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Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates To Infinity Review

May 18, 20133DS, NintendoNintendo, nintendo 3ds, pokemon mystery dungeon: gates to infinity, reviewsilvershadowfly

The Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series is back, but Gates to Infinity comes with a pop and a fizzle instead of an explosive bang.

Marking its ninth release in the spin-off series, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity for the Nintendo 3DS begins with such promise; gorgeous 3D settings, vast dungeons and cute, lovable characters. But it’s this tremendous style which gives way to its lack of substance.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity starts in a similar way to its predecessors – you’re sent down to the Pokémon world to save them from a great evil, but you must have a quick costume change along the way by turning into a Pokémon yourself. Yet unlike its past entries, Gates to Infinity allows the player to choose their starter – Snivy, Oshawott, Tepig, Pikachu and Axew – and gives much more freedom from the get-go. By choosing a partner from the remaining four, a new journey can begin to save their world from impending doom.

The main storyline opens up in a place named Post Town, where fights break out needlessly between Pokémon due to thievery, mistrust and evil-doers in the community. Your designated partner, however, sees it as an opportunity to turn over a new leaf and create a peaceful paradise for Pokémon. In a series of game tutorials, you start to build Paradise with your partner, with your first task to produce a house. But as a request from a fellow Pokémon, you must venture into the darkness and descend into a mystery dungeon to gather materials.

Poor Oshawott is scared, but Tepig’s too captivated by the gold at his feet to notice.

Those new to the series will enjoy exploring the first few dungeons immensely, collecting new Pokémon to add to your ever-growing team through requests, but series regulars may find the lack of dungeon variation disappointing and, at times, cumbersome. Exploring the dungeons to their full potential gives you little other than extra and rather unnecessary loot, and the layouts – for the most part – remain unchanged. However, the game’s saving grace is its wonderful graphics and art style, enhanced beautifully by the 3D, turning its regular 2D sprites into all-animated and loveable 3D versions. Pokémon moves such as Gust turn into mini moving whirlwinds, Razor Leaf cuts straight to the bone and String Shot strikes halfway across the room, allowing the enemy to slink casually to its prey.

The title also allows a unique feature with the 3DS camera, which is great for younger players. Using the camera, you can capture a portal, or ‘magnagate’, by finding circular objects around the house or nearby. These magnagates allow you to step into another dungeon, giving the game a boost in variation. Add to this the wireless mode to team up with other players, and the main storyline begins to pale in comparison.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity promises an extraordinary dungeon-crawling experience like no other in the series, but its distinct lack of dungeon variation, coupled with the monotonous requests and a storyline that screams for more drama, leaves you feeling sucker-punched.

6/10

Mario And Donkey Kong: Minis On The Move Review

May 8, 20133DS, eShop, Nintendomario and donkey kong: minis on the move, Nintendo, nintendo 3ds, nintendo eshop, reviewalba

The Minis are back and adorable as ever.

It’s a good thing Mario and Donkey Kong have been rivals for over 30 years. Otherwise we wouldn’t have the enjoyable and addictive action-puzzle video game series that is Mario vs. Donkey Kong. Despite the absence of the word ‘vs.’ in its title, Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move is the fifth game in the series, and the first on the Nintendo 3DS.

The game features four central game modes. In Mario’s Main Event, players use falling tiles to get a Mini to the goal before time runs out. In Puzzle Palace, players use a set of given tiles to find the best path for a Mini to reach the goal. In Many Mini Mayhem, players shift and rotate tiles to get all the Minis to the goal. And finally, in Giant Jungle, players collect stars while trying to get the Mini to the goal.

Each mode differs from the other, but in all of them, you have one main mission: do whatever it takes to get the Mini to the goal. And you do this via the touch screen, by creating a path from the starting point to the goal.

All the modes begin with easy-to-solve puzzles, though they eventually present a higher difficulty as you progress through the game. Compared to previous installments in the series, the game boasts tougher challenges that frequently frustrate and prompt players to give up. Fortunately, in three of the four modes, you can skip a ruthless puzzle and come back to it after relaxing for a bit.

Arguably, the best mode is Puzzle Palace, in which you must use all the tiles from a provided set in order to help the Mini reach the goal. Unlike the other three modes, in Puzzle Palace, you aren’t pressured to complete a puzzle within a set period of time – unless you’re aiming for a higher score. This mode also contains challenging puzzles, but its stress-free pace and chirpy tunes drive you in.

Take your time, Mini Peach. This is Puzzle Palace, after all.

You can relax from the main game by playing mini-games. There are four mini-games total – three of which are played using a slingshot to either launch Mini Marios to smash items, or to grab enemies and real them toward you via a grappling hook. In the fourth mini-game, Elevation Station, you elevate a Mini Mario to collect coins whilst avoiding projectiles. Akin to the main game, the mini-games are played via the touch screen. The mini-games completely ignore the Nintendo 3DS’ Circle Pad, even though it would’ve been a perfect way to play all of them.

