NintendoDS In-depth Reviews

            Rainbow Island has been around for a while, with its first appearance occurring in the eighties on the NES, amongst other systems, and was seen as one of the most addictive games of its time. Rising Star games have been bringing back other games from the past to the NintendoDS such as Bubble Bobble Revolution and Space Invader Revolution, and Rainbow Island Revolution is the latest in the series of revivals. Read More…

To all you Pac-Man fans out there; a Pac-man game has finally reached the UK shores suitable for the 21^st century – made exclusively for the NintendoDS  (mainly because it wouldn’t work on any other system). We have had Pac-Man World 2 as an under-appreciated GameCube-Game Boy Advance Link title, which included Pac-Man Vs. in the US ; a game with up to 4 players, 1 player (Pac-Man) plays on the Game Boy Advance in the classic Pac-Man tradition as the others play as the ghosts on the TV screen. It’s one of those great games that you can be losing all the way through then at the last minute the table can turn and you’ll win, so however bad you are at the game you are still in with a chance!

Read More…

Zoo Keeper is another pleasing puzzle game for the NintendoDS. With every puzzle title launched on the NintendoDS being drawn into an inevitable comparison with the unbelievably addictive Tetris, does a title that started life as a shockwave game have the power to pull you on the NintendoDS?

Read More…

Welcome to snow bunny heaven! Where the ladies are hotter than the tubs and the guys… well, you get the idea.  Sprung is a quirky Japanese dating game which comes as a launch title for the NintendoDS, a little unusual in itself since not many games like this are released outside of Japan – especially into the mainstream audience.

Read More…

           Robots comes to the UK as a launch title for the NintendoDS. Following the plot of the CGI movie, Rodney Copperbottom and his mechanical sidekick Wonderbot move to the big city to fulfil Rodney’s childhood dream of working for Bigweld. When Rodney and Wonderbot arrive at Bigweld Industries, they find that Bigweld himself is absent and the cringe-worthy Ratchet is now in control – who promptly orders the removal of the two protagonists. Down on their luck, Rodney and Wonderbot cross paths with a street gang known as the Rusties, and together they uncover a despicable plot to turn all of Robot-kind into scrap-metal. So now it’s up to Rodney and the Rusties to save everyone they know, and all of Robot-kind. The game plays out through a series of objectives. Walk through the Levels collecting Items and Spares, which you then deliver to certain Robots in exchange for Rewards. Each Reward is a piece of an Invention you must create, and there are four Inventions in total; Wrench Gadget – Rodney’s basic close-range weapon, Scrap Launcher – a basic projectile weapon, Magno Grenade Launcher – not only a projectile weapon, but also a key for Magno Doors, Electro Zapper – a homing weapon, fires bolts of electricity that lock-on to enemy targets and opens Electro Doors. Read More…

            Ridge Racer is an arcade franchise that needs little introduction. Ridge RacerDS is the latest title in the series and, being one of NAMCO’s first projects for the system, it comes with much promise coupled with expectation.

Read More…

            Many of you may be cringing before I start. The Sims started as an innocent enough idea from the creators of SimCity, SimWorld and SimAnt, and went on to become one of the best selling videogames in the world, ever. Not to please everyone’s tastes, the game offered a virtual and simplistic representation of life. Record sales lead to expansion after expansion and eventually the magic number 2. With the franchises roots buried firmly in PC ground, it’s the console spin-offs that often lead to the fans turning away from their televisual devices in horror.     The Sims first hit the consoles back in 2002, with the first title appearing in a fairly solid form with mission-based additives on GameCube, PlayStation2 and Xbox. Great – now we can all play! However, it was here the series began to lose support, as only 11 months later; there was a second console title – The Sims: Bustin’ Out. The ‘Urbz: Sims In The City is the third edition of these annual releases, however with the NintendoDS being the new boy on the market, obviously, it’s the first to make the jump onto two screens.

Read More…

            For some reason, Spider-Man’s videogame escapades have always situated themselves firmly on the pile marked “average”. A major break came earlier this year with the launch of the rather pleasing Spider-Man 2 on all three home console formats. In an attempt to push out the boat Activision had created a free-roaming experience that was good, but ultimately flawed. Read More…

            Nintendo have a way of doing the most annoying things possible. I don’t know what it is about their marketing strategy, but they seem to think that their back catalogue can make them just as much money as their current projects. Often, the case is proved correct, with serious makeovers sending early Pokemon and Metroid titles racing to the top of the charts earlier this year and now, the finest of Nintendo makeovers has taken place – the greatest platform game of all time, still heralded as an example of near-perfect gameplay nearly nine years after it’s original UK release – Super Mario64 has been through the re-working mill specially for Nintendo’s “revolutionary” new handheld console, the NintendoDS. Read More…