Tag: Hands On - Page 4
Hands On Hey! Read These Hey! Pikmin Impressions
Hey! Listen!
This week - in New York City - Nintendo invited us to play Hey! Pikmin, the first title in the series developed outside of Nintendo's internal teams. Hey! Pikmin is being developed by Arzest, the studio behind Yoshi's New Island, which failed to make a big splash with 3DS owners. Hey! Pikmin takes a totally new approach with the...
Hands On Striking a Chord with Yooka-Laylee
UPDATE: Switch version reconfirmed, coming "very soon"
UPDATE: Mere moments after we published this feature, it was confirmed during the Nindie Direct that the Switch version of Yooka-Laylee will be launching "very soon" and will feature all of the game's multiplayer modes. ORIGINAL STORY: The employees over at Playtonic have been through a lot to...
Hands On Trying Out the Nintendo Switch on its Public Tour
The UK console tour comes to Manchester
Whilst we're counting down the final two weeks before the Nintendo Switch launches on March 3rd, Nintendo has been hosting special hands-on events in which the public can get their first experiences with the console and several of its games. We managed to grab ourselves some tickets for the first of the three...
Hands On Creating a Quest in RPG Maker Fes
World-building
It's no secret that the 3DS is an RPG paradise, with new entries in both fresh and familiar franchises coming out faster than most fans can keep up with. It's an almost infinite bounty of adventure. But could it be more infinite? Enter RPG Maker Fes. A portable version of the long-running RPG-creation toolkit that lets players...
Hands On Putting the Nintendo Switch Hardware Through Its Paces
We consider its features, build and general performance
As you're no doubt aware, press events are currently taking place to showcase the Nintendo Switch, with some also open to the public this weekend. We attended the London event and took the opportunity to put the hardware through its paces, testing out its varied control options and functions...
Hands On Pokémon Sun and Moon - Special Demo Version
Demonstrative indeed
Demos have come an awfully long way over the years, even to the point where these bite-sized chunks can be considered full games in their own right; you only have to look at the Bravely series to know what we're talking about. So it was no surprise when Nintendo announced the arrival of a demo for the upcoming Pokémon Sun &...
Hands On Checking Out A New Generation In Pokémon Sun and Moon
Talking 'bout our generation
From the off it's clear that here's been a tremendous level of effort from Game Freak to make Pokémon Sun and Moon another notable evolution of the Pokémon series; whilst the jump from Black and White to X and Y was like a Bulbasaur becoming an Ivysaur, the jump to this generation is more like a Magikarp becoming a...
Hands On A Blast From the Past With Gurumin 3D: A Monstrous Adventure
Monster Masher
You're probably not alone if you've never heard of Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure. First released as a PC game way back in 2004 and a PlayStation Portable title shortly after, Gurumin has stayed largely off the map since its initial launch. Despite the favourable reviews that it received, this action-adventure RPG never saw a sequel,...
Hands on Getting Down With Chicken Wiggle
An unlikely pairing, together at last
We recently reported on the disbandment of indie developer Renegade Kid and followed it up with an interview featuring both founding members, Jools Watsham and Gregg Hargrove. As part of their surprisingly amicable split, both devs have already formed new teams and star
Hands On Painting a Clearer Picture of Paper Mario: Color Splash
"This is more of an adventure game"
There was an elephant in the room inside of Nintendo's off-site Comic-Con Nintendo Play Lounge. Not to be confused with a small stage shaped like an oversized Nintendo 3DS console, or the mammoth, room-sized inflatable Kirby set up to greet guests, this elephant took the shape of a video game kiosk. The game was...
Hands On Squashing Space Pirates in Metroid Prime: Federation Force
Insane in the Mother Brain
It's safe to say the general - or at least loudest - response from Metroid fans upon the reveal of Metroid Prime: Federation Force was one of disappointment. One year on and things have calmed down a little bit, but is there enough in this game to sway those who spoke so strongly against it at E3 2015? First and foremost...
Hands On How Will the "Open World" Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Suit a Traditional Gamer?
Anthony Dickens feels too old to play in a sandbox
I'd consider myself to be quite a traditional gamer; I tend to prefer games that have a simple core structure and a finite length. Now in my 30's I've found that whilst getting older has many benefits it has also restricted the amount of time I spent playing games, typically an hour or two here and...
Hands On Painting the Walls Red with Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Oh, it's good. Very good.
