All DS Reviews

N+ (Review)

Aug 26, 2008

Never has playing as a ninja made us feel both badass and vulnerable all at once. In n+, you don’t have any daggers of death or ninja stars to fling into the necks of unsuspecting enemies. ...

Namco Museum DS (Review)

Sep 27, 2007

Sept 27, 2007 What's a few pixels among old friends? That's the question Namco Museum DS asks - you love old-fart games like Xevious and Galaga so much, you'll accept it if they, you know, don't look like they should, right? We won't dive into the technical side of games too deeply here, but stick with us. The screen size of the original Pac-Man was 224 pixels by 288 pixels. The native resolution of the DS is smaller, just 256 x 192. So in order to make Ol' Yellow Mouth fit, Namco had ...

Nanostray (Review)

Jun 22, 2007

You know how Forrest Gump's momma told him, "Life's like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get"? She never played Nanostray. This old-school 2D shooter shows you its goods right there on the front of the box. Spaceship. Laser beams. Explosions. Any ...

Nanostray 2 (Review)

Mar 17, 2008

Peanut butter and jelly. Root beer and ice cream. Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus. All those things are great individually, but they're even better together. Now, Nanostray 2 brings that "best of both worlds" mentality to video games, in the form of a wicked tight spaceship shoot-em-up that offers both horizontal and vertical stages.Yes, this is one of those hybrid shoot-em-ups where half the levels scroll from right-to-left and the other half ...

Naruto: Ninja Council 3 (Review)

May 22, 2007

Once again everyones favorite boy ninja has come to town to defy what we expect from licensed anime titles. People whove enjoyed the ladss Wii and PS2 outings (or just looking forward to his upcoming 360 debut) are left with little to bellyache about when it comes to Naruto on the go. Comfortably starddling the line between fighting game and 2-D side-scroller, Naruto: Ninja Council 3 offers up sixty plus unique missions for you and your friends to play. And its not all about the kicking of ass ...

Naruto: Ninja Destiny (Review)

Feb 29, 2008

If you're a Naruto fan who's been enjoying the Clash of Ninja series for the past few years, we have good news for you. Now, you can take that goofy 3D fighting with you wherever you go. Naruto: Ninja Destiny for the Nintendo DS lets you go one-on-one with 16 familiar characters taken from the Naruto comics and TV show, and it delivers the sort of cartoon style characters and smoothly animated Jutsu attacks that you want from a handheld Naruto ...

Naruto: Path of the Ninja (Review)

Oct 29, 2007

Oct 29, 2007 Every gamer knows that the path of the ninja is tread quietly, strewn with sliced-off heads and populated by dark, silent killers. Unless you're talking about the anime/manga/videogame juggernaut Naruto, in which case that same ninja path is tread clumsily, strewn with preteen hijinks and walked by a hero who dresses like a traffic cone and sounds like Bart Simpson. Path of the Ninja, the new DS Naruto RPG, will accordingly play - for the Naruto-ignorant - like a kind of Before ...

Naruto Shinobi Retsuden [import] (Review)

Feb 9, 2007

Those crazy ninja adventurers are back from their foray into RPGs, and have returned to Street Fighter-esque beat 'em-ups once more. It's one of the very, very few one-on-one fighting games available for the DS, but sadly it's not filling any ...

Need for Speed Carbon (Review)

Nov 27, 2006

As the steadfastly popular Need for Speed series rolls on each year, EA's modus operandi is simple - keep enough of the stuff that folks love, then add in some new wrinkles that'll excite the fan base. When it comes to Nintendo's dual-screen gem, there are already a few stupendously fun titles available (Mario Kart DS, anyone?). So what new-fangled razzmatazz does their latest street racing effort bring to the table? Good thing you asked. The piece de resistance in Carbon: Own the City is the ...

Need for Speed ProStreet (Review)

Dec 11, 2007

Dec 11, 2007 We understand if you shrug at the appearance of yet another episode in the long-running Need For Speed series. After all, between the Undergrounds, Carbons and other assorted NFS-titled accoutrements, it's become sorta tough to keep up with where the franchise is going these days. However, despite the collective yawn coming from the mouths of gamers around the world, there's no disputing one simple fact - Need for Speed ProStreet on the DS is a tight and polished portable racer. ...