Can I please wind you up using the Circle Pad?… No?!… Fine. Be that way.

Despite being on the Nintendo 3DS, the game appears to be less vivid and vibrant than its predecessor. For example, compared to Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!, which was released in 2010 on the Nintendo DS, the backgrounds in the Nintendo 3DS game’s levels are bland.

If you are in the mood to get creative, you can build your own levels and share them with other players via the Internet. You can also play levels made by other players and save those levels to play later. After you’ve completed all the levels in the main game, playing user-created levels continues to test your puzzle-solving skills, and it is a great way to prolong your enjoyment of the game.

Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move is a great action-puzzle game. It’s also one of the finest Nintendo eShop titles and one of the best Nintendo 3DS games of the year. Because it features user-created levels, a level editor, mini-games and unlockables, in addition to over 180 puzzles, the game has a major replay value – especially considering it’s only $9.99. If you’re looking for a new, solid action-puzzle game, make sure to grab Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move when it arrives tomorrow, May 9th.

8/10

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon Review

March 27, 20133DS, Nintendoluigi, luigi's mansion 2, luigi's mansion dark moon, next level games, Nintendo, nintendo 3ds, review, the year of luigialba

Step aside, Mario. It’s Luigi’s time to shine.

Way back in 2001, Nintendo released Luigi’s Mansion for the Nintendo GameCube. Over a decade after the original game’s debut, a sequel, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, known as Luigi’s Mansion 2 outside North America, was finally released. Was the excruciatingly long wait worth it?

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon starts with the goofy and very talkative scientist Professor E. Gadd studying friendly ghosts in Deepshade Valley. The Dark Moon, which hangs in the not-too-distant black sky, is shattered by the scary King Boo. After it shatters, the ghosts in the area immediately begin to behave mischievously and uncontrollably.

Meanwhile, our hero Luigi is sitting at home, minding his own business, taking a nap, when suddenly, Gadd appears on his TV screen and forces Luigi to his bunker, via teleportation. Gadd quickly tells Luigi of his predicament and the Dark Moon. Without much of a choice, and no way to get home on his own, Luigi agrees to help retrieve the missing segments of the Dark Moon, each of which is hidden within a mansion. To help him rebuild the Dark Moon, Gadd happily gives Luigi a Flashlight and a ghost-sucking vacuum cleaner, the Poltergust 5000, which is also a nifty puzzle-solving tool.

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon is an action-adventure game, in which puzzles must be solved to advance on a quest. There are multiple puzzles within each mansion. Practically all the puzzles are solved using the Poltergust 5000 or the Flashlight, which includes a Dark-Light Device that is built for finding invisible objects, including ghosts, hidden doors and chests. Vacuuming things with the Poltergust 5000 is a blast, and with it you can interact with almost anything in the mansions, which means you have a massive amount of things to play around with.

Don’t be scared, Luigi. As long as you carry your Flashlight and vacuum cleaner, you’ll be all right.

Fortunately, the game is much larger than its predecessor and boasts five robust mansions, each of which contains unique puzzles and a distinguishing theme. The first mansion, Gloomy Manor, is what you’d expect a typical haunted mansion to look like. The second mansion, Haunted Towers, is built around a huge tree and is packed with gardens and exotic plants.

In each mansion, there are multiple peepholes on walls, doors and windows. Luigi can look through them to search for hints, or he can spy on ghosts to see what they’re up to or where they’re hiding key items. In one mansion, Luigi spies on ghosts via a peephole, and one ghost notices him, then it displays an angry expression, and blocks his view. This mechanic is brilliant and makes the experience more interactive.

To find the Dark Moon piece in each mansion, the player must complete a set of missions in order. While this structure is fairly organized, it restricts exploration, which is a shame, because you want to thoroughly investigate each beautifully crafted mansion at your own leisure. You can try to explore mansions within missions, but some doors and passages are inaccessible during certain missions.

Each mission is quite lengthy, and you must complete an entire mission in order to save your progress. I frequently paused the game and put my Nintendo 3DS in Sleep Mode between missions. When I’d resume playing and open my Nintendo 3DS, multiple times, the game froze and I had no choice but to restart missions… It would have been nice if there was a quick save option or automatic saves during missions.

Boy, this would be much harder if one of us decided to leave…

Unlike its predecessor, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon includes a multiplayer mode – ScareScraper. In ScareScraper, up to four players can work together to take on challenges in a tall, haunted building. Although the multiplayer mode is tailored for four people, if one or two players drop out during a session, the game goes on, making the challenge even harder for the remaining players. You may even end up all alone. To fully enjoy the multiplayer mode, play with friends or people who you know won’t purposely quit.

