ErrorSupply

Nice. Glad I've got 200 pts left.

Gets a solid 7/10 from me. Strumming virtual guitar strings is a far more visceral experience than poking one tiny key at a time, like on the keyboard app. The sensitivity to strum intensity and subtle touches like hearing fingers slide across the string ridges as you change frets put it over the top. I agree diagonal chords and no lefty support are issues (I would have traded the L button palm mute for being able to switch chord sets, lessening the diagonal issue), but for someone like me who loves music but lacks the drive to learn a real guitar, it's a fun little time waster.

Yeah, thanks for the thoughts. I loved the first one, and couldn't believe when NL only gave it a 6/10.

Pretty good DSiWare update for you guys. I thoroughly enjoyed Flametail and Music On: Acoustic Guitar.

Nintendo is probably behind its absence. On a somewhat related note, I really wouldn't be suprised if the 3DS online turns out to be more of the same old restrictive friend code crap. Gotta protect the children, you know.

Well, I picked up that guitar app. Never really owned a guitar, so just twiddling around on the strings kept me entertained for 20 minutes or so. The strings vibrate and react to the force you strum them with pretty accurately (as far as I can tell). You can even hear fingers sliding up and down the string ridges as you change frets. I have to imagine the amount of songs you can actually play with this thing are pretty minute given the 8 chord limit, but I still had fun programming the 4 chords from the "Smoke on the Water" riff and jamming away.

7/10

I've noticed some of the G.G series games being marketed under the "Go" label in Europe. I wonder how/if this will effect American releases of non G.G "Go" titles. Confusing.

That guitar DSiWare actually looks pretty cool. If I was more musically inclined I might get it, then again if that was the case I'd probably have a real guitar and thus no use for such an app. Guess I'll put it in the "maybe" list.

To me, it's not the "old-school" style that kills this game. I could go through and discover plenty of enjoyable NES and earlier shooters. My problems with this game start at how it takes so many hits to destroy all but the weakest of enemies. I can appreciate that it goes along with the idea of advantages and disadvantages of whatever weapon set you are using, but ultimately it just makes it feel like your shooting spitballs regardless of what ship you're using. Then, there are the simplistic enemy movement and attack patterns. They all basically meander around the screen, or lifelessly list across the screen, either shooting straight ahead or spraying a burst wherever you are in a 360º radius. The difficulty has its issues as well: I cruised through easy, then tried normal where I cruised through up to level 4 I believe. There's a spot where it throws a bunch of enemies at you from nowhere, where I pretty much had no choice but to die on the two attempts I made before deleting this title. I won't get into the graphics, other than to say they're bad and relatively soulless. All in all, there's "old-school" and there's poorly done, I'm afraid Corbie has mixed the two up in this case.

4/10

I can appreciate that dpad controls may suit this game better (wouldn't know as I never played the first), but as someone who loved the controls for the two DS Zelda games, I find the demonizing of controls built around touch as not "hardcore" enough a pretty foolish notion.

Day 1 purchase for me.

@ SaturnineGames: If Cosmos X2 does well, any chance Antipole will also appear on DSiWare?

Thank god I don't rely on NL's reviews for my gaming selection, or I'd be missing out on a LOT of good games. Sadly, there are a lot of penny pinchers who won't "waste" 2$ on a 6/10, and they'll end up missing out on one of the best 200 pt titles availible from the service.

lol @ waiting for a review on a 5$ game. These are impulse buys, people. Do you walk by the snack counter at the grocery store checkout and say "Oh, that new Snickers bar looks good, but I need to read a review before I put down the pocket change and try it. This is why so many small time developers give the DSi Shop one shot, then give up. And if the review is anything less than a 9, it's "Guess I'll skip this one." or "Should have been 2$.".

Something to look forward to this coming Monday. The weapons system sounds interesting, and I'm liking the retro look. "Only" 9 stages is plenty for a game of this type, BTW, provided they are of sufficient length and variety.
Hopefully it turns out well. The video of that other game on their site: "Antipole" looks like it would be a good fit for DSiWare.

Weirdness overload. Only a rat-tailing albino starfish could get away with sporting a Hitler moustache. Doubt we'll see this one outside of Japan, but Kappa was pretty strange too and we got that, so who knows.

So many people writing this game off as not worth 800 when they've never even played it. This is why I stopped making impression topics: everyone just ignores what is said, and waits for the "official" NL review, treating it as the one and only truth. So much for garnering enough support for that sequel they hinted at in the end. More iPhone drek plox! I need to take a break from this place, it's not good for my blood pressure.

Pretty harsh "Conclusion" for a 7/10. Might as well have said "Skip this and just get Chronos Twins" which I have to disagree about being "more fulfilling".

"Knagars"... Ahem.. er... yeah, not touching that one with a ten foot pole.
Good job on the review, Kid_A. Hopefully you get a fun game to write up next time.

I beat Divergent Shift, but I still have a bunch of hidden journal pages to find, 5 bonus stages to unlock and a bunch of gold medals to earn in Time Trial mode. The main story mode was brief, but in a way that leaves you wanting more, not with a bad taste in your mouth. If the end is any indication, we just may get more.

