GamesRadar - DS Previews

The first 90 minutes of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks)

6/11/2009

When Spirit Tracks was first announced, you could feel the wave of fanboy revulsion reverberate throughout the internet. “Link on a train?!” was a subject line in about a billion emails, texts and forum posts, and we have to say even the GR office was abuzz with incredulous fervor. Today, having essentially seen the first 90 minutes of the game (and played through the first dungeon), we can safely say Spirit Tracks is every damn bit as good as Plantom Hourglass ...

Phantasy Star 0 – hands-on (Phantasy Star 0)

24/09/2009

Phantasy Star’s more recent legacy is one built on multiplayer. Although it’s fair to say that most Dreamcast owners live in a perpetual state of teary-eyed nostalgia, there’s a particularly special glint in their eye that’s reserved solely for the frantic monster-gutting expeditions that were a staple of Phantasy Star Online. ...

Smackdown vs Raw 2010 – hands-on (WWE SmackDown vs Raw 2010)

27/08/2009

As we sat down to see Smackdown vs Raw 2010 for the first time in L.A. during Summerslam weekend, we were skeptical. This had been the longest we could remember going without seeing a given year’s Smackdown before its release, which will be on Oct. 20. ...

Dragon Quest IX – import review (Dragon Quest IX)

11/08/2009

Forget AWOL, here’s AWOI – Absent Without Intent, the art of accidental fleeing. In a game that’s rammed with Japanese text, it’s a mis-prod of the run-away button that irritates most. Story, job classes, skills, spells and item conditions – you can muddle through without them, but showing a boss your back to stab is suicidal. ...

All the dirt on DiRT 2 (Colin McRae Dirt 2)

7/08/2009

Rally car racing is a sport in transition. Like mixed martial arts, it’s spent the last several years carving out a slice of mindshare from sports fans eager for new spectacles. Rally has long been popular in Europe and Asia, and now has growing mainstream acceptance in America thanks to the late Colin McRae’s efforts to hitch the sport to the X Games. ...

See Keyboard Cat in Scribblenauts! (Scribblenauts)

10/07/2009

See Keyboard Cat, teh ROFLCOPTER and watch a Giant Enemy Crab wreak havok in our video, and check out our hands-on preview of this extraordinary DS game ...

Space Invaders Extreme 2 – import review (Space Invaders Extreme 2)

23/04/2009

The key to making retro games work – as Space Invaders Extreme 2 and its predecessor realise – is to revel in nostalgia, while at the same time bringing the gameplay up to more modern standards. As with the first title, Extreme 2 is a chunky pixel soup made from equal parts Space Invaders and Rez; it’s half shoot-’em-up and half rhythm game, making the (obvious, when you think about it) connection between the two. ...

Monster Racers – import review (Monster Racers)

14/04/2009

Being the most successful RPG series of all time – spawning a dozen movies, stacks of merchandise and enough cash to bail out a bank – surely there’s no surprise that lots of games want to be Pokemon. Monster Racers takes the imitation/flattery a little further than most, to a point where at first glance it could be mistaken for the real thing. ...

G-Force - hands-on (G-Force)

2/04/2009

What's the result when you mix a Jerry Bruckheimer live-action extravaganza, a bit of CG magic, and adorable rodents? A bizarre question to be sure, but Disney will answer it this summer with G-Force, a family-friendly action flick starring a series of guinea pig secret agents. Smirk if you'd like, but kids love guinea pigs, and where there's scent of a new franchise that kids might go crazy over, you'd better believe Disney has a video game ...

Treasure World - first look (Treasure World)

2/04/2009

Kids like collecting things. Just ask any rabid Pokémon fan if you don't believe us. Publisher Aspyr hopes to tap into this compulsion with Treasure World. Designed to appeal to the seven to 12 year-old crowd (but interesting enough to hook us hard-noses too), this unique simulation title attempts to marry three worlds – virtual, real and online—together. ...

