Game Reviews scoring 3/10
Review Chimpuzzle Pro (Wii U eShop)
Monkeying around
Chimpuzzle Pro is CW-Games’ first offering on the Nintendo Wii U eShop, building on the company’s previous Chimpuzzle (for PC/Mac/Linux) by adding five new levels. In Chimpuzzle Pro, the object is to save the auto-walking monkey Bobo from hazards by building up a partially completed obstacle course using Tetris-style block...
Review Gothic Masquerade (3DS eShop)
Hide it away
Surprise! There is yet another hidden object game now available on the Nintendo 3DS eShop! It's become clear to us that the developers behind all of these games are going for a world record regarding quantity, because the quality here does nothing to impress. If Gothic Masquerade — the latest addition to the flooded genre — is an...
Review Mysterious Stars: The Samurai (DSiWare)
Bushi-no.
The DSi’s touchscreen-and-stylus setup has inspired an impressive array of pen-and-paper puzzle conversions over the years, and this trend seems set to continue right into DSiWare’s twilight days. Collavier’s Mysterious Stars trilogy, as the most recent example, pairs classic connect-the-dots puzzles with children’s stories. It’s...
Review Mysterious Stars: A Fairy Tale (DSiWare)
Missed connections
From sudoku and crosswords to mazes and more, pen-and-paper puzzle games have found a happy home on Nintendo’s recent dual-screened systems, especially as part of smaller, downloadable offerings. One of the latest examples of this trend is the Mysterious Stars trilogy, a set of DSiWare games that couple classic connect-the-dots...
Review My Arctic Farm (Wii U eShop)
Feeling frigid
If you read our recent review of BiP Media's pet management sim My Jurassic Farm, you'll know what to expect with its sister release, My Arctic Farm: the exact same experience, but instead of T-rexes and triceratops (triceratopses?) you'll be raising penguins and polar bears. The long-running "My ____ Farm" series began humbly enough...
Review My Jurassic Farm (Wii U eShop)
Different skin, exact same game
My Jurassic Farm is an exciting concept. Everyone loved Jurassic Park back in the day, right?! It would make a great video game! Sadly, the dino-management genre has been left relatively barren since the wondrous days of DinoPark Tycoon back in 1993. Is BiP Media's My Jurassic Farm the answer? No. No it's not. My...
Review Internal Invasion (Wii U eShop)
Terminal
Imagine a future in which all disease is cured through the aid of tiny nano-bots flowing through your bloodstream. There would be no need for medicine or doctor visits, as all illness would be taken care of internally. It's an incredible proposition that makes for an interesting sci-fi storyline that can be taken in so many directions,...
Review Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark (Wii U)
Less than meets the eye
Whether it's Batman, Gears of War or Zelda, it's always a gamble when a beloved series leaves the developer that created it in favour of a new one. In many of these cases it's because the publisher wants to churn out annual or semi-annual instalments in a profitable franchise, and one studio is not enough to carry this...
Review ATV Quad Kings (DSiWare)
ATZzz...
Some forms of racing get a bad rap for looking too “simple” but, in reality, require a great deal of strategy and focus. It should never be as simple as holding down the accelerator until the finish line, which seems a lesson unfortunately lost on ATV Quad Kings. Quad Kings is a purely single-player run with three modes. The largest of...
Review Fit Music for Wii U (Wii U eShop)
Fit dance the blues
Losing weight and getting active isn't always an easy task. The motivation, patience and willpower it takes to make a healthy lifestyle change is one that many find daunting, and so there is an entire industry built around making the idea more palatable. Using games consoles to try and get you up off the couch may seem like an...
Review Mega Man II (3DS eShop / GB)
Get equipped with tarnished legacy
Ask any fan of the Blue Bomber to name their favourite game in the series and the odds are good that they will say either Mega Man 2 or Mega Man 3. That's to be expected, though; both of those games are among the best on the NES, a system that had no shortage of great platformers and action games. What's less...
Review Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst (3DS eShop)
Never go back
Publisher Big Fish Games has certainly got the hang of porting its old PC games to the Nintendo 3DS. After releasing many of them as retail games in PAL regions, it has started to hawk them on the 3DS eShop as well. The original Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst was released in 2008 for the PC and is an evolution of the Mystery...
Please sink this battleship
It's surprising there aren't more DS titles based on the classic board game Battleship. The DS, with its plastic exterior and flip-up dual screens, looks remarkably like a Milton Bradley Battleship board you probably have stuffed in the back of a closet. You don't need to dig through all your old board games to play...
Review Tiny Games - Knights & Dragons (3DS eShop)
The dark knight
Taking the title of this game at face value, one could understandably conjure some exciting images of brave warriors setting off to battle in a land teeming with adventurous opportunities. The medieval setting is well-established by this point, and is versatile enough to appeal to even the very young demographic that Tiny Games...
Lock the box and throw away the key
With a huge assortment of puzzle titles on the eShop, PouncingKitten's Boxzle doesn't do nearly enough to set itself apart from the rest of the litter. With three variations on the "sliding box" mechanic the potential for clever and satisfying puzzles is there, but poor visuals and sound, generic presentation and...
