All DS Previews

Mage Knight: Destiny's Soldier (Mage Knight: Destiny's Soldier)

Mar 30, 2006

Only the most frighteningly popular, figurine-based fantasy games get digital makeovers. Now that Dungeons & Dragons has hit the PC, it's time for fellow elf-and-dwarf basher Mage Knight to storm the video game frontlines. Chances are you're not among the thousands who've already transfigured their kitchen tables into epic battlescapes - but you'll soon get a crack at miniature sword-and-sorcery, as the lore is now coming to the ...

E3 06: Magnetica (Magnetica)

May 12, 2006

Nintendo's not wasting any time with its plan to captivate the casual gamer. After captivating them with daily brain training and virtual puppies, the company's now putting out its own version of the popular web game Zuma - but for us DS owners, we'll know it as Magnetica by June. Blue and red marbles roll through a winding, twisting track, dead-set on a course that leads them into a bottomless hole. Your task is to launch like-colored marbles at the procession - match three of any given color ...

MLB 2K8 Fantasy All-Stars (Major League Baseball 2K8 Fantasy All-Stars)

Mar 26, 2008

Most of us didn’t realize that publisher 2K Sports actually put out an MLB 2K7 baseball game last season on the DS – and by the looks of it, 2K would like those who did know to forget that ever happened. This spring, they’ve scrapped any attempts at a hardball sim in favor of a kid-friendly, stylus-driven baseball game, rebranding the franchise as MLB 2K8 Fantasy All-Stars. We got our mitts on a preview copy and took a few ...

Mario Hoops 3-on-3 (Mario Hoops 3-on-3)

Sep 1, 2006

Nintendo has done a fantastic job finding partners to bring characters from the Mario universe to the wide world of sports. It teamed with Camelot Software Planning for the excellent Mario Golf and Mario Tennis games. It teamed with Namco and Next Level Games for the entertaining Mario Baseball and Mario Strikers titles, respectively. For its next trick, the company has partnered with RPG giant Square-Enix to make Marios hoop dreams a reality. In the vein of previous Mario sports titles, Mario ...

Mario and Moogles play ball (Mario Hoops 3-on-3)

Jul 31, 2006

Gamers in Japan are no doubt spending huge chunks of this week cramming flaming basketballs into Nintendo-themed hoops with Mario Hoops 3-on-3 - we'll get our chance on September 11, but perhaps one of the coolest features this Mario sports outing has is its cast of Final Fantasy guest ...

Mario Hoops 3-on-3 (Mario Hoops 3-on-3)

May 23, 2006

Strange how it took this long for Mario and his posse to crazy-up basketball - they've been hitting tennis, baseball and golf for years now, assaulting each other with turtle shells and bombs as though they were common sports equipment. Though it's developed by Final Fantasy titans Square Enix, there won't be any hit points and pissy anti-heroes here. Hoops is all about getting to the net in the most stylish way possible. From what we saw at E3, it appeared that the standard two-points rule ...

Mario Kart DS (Mario Kart DS)

Jul 21, 2005

Another chance to sample the pleasures of Mario Kart DS, away from the clamour of E3's showfloor, ought to have presented an opportunity for a more reflective, studied examination of the game's handling nuances and track design. It did, but in practice it was much more important that there was no one else waiting to jostle you off the demo pod, giving you the freedom to have another race... and another. And another. And then a few more.Double Dash may have been the first instalment in the ...

Mario Party DS (Mario Party DS)

Oct 25, 2007

Oct 25, 2007 Don't even talk to us about Mario Party DS's newly-revealed plot. Mario and crew get a party invite from Bowser crony Magikoopa - and accept? Just imagine their surprise when they end up cursed to wander the Mushroom Kingdom in shrinky-dinky form. ...

Mario Party DS (Mario Party DS)

Aug 31, 2007

Aug 31, 2007 After Wii's Mario Party 8 (sound of limp party blower), we're amazed Nintendo are daring to even buy the invite envelopes for another Mario bash. But, honestly, Mario Party DS doesn't look all that bad. You get your usual grab-bag of game boards (which seem a tad less involved than their TV counterparts), stars, coins, minigames and the ...

Mario vs Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis (Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis)

May 19, 2006

Friday 19 May 2006 You wouldn't know it by looking at all the 'buddy buddy' sports games on GameCube, but once upon a time, Mario and Donkey Kong were big-time enemies. In the case of Mario vs Donkey Kong: March of the Minis, you're controlling a horde of tiny, mechanical Mario clones as they try to escape the puzzling, 2D prison Donkey Kong has slapped them into. Well, you dont actually control the Marios themselves. They're basically roaming freely around the levels, awaiting your ...

