February2013
Review Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth (Wii U)
Hulk smash
Let's face it – for the uninitiated, the fighting genre can be daunting. Millisecond-perfect timing and the memorisation of several-button-presses-long combos are often essential to win, and unfortunately not everybody has enough time to spend shining up their Shoryukens. Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth lowers the entry barrier to the...
January2013
Dance epidemic tonight
Given its massive success, we can't even feign surprise at this point that Just Dance hasn't veered far from its path. Pleased with its gift horse and eyes locked firmly elsewhere but its mouth, Ubisoft keeps it on the same track for yet another go round of light-hearted party fun. The prerequisite tweaks and fiddles to the...
December2012
Review Assassin's Creed III (Wii U)
America, **** yeah!
Assassin's Creed III is a weird game to launch alongside Wii U: there is little context for those Nintendo-only players who sat out the other four games because they perhaps didn't own the proper hardware, and those who are invested in the series probably already picked this up elsewhere when it released weeks before the Wii U...
Review Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2013 (Wii U)
Witness the fitness
Wii Fit may have kickstarted the fitness genre, but it isn't the only game in town. Ubisoft's Your Shape series started out on Wii with its own motion capture camera before moving to Kinect, and now comes full circle with Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2013 for the Wii U. While ditching the motion capture for a Wii Remote comes with...
November2012
Review ESPN Sports Connection (Wii U)
Taking one for the team
Launching with Wii Sports was, in hindsight, one of Nintendo's best ideas: the pack-in's elegant simplicity helped skyrocket the fledgling Wii right up into the stratosphere. Families rallied around Tennis, grannies couldn't get enough Bowling, that annoying uncle hogged Golf, mass hysteria yadda yadda. So no surprise then...
Worth your launch day carrots?
The inaugural Rabbids game was a launch title for the Wii back in 2006, so it seems only fitting that Wii U should have its own outing with the furry little hellions right from the get-go in Rabbids Land. This time around the action is presented in the context of a digital board game, like Mario Party, and while the...
Fear Factor
ZombiU definitely has a lot to prove. After Red Steel - Ubisoft’s hardcore offering at the Wii’s launch - failed to win over the masses by making large promises it failed to deliver on, public response to ZombiU has typically been laced with skepticism. Now that the game has been unleashed and is happily infecting shiny new Wii U...
Review Puzzler World 2012 3D (3DS)
Puzzles, puzzles everywhere
Puzzler is a big name in the world of pencil-and-paper puzzle compendiums, and Ideas Pad has been bringing the license to the digital age since 2008. Puzzler World 2012 3D is the first 3DS title following a long line of DS games, including the recently reviewed DSiWare release Puzzler World XL. While there haven't been...
October2012
Sweat baby, sweat
The video games industry is currently inundated with a plethora of fitness games promising to give you abs like Schwarzenegger - if you're willing to pay the price. But how many of these titles actually perform? While the Just Dance franchise might be categorised into the silly party genre, Just Dance 4 in fact provides a fun...
June2012
Limbless, but not limp
Rayman Origins has had a long trip to reach 3DS; it was supposed to be released in March, and while it's out now in Europe it won't make it to North America until November. Europeans can enjoy it in 3D for the first time, but if you've already played it on one of the myriad other platforms you might want to think twice before...
Review Rayman (3DS eShop / GBC)
Rayman, fighter of the Night Man
In 1995, the platformer Rayman was released to great critical acclaim on the PlayStation. It was the first entry in a hugely successful franchise that also spawned an entirely separate sub-franchise along the way. Rayman had charm, class and above all a tremendous sense of fun. Five years later, the game was still...
January2012
Leaving you smitten or just flea-bitten?
Nintendo certainly struck gold with Nintendogs on the DS back in 2005, winning the hearts of millions of gamers the world over with its blend of training, walking and generally caring for a band of virtual puppies so convincingly animated that you’d swear Battersea Dogs Home had dumped a truckload of actual...
Animal magic?