Nervous Brickdown (Review)

Jul 5, 2007

More than thirty years ago, Ataris block-smashing game Breakout established a whole new kind of gameplay (there were only about three back then, so it wasnt so tough, but still…). Now Nervous Brickdown comes along, re-re-re-reinvents the genre, and makes us care again. Instead of just giving you a paddle at the bottom of the screen, a wall of bricks at the top, a ball that bounces between the two, and near-instant ennui, it sweetens the pot by constantly switching up its look and ...

Neves (Review)

Nov 8, 2007

Don't worry about how to pronounce it. It's just "Seven" backwards. And this little puzzle game is just a singularly succinct as its title. The screenshots should give you a good enough idea of how the game works. Based off the classic Japanese Lucky Puzzle, you're provided with a silhouette, then given seven shape pieces to replicate it. Simple ...

New International Track & Field (Review)

Jun 12, 2008

Track & Field was a great though shallow game when it burst through the ticker-tape in 1983, and to be honest, the basic concept hasn’t changed much in 25 years. Now, instead of mashing buttons to make your on-screen athletes achieve Olympic glory, you furiously scrub the stylus across the bottom of the touchscreen. Moves such as jumping hurdles, lobbing the discus and so on are handled either by tapping a separate area of the ...

New Super Mario Bros (Review)

May 18, 2006

Thursday 18 May 2006 There are only a few franchises in the gaming industry that you can name drop and everyone, instantly, knows exactly what you mean. 'It's like Tetris', or 'it's a Doom clone', or, in many cases for handheld games, 'it's a pale shadow of Super Mario Bros'. These practically need no introduction, and New Super Mario Bros continues that proud tradition. Other than porting over some of the plumber's moves from Super Mario 64 (butt stomp, wall jump and triple jump), this plays ...

New Super Mario Bros (Review)

May 16, 2006

There are only a few franchises in the gaming industry that you can name drop and everyone, instantly, knows exactly what you mean. It's like Tetris, or it's a Doom clone, or, in many cases for handheld games, it's a pale shadow of Super Mario Bros. These practically need no introduction, and New Super Mario Bros. continues that proud tradition. Other than porting over some of the plumber's moves from Super Mario 64 (butt stomp, wall jump and triple jump), this plays just like the classics you ...

The New York Times Crosswords (Review)

Jun 1, 2007

The debate over pen vs pencil may continue to rage in the passionate world of crossword puzzles, but there is one thing on which all aficionados can agree: The New York Times crossword puzzle is the creme de la creme of crosswords. For many, it's the only crossword. To quote Jon Stewart in the documentary Wordplay, "I will solve, in a hotel, a USA Today, but I don't feel good about myself when I do it." So we know straight away that The New York Times Crosswords is going to contain quality ...

New Zealand Story Revolution (Review)

Jan 31, 2007

Wednesday 31 January 2007 Okay, two things. One, calling this a 'Revolution' is like calling Peter Andre a timeless performer of real calibre and talent. It's a subtitle of truth-stretching cheekiness that suggests some sort of radical reimagining, when all you're getting is essentially the same old Mysterious Girl with a couple of bolted on extras you'll hardly even notice. But, by doing that - and here's where number two comes in - by taking a classic 2Der and making only cosmetic changes, ...

Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (Review)

Mar 12, 2008

Up until now, holding the DS sideways like a book has triggered images of brainy minigames or self-help software meant for mommy dearest. After spending five chaotic hours with Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, it's now become synonymous with nut-busting action on par with Devil May Cry or God of War.Developer Team Ninja has seemingly done the impossible - create an adrenaline-drenched action title that's totally stylus driven. Slashing an enemy with ...

Ninja Reflex (Review)

Mar 12, 2008

For the most part, the Nintendo DS version of Ninja Reflex is identical to its Wii sibling - which is to say, they're both shamefully sparse. All six - not twenty-six, not forty-six, but just six - ninja-themed minigames from the Wii release made it into the DS cartridge. On top of that, the gorgeous Japanese inspired graphics and goofy spoken dialogue survived the transition pretty much intact. Other than the fact that there should be far more ...

Nintendogs (Review)

Oct 18, 2006

When it comes to cute collectible digital creatures, Nintendo owns the market. But Pokemon doesn't appeal to everyone, so the company has whipped up a furrier alternative with Nintendogs. It's not a linear game so much as a virtual pet and quite similar to the LCD keychain fad Tamagotchi from the late 90s. Only Nintendogs is far more involved and rewarding. And instead of trying to care about the health and welfare of a liquid crystal alien blob thing, you can adopt up to 18 breeds of ...