April2011

  • Review Rabbids 3D (3DS)

    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...

  • Review Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 3D (3DS)

    Tripping over in the dark

    Splinter Cell 3D is one of quite a few 3DS launch titles from Ubisoft, a publisher that is showing plenty of enthusiasm for Nintendo’s little device of tricks. The number of gizmos and clever features in the console make it seem like the perfect home for deadly agent Sam Fisher. The question is whether this title is able...

  • Review Asphalt 3D (3DS)

    Screeching fault

    Gameloft’s racing series is something of a DS staple, with Asphalt: Urban GT launching with the original dual-screened console, a sequel, and then Asphalt 4 available on DSiWare. The French developer is certainly getting some mileage out of the Asphalt name, and now with the 3DS comes Asphalt 3D, a sadly middle-of-the-road affair...

  • Review Rayman 3D (3DS)

    Rayman goes 3D

    When Rayman 2 first saw the light of day on the Nintendo 64 console, it pretty much came out of nowhere and surprised many gamers with its amazing transition into the realm of 3D gaming. After seeing a host of releases on various consoles of the time period, the game was finally released on Sega's struggling Dreamcast system to...

  • Review Street Racer (Super Nintendo)

    Road to joy?

    On rare occasion, a game so revolutionary will appear that not only will it receive the usual much deserved critical acclaim, it’ll become responsible for the creation of an entirely new genre. Take Super Mario Kart for instance — the title single-handedly responsible for the birth of the console kart racer. Following its huge...

December2010

  • Review Raving Rabbids Travel in Time (Wii)

    An historic event for the Raving Rabbids, or time to put them down?

    Whatever happened to poor old Rayman? The armless wonder was there to hold the Rabbids' hands on their Wii launch debut, Rayman Raving Rabbids, way back in 2006. Since then, Ubisoft’s onetime mascot has joined his arms and legs in just fading away, leaving the Rabbids to spread...

  • Review Family Feud Decades (Wii)

    Middling child

    Family Feud's been on the air since 1976, and it's especially unique from other trivia shows as it challenges contestants not to give the correct answer but what they believe others would guess is the correct answer, ranking the choices by how many out of a surveyed group picked them. Both this and its longevity make it uniquely...

November2010

  • Review Michael Jackson: The Experience (Wii)

    It's good to be the King

    Ubisoft struck gold last year with Just Dance, a light-hearted game that didn't really care about hardcore talent as much as it did good times and booty shakin'. Its runaway success explains the improved sequel, Broadway number and kid-centric titles we've seen only one year into the franchise, so it was really only a matter...

October2010

  • Review Puzzler World 2011 (DS)

    Puzzlingly good

    You'd be forgiven for not being familiar with Ubisoft's Puzzler series. Based on an ongoing magazine, the first game saw release in 2008 as Puzzler Collection, which was then followed up by Puzzler World in 2009. The games contained numerous puzzle types ranging from crosswords and Sudoku to more obscure games such as Link-A-Pix and...

  • Review Just Dance 2 (Wii)

    You can't stop the beat

    Ubisoft's Just Dance came out of nowhere last year and was promptly the target of filth and excrement flung by the core gamer contingent, decrying it as yet another casual suck-fest as they put their controllers down between rounds of the Call of Duty. And that crowd wasn't entirely off base; to them, Just Dance seemed to...

  • Review Petz Catz Family (DSiWare)

    It's a cat-astrophe!!

    Petz has been around for a long time. Starting back in 1995, it saw a big reboot back in 2006 and has since seen multiple titles spanning all the way from mobile phones to the PS2, and are generally set around raising one particular type of virtual animal, such as a hamster or a kitten. The DS is no stranger to the series,...

August2010

  • Review Petz Dogz Family (DSiWare)

    Ruff!

    Dogs are widely considered to be a great friend of man – in fact, some would go so far as to call the species man's best friend. Known for their obedience and constant attention, they make a perfect model for a virtual pet. It's no coincidence then that Petz Dogz Family is the best of the DSiWare series. Like its feline and rodent...