Back in 1997, Koji Igarashi made gaming history with the extremely successful Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. The reason that Castlevania shares half of the name with "Metroidvania", Symphony of the Night was lauded for its fantastic art direction and intricately designed castle. Later on, the formula established by...
Hands On Exploring Blocky Worlds with Cube Creator 3D's New Update
Better with friends
Cube Creator 3D launched a little over a year ago for the 3DS, in a time when Minecraft on Nintendo systems was nothing but a pipe dream. We liked the game then and we still like it now, but the development team hasn't been content to simply rest on its laurels and leave the project as is. A free update is due out for Cube...
Hands On Dealing Death by a Thousand Cuts with SEVERED
The latest from DrinkBox Studios
Many of you will no doubt recall Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition, a wildly inventive and colorful 2D Metroidvania that set the eShop alight when it released back in 2014. We absolutely loved it, and if early impressions are anything to go by, it seems as though DrinkBox Studio's next game - coming to...
Hands On Skylanders Imaginators Brings Crash To Wii U For The First Time
Family Gamer TV's Andy Robertson gets back in touch with a gaming icon
Getting hands on with Skylanders Imaginators at E3 was something of a revelation. We had heard a lot about the character creator before the event but it wasn't until we tried it for ourselves that it became apparent just how in-depth and flexible this is. The interface works...
Hands On Waiting for the End of the World in Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse
In like Flynn
While Atlus' booth at E3 this year was decked out from top to bottom in Persona 5's deep red regalia, tucked in between artwork of the Phantom Thieves and attendees swarming for swag was a single splash of neon green, representing a hidden gem for 3DS gamers: Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse. This upcoming RPG is a sequel of sorts to...
Hands On Embracing Freedom in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Where even the smallest details can surprise Zelda veterans
In our third and final hands on preview of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild from E3, Alan Lopez breaks down what makes it a unique new direction for the series. Links to our previous write-ups by Morgan Sleeper and Mitch Vogel can be found at the end. To really understand the...
Hands On Whipping Hair Back and Forth in Shantae: Half-Genie Hero
Half-genie, all hero
WayForward's popular half-genie mascot hasn't starred in a game in since 2014's Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, and now the wait for her next adventure is nearly over. Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is due to arrive both digitally and physically this Fall, kicking off something of a new beginning for the series. Given that the...
Hands On Taking a Deep Breath with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
A fresh, new approach
In our second Hands On piece for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mitch Vogel shares his analysis of the demo experiences offered at E3. You can find a link to our first article by Morgan Sleeper at the end, while Alan Lopez will pitch in with his thoughts in our third impressions piece very soon. When Nintendo made...
Hands On Digging into Harvest Moon: Skytree Village
Getting back to the land
With its giant inflatable tree, pastoral picket fences and fully-stocked stables of farm-animal plushies, Natsume's booth at this year's E3 represented a rustic respite from the show floor madness, and we happily headed down to the farm to check out its newest title: Harvest Moon: Skytree Village. This latest is Natsume's...
Hands On Wide-Open Wanderlust in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Legendary
Instead of the open-floor plan filled with dozens of demo kiosks we've come to expect from its showings, Nintendo's booth at E3 this year looked rather different, featuring a single space shielded from the rest of the showfloor and dedicated to a single game: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. While it may have seemed like an odd...
Feature Getting Friendly in Surprising Ways With Miitomo
Knowing Mii, Knowing You
The pressure has been on Nintendo for many years from some fans (and not to mention shareholders) to create games and apps for smart devices. It resisted for quite some time but a partnership with DeNA was announced in early 2015; thoughts of a Mario endless runner sprang to mind, but Nintendo's first entry into the crowded...
Hands On Searching for Clues in Detective Pikachu: Birth of a New Duo
It's elementary
Joe Serebii Merrick goes hands on with the intriguing eShop release that recently arrived in Japan. Back in October 2013, when the NHK television show The Professionals focused on The Pokémon Company President, Tsunekazu Ishihara, it showed him going through the early work for two titles. One title became Pokémon Link! Battle on...
Hands On Crossing Over With Project X Zone 2
A character bonanza
When Project X Zone was originally announced, the news came somewhat out of left field. The massive crossover was an RPG lover's dream, featuring characters and content from three popular and prolific companies. The final result was a success, though there were some complaints to be had with the basic gameplay structure,...
