All DS Reviews

Left Brain Right Brain (Review)

Dec 14, 2007

Dec 14, 2007 The title of Left Brain Right Brain is rather misleading. You might think that the game is yet another of the billion mind-training games coming to market, when its really not a “brain” training game at all - at least, not in the cognitive thinking sense. Instead, Left Brain, Right Brain is a game meant to develop ambidexterity - the ability to use both hands skillfully, rather than relying on one “good” hand. Sounds like a cool concept? It is. Its just too ...

The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night (Review)

Oct 17, 2007

Oct 17, 2007 Spyros back for another multiplatform romp, and once again, he includes the Nintendo DS in his console travels. Unlike Spyros previous outings on Nintendos double-screened wonder - which were played from a top-down perspective - Spyro: The Eternal Night is a behind-the-character-view 3D platformer, much like its console brothers. Unfortunately, this shift in perspective leaves something to be desired. Things look okay from the outset. Visually, Spyro: The Eternal Night is ...

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Review)

Oct 1, 2007

Oct 1, 2007 In some peoples Zelda codec, boat = monotony. Wind Wakers Triforce trawl and irksome wind realignment did for many of you, leaving jaded gamers in its wake. Well, get over it. Although a canonical continuation of Wind Waker, this is a custom-built DS outing, determined to deliver more than a control-scheme makeover. From the moment Link plunges his hand into a chest and pulls out… nothing at all to an off-key discovery jingle, you know youre in for something quite ...

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (Review)

Jun 4, 2008

How can a game that’s identical to the brilliant LEGO Star Wars in almost every respect not be as good? Simple - the setting. The Star Wars universe is vibrant, colourful and fantastical, while Indy’s real-world ’40s setting is more subdued. This works in the context of the films, but recreated in LEGO it has none of the outlandish flair of Lucas’ galaxy far, far away. ...

Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (Review)

Oct 11, 2006

A textbook example of how to screw up a sure thing, the Nintendo DS version of LEGO Star Wars II is easily the 'must avoid' release of the year. Other systems get a stylistically pure and super fun title. Meanwhile, the DS is saddled with a buggy, incomplete letdown that wastes your money and good will, deeply tarnishing LucasArts' reputation. It's impossible not to love the concept, which casts the entire Star Wars ensemble as LEGO figures. As you explore the simple but eerily accurate ...

Lifesigns: Surgical Unit (Review)

Nov 21, 2007

Nov 21, 2007 Looking to cure to those Trauma Center withdrawal shakes? Look no further than Trauma Center: New Blood. With heavy emphasis on ‘affairs, Lifesigns is the soap opera General Hospital to Trauma Centers pulsating thriller ER. Where the latter pulled you from emergency to emergency with frightening efficiency, we find the staff of Seimei Medical University so gossip-hungry that its incredible any surgery gets done at all. In truth, little medicine is practiced. With only a ...

LOL (Review)

Jul 21, 2008

LOL is only as funny as the acquaintances you play it with and if, as in our case, your acquaintances have a predilection for cartoon anatomy and a seemingly never-ending supply of meanness about whoever’s mother, it’s very funny indeed. To put none too fine a point on it, this is Pictochat dressed up as a quiz show. Four DSes link to one cart. One player decides the theme of the round and dictates the time given to complete it. ...

Looney Tunes: Cartoon Conductor (Review)

Jun 11, 2008

Yes, this is an unashamed Elite Beat Agents clone. And yes, you’ll be tapping along to handily copyright-free classical tunes (Flight of the Bumblebee, Ride of the Valkyries and the like) rather than Elite Beat Agents’ young persons’ popular tunes. But it really isn’t too bad.

Guitar Hero-style note-hitting breaks up the Elite Beat-style circle-tapping, and a reasonable difficulty level should keep the kids ...

Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck (Review)

Nov 2, 2007

Nov 2, 2007 The Looney Tunes short, Duck Amuck, was built around a novel concept: a sadistic animator is given free reign over the existence of beloved character Daffy Duck. Using his pencil and paper, the animator subjects Daffy to all his crazy whims, driving the duck completely mad in the process. The short is considered one of the greatest pieces of American animation ever produced, and for good reason - it's absolutely brilliant. But when we heard that a game based on the short was being ...

Lost in Blue (Review)

Nov 11, 2005

You find yourself stranded on a beach with nothing but your clothes and a backpack. You're hungry and thirsty, wet and tired, and the only thing you can do is wander around in search of food and shelter. An investigation of the immediate area turns up some coconuts, which manage to alleviate your thirst long enough to find some bark and twigs. A nearby cave gives you enough shelter to start your first fire. You end your day alone, exhausted.The following day brings more discoveries in the form ...

Lost in Blue 2 (Review)

Mar 26, 2007

For sale: One deserted island. Fixer-upper with miles of private, sandy beach. Ample food, water, and space to explore. Bring backpack, zippo, sleeping bag. Gun big enough to drop a gorilla from close range and every episode of Crocodile Hunter on DVD also advised. Lost in Blue 2 – whose logo also includes a small bird that we cant find the symbol for anywhere on our keyboard – is a strange sort of game. Its the story of two young people shipwrecked on a jungle island, faced not ...

Lost in Blue 3 (Review)

Mar 19, 2008

The Lost in Blue series has never been for everyone. Scrounging for measly tidbits of food on an empty tropical island sounds more like work than a game, and for many that’s exactly what it would be. We didn’t think it sounded fun either, and yet hours later we were greedily massing our horde of grilled white carp and mushroom salads and gasping in joy when an oil drum washed up on shore.If you’ve played either of the previous ...

Lost Magic (Review)

Apr 26, 2006

In games, it's never about how obvious an idea is. It's all in the execution. In Lostmagic, you cast magical spells by drawing icons with the DS' stylus. A sharply drawn inverted V sends a blast of fire at your enemies. A smooth S showers them in chilling ice. Yes, it's simple, but it's the execution - tough but addictive - that will keep you playing. Castlevania tried this whole "draw the symbol" thing, but anyone who's played it knows that it was pretty irritating. In Lostmagic, the main ...

Luminous Arc (Review)

Aug 16, 2007

Everyone knows that the best weapon to combat sultry witches in barely-there costumes is... a precocious gang of spiky-haired kids. Such is your lot in life in Luminous Arc, leading a group of teenage warriors-in-training around the world to battle broom-wielding witches and their minions. With an unquestioning loyalty to their bosses at the Luminous Church, the mostly merry band of traveling youngsters exhorts and teases each other across the land, stopping only for battles, shopping, and the ...

Lunar Knights (Review)

Feb 13, 2007

Don't let the title's lack of "B-words" fool you; Lunar Knights is basically a next-gen version of Boktai, the isometric vampire-stabbing adventure that used real sunlight to power your weaponry - but without the cartridge-based light sensor and all of the frustratingly limited game play issues that go along with it. In place of said light sensor, Kojima Productions takes a more creative tack in Lunar Knights. While the playable characters still rely on sunlight (and now, moonlight) to power ...