GamesRadar - GameCube Previews

2006 FIFA World Cup (2006 FIFA World Cup Germany)

30/03/2006

You wouldnt be remiss to consider EA Sports latest soccer game a quick sequel to the annual chart-topper, FIFA Soccer. No doubt the publisher wants to cash in on its massive investment in the worlds biggest sporting event. Curiously though, this games producer goes to great lengths to pitch 2006 FIFA World Cup as a sequel to the 2002 World Cup iteration, and not the recent FIFA Soccer 06. This matters why? Mainly because FIFA Soccer 06 was generally considered to be pretty stinky, particularly ...

Animal Crossing (Animal Crossing)

15/02/2006

Hurrah! At long last Nintendo are releasing the brilliant Animal Crossing in the UK. It's been a long time coming. The game was originally released in Japan for the N64 years ago, then it got rejigged for GameCube and hit the US last September. And finally, PAL gamers are going to get the chance to see what all the fuss is about. Animal Crossing is about moving to a new town and living your life: interacting with the inhabitants, making a living, paying off your mortgage, and so on. And ...

Animal Crossing (Animal Crossing)

31/08/2004

Hurrah! At long last Nintendo are releasing the brilliant Animal Crossing in the UK.It's been a long time coming. The game was originally released in Japan for the N64 years ago - then it go rejigged for GameCube and hit the US last September. And finally, at long last, PAL gamers are going to get the chance to see what all the fuss is about. Animal Crossing is all about moving to a new town and living your life - interacting with the inhabitants, making a living, paying off your mortgage - and ...

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

2/10/2006

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, ...

Avatar: The Last Airbender - hands on (Avatar: The Last Airbender )

7/07/2006

Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of the coolest cartoons on Nickelodeon these days. A far cry from the misshapen adventures of the Rugrats, it blends action and magic into a tasty blend of kick-ass Asian action. Just as a show like this can bridge the gap between kids and adults, the game THQ is cooking up brings the series' slick cartoon visuals together with the kind of action RPG gameplay mature gamers have come to love. Think X-Men Legends, and you're getting there. Avatar's world is ...

Baten Kaitos II (Baten Kaitos 2)

10/04/2006

The original Baten Kaitos was something of a surprise. Hardcore, Final Fantasy-style RPGs like this are the bread and butter of the PS2, but the Nintendo audience typically goes in for Zelda style action. But here we are with a sequel - a shocker in and of itself, as support for the GameCube is drying up fast. It's not a slap-dash quickie, either; it's a gorgeous, playable and refined role playing game that will provide you with dozens of bizarre hours of questing. Can't argue with that. For ...

Baten Kaitos II (Baten Kaitos 2)

9/03/2006

Baten Kaitos wasn't exactly wheeled out with much of a fanfare, which, frankly is a something of a shame considering it's easily one of GameCube's better RPGs. Even if it was a little, well, odd. Soon, the oddness will continue in Baten Kaitos II. On the surface it's a fairly traditional RPG. A vast, sweeping epic played out on pre-rendered backdrops. You have the obligatory towns in which to purchase items, meet characters and further plot development, and between these you have the game's ...

Battalion Wars (Battalion Wars)

11/08/2005

Erasers out, then - all references to Advance Wars Under Fire are out in favour of Battalion Wars. And quite rightly so, because this isn't much like our turn-based GBA friend at all. Forget just shunting icons around; you're right in the thick of a war that would get George W salivating.You kick off each mission with a handful of troops, and recruit others you find. Bump into a tank and it's yours, rescue POWs who've inexplicably got flamethrowers on them (as we did) and you can have yourself ...

Cars (Cars)

18/05/2006

Lately, we've seen a lot of movie-based games that try to expand on - instead of directly adapt - the story of the film they're based on. The Godfather did it, Over the Hedge did it and this summer, Cars will do it. Picking up where the movie left off, Cars casts players as red stock-car Lightning McQueen and sets them loose to explore the colorful desert town of Radiator Springs. ...

Chibi Robo (Chibi-Robo)

27/02/2006

Chibi (chee-bee) [Japanese]: Little, small, or tiny. Occasionally substituted as a synonym for ...

Chibi-Robo (Chibi-Robo)

27/02/2006

Bold primary colours, an adorable, tiny hero and the mother of all tidying-up jobs to do. We've been here before, but Skip's thin tin man doesn't get quite so carried away by his task as Katamari's Prince. Chibi Robo goes about his chores as he finds them, painstakingly, one at a time, and with everybody's happiness - not their mass - on his mind. At its most menial, the route to a harmonious household is by disposing of rubbish, scrubbing away at stains with a toothbrush or feeding cookie ...

