April2013

  • Review Witch & Hero (3DS eShop)

    A curse upon the eShop

    CIRCLE Entertainment has been a prolific publisher on DSiWare, bringing to the fore its own titles and also helping small developers share their work with the DSi/3DS audience. With so many titles against its name there are some that are excellent, as well as others that we'd sooner forget. Witch & Hero arrives on the 3DS...

March2013

  • Review Goony (DSiWare)

    You jelly?

    Aside offerings such as I Must Run!, there haven't been a huge number of endless runner-style games on DSiWare. CIRCLE Entertainment's latest title, Goony, aims to fill that gap a little, while also proving that you don't necessarily need legs or a baffling amount of stamina to star in the genre – if you're a creature made of jelly, you...

February2013

  • Review Ah! Heaven (DSiWare)

    Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door

    Over the past few years, the DSiWare download service has seen some incredibly strange games with bizarre plots and titles. Ah! Heaven is no exception to this. Simply put, this a vertically scrolling platformer that has you taking control of a spiky haired, sunglasses wearing, nameless soul who just wants to ascend to...

December2012

  • Review Castle Conqueror - Heroes 2 (DSiWare)

    Another heroic effort

    Just over one year ago CIRCLE released Castle Conqueror - Heroes for DSiWare. We weren't stingy with the praise in our review, awarding it a solid 9 out of 10 and holding it up as the strongest title in a very strong series. Now we've received a sequel, and we couldn't be happier. For those who haven't played the first game,...

  • Review Crystal Adventure (DSiWare)

    In which "adventure" is revealed to be a relative term

    If there's one thing RPG fans enjoy, it's a good story. The quest should be epic, the characters should be interesting, and there should preferably be a few surprising twists along the way as well. Here is the story of Crystal Adventure: you get bored quickly and delete it. Okay, you caught...

November2012

  • Review Come On! Dragons (DSiWare)

    Blowing smoke

    Come On! Dragons arrives on DSiWare with the promise of delivering a combination of tower defence and arrow firing action, much like its predecessor Come On! Heroes. Like the original title it succeeds to some degree, but its positives are weighed down by some disappointing flaws, meaning that it's not as hot as the title may suggest...

October2012

  • Review 18th Gate (DSiWare)

    Dungeon crawler

    18th Gate is not a game for the easily bored. It's a fairly basic strategy RPG that has you edging through – yes – 18 dungeons to the magical portal gates at the end, with the caveat that you only have a limited number of turns to escape from each maze. Each turn can be an attack, a spell or a single step to an adjacent hexagonal...

September2012

  • Review Bookstore Dream (DSiWare)

    Let us tell you about this game, fair reader

    Bookstore Dream, to be clear, has about as much book-selling realism as the Call of Duty series has to real warfare. Ultimately though, it is just a game, and this one draws much of its inspiration from a series of smartphone resource management games from developer Kairosoft. We won't complain about...

August2012

  • Review The Lost Town - The Jungle (DSiWare)

    Lost in translation

    It’s rare for a sequel to a well received game to be released with little to nothing in terms of new content. Usually, a sequel calls for a fresh plot which ushers in new characters and gameplay elements to keep the familiar franchise fresh. Sometimes though, a sequel gets released that is essentially just a re-skinning of the...

July2012

  • Review Ace Mathician (DSiWare)

    Smooth operators

    Ace Mathician, from Flipper developer Goodbye Galaxy Games, is a unique puzzle-platformer that succeeds in combining the magic of both marsupials and maths. The basic idea is to help a friendly koala named Ace reach the fruit at the end of each single-screen stage by rearranging platforms using algebraic equations. Make no mistake:...

June2012

  • Review Devil Band - Rock the Underworld (DSiWare)

    Ear piercing

    If musicians really can save the world — Bob Geldof and Bono would both like you to believe they can — then it's a shame they couldn't do it in a game more interesting than Devil Band - Rock the Underworld. CIRCLE's latest essentially takes Plants vs. Zombies, robs it of its charm and adds in a lot more tapping. You control a metal...

  • Review Sweet Memories Blackjack (3DS eShop)

    Not fond memories

    Sweet Memories Blackjack is a strange arrival on the 3DS eShop, with a Japanese concept and style that typically doesn’t make it outside of the Land of the Rising Sun. While card games are common on DSiWare, this 3DS exclusive follows a different approach that aims to bring a relationship dynamic to proceedings. This title may...

March2012

  • 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...

