorious green of the countryside? Gardenscapes plays off of this desire, casting you as the young inheritor of your grandfather's country home and garden, now both sadly in disrepair. Restoring the once-beautiful garden will require some...
Review Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2013 (Wii U)
Witness the fitness
Wii Fit may have kickstarted the fitness genre, but it isn't the only game in town. Ubisoft's Your Shape series started out on Wii with its own motion capture camera before moving to Kinect, and now comes full circle with Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2013 for the Wii U. While ditching the motion capture for a Wii Remote comes with...
Thrills and spills
Gamers will forever associate the name Wipeout with Psygnosis' futuristic racing series, but in the world of primetime TV, Wipeout means wacky announcers, massive pratfalls and Big Red Balls. Based on ABC's hit US game show (which our UK readers will recognize as Total Wipeout) Wipeout 3 brings the slapstick spirit of the show to...
This Land is your land
Nintendo Land has a lot to live up to. Not only does its name invoke a fantastic, imaginary kingdom many of us would happily sail to sight-unseen, it's also the game poised to provide proof of the Wii U's concept, as Wii Sports did for the Wii back in 2006. And like Wii Sports before it, if you've picked up a Deluxe Wii U it's...
Guide Transferring your Mii to the Wii U
From Mii to U
When the Wii first arrived in 2006, the ability to put yourself in the game with Miis was a novel addition that caught on quickly. These days most of us have grown quite attached to our own Miis, as evidenced by the number of them gracing the Nintendo Life forums and comment sections as user avatars. Thankfully, a new console doesn't...
Review Little Inferno (Wii U eShop)
Burn, baby, burn
"Your Little Inferno is not like other games. There are no points, there is no score, you are not being timed. Just make a nice fire, and stay warm in the glow of your high definition entertainment product." This opening letter from Tomorrow Corporation - the real-life developer and in-game mega-conglomerate from whom you've just...
Worth your launch day carrots?
The inaugural Rabbids game was a launch title for the Wii back in 2006, so it seems only fitting that Wii U should have its own outing with the furry little hellions right from the get-go in Rabbids Land. This time around the action is presented in the context of a digital board game, like Mario Party, and while the...
Guide Using USB Storage with the Wii U
Commit these instructions to memory
The Wii U's eShop represents a big step forward in digital distribution for Nintendo, with eShop-only indie titles sharing shelf space with downloadable versions of major retail releases from day one. These larger titles can easily occupy over 10GB of space, with Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition confirmed to...
Review Chasing Aurora (Wii U eShop)
Soaring
At its heart, Chasing Aurora is a game about the dream of flight. Developed by Broken Rules - the studio behind And Yet It Moves - it's a beautiful journey with distinct single- and multiplayer components that share a focus on simplicity and the endlessly enjoyable act of flying. As a launch game for the Wii U eShop, it's first and foremost...
Trial without style
Jump Trials, a 200 point DSiWare release from G-Style Games, is a game about running and jumping from left to right. It's a game for players who feel that perhaps platformers have become too ambitious, and that the "right" in "left to right" should refer to the far edge of a single DS-sized screen, rather than the ends of the...
Review Puzzler World 2012 3D (3DS)
Puzzles, puzzles everywhere
Puzzler is a big name in the world of pencil-and-paper puzzle compendiums, and Ideas Pad has been bringing the license to the digital age since 2008. Puzzler World 2012 3D is the first 3DS title following a long line of DS games, including the recently reviewed DSiWare release Puzzler World XL. While there haven't been...
Review Dress To Play: Cute Witches! (3DS eShop)
Half witch, half craft
Older gamers might look at Dress to Play: Cute Witches! and see echoes of the Cotton series, or Magical Chase. Cute witches (lowercase) are certainly no strangers to shoot-'em-ups, and this game aims to combine a simplified (and bullet-free) version of that side-scrolling action with a dress-up element for character...