Hands On Finding Work and Adventure in Bravely Second: End Layer
Any game with a Catmancer is on our radar
Bravely Default was an interesting title for Square Enix to release, as it was a classic Final Fantasy-style game in essentially all but name. Though it featured many well-trodden JRPG tropes, it mixed these in with modern gameplay standards and conveniences that made the experience all the more enjoyable...
Hands On Seeking an Awakening in Fire Emblem Fates
Now with feet
Though it was unknown to gamers at the time, Fire Emblem: Awakening was something of a last ditch effort by the development team to make the tough SRPG series a sales success. Failure to do so would've resulted in the series suffering the perma-death that so many of its characters have experienced. Diamonds can only be created in high...
Hands On Getting Pinned Down By Nintendo Badge Arcade
Down the bunny hole
We will try our best not to associate the free-to-start Nintendo Badge Arcade with drug use - even if the first sample is free it's easy to get hooked, and visions of pink rabbits will fill your life more the farther you go into it. The Badge Arcade is perfectly legal, for one, and its pink rabbit will not whisper at you to burn...
Hands On Learning to Enjoy Death in RIVE
Two Tribes isn't cute and cuddly any more
Two Tribes, prior to its closure and restructuring in early 2014, had a broad range of games and genres both developed in-house and as part of its publishing arm. Toki Tori was the best known of its titles, a cute - albeit tricky - puzzler that branched out across consoles and smart devices. The company's...
Hands On Aperion Cyberstorm is Bringing a Welcome Slice of Twin-Stick Shooting Action to Wii U
We play, and play, and play, in the score chasing mode
Sometimes we get an interesting perspective - based on our readership at least - of what 'clicks' with the eShop audience and what doesn't. Some games get a lot of buzz right off the bat while other equally deserving games continue to be largely overlooked. At times reasons can be discerned but,...
Hands On Reaching the Depths of Space in SteamWorld Heist
We dive into an extended play session with the 3DS title
SteamWorld Heist is certainly one of the most anticipated releases heading to the 3DS eShop this year, coming to the portable first ahead of a slew of HD iterations. The success of SteamWorld Dig on the portable was an integral part of Image & Form's recent momentum, with numerous ports...
Hands On Digging Deeper With Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows
An explosive addition
The new Shovel Knight expansion has finally dropped, and while it may not be an entirely new game in the Shovel Knight franchise it still brings enough new content and ideas that it warrants a sort-of-review. Remember, this expansion is entirely free with the game, we're just going to share our thoughts on it and how it differs...
Hands On Popping Wheelies In Pumped BMX+
Becoming the raddest & baddest
Curve Digital is a publisher and developer that rarely fails to impress, and when we were invited down to its HQ to play a new title it's bringing to the Wii U we couldn't refuse. Pumped BMX+ is a game not dissimilar to OlliOlli, a previous title from Curve, the difference being that this time not only are you riding...
Hands On Devil's Third - Sampling Online Chaos and Fearing the Devilry of Microtransactions
Ironically you can buy Golden Eggs
When we shared our initial first impressions of Devil's Third it turned into a bit of a saga; your humble writer was surprised at the level of feeling that came out in response to an early look at the game. The focus was on the single player campaign at that point, with our general summary being that - while full...
Hands On Here's What The 3DS Version Of Terraria Looks Like
On show at this year's Gamescom
Although the Wii U version was not forthcoming, the 3DS iteration of the popular 2D mining game Terraria - recently confirmed as coming to Nintendo platforms - was fully playable at this year's Gamecom. We've put quite a lot of time into the PC version and it took a little while to get used to the controls on the 3DS...
Feature Hands On With The Spooktacular Luigi's Mansion Arcade
Don't cross the streams
Deep in the dimly lit bowels of Japanese arcades lurks a surprisingly wonderful new first person shooter (sucker?) with an unlikely arcade hero. It's not surprising that Luigi is running the show this time around. After all he's saved Mario from the notorious King Boo on two separate occasions at this point. The surprise...
Tom and Anthony scratch their heads at Nintendo's Prime demo
Blast Ball had a peculiar reveal and presence in recent weeks. It first appeared in the Nintendo World Championships without Metroid branding, and was then revealed in the E3 Digital Event to be part of Metroid Prime: Federation Force, the divisive 3DS title in development by Next Level...
Hands On Logging More Flight Time With Star Fox Zero
“Impressive, Star Fox!”
In this second look at Star Fox Zero, Morgan Sleeper has a more positive experience than colleague Alan Lopez. To reflect the divisive nature of the controls, Alan's updated impressions from another playthrough are also included. When Miyamoto-san's Muppet started sprouting Star Fox features during the Nintendo Digital...
