Review: And Yet It Moves will spin you right round baby, right round (WiiWare)
Posted by Mark Cullinane in Reviews, Wii on 28. Aug, 2010 | 2 Comments
And Yet It Moves, Broken Rules’ belated Wii conversion of the PC original, is another in the burgeoning category of 2D indie darlings.
It isn’t particularly charming or beguiling. It has no plot to speak of, nor are there any characters whatsoever beyond the bland avatar you control. There are no emotional resonances or no implied [...]
Review: Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4
Posted by Chris Evans in Console, PS3, Reviews, Wii, Xbox 360 on 11. Jul, 2010 | 2 Comments
After two Lego Star Wars games, two Lego Indiana Jones games and Lego Batman, it’s fair to expect the formula to be going a little stale by now. It’s a formula that is mostly unchanged for Lego Harry Potter – use different characters abilities to advance through levels, find a multitude of collectables, then return [...]
Review: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2011
Posted by Mark Cullinane in Console, PS3, Reviews, Wii, Xbox 360 on 04. Jul, 2010 | 0 Comments
To describe it as an annus horribilis for world golf’s most talented player would be an understatement. Electronic Arts have stuck by their man, though, and although forced to share the boxart with Irish wunderkind McIlroy, this year’s instalment in the long-running series arrives bang on schedule.
Questions deserve to be asked, however, about whether [...]
Review: Super Mario Galaxy 2’s space odyssey delights us all over again (Wii)
Posted by Mark Cullinane in Reviews, Wii on 13. Jun, 2010 | 1 Comment
Nintendo increasingly look like holdouts against the rising tide of what we have come to understand as ‘progress’- and this much-anticipated sequel to the title that successfully reinvented Mario for a new generation is a title as good as any to demonstrate that stubbornness to conform.
Like its predecessor, Super Mario Galaxy 2’s spec-sheet makes for [...]
Opinion: Galaxy 2 is the first proper 3D Mario game
Posted by Chas Guidry in Console, Opinion, Wii on 05. Jun, 2010 | 3 Comments
When Mario first ventured into the third dimension in 1996’s Super Mario 64, he disappeared for nearly a decade leaving a doppelganger in his place. The impostor may have looked like the Mario we knew and loved, but he didn’t play like him. Rather than racing from level to level in a globe-spanning adventure to [...]
100-Word Review: Bit.Trip Runner (WiiWare)
Posted by Mark Cullinane in 100-Word Reviews, Reviews, Wii on 15. May, 2010 | 0 Comments
Like the rest of Gaijin’s series of downloadable treats, Bit.Trip Runners is a stylish melding of retro eight-bit sensibilities with highly focused chiptune-based rhythm action. This time around you’re asked to navigate the pixellated protagonist Commander Video through an automatically scrolling- and devilishly challenging- 2d world of hazards, enemies and collectables.
Nothing that hasn’t been done [...]
100-Word Review: Red Steel 2 (Wii)
Posted by Mark Cullinane in 100-Word Reviews, Console, Reviews, Wii on 04. May, 2010 | 1 Comment
Following a disappointing opening salvo, Ubisoft’s Wii-exclusive shooter begets a substantially improved sequel, largely due to the addition of MotionPlus support. Whilst the setting- a mashup of feudal Japan and Wild West- is a bit weird, sharp cel-shaded graphics, far tighter motion controls, and a strong arcadey vibe to the gameplay make Red Steel 2 [...]
100-Word Review: Muscle March (WiiWare)
Posted by Mark Cullinane in 100-Word Reviews, Reviews, Wii on 03. Mar, 2010 | 0 Comments
Any game which sees you control one of six impossibly camp musclebound bodybuilders (or a polar bear) as you tear through buildings in chase of a protein supplement thief has to have something going for it. Yet, whilst the concept raises a chuckle or ten, and the PlayStation-era graphics are so bad they’re good, the [...]
Review: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Wii)
Posted by Mark Cullinane in Featured, PSP, Reviews, Wii on 14. Feb, 2010 | 2 Comments
“…And by the time you reach the Lighthouse and witness the game’s closing act, you might even be struck by a certain poignancy- which is all the more surprising given that the game’s storyline, whilst serviceable, never aspires to be anything more than b-movie grade in either complexity or depth….”
100-Word Review: Bit.Trip Void (WiiWare)
Posted by Mark Cullinane in 100-Word Reviews, Featured, Reviews, Wii on 28. Dec, 2009 | 1 Comment
Collect black dots. Avoid white dots. Rinse and repeat.
That’s all there is to Gaijin Games’ next installment in their trippy series of retro themed downloadable rhythm titles- but, as it turns out, that’s all it needs.
Helped along by a thumping dynamic soundtrack, a stylish, minimalist visual style, a tough-as-nails difficulty level and a remarkably effective [...]
