Game Reviews
Latest Reviews
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Latest Reviews
Review: Tales of Monkey Island: Chapter 1 (WiiWare)
Guybrush Threepwood’s first new adventure in almost 9 years. Is he still the wannabe pirate king of adventure games?
The 'point and click' adventure has been clinically dead for quite a while now, largely because it seemed impossible to make a good example of the genre in 3D. Many developers tried, but almost all of them failed, mostly due to clunky controls or annoying moving cameras. To be..
Review: ColorZ (WiiWare)
It’s a colourful world we live in.
ColorZ is a game whose trailer captured the attentions of many with its vibrant colours against light backgrounds and novel colour fusion mechanic. The sight of gently drifting UFOs floating through groups of stationary enemies accompanied by an ambient/trance techno soundtrack and no shooting in sight created the impression it was the kind of game you could..
Review: Battle Poker (WiiWare)
Battle Poker? I hardly battle know her!
There are a few things about Battle Poker that you will notice as soon as you start playing the game, and one of them is that at no point do you actually play any poker.Is this a bad thing? Absolutely not, but it does lead to a slightly schizophrenic experience.Basically, Battle Poker is a collection of puzzle-based minigames (all but two of which are..
Review: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord (WiiWare)
Here's your chance to try out life as a Darklord!
As a launch title for the WiiWare service in all regions, the long-titled Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King was highly anticipated by fans of the famous series and city-building enthusiasts alike. Having received positive critical acclaim from the gaming world, which appeared to enjoy the new direction the series undertook, it was..
Review: Ant Nation (WiiWare)
An antagonizingly good game.
Konami returns to Wiiware with another semi-strategy game. This time instead of reactively fending off crabs, you’ll be proactively leading a nation of ants in a war of senseless aggression. Finally, those ladybugs will get what they deserve. But is this nation worthy of a leader such as you?Ant Nation is categorized as a ‘simulation’ game. But that is not..
Review: Incoming! (WiiWare)
Beware of incoming duds.
Welcome to Incoming!, a game of projectile combat. You command a tank (or a small group of tanks), and you will be expected to demolish the other tank (or small group of tanks) by adjusting the angle and velocity of each shot. You've played games like this before, and you've probably enjoyed them. In fact, the first time you play this game, you'll take one look at the..
Review: 5 Spots Party (WiiWare)
Can you spot the difference?
5 Spots Party is based upon the tried and true pen and paper game "Spot the Difference," a staple of children's activity magazines since forever where the object is to compare two pictures (usually drawings) and identify a set number of differences between them as a means of passing the time.This game originally appeared on the PC where it had the top spot on..
Review: Karate Phants: Gloves of Glory (WiiWare)
A fighting game based upon a licensed property -- what could possibly go wrong?
As a general rule video games based upon licensed properties tend to be bad. For every decent game you'll find dozens of hastily churned out movie show tie-ins where the license is more important than the underlying game.The fighting genre has had some notable exceptions to this rule of course, with the VS Capcom..
Review: Heracles: Chariot Racing (WiiWare)
Will Heracles slay the Titan of Nintendo racing games?
Due to the space constraints that Nintendo places on WiiWare games, most games on the service are short, simple, and lacking in the graphics department. One certainly would not expect a complete port of a PlayStation 2 game on the service. But that is exactly what developer Neko Entertainment has given us here, and at a price point equivalent..
Review: Bit.Trip Core (WiiWare)
Gaijin Games are back with the second game in the BIT.TRIP saga
The original BIT.TRIP BEAT took the old-school play control of Pong and created a unique and more modern spin on it. It was a bit like the original Pong games, but with far more charm and visual flair. Now Gaijin Games has taken that successful formula and bumped it up a level to give the game a more in-depth control system and a..
Review: Bit Boy!! (WiiWare)
Will you want to join Kubi on this totally crazy pixellated retro journey?
There has been a fair amount of hype surrounding the release of Bplus’ Bit Boy!! which is understandable as it taps into our love of retro gaming in much the same way as Mega Man 9 and Bit.Trip Beat did. Bit Boy!! offers a puzzling experience not unlike Pac-Man and adds a great deal of originality to the formula by taking..
Review: Silver Star Reversi (WiiWare)
It’s Reversi on WiiWare: what more do you want to know?
Similar to its sibling Silver Star Chess, the latest game from Agetec is a decent but barebones take on a classic board game. The game of Reversi dates back to late 19th century England and has been known in modern times as Othello. Two players take turns placing black and white dots on an 8 by 8 grid, trying to create horizontal, vertical,..
Review: Reel Fishing Challenge (WiiWare)
Keeping it reel.
There are some sports that seem tailor-made for video game translations, but fishing is arguably not one of them. A pastime that centers around patience rather than action or skill does not seem like the sort of thing that most people would be interested in experiencing indoors. Yet strangely enough the genre has existed for some time, and with the Wii it continues to flourish. It..
Review: Water Warfare (WiiWare)
Fill up your super soakers and prepare for a drenching in Hudson’s second WiiWare FPS game.
Earlier this year, Hudson released Onslaught, WiiWare's first FPS which proved that Japanese developers can actually make good FPS games! One of the only complaints with Onslaught was that it only featured online co-op and versus modes; there was no deathmatch. Water Warfare seems to have been made just to..
Review: Puzzle Bobble Plus! (WiiWare)
The third Bubble Bobble series remake to hit WiiWare. Is it any good after the somewhat disappointing Rainbow Islands?
Puzzle Bobble - or Bust-A-Move as it's known in North America - is perhaps the most well-known game in the Bubble Bobble series. Almost everybody's played it in some way or form, with multiple versions and a ton of rip-offs over the years. With that in mind, does this newest..
Review: Drill Sergeant Mindstrong (WiiWare)
Look alive, maggot!
The best way to describe Drill Sergeant Mindstrong would be to liken it to a military boot camp version of Brain Training. The game presents you with four basic mini-games, each with its own unique military theme complete with a Drill Sergeant barking commands and insults at you on a nearly continuous basis. While these mini-games are enjoyable enough, the mere fact that there's..
Review: NEVES Plus (WiiWare)
Does this age-old puzzler still have what it takes?
Silhouette puzzles have been around since the early 18th century, and chances are if you're old enough to read this article, you're likely to have played one at some point in your life. The original Neves, which built an entire retail title around these silhouette puzzles, was released on the Nintendo DS system almost two years ago. Unfortunately,..
Review: Family Mini Golf (WiiWare)
The 'Family' series is back with this golf-related offering - but does it buck the unfortunate trend?
Although the “Family” line of games hasn’t been met with the most positive reviews or sales numbers, Aksys Games still has the urge to keep the train chugging. As long as the franchise is making a profit for the publisher, the “Family” series is going to be around, even if most gamers are..
Review: NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits (WiiWare)
Will you be a kindred spirit with NyxQuest or a mortal enemy?
WiiWare has introduced us to a lot of talented developers who seem to have sprung out of nowhere. Think of the likes of Gaijin Games with their Bit.Trip series, Ronimo Games with Swords & Soldiers, and of course 2D Boy with the sublime World of Goo. From the moment that NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits was announced, it already looked like..
Review: Eduardo the Samurai Toaster (WiiWare)
Let there be toast!
One of the benefits of digital media distribution is the chance developers get to stretch their limbs and explore some creative paths often overlooked or avoided. Step in Eduardo The Samurai Toaster, a game with a concept very much out of the ordinary. It’s in good company though, as Wiiware has certainly had its share of strange titles. But fear not: Eduardo has the toast..
