Wii Previews

Ready to do the shrimp shuffle? Rhythm Heaven Fever is the latest entry in the Rhythm Heaven series and comes packed with 50 quirky minigames to tackle...

Brawlers are practically nonexistent on consoles outside of the Wii, and with the next Super Smash Bros. coming out in who knows when, what are mascot rumble enthusiasts to do? Enter Cartoon Network’s Punch Time Explosion XL – a brawler featuring the popular cartoon characters from Cartoon Network’s many T.V. shows. With 26 playable characters including: the Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Johnny Bravo, Dexter from Dexter’s Laboratory, Ben 10, and narration by Space Ghost’s George Lowe, it's a game brawler fans will want to check out...

Whether or not Rayman Origins actually stands a chance in hell when it arrives in stores next month remains to be seen, but judging by what we’ve played so far, it certainly deserves to. It’s vibrant, fast and beautifully animated like few other games out there, 2D or otherwise. It’s also surprisingly fun, with inventive, cleverly designed levels that range from quick, easy romps to crushingly difficult speed runs. Most importantly, though, it has an “OK, just one more level” appeal that sucked us in and kept us playing for hours longer than we intended.

That may be too generous for a preview. We’ve only been able to play through about the first half of the game, after all, so it’s entirely possible that Origins turns to crap right after that. Possible, but unlikely...

When we left our heroes in our last hands-on preview, Zelda had just been kidnapped by a tornado monster and Link was suiting up to leave Skyloft and venture down to the surface world to find her. Equipped with the sail cloth – an item that allows Link to survive a fall from any height – plus the Goddess Sword, wooden shield and a potion (just in case), we set out through the break in the cloud barrier to see what secrets lie below...

Remember in the year 2010, when Telltale said they were not bringing their Back to the Future point-and-click adventure to Wii? Well, they must have fired up their DeLorean and fiddled with temporal events because Back to the Future: The Game will be available on Wii later this month, compiling Telltale’s episodic adventure series with all five episodes on one disc...

Don’t you dare write off Disney Universe as “just for kids.” Are the LEGO games just for kids? No, they’re ultra-charming interactive takes on beloved franchises that anyone with thumbs can understand, play, and enjoy. Now imagine that style of all-inclusive gameplay, shelled in almost a century’s worth of beloved material, and you’ve got an appeal that covers everyone from hardcore gamers to grandmas... 

Hyrule has almost always been Link’s home traditionally, but no longer – The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword takes to the clouds and begins our hero’s tale in Skyloft, a floating utopia cut off from the world below. We recently had a chance to explore this new world for ourselves, and we’re happy to report that it still very much feels like a Zelda game despite some major changes to the formula...

It may feel like World War II games have been done to death, but City Interactive hopes to breathe new life into the crowded space of games covering the conflict between the Allies and the Axis by capturing the essence of what makes flying fun – and for creative director Jakub Majewski, that means making Combat Wings: The Great Battles of World War II more like Wing Commander…

With its official title finally announced, Kirby's Return to Dream Land firmly positions itself as a throwback to classic Kirby of yore. We've loved Kirby's more experimental forays like Canvas Curse and Epic Yarn, but the time seems right to finally bring a more traditional Kirby to Wii. And if you didn't think Kirby was adorable before, it's getting even tougher to deny it now...

Normally, when a bunch of jaded games journalists get together to preview an upcoming game, most of the noise in the room comes from the game itself. Within minutes of being let loose on the Gamescom demo of Rayman Origins, however, we heard something we hadn’t heard in years, at least not in a professional context: a lot of laughter and shouting, all of it coming from the supposedly world-weary writers at the controls. Clearly, this merited further investigation...