Ubisoft Game Reviews
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
