GamesRadar - DS Reviews

Scurge: Hive (Review)

Nov 10, 2006

Scurge: Hive may be derivative at first glance, but once you penetrate its familiar shell, you'll find a fresh take on a classic genre. Granted, Scurge is essentially Metroid Fusion in an isometric (better known as three-quarter) view, but the simple fact is that Metroid Fusion is still an excellent game, so it follows that Scurge is as ...

Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure (Review)

Mar 13, 2008

Imagine Endless Ocean on DS millions of years ago - both in terms of prehistoric monsters and graphics. After you’ve mentally stripped out any visual delights, now imagine you’re playing as the fish, rather than a human observer, and your only objective is to, basically, not die. There’s no actual tangible objective beyond this.Eat fish, dig out fossils, read some interesting snippets of educational material on fossils, eat ...

Sega Superstars Tennis (Review)

Apr 17, 2008

This tinied-down version of the recent Wii smasher should in theory be more fiddly and less satisfying than its big bro. But somehow they’ve squeezed all the better bits in, and bypassed all that unsatisfying control business. You’ll still be mashing them thumbs up on the minigames, but you’re in for a smoother, more simplified ride - and the sheer joy of all the old school Sega nostalgia making up for the frustrating ...

Showtime Championship Boxing (Review)

Dec 13, 2007

Dec 13, 2007 Boxers are never eye-candy. But here? Man, theyre ugly. Vaguely flesh-toned textures mapped onto potato-chip packets; these crinkled monstrosities tragically gambol around the ring waiting for another of their human/origami half-breed kind to punch their soul out. Ugliness also seeps from the 2D crowd that violently shudders on the top screen. Visuals broken, DSI set about ruining the Showtime brand. With not an official boxer in sight, rendering the license worthless, you fight ...

Shrek the Third (Review)

Jul 23, 2007

Are your eyes bleeding? They should be. Soon the universe will shudder as a fat gash in the earth suddenly tears open to swallow our species, and smiling Satan rockets up from the depths to enslave us. And why? Because it was preordained for this software to be slipshod: an interactive commercial bought by parents too lazy and too negligent to give their child something without Disneys mark on the box (the logo of the beast). Yet here, Gods law is disemboweled… well, for a few ...

Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (Review)

Jul 9, 2008

Not all gamers are twitchy, impatient freaks high on BALLZ energy drinks; some prefer to reflect, weigh their options, and, most importantly, take turns. Choices may be shrinking for those players, but strategy games still cater to them, such as phenom Sid Meier's Civilization. Civ's global domination through many paths is a landmark of PC gaming, but this spin-off, Revolution, heads to unexplored territory: the Nintendo ...

SimCity Creator (Review)

Oct 15, 2008

Though not as old as time per se, the SimCity series certainly feels like it’s been around since the first computer was turned on. The mainly PC city-builder even has a console lineage going all the way back to the Super Nintendo. Until somewhat recently, each release would get more complicated, but lately the developers have been scaling back the difficulty for newer players. SimCity Creator for the DS is the most recent Sim game to ...

SimCity DS (Review)

Jun 20, 2007

Is there a creature on Earth more misunderstood than the humble town planner? They work hard all day, toiling for hours in the fields, trying to find that idyllic spot out in the sticks to place their towns fire station, and then they sit up all night stylus-tapping missiles into the face of hospital-munching giant apes. And for what? After a few hours designing your dream town in Sim City, however, youll want to send your own towns council a bouquet of flowers and a box of Sees candies. ...

The Simpsons Game (Review)

Nov 8, 2007

Nov 6, 2007 While boasting an impressive and somewhat creepy 3-D veneer, the DS version of The Simpsons is a solid little 2-D platformer at heart. Sure the levels are on the ugly side, and the combat kinda stinks, but everything else is assuredly Simpsons. And anyone out there who can remember the abysmal attempts of Simpsons gaming past will probably want to take ...

The Sims 2 Apartment Pets (Review)

Jul 28, 2008

Everything is better with puppies and kittens. Hell, puppies and kittens are better with more puppies and kittens. It’s a popular scientific theory. What Sims 2 Apartment Pets wants to do is challenge this school of thought. Are the little critters this boring in real life? ...