Review Hello Kitty Kruisers (Wii U)
Cute doesn't always cut it
Hello Kitty and friends have cornered the market on cute for four decades, and it’s easy to see why: Sanrio’s simple yet charming style makes for easy application to almost anything. Racing games are certainly not out of the question, and Hello Kitty Kruisers takes the obvious whimsical route through the genre, as much...
Review Renegade (Wii U eShop / NES)
GET LOST, PUNK!
What's the expiration date for nostalgia? Is there a certain amount of time that has to pass before we start looking fondly back at the old, often inferior, games of our youth? It's undeniable that some games have aged gracefully and are still just as good today as they were at their initial launch, but that's far from a steadfast...
A fish out of water
The core premise of Evofish is based ever so loosely on the fundamentals of nature and evolutionary science. As a fish in the ocean, you must snack on fish smaller than you are while also avoiding larger predators looking to eat you. Doing so successfully will enable you to grow in size and “evolve” into a species that’s...
Review Renegade (3DS eShop / NES)
Crime doesn't pay
The company known as Technos might be best known for creating Double Dragon and River City Ransom, but before coming up with either of its two big hits, it made a number of lesser known titles — of which perhaps Renegade is the most well-known. Renegade is actually the first game in the Kunio-kun series, which River City Ransom...
Review Hidden Expedition Titanic (DSiWare)
The fun is also hidden
Thanks to the blockbuster movie of the '90s, the sinking of the Titanic seems to be less a tragic historical event and more a part of story-telling culture. Whether that bothers you is up to you, but Hidden Expedition Titanic merely pretends to include a story around the ill-fated ship, throwing some nonsense around a fairly...
Review Spot the Differences! (3DS eShop)
Spot the exit sign and run
There is nothing wrong with simple games on the eShop; players have demonstrated through iOS and Android that quick, fun bursts of creative gameplay can work wonderfully. Unfortunately, Bigben Interactive's Spot the Differences! crosses the line from simple to empty. While it works in the most rudimentary of ways — you...
Bad harvest
The idea of packing up, escaping the crowded, polluted confines of the city and setting up a farm out in the sticks is something that has often been romanticised in various media. The thought of kicking back and raising some chickens in the peace and quiet of the countryside sounds nothing short of blissful to some people. The reality,...
Review Touch Battle Tank 3D 2 (3DS eShop)
Two of the same
Ideally, a video game sequel should feature everything that worked about the first game and expand and improve upon it so that the the new entry doesn't feel like an expansion pack. Unfortunately, there was very little that worked about Agetec's Touch Battle Tank 3D, and Touch Battle Tank 3D 2 is basically more of the same. With the...
Review ARC STYLE: Solitaire (3DS eShop)
Forever alone
If you've ever had a) a computer, b) a deck of cards, or c) a grandmother, then the odds are good that you've had some exposure to Solitaire. At a relatively low-price point, ARC STYLE: Solitaire aims to bring that hot solo card-arranging action to the 3DS eShop. We would have thought that such a simple game in combination with a touch...
Review Hot Wheels: World's Best Driver (Wii U)
Lead it Away
It’s wonderful to think about the toys of our childhood and how they’re being brought back to life as video games. Through gaming, new generations of youngsters can enjoy the same things that older gamers did in their youth, but in a completely different way. It’s safe to assume that many of you reading this grew up building with...
Review Life with Horses 3D (3DS eShop)
Say neigh
Horses are magnificent creatures. Whether humble labourers or prize-winning performers, each is a complex creature that can be both challenging and rewarding to care for and understand. Life with Horses 3D manages to portray the aspect of hard work in raising horses, but puts the whole “rewarding” part out to pasture. Players in the...
Review My Style Studio: Hair Salon (3DS eShop)
Crimped style
Remember that toy where you used a magnetic wand to move iron filings over a drawing of a guy’s head, creating hair, moustaches, and eyebrows? My Style Studio: Hair Salon feels a bit like that, except with less personality and sense of joy. The Hair Salon does offer you more options, in certain ways. There are five “customers”...
Review Ben 10 Omniverse 2 (Wii U)
Big bad Ben
With a plucky, wise-cracking kid hero, a host of supporting characters with funny and unique personalities and abilities, a surprisingly deep mythos and aliens to beat up, the Ben 10 franchise is rife with potential for great video games. Unfortunately, D3Publisher and developer High Voltage Software completely miss the mark with Ben 10...
Review 3D Altered Beast (3DS eShop)
Please don't rise from your grave again
Every video game veteran has a title in its back catalogue which for unknown reasons keeps being dredged up for modern audiences. With Nintendo, it's arguably Urban Champion — a game so lacklustre that it wasn't wanted even back in 1984 — while one-time rival Sega has Altered Beast. A shallow 2D brawler in...
Review One Piece Romance Dawn (3DS)
Just give it up, Luffy
Anyone would be forgiven for thinking crafting a decent RPG from the lore of established anime juggernaut One Piece would be a simple task; the bombastic characters, epic quests and thrilling battles the series is known for should, in theory, make for an excellent adventure. With One Piece Romance Dawn, what developer Three...
