November2010
Review Call of Duty: Black Ops (DS)
Portable ops
Even though they're wheeled out every year alongside their console cousin, n-Space's Call of Duty games on DS never cease to surprise. From making first-person gameplay work well on the unconventional handheld to pushing horsepower limits, each entry seems to have something new to prove. This year, Call of Duty: Black Ops pushes the DS...
Review Call of Duty: Black Ops (Wii)
Back in black
The Call of Duty series has come a long way from its humble origins as a Medal of Honor competitor, now standing as a world-conquering video game superpower able to clear release calendars with the mere threat of its presence in a month. On HD platforms, that is, with Nintendo's little white box relegated to answering the call in a...
Third-person Bond is first-rate fun
Whereas Nintendo console gamers only get one James Bond shooter this fall, with the first-person GoldenEye 007 on Wii and third-person Blood Stone on HD platforms, DS owners get their pick of the litter with diminutive versions of both courtesy of developer n-Space. Just as GoldenEye on DS did, Blood Stone 007...
Use the handheld, that's what it's for!
Developer n-Space is no stranger to first-person shooters on Nintendo's technologically humble portable, having delivered three increasingly advanced Call of Duty DS games day-and-date with their console counterparts. That successful core formula hasn't changed all too much for their retelling of James Bond's...
Online modes headline the evening's event
Activision might be an easy target for gamers who feel certain franchises have been milked beyond recognition (Tony Hawk: SHRED, we're looking at you) and with DJ Hero's first annual sequel out now, you'd be forgiven in wondering if this will be another franchise we'll get sick of seeing. Thankfully, the...
The N64 is not enough
Ah, GoldenEye 007. A remarkable game on the ol’ Nintendo 64, no doubt about it. Countless hours of planting proximity mines in Basement and Facility for your friends to run into, scream and punch you on the arm is enough to earn a hall of fame spot in any player’s heart. So when Activision and Eurocom — who first became...
September2010
Review Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (Wii)
Four dimensions, one disc
Making a superhero game suddenly became a lot more of a challenge last year, thanks to Rocksteady’s excellent Batman: Arkham Asylum. Activities tangential to what these characters are, like flying through rings and grabbing lost balloons for dumb kids, just doesn’t cut it anymore after roaming the terrifying asylum...
May2010
Definitely worthy of a rewind
Whether you like them or not, the Guitar Hero series has done a lot to popularise the rhythm genre in contemporary gaming, and although the premise of hitting buttons to the beat isn't exactly new, you have to give them credit for the success they have garnished. However, after years of seeing essentially the same game...
November2009
Review Shanghai II: Dragon's Eye (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
A history lesson in the failure of PC-to-console ports.
Activision was the first to sell a mahjong solitaire (for lack of a better term) game for IBM PCs and Apple Macs in 1986 under the name Shanghai. They even got the programmer of the original game -- which was created on University of Illinois mainframes -- to do the programming and create...
A mini-game collection for retro-fans.
Whilst the word "arcade" will mean "video game" to many, it mustn't be forgotten that many arcades also featured carnival-style games that dispensed tickets for buying plastic trinkets (or, for the truly skilled, something more flash like a transistor radio or a soft toy) from a prize shop...
Review Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Reflex (Wii)
Two years old. HD-to-Wii port. Surprisingly good
When Treyarch first announced that they'd be porting Infinity Ward's two-year-old Xbox 360/PS3/PC powerhouse Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare to Wii, nobody seemed to think that the game would faithfully translate to Nintendo's underpowered console. The first screens were laughed at and the game seemed...
October2009
Review Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (Wii)
Ultimate? Not quite.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance was one of the launch titles for the Wii in 2006 and despite being a port of a game also released on the PS3 and Xbox 360, it was still good fun. As a love letter to Marvel fans over the decades it provided a virtual travelogue of the people and places of the Marvel universe and was a wonderful...
July2009
Review Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (Wii)
Marvel heroes trapped in a Wiirld they never made!
As the title suggests, this is the ultimate game featuring Marvel super heroes. The storyline resembles many classic Marvel title-spanning events: Doctor Doom has assembled The Masters of Evil to undertake an audacious gambit to assume ultimate power in the universe. Nick Fury, Agent of...
May2009
Review Guitar Hero Metallica (Wii)
Scraping the bottom of the barrel or taking the franchise to new heights?
Whenever a developer stumbles onto a gold mine, they usually start milking the franchise for all its worth. While Activision certainly falls into that camp with the Guitar Hero series, they’ve managed to maintain the quality of their titles from one installment to the next...
April2009
Review Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Can Harry Jr. fill his father's boots?
The two original Pitfall games for the Atari 2600 have become quite dated now – walking across a handful of endlessly repeating screens in the hope of finding treasure has lost its appeal. Activision once tried to "upgrade" the formula by allowing the Japanese developer Pony Canyon to make Super...
Review Mixed Messages (DSiWare)
Activision's DSiWare debut leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
Mixed Messages could be classified more as an experience than an actual game, since there's actually no clearly-defined goal. You basically just alternate typing sentences and drawing pictures to try to match each other in an attempt to keep the original message intact. As you can probably...
June2008
Review Last Ninja 2: Back with a Vengeance (Virtual Console / Commodore 64)
The Ninja, known as the Mystic Shadow Warriors, were the elite fighting force of Ninth Century Feudal Japan.
The second instalment of the Last Ninja trilogy transports Armakuni to New York, where he must confront the evil Shogun Kunitoki once more. Your travels are once again displayed in a flip screen isometric format, as you explore the...
February2008
Review Transformers: Decepticons (DS)
Transformers: Decepticons is practically the same game as the Autobots edition told from the angle of the “evil” Starscream as opposed to the “heroic” Optimus Prime.
All the gameplay flaws are present (see our review of Transformers: Autobots for the full details) the only difference being you are treated with a whole new set of cut-scenes...
Review Transformers: Autobots (DS)
I, like most other Transformers fans was pretty upset to hear that my “backpocket interest” was to be thrust into the mainstream once again.
Having loved The Transformers since I was very young sometimes it’s pretty irritating hearing all the tweens talking about something you’ve loved so much longer than them. It must be some kind of...
August2007
Review Transformers: The Game (Wii)
Is there 'more than meets the eye' when it comes to Activision's latest movie tie-in, or does it replicate the slightly disappointing feel of the big-budget movie it's based on?
If you happen to be a child of the 80s then the appeal of Transformers shouldn’t need any explanation. The seminal early morning cartoon series - coupled with a...
August2006
Review Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 (GCN)
Tony hawk is back!
Only eleven months after the release of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, the Hawk is back in this sequel to the award winning skateboard game. Over the years the Tony Hawk series have managed to get a huge fan base, and there is no doubt that this was a highly anticipated title. If you're interested in the skateboard genre, the sport...