July2010

  • Review Petz Hamsterz Family (DSiWare)

    This time, you won't be so sad when your dad accidentally steps on it

    The hamster is largely considered a cute and desirable pet, even in spite of its often curmudgeonly temperament and stinky, difficult to clean cage. They're a lot more fun to watch than they are to play with, which means that it shouldn't be difficult for Petz Hamsterz Family to...

  • Review Petz Kittens (DSiWare)

    Impurrrfect

    There once was a time when all that one could expect from a virtual pet was to feed it and play with it when it beeped. We've come a long way and should now expect a lot more, having moved on from imaginary digital creatures to real animals. Certainly a kitten simulator should simulate the behaviour of a kitten. It should be good enough...

June2010

  • Review Combat of Giants: Mutant Insects - Revenge (DSiWare)

    If only we could squish this game under our shoes

    Ubisoft seems to love its Combat of Giants series. With three retail DS releases and two DSiWare adaptations based on two of those retail titles already available, it was quite obvious that they were going to go for the full set. The third and hopefully the last, Mutant Insects Revenge very...

  • Review Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (Wii)

    Sand trapped

    Ignoring the free-running, rather mouthy Prince from 2008’s HD Prince of Persia, The Forgotten Sands is set between Sands of Time and Warrior Within, playing as the expected combination of platforming showpieces, close combat and simplistic lever and button puzzles. As the Prince’s first original adventure on Wii, it has to be...

May2010

  • Review Voodoo Dice (WiiWare)

    Bad mojo

    Developed by Exkee, the guys behind the rather average ColorZ, Voodoo Dice is a puzzle game in which you control a large yellow die, attempting to reach the end of every stage in order to earn gemstones used to proceed further into the game. Of course, it's not a matter of simply rolling over to the exit: each level has various dice-related...

  • Review Star Trek: Tactical Assault (DS)

    Tactics, but not as we know them

    Developer Quicksilver Software is no stranger to the Star Trek licence, having developed the well-regarded Starfleet Command for the PC, which is itself an attempt to deliver a computerised version of the venerable board game Star Fleet Battles. Tactical Assault is essentially a stab at a port of Starfleet Command to...

March2010

  • Review Red Steel 2 (Wii)

    Time to shoot and slice some bros

    Ubisoft promised the sky for their Wii launch game Red Steel; since nobody had used the Remote before, plenty of gamers drank the kool-aid and had high hopes for its swordplay potential. The concept was interesting, but the execution left a gross aftertaste. It's telling that the idea was never emulated in the way...

  • Review Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs - Fight for Survival (DSiWare)

    T-Rexes and Diplos and Toilets, oh my

    Back in 2008, Ubisoft Quebec released Battle of Giants: Dinosaurs, a game aimed squarely at younger gamers in which you create your own dinosaur and use it to battle others. With the advent of the DSi and the popularity of smaller versions of retail titles on the DSi Shop, Ubisoft saw fit to release a stripped...

  • Review Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes (DS)

    A classic DS mash-up is born

    Mixing the heavy plot and masses of dialogue from an RPG with the instant gratification of a puzzle game might seem an odd choice, but Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes pulls it off with aplomb. Reminiscent of classic DS puzzler Meteos, Clash of Heroes offers a stylus-sliding take on the match-three genre. Each puzzle is...

January2010

  • Review No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (Wii)

    Travis Touchdown is back with a vengeance and better than ever

    The mirrors don’t work. It’s a minor detail and completely inconsequential to gameplay, but when Travis Touchdown meanders into a public restroom to do his deeds and save the game in No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle, he might as well be a vampire. Despite his bloodlust, Travis is...

  • Review Avatar: The Game (Wii)

    The sum of its parts

    There's no doubt that James Cameron's Avatar in all its 3D blue-and-green beauty is a worldwide phenomenon, grossing millions upon millions of dollars and becoming a word of mouth sensation. With such a wave of success comes James Cameron's Avatar: The Game from Ubisoft, with its oft-heard promises of being an interactive...

December2009

  • Review Rayman (DSiWare)

    Rayman's first adventure, now with added warts

    You don’t see a lot of Rayman any more. While technically he has his name on a few prominent Wii minigame compilations, Rayman has since been cast out of his own spinoff series by the Rabbids. But now he’s back, sort of, as Ubisoft has unleashed the limbless freak’s first outing on DSiWare. It...