GamesRadar - GameCube Previews

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures)

Apr 1, 2008

The decision to immortalise the wise-cracking hero in LEGO form is clear: the Indiana Jones films are almost as iconic as Star Wars, and their cheeky humour runs parallel with the tongue-in-cheek approach of the recent LEGO games. With the building blocks already in place from the Star Wars games, it hasn’t been too difficult for Traveller’s Tales to whip the engine into shape and recreate the original three films in a style fit for ...

Surf's Up heads home (Surf's Up)

Mar 19, 2007

Surfing games have never been done quite right, but Ubisoft Montreal (Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory) will be taking another stab at it this summer with Surfs Up, based on Sony Pictures upcoming CG surfing flick of the same name. The game will hit the PS2, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, GBA and PC on May 22nd. Cmon Ubi, wheres our N-Gage port? As Cody Maverick, an up-and-coming surfer entering his first pro competition, youll compete against a large cast of wacky ...

Ratatouille - first look (Ratatouille)

Mar 2, 2007

If Ratatouille weren't based on a film, its story - about a rat named Remy who wants to become a world-class French chef - would probably elevate it to weird-work-of-genius status. As it is, this platform-hopping adventure is relegated to the realm of baby games, although that doesn't mean it should be ...

Meet the Robinsons (Meet the Robinsons)

Feb 6, 2007

Not content with the tradition of making all games based on a movie suck hard, the good folks at Buena Vista Games have their work cut out for them. Luckily, their latest offering, Meet the Robinsons - inspired by the Disney CG film of the same name - is shaping up to be one of the lucky few to break the mold. Buena Vista is determined to stray from the plot of the film, in which dorky, yet tragically orphaned Lewis searches for memories of his mother... and is subsequently kidnapped and sucked ...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hands-on (TMNT)

Jan 26, 2007

The Turtles are back, but Vanilla Ice isn't. That's probably for the best, to be honest. Anyway, to complement the new CGI-heavy Turtles film that's out this year, Ubisoft is resurrecting the pizza-eating dudes. Apparently the new film is a bit darker and edgier than previous Turtles fare (harking back to the original comics and role-playing game) and the game will reflect that. While we've yet to see just how "dark" and "edgy" this'll be, the way the game plays seems, so far, to be a little ...

Avatar: The Last Airbender (Avatar: The Last Airbender )

Oct 2, 2006

During the formative years of most of GamesRadar's veteran staff, games like Disney's Ducktales and Aladdin were often amazingly polished and fun, in spite of their obvious kid appeal. But somewhere along the line this changed, and cartoon-licensed games started aiming squarely at the rugrats. Good for them, but older game fans were left out. This is why THQ's upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender is rather interesting. While it's not akin to the best of those old games, it's a very capable, ...

Zatch Bell!: Mamodo Fury - hands-on (Zatch Bell!: Mamodo Fury)

Aug 24, 2006

Self-aware, crossdressing marionettes are usually the stuff of taco-fueled nightmares, but they're all too real in the crazy, bizarre world of Zatch Bell! (exclamation theirs). The popular anime series pairs up these pseudo-demonic dummies, known as Mamodo, with like-minded humans, forming symbiotic partnerships that then struggle for control of the Mamodo World. Heady stuff, and this madness is coming to the PS2 and GameCube once more thanks to Zatch Bell!: Mamodo Fury. Whereas the previous ...

The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning - hands-on (The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning)

Aug 24, 2006

Every once in a while, an aging series needs a shot in the arm. When Spyro the Dragon originally debuted on PlayStation back in 1998, it was a cute platformer that still managed to be enjoyed by young and old alike. Eight years and over a dozen games later, the series has devolved into something mostly for the kids - who, in fact, largely ignore it. As the title of the game implies, Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning hopes to reverse all that, taking the little purple guy back to his roots and ...

Super Paper Mario (Super Paper Mario)

Aug 18, 2006

Friday 18 August 2006 Poor GameCube. All we heard of it at E3 back in May was the odd muffled squeak as it struggled, bound and gagged, in Nintendo's boot - Wii had to have every last lumen of spotlight for itself, after all. As a result, one of the best looking games we've ever seen almost passed by unnoticed. Super Paper Mario isn't, despite first impressions, a 'Super' version of Paper Mario. It's a paper version of Super Mario. See? It's a stubbornly retro 2D Mazza platformer, where you're ...

LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy - hands-on (Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy)

Aug 17, 2006

Hands-on time with LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy only confirms what you already knew: If this adorable game does not make you smile, you have no soul. Of course, cute ain't everything, and that's the real reason why our time traipsing through Episodes IV (A New Hope) and V (The Empire Strikes Back ) in a preview version of this Xbox 360 action/adventure was so satisfying. Not only is the game almost huggable (all these warm-fuzzy screens are taken from the Xbox 360 version), it's a ...