After looking at the box art you’d be forgiven for thinking Zoo Resort 3D was a cutesy zoo management sim; in fact, you’ll find it's the complete opposite. With a realistic aesthetic and set of mechanics that sets it apart from simulation titles in general, it certainly provides a unique experience on 3DS. Moreover it’s actually...
Review Imagine Fashion Designer (3DS)
"I don’t design clothes, I design dreams"
Imagine Fashion Designer 3D shies away from simulating the job to presenting a facsimile of it, gamifying the act of compiling outfit combinations and their superficial design. It’s certainly not a deep and involving game of nuanced mechanics and choices as you try to climb the fashion guru ladder; to...
December2011
Review The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn (3DS)
Blistering barnacles
In the nine months since the 3DS launched, Ubisoft has released no fewer than 12 games for the handheld. Some, like Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars 3D, have been very good. Others — say, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 3D — haven't. Where does The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn fit in? Somewhere in the...
Review Michael Jackson: The Experience 3D (3DS)
Once you pop, will you want to stop?
Given the runaway success of motion-controlled dance games and the stratospheric popularity of Michael Jackson, it’s frankly quite bewildering that nobody thought to marry the two before his death in 2009. Last year’s Michael Jackson: The Experience from Ubisoft was a thoroughly decent example of the genre,...
November2011
This platformer's got legs (even if Rayman doesn't)
As the gaming industry moves onwards and upwards and each genre evolves, it's interesting to observe how the platformer has come around full circle since its debut. Whereas the rest of the industry strives for more expansive and photorealistic environments or interactive storytelling, the...
Review James Noir's Hollywood Crimes (3DS)
The big easy
Since its debut, the DS console's (then) unique capabilities have presented developers with more than ample scope to push boundaries and explore new ways for us to interact and perceive handheld games. The touch screen has been hugely beneficial for Level 5’s Professor Layton series, which has proved to be so incredibly popular with...
October2011
It's evolution, baby
The world is not lacking in Just Dance games. Since that original perfect storm of pop style, goofy fun and lack of inhibition crashed the Wii party near the tail end of 2009, Ubisoft's dance factory has put out an additional eight releases of varying quality in a short two years. It would thus be easy to dismiss Just Dance 3...
September2011
Review Puzzler Mind Gym 3D (3DS)
Fair-ebellum
Brains – we've all got 'em, and up until 2006, many thought that video games would rot 'em. That's when a certain Dr. Kawashima came on the DS scene with his Brain Age training game and showed people, with the help of some (since called into question) science, that with simple math problems and puzzles intended to exercise different...
Review Driver: Renegade 3D (3DS)
Stuck in neutral
Driving and racing games have, so far, been relatively well represented on the 3DS in its early lifespan, with Ridge Racer 3D and Asphalt 3D competing for the affections of driving fans. Ubisoft has now joined in with Driver Renegade 3D, an exclusive title in the franchise for the handheld. Does it provide a high-octane adrenaline...
June2011
Is it hip to be square?
The first generation of games for new hardware is a funny batch. Titles that may go overlooked once the software library is defined and rolling full-steam ahead get their chance to shine, partly because there isn't much else out yet and partly because people want to justify all that money just spent by not letting their new...
April2011
Review Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D (3DS)
Hold on to your butts
Indisputable fact: dinosaurs are awesome. Giant, majestic beasts who would just as soon munch a twig as rip your face off with their crazy teeth, they really have few equals on this planet in terms of sheer cool. Dragons and giant sharks are pretty rad too, but neither of those girls are clever enough to figure out a door...
Let’s do the time warp, again
If you’re a Nintendo gamer and have never seen a Rabbid before, you might be the only one. Whether you’ve bought the titles or not, these wacky critters have had a number of releases, of varying standards and styles, released on the Wii and DS. Their ubiquitous nature has made them mascots of sorts for Ubisoft,...
March2011
Review Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars 3D (3DS)
Emerging from the shadows
The debut of the 3DS has seen a number of releases and ports tailored to show off 3D effects, with some perhaps coming up short in terms of depth and content, but Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars 3D aims to set itself apart from the field. There is pedigree behind the development: the project lead, Julian Gollop, is...