E3 06: Mario vs Donkey Kong: March of the Minis - Hands On (Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis)

May 10, 2006

You wouldn't know it by looking at all the buddy-buddy sports games that are on the GameCube, but once upon a time, Mario and Donkey Kong were big-time enemies. In the case of Mario vs Donkey Kong: March of the Minis, you're controlling a horde of tiny, mechanical Mario clones as they try to escape the puzzling, 2D prison Donkey Kong has slapped them into. Well, you dont actually control the Marios themselves. They're kinda roaming freely around the levels, awaiting your instructions. You tap ...

Matchman (Matchman)

Aug 11, 2008

Matches, it would seem, aren’t just there for creaky old men in pubs to show off their cheap parlour tricks. Matches can be heroes too. Or at least according to Matchman. “Matchman is the Prince of the Kingdom of Match,” explains developer Steven Shao. “An invasion triggers an economic crisis and the people can’t afford paint to colour their world. The Kingdom of Match is fading to grey!” ...

MechAssault: Phantom War hands on (MechAssault: Phantom War)

May 22, 2006

The DS really isn't the appropriate venue for 3D action games. We've seen plenty of admirable tries (Splinter Cell, for one), but few hold a candle to their console versions. MechAssault: Phantom War looks like it'll fare a little better, though, mixing mechs, tanks and hacking skills into a game that actually has not-trash 3D graphics. You'll be hoofing it through various missions, most of which involve blowing stuff up as a towering, walking tank. Our first task was to out-shoot two incoming ...

Mega Man gives 2x power-up to DS (Mega Man Star Force)

Apr 13, 2007

We love Mega Man. We really do. Beating down Dr. Wily (or, in a pinch, Sigma) is one of any classic gamers' favorite pastimes. But both enduring villains have been missing for some time now, making way for the Battle Network and Mega Man Zero franchises. Well, fans can expect to dig into another pair... no wait, a quartet of new Mega Man games, later this year. The newly announced ZX Advent picks up where last year's ZX left off, offering a huge map to explore and new powers to obtain. It's a ...

Metroid Prime Hunters - Tools of the Trade (Metroid Prime Hunters)

Mar 16, 2006

An online, handheld deathmatch is about to take over your Nintendo DS. Metroid Prime Hunters is just a few days away, and its seven tough-as-nails bounty hunters (heroine Samus included) are going to do everything in their armor-cracking, shape-shifting power to put you under. Curious as to how it is you're going down? From the official Hunters website: "Samus Aran is well known throughout the galaxy as an efficient and experienced bounty hunter. Few other hunters can compete with Samus' long ...

Metroid Prime Hunters - Hands On (Metroid Prime Hunters)

Mar 4, 2006

Other than a roster of all new, alien bounty hunters and an emphasis on touch screen, multiplayer deathmatching, all we could say about Metroid Prime Hunters before today was that we'd jump into the shadiest fight club around to get our hands on it. Now, after spending some quality time torching, bombing and bashing three other players in Wi-Fi match ups, we can safely say the wait will be worth it. The first aspect to zero in on is how non-traditional the fragging is. The six hunters and ...

Metroid Prime Hunters (Metroid Prime Hunters)

Mar 3, 2006

Hard as it is to believe now, Metroid's switch from side-scrolling corridor sprint to first person adventure freaked everyone out. Running and gunning, after all, was never the core of heroine Samus' purview. Today, though, the series is one of Nintendo's most successful, and the bounty hunter couldn't be in a better position to try new things. Case in point: Metroid Prime Hunters is a fast action shooter that plays down the series' deliberately paced gameplay. Forget searching for clues; ...

Metroid Prime: Hunters (Metroid Prime Hunters)

Feb 15, 2006

Metroid Prime Hunters is broken up into a series of specific missions, which you receive from the Galactic Federation before each level.The game's story basically revolves around an artefact hunt; technology of vast power that's scattered around the galaxy. Using her ship, space hunter Samus will need to travel around the system to search for them. However, these artefacts are not only sought after by Samus, but also by a number of other bounty hunters. Each bounty hunter is nastier than the ...

Metroid Prime Hunters (Metroid Prime Hunters)

Jan 11, 2006

Metroid Prime Hunters is broken up into a series of specific missions, which you receive from the Galactic Federation before each level. The game's story basically revolves around an artefact hunt - technology of vast power that's scattered around the galaxy. Using her ship, Samus will need to travel around the system to search for them. However, these artefacts are not only sought after by Samus, but also by a number of other bounty hunters. Each bounty hunter is nastier than the last, ...

Micro Machines V4 (Micro Machines v4)

Mar 10, 2006

There are a few evergreen, childhood memories that most of us share. Burning G.I Joes with a magnifying glass, taking Barbie and Ken for a cruise right off the edge of the kitchen table ... all fine ways to kill an afternoon. But buried in that same backyard of nostalgia are the miniature cars, trucks and hotrods of Micro Machines, a toy line that has offered some of the simplest pick-up-and-play racing games of all time. This June, they're back with even more. In true arcade fashion, anyone ...