Divergent Shift is pretty damn cool. Definitely more than "Chronos Twins sans the gunplay", which is kind of all I expected. Only bad thing is I'm about 80% through the campaign after only an hour of play time. There are some unlockable challenges that I suspect will add to the play time though, so it's still a bit soon to call it "short".

Eager to pick up Divergent Shift and see how it turned out after all this time. 3D Mahjong looks good too. I'll be watching for impressions on that one.

^That's good to hear, TFotH. I'll be sure to pick it up tomorrow.

"just another platformer"!? Anyone who says this clearly hasn't played the original yet. And as far as length, last I heard it will be episodic, so it should surpass the usual bite sized DSiWare titles.

Seeing this game again sure brings back memories. It's been about 15 years since I played it, but I do remember it was one of my favorites at the time.

Oh, yeah I actually liked the single player experience.

@ Ian

I found The Conduit to be a prime example of how NOT to do a Wii FPS. I mean you could just point at the middle of the screen, mash lock on, and it would zip the enemy right to your reticle, even if they were outside of your peripheral vision. If you search youtube for "Conduit Aimbot", you'll find a video of me getting kills without even pointing at the screen.

Still kinda on the fence about this one. I like challenging puzzles, and the satisfaction that comes with success in them, but comparing the DSi price to the iPhone version (nearly 3x as expensive) it's hard not to see it as overpriced.
Also, the characters are unappealing, and look like they belong in the movie "Antz".

It'll be interesting to see how they handle IR vs dual analog matches. Aim assist is practically a must when dealing with analog, but then that would offer an unfair advantage against IR. I guess they could give IR aim assist as well, but that kinda negates the split second precision offered with Wii Remote aiming. Sigh, as long as the casuals are happy I guess. So far the Modern Warfare: Reflex team at treyarch have the best idea of how to handle the unique nuances of a Wii FPS.

Another on the money review from NL. That damn robot going on about "hints are useful" and "maybe you should move something" ground on my nerves too, particularly during the "Sum" puzzle.

Hints Hunter sounds like it may be up my alley. The description is so vague I'll have to research a bit to be sure though.

Didn't care for this game either. No stylus controls in a game like this is like restricting you to the dpad to navigate an OSK. I also think there should have been a way to save the high score. Without competition they're just meaningless numbers.

This sounds hilariously bad, especially the bowling and inbred hamster babies.

I'm looking forward to the first golf game. Putting on an uneven green would be much more natural in 3D, since we might not even need that white grid to see the lay of the land.

I echo the disdain for the characters faces. Looks like they're being forced to smile at gunpoint.

@ supercommando440

It does allow you to enter your name upon achieving a high score. The top 8 players and their score can be viewed via the menu, and the #1 score appears at the title screen along with the earners name.

Guess I'll pick up Hospital Havoc later today.

@iPhys
Mellow ambient piano keys, like what plays in the trailer.

Nice to see my opinion reflected in the review. This was my first experience with Rohrer's work, but the guy clearly has his head in the right place when it comes to gaming fundamentals. Such an elegantly simple, yet fun and addictive concept.

I really like this game. The flow of the gameplay is different than any puzzle game I can think of, and is the sort of game you can enjoy time and time again. I only wish they had left the original graphics as an option, because I think their elegant simplicity went better with the gameplay.

@ gaminguy

Yep, in about 10 minutes.

After reading some reviews of the iPhone version, I'm pretty much sold on Primrose. It's a shame that, like always, they had to gut the online leaderboard though. So much replay value is lost when they do that.

Getting this for sure, shameless clone or not. And at 5$, length is not a big deal to me. Can't really expect retail length epic at a fraction of the cost (and size limitation).

Bought this game last week, and was pleased with my purchase. The presentation is a little amateurish, but the gameplay is solid and the achievment style medals are a nice bonus for completionists.

Looks great, and at a reasonable price too. I'll probably pick it up when it comes out.

Thanks for the info. I really hope this and the other shooter from the GG series come over to the US. They look and sound like games I'd pay 500 pts each on.

@ SoulSilver

If that's the case, it seems a bit overpriced at 500 pts. Sure it adds up to 30$ for the whole package if they release them all, but this is without the manual box and the cost of paying people to design them. 200 pts per episode seems more reasonable. Perhaps I'll look into importing, thanks a lot for the info.

Green Groove looks pretty fun in a Bit Trip Runner kind of way. I wonder how much content (if any) is missing from the retail product.

Been having fun with this since Monday. I was trying to figure out what the look of this game reminded me of, and it was indeed WarioWare. Nicely done review.

Man, that DSiWare shooter looks nice. Especially at only 200 pts.

To me, DSiWare is like the impulse items at the checkout lane. Cheap and often enjoyable, but disposable in their simplicity, so I don't really mind letting them go. The titles I've 100%ed will probably NEVER be played by me again, so they would serve only as useless clutter if I were to transfer them.

Judging from the video I just watched, Spin 6 looks really fun. Sounds like it has a lot of modes too, so I'll be getting that today.