The Sims 2: Castaway (Review)

Nov 2, 2007

Nov 2, 2007 So, we're going to assume two things here: 1) you've already read our pixel-perfect dissection of Castaway on Wii and noted that we awarded it an 8-sized score, and 2) you don't want to read the same review twice. Which is just as well because, on the second point, we're not entirely sure that this DS version feels like quite the "new experience" it did on Wii. Sure, it looks different, and - with its switch from suburbia to the Pacific - initially feels different, too. But the ...

The Sims 2 Pets (Review)

Nov 30, 2006

Imagine if The Sims and Nintendogs made sweet, sweet love. The result would be... well, it wouldnt be pretty. A big, polygonal mess. But with a bit of massaging and fine tuning, it would be this game - just a few steps above a big, polygonal mess. In The Sims 2: Pets, your sim takes the role of a veterinarian who, naturally, happens to be a pet ...

SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS (Review)

Jun 1, 2007

Card Fighters DS is a hard sell - to just about anyone besides the hardcore fans of the original Neo Geo Pocket Color game. It's a collectible trading card game, filled with the (mostly) obscure characters from the SNK and Capcom lineups of years past. Wait, come back! What's particularly perplexing about this sequel, though, is just how far it strays from the winning formula of the original in a misguided attempt to try and make it relevant - to not just the sort of hardcore fans who still ...

SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS [Import] (Review)

Feb 7, 2007

That faraway shrill? The collective squeal from the 17 people worldwide who plumped for the Neo Geo Pocket F1 in the midst of Pokemania in 1999. For these unorthodox fellows, Card Fighters was their Mecca, but this DS re-imagining is destined to disappoint. ...

Soma Bringer [import] (Review)

Mar 26, 2008

Nintendo evidently liked GameCube title Baten Kaitos enough to splash a large wad of cash on acquiring the company that made it, and here’s the first game from the newly first-party Monolith Soft.Soma Bringer is an action RPG that’s very much like Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, except with added layers of complexity and even more ways to customize your character. Set in a series of sprawling, monster-packed dungeons, the aim is ...

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (Review)

Sep 30, 2008

When BioWare announced that they had been charged with crafting a Sonic RPG by Sega, eyebrows across the gaming universe shot up. After all, it was just about the most bizarre love affair since the dirty Blue Bomber himself got it on with the human Princess Elise in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). ...

Sonic Rush (Review)

Mar 24, 2006

At least some people realize how to make this franchise work. After way too many lackluster 3D adventure games, Sonic Rush returns the series to its side-scrolling glory days by focusing on speed. The levels are designed to rocket you forward as fast as possible at all times, and even with recognizable areas like a giant casino, lush green forest and a floating airship, theyre crazy enough you'll forgive the ...

Sonic Rush (Review)

Nov 24, 2005

Stop and think about that title for a moment and see if your knees start to wobble. Sonic Rush - yes, that's right, Rush. Sonic, whose idea of a stroll is to tear a strip of burning turf round the entire circumference of the Earth on his way to the corner shop, is coming to DS and he's in a hurry. Just being the fastest game character ever created is old news for him; he wants to get a bit of a move on. And that's a terrifying thought.Terrifying and wonderful, of course. Sonic has always been ...

Sonic Rush Adventure (Review)

Sep 18, 2007

Sept 18, 2007 Your first clue should be in the name; not Sonic Rush 2, but Sonic Rush Adventure. You already know what this means - so let's give a warm welcome to the return of all that extracurricular nonsense. As the (flimsy) story goes, Sonic and Tails smash-land their plane into a strange airborne structure and find themselves marooned on a tropical archipelago. There, they bump into a new pal, Marine the Racoon, and, inevitably, Blaze the Charisma-Free Cat. Our heroes club together to ...

Soul Bubbles (Review)

Jun 16, 2008

It’s a sad fact that puzzle games don’t sell magazines, spawn action figures or have blockbuster movies made about them. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. Without the chance of a hype-tastic viral marketing campaign to boost sales, puzzlers have to work with what they’ve got. They’ve got to play like a dream. Soul Bubbles does just that, but it looks and sounds like a dream, too - a very colourful, ...