Hands On Checking Out Splatoon's Freshly Unlocked Ranked Battle Mode
Laying it all on the line
If you booted up Splatoon this morning you might have noticed that without even the need to download an update that you can now play on the new Port Mackerel map. You can also buy the N-ZAP '85, a new weapon which looks suspiciously familiar. Of course what will be most exciting for competitive gamers is the introduction of...
Hands On Disney Infinity 3.0's Twilight Of The Republic Brings The Star Wars Saga To Wii U
The Force is strong in this one
After much anticipation we finally got our hands on the Star Wars levels in Disney Infinity 3.0 in London last week. There's a little time before launch still but the headline here is that things feel very polished and locked down already - we came away very impressed. Having had a play with the Toy Box game-creator...
Hands On Disney Infinity Toy Box 3.0 Brings A Fresh Mario Kart Rival To Wii U
Sumo Digital works its magic once more
Getting hands-on with the Toy Box for Disney Infinity 3.0 was more than a little interesting, not least because of the Star Wars content and characters therein. At an event in London yesterday we had a chance to experiment with the new game creator as well as try both the Toy Box Takeover adventure and Toy Box...
Hands On Hitting the Tracks in Mario Kart 8 DLC Pack 2 and 200cc Mode
It just keeps getting better...
When Nintendo announced that the second Mario Kart 8 DLC pack was coming earlier than promised, we were appropriately excited. Now that we've had a chance to get to grips with everything this extra content has to offer, suffice to say we're not disappointed. In this early look at the full DLC pack we check out the...
Hands On We Check Out The New Nintendo 3DS XL
North America's only New Nintendo 3DS, lest we forget
The New Nintendo 3DS XL is a sleek piece of kit that streamlines many of its predecessor's quirks. Be it changed button placement or new features altogether, it's evident that Nintendo has put a lot of thought into alleviating pain points both obvious and subtle. While we aren't fans of every...
Hands On Wii U GameCube Controller Adapter
Party like it’s 2001
The GameCube controller has become the community gold-standard for playing Super Smash Bros. So much so that Nintendo has wheeled out an adapter to make the controller released in 2001 compatible with its home console released in 2012. All for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. The adapter is about as thick as two retail game cases...
Video New Nintendo 3DS Unboxing And Hands On
Watch in awe as we remove and refit a face plate
We've got the New Nintendo 3DS in the office right now and in-between gazing at its rock-solid 3D screen and fondling its nipple-like C-Stick, we somehow found the time to record a special unboxing and hands-on video, which you can view below. The new console — currently only available in Japan —...
Feature We Go Hands On With SteamWorld Heist, The Next Image & Form Game
“A game about space adventure and survival”
Image & Form, the Swedish development studio that shot to prominence with the success of SteamWorld Dig on the 3DS eShop, which was subsequently ported to Wii U and other platforms, has announced the next game in the SteamWorld franchise. This isn’t a straight-up sequel, however, but a spin-off...
Hands On Exploring the Four New Tables of Zen Pinball 2
The Walking Dead! Guardians of the Galaxy! Deadpool! Doctor Strange!
It's tough for comic book fans these days – movies based on superhero comics are more popular than ever, but the comic books themselves are often lost in the shuffle. Everyone loved The Dark Knight, but have you been reading Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's fantastic run on...
Hands On Photos with Mario and AR Card Fun
Koopa Troopas invade your living room!
How long has it been since you thought about AR (augmented reality) gaming on your 3DS? If the stack of AR cards that came with your system is gathering dust in a corner somewhere, go dig 'em out, because Nintendo has finally released a new AR game; it doesn't even seem to want you to know about it. Photos with...
Hands On Storing Pocket Monsters in Pokémon Bank
And going last-gen with Poké Transporter
Pokémon Bank, the online store app just recently released in Europe to accompany Pokémon X & Y, is a simple utility; at first glance you essentially take in its entirety. It's a storage box for all of your Pokémon. As such, you know what you're going to get; in Pokémon Bank, you will find 100 boxes...
Hands On Nintendo 3DS Guide: Louvre
A touch of class
When Nintendo announced, in Spring 2012, that it was taking on the role of providing the interactive museum guides at the Louvre in Paris, it seemed slightly odd. The prospect of visitors wandering around the famous site with a 3DS around their necks seemed peculiar, but there it was in undeniable reality. We learned that it had...