GamesRadar - Wii Reviews

Hasbro Family Game Night 2 (Review)

Nov 23, 2009

Amazingly, for a series we thought could only go downhill after a lackluster debut, the second Family Game Night is a little better than the first. Yes, that’s right – ‘better’. But also only ‘a little’.

The games selected for the Wii treatment this time are far more suited to console jiggery-pokery. ...

SimAnimals Africa (Review)

Nov 20, 2009

Last year, SimAnimals gave us a cartoon ecosystem where everything lived in harmony until you turned your back, at which point hungry foxes would move in and eat all the rabbits. Harsh but fair. Educational, certainly. But it wasn’t all that much fun, and the effort EA put into underpinning the game with a proper simulation was lost on an audience that just wanted to hand-feed a bunch of cute animals. ...

F1 2009 (Review)

Nov 20, 2009

Being mean to F1 2009 is a bit like chastising the puppy from the litter with the crossed eyes and gammy leg. It means well and it will still hump your leg with all the enthusiasm of its siblings, but you can’t help wishing you’d bought a pedigree. But you can’t blame Codemasters getting its foot in the door. As we write, Jenson Button has just taken the 2009 championship and F1 fever is riding high. ...

Band Hero (Review)

Nov 20, 2009

Let’s get this out of the way up-front: Band Hero essentially IS Guitar Hero 5, but for tweens. There are really no substantive changes made in terms of the core gameplay, features, and extras found between the two. As a result, it’s still very much an expertly-crafted game – it’s just that it’s an expertly-crafted game with a set list designed for pre-pubescent players. ...

Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (Review)

Nov 20, 2009

At this point, Wii owners should be entering the stage called “acceptance.” Your games will only ever "look great for a Wii game," and you'll never get a game of comparable graphical quality to Resident Evil 5, so let’s just move on and understand that what you do get are different, but not necessarily worse, games. ...

LEGO Rock Band (Review)

Nov 19, 2009

Band rivalry is the bedrock of, well, rock. Beatles vs Stones. Blur vs Oasis. Jedward vs Anyone cursed with the capacity to hear. Rock Band and Guitar Hero’s rift is the worst of the lot. Releasing practically the same products on practically the same Friday, this is a playground war of attrition, like two child enemies holding their parties on the same day to see who has more friends. ...

Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage (Review)

Nov 19, 2009

Just bought Wii Fit Plus? Already tired of swapping your daily Crunch bars for stomach crunches? Then what you need is something that still makes good use of your fun new peripheral but will keep the wolf from the disc drive, so to speak. What you need is Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage. Well, maybe. ...

Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 (Review)

Nov 19, 2009

Naruto. Its fans overrate it, and its haters underrate it. It’s an unfortunate situation, because by name alone many people will shun Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 as just another licensed title for Wii. Ignore your gut reaction - Tomy Corporation has developed a deep, enjoyable fighting game here. ...

Need for Speed: Nitro (Review)

Nov 18, 2009

Although it’s relatively low key on Wii, Need for Speed: Nitro smacks of something born in focus groups and marketing meetings. This year you’re going to be into ‘taking ownership’ of ‘your media’ so here’s a racing game that’s all about you. ...

LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues (Review)

Nov 18, 2009

The golden rule of LEGO: the more bits there are, the better the model will inevitably be. Bits mean more work. More fun. We love bits. Traveller’s Tales love bits too: LEGO Indiana Jones 2 has thousands of the blighters. Let’s look at the numbers: six hubs, each with five story missions, five puzzle scenarios and five level creator levels. ...

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex Edition (Review)

Nov 17, 2009

Modern Warfare 2 may have received all the hype (and a good-sized dollop of controversy), but no less than three Call of Duty games were released on November 10. While PS3 and 360 owners got their hands on the latest game, and DS owners got a rejigged handheld version, Wii owners were ‘treated’ to a port of its two-year-old predecessor instead. ...

New Super Mario Bros Wii (Review)

Nov 13, 2009

Startling fact: this is the first traditional Mario game to appear on a console since 1991’s Super Mario World. That’s a huge burden to bear, as this is the exact type of game that transformed Nintendo into the worldwide juggernaut it is today. ...

Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 (Review)

Nov 10, 2009

A year can be a long time in football. Conversely, a year in Pro Evolution Soccer seems to fly by, and the results are sadly all too predictable. PES 2010 is barely distinguishable from the 2009 effort – even the press release intended to trumpet this new installment struggles a bit, eventually resorting to talking about things like how players now raise their hands to solicit a pass. ...

Sexy Poker (Review)

Nov 5, 2009

Appropriately, you can play Sexy Poker one-handed. We used the spare hand to repeatedly punch ourselves in the head, but you can use it however you wish. The fact that this is an excruciatingly awful and embarrassing game is not entirely surprising – anything with the word ‘sexy’ in the title usually is – but it even manages to get the ‘poker’ bit wrong. ...

Tornado Outbreak (Review)

Nov 2, 2009

Wow, this is a strange one. Tornado Outbreak is a completely new IP from Konami – home of Silent Hill and MGS – but it looks and feels like a Saturday morning cartoon tie-in. It’s hard to believe that this saccharine sweet title was once thought to be MGS creator, Hideo Kojima’s next project after Guns of the Patriots. ...

Rabbids Go Home (Review)

Nov 1, 2009

Have you ever stopped to think about what’s in your Wii remote? You might sensibly think it’s batteries, or circuit boards, or jam, or whatever witchcraft it takes to make Nintendo’s motion magic work, but it’s not. Put the remote close to your ear and you should hear something unusual: “BWAAAAAAAHHHHH!” ...

Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga (Review)

Oct 27, 2009

Welcome to Eldar, the land of many grays and browns, brainless enemies and mercenaries, and mute characters. A console first for the action role-playing series, Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga presents plenty of problems from the beginning: an awful color palette, yawn-worthy cutscenes, stiff combat, poor enemy and mercenary AI, and a predictable story. ...

Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter (Review)

Oct 27, 2009

Sadbear lives! Once again we’ve turned Crayola Frankenstein and breathed life into the greatest platforming mascot that never was. Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Alex Kidd – all pretenders crushed under Sadbear’s lumbering trunks. But is nostalgia for this unlikely hero – our avatar from the original DS Drawn To Life – enough to warrant a second outing? We fear not. ...

Astro Boy: The Video Game (Review)

Oct 26, 2009

It seems Astro Boy returns every decade or so, and now American film makers have retooled the iconic character for another reboot. Albeit low budget looking and feeling, High Voltage Software put more life into Astro Boy: The Video Game than we’d expect from a movie tie-in. Bright, sleek and silver, Metro City sets the stage for Astro Boy’s adventure against an evil robot-wielding president. ...

Squeeballs Party (Review)

Oct 22, 2009

Poor Squeeballs. All these animated soft toys want is to be loved and given a good home. But they’re in for a world of pain before they can be placed on the shelf at the local toy store. It’s your job to make sure they’re fit for children by playing a set of minigames that ensures their wicked thoughts are whacked out of them. Don’t let their cute, wide-eyed exteriors fool you. ...