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5 (3) 4 (5) 3 (4) 2 (1) 1 (2) 3.4 starsAverage score of 15 user reviews
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Starts with a bang, but starts to fizzle out later on 0
‘Splosion Man is a two-dimensional platformer easily summarised by its title alone – you control a man who likes to spontaneously combust, or ‘Splode as the game likes to call it. I suppose there’s a bit of narrative in the way that ‘Splosion Man starts off as a laboratory experiment who wishes to escape from his scientist enslavers, but to look at the story in any greater depth would be missing the game’s point. ‘Splosion Man never takes itself too seriously and despite a few design flaws here ...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
More of the same Layton goodness, but not any worse for it 0
Professor Layton & Pandora’s Box (or the Diabolical Box depending on which region you’re playing the game in) is the second instalment in the DS puzzle-collection franchise. After the death of a friend appears to have been linked to the age-old box, Layton and his young apprentice Luke set out to uncover the mystery behind it by exploring the neighbouring areas and consulting the locals. While Pandora’s Box technically doesn’t do too much to set it apart from its predecessor, for those fans...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Not the exciting sequel I was looking for 0
Yoshi’s Island DS is the direct sequel to Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, released on the Super Nintendo over a decade ago. It takes all the ideas from the original game and expands on them with new levels, puzzles, and most notably new babies for Yoshi to lug around, each with their own unique abilities. After spending so many hours with the first game all those years ago I really wanted to love Yoshi’s Island DS, but a few flaws and lack of the same charm its predecessor possessed ended ...
3 out of 3 found this review helpful. -
Quantum of Solace DS, definitely not worth your time 0
When it comes to games design, the Nintendo DS touchscreen is one of those things that you have to think hard about. Whether your game concept would actually benefit from the use of a stylus outside of navigating menus, and whether it would be a game to suit an "all stylus" method of control are just some of the questions you’ll have to ask yourself. While it’s interesting to see that Activision has strayed away from simply porting the same game released on the home consoles with Quantum of Sol...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
A unique, yet ultimately disappointing return 0
Fans who had gone to the trouble of beating Banjo-Tooie back when it was released in 2000/2001 may understand how I felt prior to Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. After being promised a direct sequel to your favourite franchise and not seeing anything for the next five years, you tend to get a little worried. Naturally, when it was announced that Banjo was finally back in 2006, there was a lot of hype within the Banjo community about the next Banjo game. When the screenshots and video trailers u...
0 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Go for it, if you like a real arse kicking. 2
It’s not every day that you see a big game developer create the next game of a well-established franchise by going all the way back to its roots, even if that may have been twenty years ago. This is exactly the route Capcom has taken with Megaman 9, and while it might feel to some like a simple effort to make nostalgic gamers drool, the end result is a very solid game with the additional ability to draw in some new fans to a series they might not have touched otherwise. The plot is fairly st...
11 out of 12 found this review helpful. -
A fantastic party game, but not much more 1
Super Smash Bros Brawl is the third instalment in Nintendo’s best-selling fighting/party-game franchise. For everyone somehow left out of the loop, that means all of your favourite characters from the top Nintendo franchises going at each other’s necks in an all-out fighting fest. Have a bone to pick with that cuddly chum Pikachu? Blast him away with Samus’s arm cannon. Or hack him to shreds with Link’s master sword. There’s thousands of possibilities, and the best part is that you and your frie...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
A charming beat-em-up, to say the least 0
Rare’s first title for a Microsoft console after their buyout in 2002 was Grabbed by the Ghoulies, and it was a flop. A 3D beat-em-up title with a distinct cartoon-visual style and simple controls, Ghoulies was destined for the Gamecube, but after Rare’s move to Microsoft the title ended up falling into an entirely different market, where games aimed at younger audiences had nowhere near the impact as they did on the pre-established fanbase Nintendo had already built up. Ghoulies flopped on its ...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
It ain't no revolution... 1
Whereas some people may prefer handheld monster battling because of its portability among other things, for others the simple sprite monsters just aren’t enough. Enter Pokemon Battle Revolution, yet another console Pokemon game which allows trainers to upload their monsters to the game and see them battle it out in full 3D. This time, it couldn’t be easier, as the wireless functions of the Wii and Nintendo DS come into play and allow you to copy all of your favourites from your game up to the W...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Just solve this puzzle first... 0
I’d find it very unnerving if, upon travelling to a new town and asking a local where the nearest bathroom was, they told me to solve a puzzle of theirs first. But such is the world of Professor Layton, a point-and-click style mystery/adventure game for the DS, comprised of tricky brainteasers which the player must complete in order to progress through the game. While it’s likely that players who have picked up a brainteaser book in the past will be familiar with a lot of the puzzles here, there...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Worth the money? Definitely. 0
It’s come to my attention that you can’t persuade one to buy something these days just by saying it’s bloody good. Gamers don’t like to waste their money and will be overly cautious when looking into new purchases to avoid getting something they’ll regret later. Braid is one title which I’ve witnessed more than a few people fuss over with its 1200 Microsoft Point price tag, and with the number of mediocre games on the Xbox’s Live Arcade I can’t really blame them. However, I think I can stand up ...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
I'll train my brain elsewhere, thank-you. 0
Big Brain Academy is a cash-in on the casual market, more specifically the market that accepted Dr Kawashima's Brain Training, or Brain Age, with open arms. It features a collection of minigames advertised to train your brain, although it’s never quite certain just how you’re training as there’s no real science behind the games like there was in Brain Age. It all feels a little bit cheap, and in the end it’s probably worth your while to stay away.The game splits your training into five categorie...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Om nom nom nom... 0
The Maw is the latest title to hit the Xbox Live Arcade, and is a surprising refreshment from the abundance of 2D sidescrollers or shoot-em-ups on the system. No, The Maw is a 3D platformer very reminiscent of the games you may remember to grace the Nintendo 64 or Playstation 2, except with some nicer visuals. It all sounds like a good package, but ultimately there isn’t all that much to sink your teeth into.You play as Frank, an Alien abducted by the Galactic Council, presumably to be studied a...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
It's a gun. With a FREAKING chainsaw. Just buy it. 0
Gears of War was one of the only shooters I can say I’ve thoroughly enjoyed – the over-the-shoulder camera, new cover system and a great multiplayer mode all contributing to what I felt was a truly epic (no pun intended) game. Fast forward two years and Epic has finally released the game’s sequel, which has been quoted of being “bigger, better and more badass”. While I don’t feel all of these terms are completely fitting descriptions of Gears 2, I can say that this is one sequel that shooter fan...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Not that fantastic... 0
I was a little late to the 360 party, but when I finally bought one I was intrigued by the critical acclaim its launch title, Kameo, was receiving. A fantasy adventure game featuring an elf with the ability to transform into several different creatures, Kameo wasn’t really anything new. The game was very pretty, I’ll admit, but the concept didn’t strike me as something particularly awesome per se. Regardless, I decided to pick it up and see just what I could be missing. But now that I’ve bought ...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful.
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