May2013
Review Groove Heaven (3DS eShop)
Some call me “The Human Metronome”
It seems as though rhythm games have really taken off in the past few years, especially on the 3DS. Retail titles have popped up, such as Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy, and more recently the eShop has been receiving musical exclusives such as the wonderfully charming Harmoknight. Now Teyon, a publisher that's no...
April2013
Review Clash of Elementalists (DSiWare)
An Elemental Mistake
If you’ve stumbled onto any footage of Clash of Elementalists, we wouldn’t be surprised if your first impression was a good one. At first glance, the game-play appears reminiscent of SEGA’s Virtual-On series or even the multiplayer aspect of Kid Icarus: Uprising. This is a third-person arena brawler where you’re bestowed...
January2013
Review 101 DinoPets 3D (3DS eShop)
Di-no-thanks
When you first boot up 101 DinoPets 3D you're greeted with an introduction that sees you finding an abandoned dinosaur hatchling on your front porch. If you're anything like us, this will fill you with excitement about how much potential for fun this concept has. Then again if you're anything like us that excitement will soon disappear...
December2012
Review Wizard Defenders (DSiWare)
We have but a fool's hope
On the surface, Wizard Defenders seems like a promising blend of match-3 puzzling and tower defence; in its best moments it's a concept that works well. Unfortunately these moments are rare, and despite its budget price this title lacks the magic to make a gamer happy. This is a good example of a reasonable idea being...
October2012
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...
September2012
Review Heavy Fire: Special Operations 3D (3DS eShop)
Fool us once...
Slowly but surely, Teyon is on its way towards a half-way decent entry in its Heavy Fire series of military pop shooters. After squeezing out two downloadable disasters and an inexplicable retail release, Teyon returns to the well with Heavy Fire: Special Operations 3D — a reloaded version of that first WiiWare gem, now with added...
Review Outdoors Unleashed: Africa 3D (3DS eShop)
To the hunt
Even before it was released, Outdoors Unleashed: Africa 3D was already turning heads and churning out some very interesting debate about what is and is not considered appropriate for a video game. Because this title is all about hunting on an African safari and involves the killing of wild - and in many cases, endangered - animals,...
August2012
Review Crazy Chicken Pirates (DSiWare)
Not crazy enough to work
Recently two games were released via Nintendo’s handheld online services, Crazy Chicken Pirates and Crazy Chicken Pirates 3D, and, as you’ve probably guessed, they’re very similar to one another. By “very similar”, we actually mean that — with the exception of the additional 3D effect and higher resolution of the...
Review Escape The Virus: Shoot 'Em Up! (DSiWare)
Not hugely contagious
Escape the Virus: Shoot 'em Up! is a top-down twin stick arcade shooter without the twin sticks. As a tiny bit of friendly bacteria, you zoom about firing out rounds of red and blue pills at an endless onslaught of nasty-looking viruses, shooting in whichever direction you're moving. The viruses always eventually win, so the...
Review Crazy Chicken Pirates 3D (3DS eShop)
This poultry is paltry
There's a story in Crazy Chicken Pirates 3D, but believe us, you won't need one. The game — whose title reads about as gracefully as magnetic poetry — sees you gunning down chickens for 90 seconds. Then, we guess, you can do it again. If you'd like to. You may not, but the option to play again is about the only option the...
July2012
Candlelight delight
Candle Route is a unique and colourful puzzle game starring Sparky, a plucky, anthropomorphic flame charged with bringing light to Crayon Castle before night comes around. The adventure that follows feels a bit like a cross between ChuChu Rocket!, mini-golf, and being a mother duck; most importantly it's beautiful, original and...
Review Escape the Virus: Swarm Survival (DSiWare)
Mini-thrills with micro-organisms
Escape the Virus: Swarm Survival, an offshoot of the WiiWare title Viral Survival from a few years back, is a collection of two score-based arcade games that take place under the microscope. While there's not a lot to this simple petri dish offering, what's there is an awful lot of fun and the core mechanics are...
May2012
Review Chronicles of Vampires: Awakening (DSiWare)
Bloody good?
It seems that popular culture's obsession with vampires may be entering its twilight years. If contemporary films, books and TV series focusing on gothic lore ever felt fresh and exciting, that effect has worn off and the bloodsuckers have come to feel a bit bland and tired. Still clinging onto the trend is the second in Teyon's hidden...
