March2015
Review Pokémon Shuffle (3DS eShop)
Hoenn Hustle
Pokémon have been puzzling ever since the Johto days, when Pokémon Puzzle Challenge married the block-flipping gameplay of Panel de Pon with Game Freak's charming, collectable characters. It's a formula that's stuck, with Denpa Men developer Genius Sonority heading up the most recent series of Poké-puzzle combinations, including...
May2014
Review The Denpa Men 3: The Rise of Digitoll (3DS eShop)
Good vibrations
Before Denpa Ningen no RPG washed up on Western shores as The Denpa Men: They Came By Wave in 2012, it felt like a localisation long-shot: a candy-coloured JRPG with off-the-wall style, an AR-based hook, very little story, and deceptively traditional, grind-heavy gameplay. Even the Denpa Men themselves — colourful and oddly...
March2014
Review Pokémon Link: Battle! (3DS eShop)
Match maker
DS title Pokémon Link — known as Pokémon Trozei in North America — was a fine example of how Nintendo has been able to diversify and expand the franchise in different directions. This download-only sequel — once again developed by Genius Sonority — continues that trend, but has more monsters to catch, locations to explore and...
May2013
Review The Denpa Men 2: Beyond The Waves (3DS eShop)
Love is in the air
The Denpa Men: They Came by Wave was a wonderful 3DS eShop surprise last year, combining elements of Dragon Quest and Pokémon with AR functionality and a delightfully bonkers style all its own, so we were definitely excited to spot The Denpa Men 2: Beyond the Waves washing up onto our shores as well. This sequel pulls out all the...
October2012
Review Learn With Pokémon: Typing Adventure (DS)
SEMI-COLON COMMA WOOBAT
It would be very easy to dismiss Learn With Pokémon Typing Adventure as ‘just another Pokémon spin-off’, or even worse, an ‘edutainment game’. Yet in fact, the title conceals a rather addictive addition to the Pokémon franchise, bundled with a nifty Bluetooth keyboard and stand. As with most Pokémon spin-offs,...
September2012
Review The Denpa Men: They Came By Wave (3DS eShop)
Radioheads
When we first started hearing the news about Denpa Ningen no RPG coming to the West, we didn't know what to expect. Its visual debt to Nintendo's Miis and Pikmin intrigued us, and the fact that the brains behind this game had their fingers in Pokémon Colosseum and great series such as Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy and Ogre Battle meant...
April2009
Review Pokémon Battle Revolution (Wii)
There’s a lack of evolution in this revolution.
Pokémon Battle Revolution was first announced back in June of 2006, and it sounded as though it was going to be the ideal console Pokémon game: destructible environments, Wii-DS connectivity, online battling – everything we wanted from the franchise. Satoru Iwata lived up to his promise of...