Review 2 Fast 4 Gnomz (3DS eShop)
Gnome-madic
While the title might indicate that 2 Fast 4 Gnomz could be the marriage of Miami street racing and gnome culture we've all been waiting for, what we have instead is a much-improved eShop version of QubicGames' WiiWare runner of the same name. In fact, the title's silly, Prince-esque number usage and 90's-edgy "z" belie the fact that 2...
Review Puzzler World XL (DSiWare)
My God, it's full of puzzles
Based on a popular brand of pencil-and-paper puzzle collections, Puzzler World XL is the latest release from developer Ideas Pad. It doesn't stray far from its digital cousins or its analogue ancestors, but fans of classic puzzles will find an excellent companion in this expansive, well-rounded package. First and...
Review Style Savvy: Trendsetters (3DS)
They see me stylin', they hatin'
What's the hottest new fashion trend this fall season? Nintendo's hoping it won't be cobalt leg-warmers or autumn florals, but rather their newly released 3DS fashion sim, Style Savvy: Trendsetters. With engaging collection and customization-based gameplay and classy production values, they've certainly got a good...
Review Robot Rescue 2 (DSiWare)
Robot Parade
The sequel to Teyon's first DSiWare release from back in 2009, Robot Rescue 2 charges players with leading a flock of oddly organic looking robots to safety across gridded stages. Rescuing these robots is made more complicated, and much more interesting, by the fact that their movement is synchronized. Press any direction on the D-pad...
Review Drop Zone: Under Fire (WiiWare)
Falling with style
One of the coolest things video games can do is let us perform daring, stylish feats we might never attempt in the real world. Drifting around corners at 100mph, snowboarding off the edge of a mountain with reckless bravado, even plucking vegetables from the ground and hurling them at a pink dinosaur — all things we can...
Review Kart Krashers (DSiWare)
A party worth krashing?
Kart Krashers has a plan to shake up the kart racing genre: keep the karts, erase the race. Sure, it sounds rather pointless, but stick with us. The basic idea is to drive your kart around arena-like courses, shooting for a high score by collecting stars and rings and taking out baddies. The "Krashers" in the name implies a...
Review Balloon Pop Remix (3DS eShop)
A popping good time
Balloon Pop Remix, the latest offering from developer UFO Interactive, is a stylus-based variation on the "bubble-pop" puzzle theme. You slide the stylus over two or more adjacent balloons of any colour to pop them, and as the balloons from below float up to take their place, any matching colour combination of three or more will...
Fun but lacking depth
Abyss is almost an archetypically simple game. There are no modes, power-ups, online features or options, and every face button performs the same action. The premise is correspondingly uncomplicated: as the charmingly named deep-sea submarine “Nep2no”, you'll float through close-quartered underwater stages, avoiding the...
Feature Let's Celebrate Kirby's Spin-Offs
Kirby's had a busy 20 years
Earlier this month, at his apocryphal 20th birthday celebration, we're sure Kirby was able to blow out his candles with trademark gale-force and reflect on what has been, even for a Nintendo character, an astoundingly diverse career. While keeping his day job of walking from left to right and inhaling enemies, Nintendo's...
Review Dot Runner: Complete Edition (3DS eShop)
On the dot or a runaround?
Dot Runner: Complete Edition is the latest release from Intense, developer of unique DSiWare RPG GO Series: Picdun. This outing shares the dual perspectives of that title but little else; here you collect dots as a futuristic man-on-a-mission named BOLT in a chase puzzler that's fast and fun, but seriously flawed. While...
Review The Phantom Thief Stina and 30 Jewels (3DS eShop)
Hidden gem or a kick in the jewels?
The Phantom Thief Stina and 30 Jewels is an arcade-like game that has you breaking into an assortment of stages, grabbing keycodes, deactivating security systems, and escaping into the night with shiny jewel in hand. As a concept, Phantom Thief is intriguing, but while it can be fun, it's ultimately let down by...