DK Bongo Blast (DK Barrel Blast)

18/05/2006

Remember the bongo controller? You know, that thing that came with Donkey Konga and then teleported itself into the back of your closet? Well, it may actually get another use this year with DK Bongo Blast, the requisite kart-racer no one knew was coming. There are two notable differences between this and every other kart klone out there, thogh: this game gives its participants jet belts instead of karts, and you bang a drum to make it go. By beating on the bongos, you power Donkey Kong's ...

Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat)

21/12/2004

You know, sometimes it's hard to keep an open mind. Over the years we've seen enough 'me too' games to last a lifetime. Bandwagon jumpers clinging to the hope of generating a few sales off the back of one innovative title. Sometimes playing games doesn't seem the rewarding pastime it should be.Which is why we applaud Nintendo for breathing new life into a peripheral that seemed doomed to gather dust once you'd gone off Donkey Konga. Regular readers will know that you use the bongos to control ...

FIFA Street (FIFA Street)

22/02/2005

Jumpers for goalposts? You're havin' a laugh. EA may well be taking football back to basics but FIFA Street isn't just a bunch of scruffy urchins having a kick-about in the park, before legging it home to a clip round the ear from mum because dinner's gone cold and they've worn a hole in their school trousers. We're talking glamorous locations in football's global hotspots, such as Rio de Janeiro, Marseille and Rome. We're talking the world's greatest players representing their home nations in ...

From Russia with Love (From Russia With Love)

15/02/2006

From Russia with Love is reminiscent of EA's previous third-person Bond adventure Everything or Nothing, at least insofar as the controls feel similar. You can shimmy up against walls and peek around corners, the unique method of aiming (by locking on to targets and fine-tuning your aim with the C-stick) returns, and the on-foot action is broken up periodically by driving sections. However, while its predecessor was rife with annoying niggles, From Russia with Love seems much more ...

From Russia with Love (From Russia With Love)

6/10/2005

From Russia with Love is reminiscent of EA's previous third person Bond adventure Everything or Nothing, at least insofar as the controls feel similar. You can shimmy up against walls and peek around corners, the unique method of aiming (by locking on to targets and fine tuning your aim with the C-stick) returns, and the on-foot action is broken up periodically by driving sections. However, while its predecessor was rife with annoying niggles, From Russia with Love seems much more ...

Medal of Honor European Assault (Gamecube)

27/04/2005

When was the last time you got really psyched up about the release of a new Medal of Honor title? It's been a while, right? The series hasn't been on top form for quite some time. But according to EA, that's about to change. They reckon European Assault is a major step forward and a massive improvement on its lacklustre predecessors.Still, don't expect a groundbreaking storyline. This time you're William Holt, an agent of the Office of Strategic Services (the organisation that was later to ...

Geist (Geist)

12/07/2004

You can impress pretty German exchange students with the knowledge that 'Geist' translates as both 'ghost' and 'mind'. Just don't mention you learned the word while wandering the world in spirit form and merging your brain with a bowl of dog food.Gamecube exclusive Geist has been spookily elusive since E3 2003. But, at last, we've finally had the chance to control the game's body-hopping 'Spectral Operative'. He ain't got no body - literally, because it's been nicked by evildoers unknown. The ...

Gun (Gun)

15/02/2006

Sometimes a name is enough. When the teaser trailer for Neversoft's Gun hit at E3, the simple conjunction of those two words was enough to grab everyone's attention. It had long been known that Neversoft was going to diversify from its Tony Hawk empire to work on a very different property, but there was little more than pure speculation on what it might be. And then, bang! There was Gun. The trailer was enough at odds with Tony Hawk's easygoing tone to pique interest - bloody, pounding, and ...

Harvest Moon: Magical Melody (Harvest Moon: Magical Melody)

9/03/2006

Bored of staking half-naked vampire chicks through the hooters? Tired of lugging around furniture sized sci-fi laser cannons, exploring dwarf riddled netherworlds and bending your Lamborghini round a flag pole? Then why not become a farmer and nestle yourself in this quiet little town filled with helpful country folk just looking to make ends meet? This is a game that moves at a pace you dictate. Rise at 6 A.M., till the dirt, plant some seeds and carry on with your daily farming routine. The ...