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra - first look (G.I. JOE: The Rise of Cobra)

31/03/2009

Want to make a movie-based game that has a good chance at not sucking? Take a note from publisher Electronic Arts and developer Double Helix Games. Presented with the G.I. Joe license and a chance to make a game tying into the upcoming summer blockbuster movie, they could have attempted to make a brutal war epic, a dark third-person shooter, their version of Gears of War. Instead, they stuck to the spirit of the toys in creating The Rise of Cobra ...

Duke Nukem: Critical Mass - first look (Duke Nukem: Critical Mass)

31/03/2009

At this point, we’re doubtful that developer 3D Realms will ever actually release the perpetually in-development Duke Nukem Forever. But that hasn’t stopped classic shareware developer Apogee Software (now separated from 3D Realms) from crafting a trilogy of new handheld Duke Nukem games for the DS and PSP. The first of these is Duke Nukem: Critical Mass. ...

Rhythm Heaven - hands-on (Rhythm Heaven)

24/03/2009

Many devoted gamers, for very good reasons, hate casual games. These simple titles are seen as the end of the medium, aimed at the lowest common denominator and sucking development times and money away from "real" games. But now we have Rhythm Heaven, a new music game out to prove that Nintendo can still make a "casual" title that can appeal to hardcore gamers, casual players and really anyone with the ability to press a button.

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Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled (Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled)

25/02/2009

Creating role-playing games can be a labor of love (not that it can’t be a labor of money either): creating a storyline, a world, and the people, creatures and items that exist and interact in that world is no mean feat. And when it comes to the upcoming RPG for the DS, Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled, you can tell that a lot of love went into crafting this one. ...

The Overlord trilogy of previews (Overlord Minions)

20/02/2009

At Codemasters’ Gamers Day 2009, we were given a chance at a sneak peek on three new titles in the works based on 2007’s twisted fantasy action adventure, Overlord. The grotesquely charming Minion horde is back as these games begin and continue the story of the original Overlord, written by its award-winning games author Rhianna Pratchett. All games are scheduled for release in June 2009. ...

Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume (Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume)

20/02/2009

A cute trick in games lately is choosing the good or evil path, being an anti-hero in a shade of grey of your choosing. But what if you were a confused good guy trapped on a path of evil? That's the interesting scenario for Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume, an all new strategy spin-off of the cult RPG series for the DS. ...

Super Robot Taisen Original Generation Saga: Endless Frontier (Super Robot Taisen Original Generation Saga: Endless Frontier)

10/02/2009

Juggles and jiggles. These two words sum up the stand-out elements of ridiculously-named Super Robot Taisen Original Generation Saga: Endless Frontier, although the “Original Generation” is abbreviated as “OG” on the box cover in a futile attempt to shorten the stream of word-absurdity, or possibly make an RPG about anime blow-up sex-doll robots sound gangsta. ...

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time - hands-on (Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time)

9/02/2009

The Crystal Chronicles series has never quite achieved its potential. From baffling design decisions – such as the original requiring not only a GameCube but also a mess of cables and a GBA for each player – to Ring of Fates’ curious omission of online play, Square Enix have always managed to stab themselves in the foot. Until now, that is. ...

Tokyo Beat Down (Tokyo Beat Down)

4/02/2009

Everyone loves the renegade cop, at least fictional ones. Guys who make their own rules, don't listen to the old men in their ivory towers and get the job done no matter whose toes are stepped on. Videogames have their fair share of these characters, but Lewis Cannon, the hero of throwback beat-'em-up Tokyo Beat Down for DS, is the most Miranda-ignoring, suspect-abusing, and aptly named rogue cop we've ever played as. ...

The Dark Spire (The Dark Spire)

3/02/2009

Role-playing games have come a long way since their inception in videogame-dom. The big franchises almost all sport immersive 3D worlds, iconic and developed characters, and cinematic cut-scenes. But what if you didn’t want all that — the toned-down level of challenge, the movie sequences that spell out what you’d prefer to just imagine, the androgynous protagonists? ...