Faceez Review: Careful, Or You’ll Get Stuck Like That

When the original DS was released, included on board the system memory was a unique little program called Pictochat. Most DS users should be at least familiar with the program since you see it as an option every time you load up the system. When the DSi was released it followed suit and came packaged with a handful of different pack-in programs as well, one of which allowed you to edit pictures taken with the DSi’s camera. While it was a fairly robust little application, it was still limited in some capacities, and, overall, it just lacked a personality. Well, now Neko entertainment has taken some of the functionality of the photo editing software, improved on it, and released “Faceez” to the masses to tweak all their favorite pictures.
[Continue Reading]

Space Invaders Extreme 2 Review: Like Shooting Fish In A Barrel

In recent years two of video games’ longest standing arcade franchises have made attempts to completely reinvent themselves. While other games have tried with XBLA and PSN rereleases of slightly updated versions of games that have been around for 20 plus years, “Pac-Man” and “Space Invaders” have gone the extra mile to truly update their experience for an entirely different generation of gamers. Up until the release of “Space Invaders Extreme 2” I would have said that “Pac-Man C.E.” was at the head of this particular pack, but this little DS game packs such an astounding punch it edges out our little yellow friend by just a hair. On the surface, “Space Invaders Extreme 2” is a very close follow-up to the original DS, PSP, and XBLA release, but upon digging deeper, you notice that virtually every aspect of the game has been polished and then turned up to hyper speed in this release. [Continue Reading]

Scribblenauts Review: Thinking Your Way To Fun

When it comes to video games, incorporating the written language into a game is a tricky thing. Most games that have words as a central gameplay element tend to fall into the great gaming abyss of edutainment. However, one game has come along and changed all that; “Scribblenauts” may be the first game ever released, by a company that doesn’t begin with “Pop” and end with “Cap,” to use words in a way that actually engages gamers. The game’s hype-cycle went into hyper-drive at this year’s E3, and hasn’t stopped since, reaching levels unseen for a third-party DS game, but now that the game is finally out, can it live up to gamers lofty preconceived notions of what to expect?

Yes. It can. [Continue Reading]

Flower, Sun, and Rain Review: It’s Happening Again

It’s not every day that you see a port of a PlayStation 2 game to the Nintendo DS; it’s just not a natural jump to make for so many different reasons. It’s even more surprising to see a game released by the now infamous game designer Goichi Suda, better known as Suda 51, on Nintendo’s little portable, especially one that doesn’t center around the player killing people. And those are just a two of a handful of things that make Marvelous Entertainment USA’s latest release, “Flower, Sun, and Rain” an anomaly, but it’s also unlike anything else found on the handheld. [Continue Reading]

Elite Forces: Unit 77 Review: New Strategic Action… Emphasis On The “New”

It’s a great thing when a new developer hits the gaming scene, but new games by those developers can sometimes be hard to judge. You aren’t always afforded the ability to look at the developer’s depth of work to really understand where they were coming from, or where they were going with their new creations. For example, “Elite Forces: Unit 77″’s developer Abylight, only has a handful of games listed on their website – most of which were targeted at the European market. Luckly the games co-publishers have a good amount of games under their respective belts; including Gammick’s “Animal Boxing,” and “Little Red Riding Hood’s Zombie BBQ” (a game where Red Riding Hood decides to roast hordes of the four-legged undead on the barbie) and Deep Sliver’s “Gothic” series, “S.T.A.L.K.E.R.,” “The Guild.” Gammick and Abylight are located in Barcelona, Spain, and have joined up with German co-publisher Deep Silver, and to create an all new property in “Elite Forces,” and while it is wonderful to see other countries getting involved in the industry besides the U.S, Canada, the U.K., and Japan, the question remains: how can a new, international company create game that appeals to a broad audience? By going back to a “timeless” precedent; modern squad-based war. [Continue Reading]

Gardening Mama Review: Electronic Martha Stewart Meets Home & Gardens

Okay, okay, okay, before we go anywhere with this “Gardening Mama” review, I want to quell some fires right off the bat. First, I’ve never watched Home and Garden (HGTV), but if it was anywhere remotely as cartoony, or cute as this game is, I’d be a fan. Especially if the humor translated to the real world; not to mention the sparkles and delightful gold medals that pretty up a room with prettiness and sparkles… wait, this doesn’t sound right. I’d better just start the review.

Majesco’s “Gardening Mama” comes courtesy of Japanese developer Cooking Mama Ltd, who has supposedly earned enough street cred from Mama’s original DS game, as well as the subsequent successors for the Wii, to build a company and branch out as a franchise. Much like the first games series, the aptly named, cooking-centric “Cooking Mama,” “Gardening Mama” includes several minigames involved with planting, germinating, and growing flowers and produce to progress through the game. The gameplay is completely controlled by the stylus as well as the DS’s microphone, and the player is asked to follow the onscreen instructions to complete tiny tasks, which are relayed by simplistic, colorful arrows within a surprisingly small time limit. [Continue Reading]

Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars Review: The Adventure That Doesn’t Die

Back in the middle of the 1990s, adventure games were still going strong, at least when they weren’t made by failing companies like Lucasarts (who forgot their SCUM engine and decided to stick with the Science Fiction money-maker, “Star Wars”) and Westwood (who had good reason with solid strategy games to get moving on). Nowadays, adventure games are a largely a niche genre and make up only a small percentage of the gaming market, left to the wayside for independent developers and occasionally the re-creation of older titles with new detail. “Broken Sword” is one of them.