One Piece: Grand Adventure hands-on (One Piece: Grand Adventure)

Aug 11, 2006

The comic has driven Japan mental for almost a decade. The show has ping-ponged around the US cable networks as the comic is published in the nation's most popular anthology, Shonen Jump. But the bizarre saga of the Straw Hat Pirates... well, maybe it should be played to be believed. For those who've somehow avoided the phenomenon, One Piece is a long-running series that takes place in a steampunk-style world of endless oceans. The Age of Piracy is at its peak, and One Piece follows the ...

Pac-Man World Rally hands-on (Pac-Man World Rally)

Aug 3, 2006

As we sat down to play Mario Ka- oh, excuse us, Pac-Man World Rally, our first thoughts were primarily ones unfit to print. Does the world need yet another item-launching, power-sliding kart racer that exists solely to get its licensed mascot more air time? The answer is no, but there are enough ideas taken from the source games to make each lap in the Pac-world marginally different from every other game like this. There are several types of buttons scattered throughout each heavily themed ...

The Sims 2: Pets (The Sims 2 Pets)

Aug 1, 2006

In an announcement that will likely send more than a few Nintendoggies to the pound, EA is letting several different breeds of The Sims 2: Pets off the leash in October. Your addictive sims family won't be complete until you've adopted one of over 40 breeds of dogs and cats that you'll be able to customize, breed, train and dress up. Highly trained pets can even take jobs in the service, show business or security industries as seeing-eye dogs, circus acts or ferocious attack... kittens. But ...

Super Monkey Ball Adventure hands on (Super Monkey Ball Adventure)

Jul 28, 2006

Sega hands over its precious balls to Travellers Tales, a British developer you probably know from... well, chances are you probably dont know them. The developer has had success with Sega in the past, creating Sonic R and Sonic 3D Blast. That said, the company has crafted more mediocre games than great ones. Should Super Monkey Ball fans be concerned that someone other than Sega is handling their favorite simians? From what weve seen so far, Super Monkey Ball Adventure contains many of ...

Madden NFL 07 impressions (Madden NFL 07)

Jul 27, 2006

The annual evolution of Madden christens "the season" for every would-be athlete, coach, or super fan trapped inside the sweaty cushions of their couches, and Madden NFL 07 is proving no exception. Due to hit stores in August, 07's overhauls to the interface and - more importantly - the running game are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. In 07, you'll be able to step up as the lead blocker and crush any oncoming attempt to foil your running game, then meld right back into the light feet ...

Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2 - hands on (Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2)

Jul 27, 2006

You might think that a story about a group of young ninjas would involve some degree of stealth and subtlety. However, when you're talking about the world of Naruto, things are about a subtle as a baseball bat to the noggin. Now the popular anime series is prepped to hit us again with Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2, a sequel to the popular fighting game for the Nintendo GameCube. If you never played the first Clash of Ninja, don't worry. The game was a fairly basic fighter in the vein of Super Smash ...

Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2 - hands on (Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2)

Jul 21, 2006

Right now you'd be hard pressed to find a cartoon, upcoming toy line and series of video games that makes the kiddies salivate more than Naruto. We just saw the first ninja-on-ninja brawler hit in March, and Clash of Ninja 2 isn't even letting us take a breath - it's landing in September with twice as many playable characters and all-new, four-player matches. In our extensive hands-on time, we noticed the overall fighting feels identical to the first game - that's a good thing. Clash of Ninja ...

Splinter Cell: Double Agent hands-on (Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent)

Jul 18, 2006

Sam Fisher's heading off in bold new directions in Splinter Cell: Double Agent on Xbox 360 and PC, but the current-gen hardware just isn't strong enough to support his open-ended new adventure. So instead of simply trying to strip down the big, open battlefields and daylight runs of Double Agent for the PS2, Xbox and GameCube, the developers took an unusual route: make a whole new game. The current-gen Splinter Cell: Double Agent shares its next-gen cousin's plot - secret agent Sam Fisher goes ...

Need For Speed Carbon (Need for Speed Carbon)

Jul 14, 2006

At EA's recent Studio Showcase 06, we got a glimpse of the future of one of the most popular racing franchises in gaming history (next to Gran Turismo, of course). The tricked-out racing rides of Need For Speed are back and even more customizable than ever - with hyper-tense, high stakes tracks to match. To start, EA has added a new feature called Auto Sculpt that blows the doors off of the term "vehicle customization." Instead of simply strapping on pre-formed after-market parts to your sleek ...

Lego Star Wars II hands-on (Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy)

Jul 13, 2006

A rebel ship disappears from orbit, sucked into the belly of an Imperial Star Destroyer. Rebels hold their breath and take up defensive positions as a door is breached. Stormtroopers flood in. Shots are fired. Cute plastic heads clatter to the floor and slowly blink out of existence. Beginning with the first scene of A New Hope, Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy finally gives fans what they really want: the chance to play through Lego versions of the first three films. We've finally had ...