April2013
Review Soccer Up 3D (3DS eShop)
Own goal
These days, soccer games tend to fall on one of two ends of a spectrum: there's the relatively realistic sports simulation found in annual FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer instalments, and then there's the zany over-the-top action of the Super Mario Strikers and FIFA Street series. In the golden days of the Amiga, however, there were other...
February2013
Under pressure
Having covered bullets and time, EnjoyUp's pint-sized yet madly challenging 99 series of score-attackers aligns its focus on the third staple of classic game design: movement and the limitations thereof. Over the dozen or so stages of 99Moves, players are dared to make it to the end of a gauntlet in as many moves or fewer. It doesn't...
January2013
Review Snowboard Xtreme (DSiWare)
Xtremely lacklustre
Sometimes a game company develops a game that doesn’t turn out to be nearly as well received as they expect it to be. After that, the very same game company will sometimes take that sorry excuse for a game, change the theme, fix the controls, re-skin it to look like something different, and then release it as an entirely new...
December2012
There is no eskape
If you haven’t noticed by now, then we’re just going to have to come right out and say it: zombies are popular. There’s no real way to trace the resurgence that zombies have had in popular culture, but it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. That being the case, there have been a whole lot of video games featuring zombies in...
November2012
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...
September2012
WiiWare's last big game?
La Mulana's WiiWare release has been a rocky road. It was first announced by developer Nigoro in 2009 and suffered several delays before finally hitting the service in Japan in 2011. Of course, most were expecting it to be released elsewhere soon after, but that didn't happen. It was eventually cancelled by its old publisher...
Hunting, it’ll make you crazy
Have you ever thought to yourself, “what’s the least amount of fun I can possibly have while playing a DSiWare game”? Well, think no more, because now your wildest fantasies can be a reality when you play Crazy Hunter. With a plot that makes no sense and controls that are almost impossible to master, you’ll be...
August2012
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...
July2012
Review 3, 2, 1... Words Up! (DSiWare)
Fun with words
3, 2, 1... Words Up! is a great example of how simple can be satisfying. This word-unscrambling game does one thing and does it well, providing a solid dose of portable wordplay to anyone looking to test their lexical limits. The basic objective is to create as many words as possible from a bank of seven letters, and there are two...
June2012
I got 99 problems but time ain't one
Tiny time-waster games like 99seconds really aren't all that dissimilar from the arcade games of old that we now look on so fondly as champions of game design: simplistic ideas with an execution engaging enough to keep the flow of quarters flowing. Here, the concept is a form of extreme keep-away with a slow-down...
February2012
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,...
January2012
Full of fun or made of cheese?
While many portable games praised for their accessibility and simple controls are often times associated with mobile game platforms, DSiWare is not without its own quality pick-up-and play titles. Games like Reflect Missile, Pop Plus: Solo and the Art Style series offer satisfyingly simple gameplay perfect for short...
Shoots too narrow
On the Wii Shop Channel, EnjoyUp! Games describes Soccer Up! as being "a funny soccer game." We're willing to bet you and EnjoyUp! Games have different senses of humour. But we're also willing to bet you have different definitions of "total control," "inertia" and "soccer." Indeed, much of...
December2011
X-cceptable
Less than a month ago, EnjoyUp Games released Pinocchio’s Puzzle, a jigsaw puzzle game that proved to be good fun for the whole family. Now, just in time for the holidays, EnjoyUp’s second jigsaw puzzle videogame emerges as Xmas Puzzle. But is this puzzle worth finishing and framing, or is it just a cheap Christmas cash cow? If you...
Review Battle of the Elements (DSiWare)
Elementary, dear Watson
Lists. Who needs 'em? Whether it's a shopping list or a year-end "Best Of" list, you just know when you're writing it that you'll end up forgetting something important. When the year ends, Battle of the Elements probably won't be on our Best Of list. If you're the kind of person that makes lists of games to buy,...
November2011
Review Pinocchio's Puzzle (WiiWare)
Pinocchio goes to pieces
Chances are, when you're deciding to pick up a puzzle game for your console of choice, you don't think of actual jigsaw puzzles. They just don't fit easily into the genre's landscape. Popular puzzlers like Tetris and Angry Birds have an immediacy to them that encourages quick play and gratification, while a real jigsaw...
October2011
Together at last
Say what you will about the rest of the game, one thing Bugs'N'Balls gets exactly right is its title. It has bugs, and they are indeed armed with balls. The question is this: do bugs and balls go together like peanut butter and jelly, or is it more like oil and water? Let's just say it's peanut butter jelly time. Bugs'N'Balls is...
May2011
Blast or dud?
The shoot 'em up genre hasn't exactly seen a lot of love on the DSiWare service to date, but EnjoyUp! Games is looking to change that with the release of 99Bullets. While the basic core of the game does revolve around an old-school shooter premise, there's a unique twist that injects a very puzzle-like atmosphere into the mix. The...
January2010
Review Chronos Twins (DSiWare)
Double the fun, half the price.
Quick history lesson: Chronos Twins began life as a Game Boy Advance title that was later ported over to the DS. While the game saw release in the UK, it was unable to land a North American publisher – poor UK sales didn't help matters. The game was released on WiiWare and now, only one week later, the DS version is...
Review Chronos Twins DX (WiiWare)
Double the fun
Quick history lesson: Chronos Twins DX began life as a Game Boy Advance title that was later ported over to the DS. While the game saw release in the UK, it was unable to land a North American publisher – poor UK sales didn't help much. Thankfully, the game is now enjoying a well-deserved second chance on WiiWare and turns out to be...
November2009
Review Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ (DSiWare)
Not your childhood's Little Red Riding Hood!
You might've heard of Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ before; after all, a classic fairytale character blasting zombies to pieces should be almost guaranteed to get your attention. Chances are, however, that you never saw the game in stores — this is because the game never actually saw release in...
April2009
Review Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ (DS)
Who knew Little Red Riding Hood was so much fun?
At Nintendo Life, we very much doubted that anyone expected a great deal from Little Red Riding Hood’s Zombie BBQ. The title sounded like it would attract a very immature audience, and the box art didn't exactly inspire casual gamers to buy it either. So imagine how surprised we were when we played...