Originally released in 1996, “Shadow of the Templars” followed American tourist George Stobbard, as well as photojournalist Nico Collard, as he goes from nearly becoming an ashen pretty-boy in a pub in Paris at the hands of a psychotic clown into a conspiracy about the Knights Templar. With memorable animation, and the sheer degree of things these characters could do in the game with the hardware limitations at the time proved that the game would not soon be forgotten. The level of depth of everything in “Shadow of the Templars” from the plot, to developing characterization between the two protagonists and their relationship to one another was astounding. The artistry and animation mimicked animated cartoons, complete with an orchestral ensemble and voice acting to create an adventure that easily drew the player in without too much explanation – not that the player every really gets one since the game is a mystery that took place all over the world. “Shadow of the Templars” was a success on the PC, and was ported once before to a hand-held market on the GBA. It didn’t receive the same numbers, but the game has been re-released again on both the Wii and the DS. [Continue Reading]

Puzzle Quest: Galactrix Review: The Final Frontier

“Puzzle Quest” was one of those games that I never thought I would find myself playing. Simply put, it’s the nerdiest game ever released that didn’t have the word “dungeon” or “dragon” in the title, and I just never expected it to be one of my favorite games of 2007. There was just something extremely enjoyable about the competition of the casual gameplay, mixed with the RPG elements that really drew me in. Sure, the story was bad, but they needed to give you some reason to go to battle to reassemble a dead minotaur. However you slice it, it’s one of the best genre bending games to come along in a very long time, so when “Puzzle Quest: Galactrix” was announced my ears immediately perked up, and I’ve been curiously following the development of the game, hoping that it would live up to its predecessor, and not put this amazing franchise into a sophomore slump by sending the game into space.

Right out of the gate “Galactrix” mixes up the “Puzzle Quest” formula by completely changing … well … everything. Aside from keeping the basic idea of using a “casual” game as a combat system, there’s not a whole lot of similarities between the two games. Sure, both games have RPG elements, and you have to work with other characters, and you have missions, but comparing “Galactrix” to the original “Puzzle Quest” is almost like putting “Mass Effect” up against “Oblivion”; they’re both a similar genre, but they’re galaxies apart. This doesn’t necessarily mean that “Galactrix” is a bad game by any means, but it does mean that fans of the original might get a little more than they bargained for in this iteration of the franchise; it’s most definitely not a sequel. [Continue Reading]

Boing! Docomodake DS Review: Fun With Shrooms

It’s not often that mushrooms get to star in their own game. The fungi tend to play second fiddle to other characters, most often mustachioed plumbers. Ignition’s latest DS title, “Boing Docomodake DS” actually has very little to do with saving a princess, but that’s about all that has in common with Mario. It’s actually a bit more in line with the recently released “Mushroom Men,” since you play as a mushroom on a quest to save its family. However, this unique puzzle-platformer takes a refreshing approach to navigating levels and stylus based gameplay, that set it apart from, not only Mario’s games, but most games on the market as well. What more would you expect for a Japanese telecom mascot?

That’s right, the mushroom star of “Boing Docomodake DS” is Ntt DoCoMo Inc.’s (Japan’s predominant mobile phone operator) mascot, and no matter how you look at it, it’s an unlikely character for its own game, especially one to get localized for U.S. release. It doesn’t matter; you don’t have to care about corporate synergy to appreciate the fun that is to be had on creative DS title. After all, similar synergy has brought us such great horrible games like “Cool Spot,” “Chester Cheetah’s Wild Quest,” and “Chase the Chuck Wagon.” While most of those games may have left a lot to be desired in terms of gameplay and overall enjoyment, “Boing Docomodake” manages to actually be a fun game. So, just sit back, relax, and let the shooms do the work. [Continue Reading]

Retro Game Challenge Review: Turning Back The Clock On Awesome

When “Captain N” was on the air, back in the late 1980s, I used to be a big fan watching it as religiously as an 7-year-old could. However, there was always something I thought was missing from the show – why didn’t Kevin and the gang have their own video game? Granted 19 years later, I now fully understand what kind of licensing hell that would have been, but, ironically, 19 years later, I also feel that something has finally come along to fill that void in my life, which was coincidentally based on its own TV show, “Retro Game Challenge.”

The entire plot of “Retro Game Challenge” is charmingly ludicrous: since you’ve become so good at modern day games, you’re sent back in time by an insane “Game Master” who forces you to complete challenges in old-school games in order for you to return to the future. (If that doesn’t interested “Captain N” fans, I don’t know what would.) Top that off with the fact that the child version of Game Master is your unwitting playmate – in fact, the old-school games you have to play, and the magazines you have to read for tips are actually all his. While the basis for “Retro Game Challenge” is a 50 on a 1-10 bizarreness scale, the story isn’t really why you need to play this game; it’s the retro games that you’re forced to play to complete challenges that makes it a true gem. They’re utter 1980s bliss packaged for your Nintendo DS. [Continue Reading]

Next Page »