Purr crazy
“Little kittens are trapped in a well!” yowls Cat Frenzy's press release, invoking worrying thoughts of helpless baby felines in peril. Actually, this sliding block game is a bit more cheery in reality – the background implies they're actually in a house, for starters. Phew. Played with your handheld in sideways book-style, Cat...
Review Bird Mania 3D (3DS eShop)
A first-class flight
3DS Download Software has been a bit of a mixed bag so far, with titles ranging from the glorious to the utterly forgettable. Similarly, developer Teyon has been responsible for both memorable, addictive fun and fuelling our screaming nightmares. For those reasons, we weren't sure what to expect of Bird Mania 3D. But now that...
January2012
Review 101 Pinball World (DSiWare)
Deaf, dumb and blind
101 Pinball World is, quite frankly, confounding on every level. Teyon's latest misguided attempt to cram large numbers of poorly-designed levels into half-baked games has resulted in a broken, hideous, aurally offensive, shambling monstrosity of a game. And that's being polite. Releasing in North America alongside the...
Review Chronicles of Vampires: Origins (DSiWare)
Not so original
If we made a list of things that we've seen just a little too much of in recent years, vampires and hidden object games would sit somewhere near the top. If that weren't enough to temper our excitement over Chronicles of Vampires: Origins, it happens to have one of the clumsiest titles we've read in recent memory (maybe because The...
October2011
Review 1001 BlockBusters (DSiWare)
1001 ways to say "meh"
101 Dolphin Pets. 101 Shark Pets. 1001 Crystal Mazes Collection. And now 1001 BlockBusters. Teyon sure tends to feel a great deal of pride for the sheer amount of content it packs into every release. But playing this most recent game, at least, it's difficult not to wish that it'd aim for smaller, more refined ex
Review Crystal Caverns of Amon-Ra (DSiWare)
Is the quality of this game just a mirage?
Puzzle games are a dime a dozen on DSiWare, so when a new one comes along, it's pretty easy to dismiss. Throw in a word like "crystal" and the words "Bejeweled clone" immediately come to mind. While this does involve the matching of three similarly coloured objects, however, Crystal...
March2011
Review Heavy Fire: Black Arms (WiiWare)
Kill 'em all
Remember Heavy Fire: Special Operations, that on-rails military shooter that was kind of not good at all? Well, it got a sequel. Don't ask us how, but somehow it convinced enough people to plunk down their cash to be worth another go for developer Teyon. While it does delight us to say that there have indeed been a few tweaks for the...
February2011
Review Arctic Escape (DSiWare)
Like Lemmings, but in formal wear
Arctic Escape revolves around guiding a group of adorable little critters past obstacles and away from fatal hazards, herding them in an orderly fashion through an exit so that the next stage can load and you can do it all over again. Sound familiar? It should: it's the gameplay formula that made the Lemmings series...
Review 101 Dolphin Pets (DSiWare)
The water's fine
Some of us are old enough to remember when all you could do with a virtual pet was feed it when it beeped, play "guess the number" and wait for it to eventually die. We've come a long way since then, arriving now at 101 Dolphin Pets, Teyon's follow-up to its more ferocious shark-based smorgasbord of 101 Shark Pets. The...
July2010
Review Heavy Fire: Special Operations (WiiWare)
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-buyer's remorse
There’s certainly no lack of lightgun games on Wii; in fact, one of the more vocal complaints about Wii shooters is that too many of them are on-rails. It’s a silly thing to complain about given the dearth of them in previous console generations and the relatively high quality of the Wii’s...
Review 101 Shark Pets (DSiWare)
Shark weak
Part virtual pet, part mini-game compilation, 101 Shark Pets cobbles together enough halfway-decent features to create a slightly above average game that younger audiences ought to enjoy. While its individual parts could never hold up on their own, within their sometimes fun framework they just manage to make this a passable title. As...
June2010
Bejewel 'til you drool
For almost ten years, computerised jewels have had it rough. Countless gamers, cell phone owners and bored white collar workers have made it their mission to line them up in rows of matching colour and destroy them. Now with Super Swap, even more jewels risk losing their lives to the technological menace that is man. Players...
