December2010
Review Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (DS)
Ga'Hoo would torture themselves with this?
TV and movie tie-in games are relatively synonymous with tedious, uninspired titles rushed to release to fool the poorly informed. Rather than clever game design, effort goes toward getting the game onto store shelves in time for box office hype to drive sales. Still, some of us try to remain optimistic,...
November2010
Review Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest (DS)
Flail, you fools!
Released in parallel to the Headstrong Games-developed Wii title, it is worth noting that the DS version of Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest is a separate game, not just a handheld port of the Wii version. It shares similarities with the Wii game, predominantly in its hack-'n-slash gameplay, but it distinguishes itself in the...
Review Super Scribblenauts (DS)
Word
We've always had to accept that in video games, there will always be more objects we want to play with than those we're allowed to use. The original Scribblenauts changed all of that, allowing the virtual world to become a malleable, ever-changing playground. You solved simple objectives in search of a Starite, manifesting any object that its...
September2010
Review Batman: The Brave and the Bold (Wii)
Cartoon crime never sleeps in Gotham City. Good thing bats are nocturnal.
As far as pop culture is concerned, there are two types of Batman. Batmen, if you will. One is the gritty, serious Dark Knight that’s been Chris Nolan’s Hollywood blockbuster success of late and the star of Rocksteady’s excellent Batman: Arkham Asylum. Then there’s the...
Review Batman: The Brave and the Bold (DS)
A bold bat platformer
Batman is certainly no stranger to the world of video games, seeing releases on just about every console imaginable over the years, so it's no real surprise to see yet another developer trying their hand at the caped crusader. Developer WayForward has created two brand new Batman titles, this as well as its Wii counterpart,...
August2010
Review LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Wii)
The Order of the Fun-ix
Imagine that in just one day you found out that not only are you destined for greatness, but that magic is real, you can perform it, and that instead of ever having to go to regular school again, you get to live in a castle with John Cleese. These things – well, most of them, anyway – are what every child dreams of, and...
July2010
Review LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (DS)
Harry Potter gets the LEGO treatment
Some of the most successful movie series of all time have already received the LEGO treatment, so it's no real surprise to see the immensely popular Harry Potter series given a blocky makeover. While LEGO Harry Potter doesn't stray too far from the trademark gameplay mechanics the series has featured in previous...
November2009
To arms! To arms! Lego Battles storms onto the DS in the very first Lego RTS, but is it a battling success?
Following the unquestionable success of the various Lego games of the past few years, Lego Battles is something of an oddity in the ever-growing stable of generally very good, solid adventure titles (and one rhythm game) from the Lego brand...
Does the series’ DS debut rock or roll over and die?
DS music game fans have a pretty good selection for a portable, with Nintendo’s own stellar Rhythm Heaven and Activision’s Guitar Hero and Band Hero outings eager to put your rhythm skills to work. Harmonix’s Rock Band series has now taken the handheld’s stage for the first time in the...
September2009
Write your way to victory!
You don’t have to solve - or even begin - the included challenges to fully appreciate what Scribblenauts is trying to do. Right after the opening credits slide show, you are greeted by Maxwell standing in a field with nothing to do but smile as he always does. So you give him something to do. Anything. Type...
February2009
Riddle me this, riddle me that, who's afraid of the big, black bat?
Batman, the caped crusader, a franchise that has had a massive reinvention over the past few years thanks to the wonderful Christopher Nolan and his Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. However Batman has been around for a long long time and has now had three distinct on screen...