January2012

  • Review 3 Heroes - Crystal Soul (DSiWare)

    Crystal meh

    CIRCLE Entertainment has a whopping 11 releases on DSiWare, with 3 Heroes — Crystal Soul the latest arrival. And while the medieval theme the developer is obviously fond of is still prevalent throughout the experience, this time around it's more of a puzzler than the usual strategy title. At the start of your adventure, you'll find...

December2011

  • Review Castle Conqueror - Against (DSiWare)

    Another day in paradise

    Another Castle Conqueror game? If CIRCLE Entertainment keeps this up, this just might turn into a monthly tradition. It's worth reading our previous reviews of Castle Conqueror and Castle Conqueror — Revolution as the gameplay here is largely the same as its real-time predecessors. The basic concept remains untouched:...

November2011

  • Review Come On! Heroes (DSiWare)

    Arrowsmith

    Hot on the heels of the similarly named Castle Conqueror - Heroes comes CIRCLE Entertainment's Come On! Heroes. It's similar in title only, however, as the gameplay and presentation hearken most closely back to the first Castle Conqueror game. This isn't a bad thing but, unfortunately, a lack of variety really lets this release down...

  • Review Castle Conqueror - Heroes (DSiWare)

    We can beat them, for ever and ever

    About a year ago, Circle Entertainment released Castle Conqueror, a quirky and simple RTS that was also very addictive and fun. If we had any real complaints about it, it was that the charming simplicity somewhat prevented it from achieving any substantial depth. It was an excellent experience, but it felt as...

October2011

  • Review Castle Conqueror - Revolution (DSiWare)

    It revolves, but it doesn't evolve

    The first Castle Conqueror game was one that we definitely felt comfortable recommending. It mixed cutesy aesthetics with fast and addictive gameplay, and while seasoned RTS veterans no doubt found the game a little too simplified, the amount of fun it offered was difficult to resist. Its sequel, Castle Conqueror...

July2011

  • Review The Lost Town - The Dust (DSiWare)

    Diamond in the Dust

    Quite a few attempts have been made at producing a good DSiWare action RPG by now. Some of these games turned out to be top-notch, and others not so much. Thankfully, The Lost Town - The Dust falls into the category of games that are definitely worth their weight in Nintendo Points. This lengthily titled action RPG combines...

January2011

  • Review The Seller (DSiWare)

    Sell it

    Quick! What's the most convoluted and fun-deprived card game on the DSiWare service? Wrong: it's The Seller, an unnecessarily complicated and almost completely unstimulating card game that probably won't even keep you awake long enough to irritate the Hell out of you. Now, let's get one thing clear: The Seller isn't broken. It's (almost) a...

November2010

  • Review Peg Solitaire (DSiWare)

    Does it hit the peg on the head?

    Many Americans will probably recognise Peg Solitaire as a variation on what's more commonly as “that weird little game they have at all the tables at Cracker Barrel," but in Europe, Peg Solitaire is just, well, Solitaire (while that one-player card game we're familiar with is known as Patience). So if you feel...

September2010

  • Review Castle Conqueror (DSiWare)

    The beginner’s RTS

    With its touch screen and stylus controls, the Nintendo DS seems like it was practically built for real-time strategy games. Sadly, entries in this genre have been few and far between. Publisher CIRCLE Entertainment comes out of the woodwork with Castle Conqueror, an all-new RTS for DSiWare. Referred to as a strategy game for...

August2010

  • Review Hints Hunter (DSiWare)

    Sigh borg

    Playing Hints Hunter is a lot like browsing through a book of carpet samples: there may be a lot of them, but it won't take you very long before you've moved on from one to the next. Also, sometimes you come across a really difficult square right in the middle of some comparatively easy ones. Plus there are cartoon robots. Ok, maybe it's...

July2010

  • Review Ancient Tribe (DSiWare)

    Dino snore

    Hot on the heels of T-Rex Rumble comes Ancient Tribe, another real-time strategy game in which you lead a prehistoric society as it grows, develops and fights the beasts with whom it shares the land. We at Nintendo Life try to judge a game for what it is instead of what it's not, but when two games that share the same basic concept hit...

January2010

  • Review Animal Puzzle Adventure (DSiWare)

    Puppies and kittens and piglets, oh my

    Aksys Games makes most of their living by translating and localising Japanese games for Western markets. Their choices for WiiWare offerings, at least, haven't been great so far, but they've now graced the DSi Shop with partner developer Arc System Works' Animal Puzzle Adventure