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon is one of the prettiest games on the Nintendo 3DS. Its visuals and 3D effect are dazzling and are easily comparable to Super Mario 3D Land; you want to play with the 3D depth slider turned all the way up. Similarly, its soundtrack and sound effects are appealing. Hearing the chuckles and grunts of ghosts and Luigi’s quivering voice adds to an already immersive experience.

Despite the restrictive mission structure and lack of a quick save option, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon is a great game – one that manages to provide a better experience than its predecessor. It has a simple albeit entertaining story, features clever puzzles, top-notch graphics, great sound effects and a high replay value. The folks at Next Level Games have done a wonderful job developing the title, and they’ve started the Year of Luigi with a bang.

8/10

GamesTM Awards Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon 9/10

March 17, 20133DS, Wii Ugamestm, luigi's manion dark moon, monster hunter 3 ultimate, reviewsickr

UK games publication GamesTM has awarded the long-awaited Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon a very favourable nine out of ten. The publication says that the game “shows that prehistoric Mario how it’s done”. GamesTM also reviewed Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, which it awarded a respectable seven out of ten. They said that the game is ”an accessible path into a punishing world.”

LEGO City Undercover Scores High In First Review

March 6, 2013Wii Ugame informer, jeff cork, lego city undercover, Nintendo, review, tt fusion, wii ualba

Game Informer has published its review of LEGO City Undercover, which releases later this month exclusively for Wii U. The publication awarded the open world video game with an 8.5 out of 10. The reviewer, Game Informer’s Jeff Cork, said the game is ‘one of the funniest games he’s played in a while,’ and that its replay value is ‘moderately high.’ Cork also said that while platforming in the game is a weak spot, the developer did a great job of incorporating the Wii U GamePad. Feel free to read an excerpt from the review below.

It isn’t perfect, but I can’t think of another Wii U game that I’d recommend more than Lego City Undercover. It’s the most interesting and highly polished game in TT Games’ large repertoire, and it fills an important game gap. Now kids (and their parents) can tool around in a big town where people smile even as you almost run them over in an ice-cream truck.

-Game Informer’s Jeff Cork

Fire Emblem Awakening Review

February 3, 20133DS, Nintendofire emblem awakening, intelligent systems, Nintendo, nintendo 3ds, reviewalba

The best game in the Fire Emblem series is on the Nintendo 3DS, and it finally
lands in North America.

The Fire Emblem series isn’t as popular in the West as it is in Japan, but it definitely deserves to be, and you’ll agree after playing the latest game in developer Intelligent System’s long-running series. The thirteenth installment in the series, Fire Emblem Awakening, is an epic tactical role-playing game that features stunning visuals, interesting characters, enjoyable gameplay, difficulty levels suited for different kinds of players, entertaining dialogue and an engrossing story.

When starting the game, players select a difficulty level. Series beginners are recommended to select the ‘Normal’ level, the ‘Hard’ level is for experienced players, and players who deem themselves experts are encouraged to select the ‘Lunatic’ level. After selecting a difficulty level, players must choose a game mode. Players must choose between ‘Casual,’ where fallen units return and where you can save anywhere, and ‘Classic,’ where defeated units are lost forever and each decision is important.

After selecting a difficulty level and game mode, you create and name your character. Toward the beginning, your character is found lying in a field with no memory, and he or she is welcomed to be the tactician of a militia known as the Shepherds.

The story focuses on the trials of Chrom, the prince of Ylisse and leader of the Shepherds. King Gangrel of Plegia, a neighboring nation of Ylisse, eventually acts ruthlessly and tries to, at all costs, get a hold of the Fire Emblem, a priceless item vital to the world’s future. For safekeeping, the Fire Emblem is kept with Emmeryn, the exalt of Ylisse and Chrom’s older, more peaceful sister. Chrom’s tasks are to maintain the safety of the people of Ylisse, and to attempt to stop chaos from spreading across the world.

The game features a robust list of deeply developed characters. Each character in your expanding party is distinctive and has his or her own personality. For example, Chrom is compassionate toward his warriors and family; Lissa, Chrom’s younger sister, is a tomboy and, despite her vulnerability, she always wants to accompany her brother on the battlefield; Chrom’s lieutenant, Frederick, is tough, obedient and always willing to accomplish any task to please and protect Chrom and Lissa. There are multiple characters you’ll encounter on your journey; some of them are lovable, and some are annoying and forgettable, but each one of them is unique and provides a welcome addition to the roster.

Nice to meet you, Marth… What’s with the mask?

The characters’ appearances are diverse, and the game’s visuals are bright, colorful and detailed. The game stands out as being one of the most visually appealing games on the Nintendo 3DS, because it features multiple art styles – all of which are charming; however, the 3D models of the characters display themselves as having the tiniest feet, which is quite noticeable and makes it seem like the bodies of all the characters are deformed.

To advance the story, there is an extensive use of scripted cutscenes throughout the game. The dialogue among the characters is usually between two characters at one time. The chat is well-written, and simply by reading the words of each character, you get a sense of his or her persona. Although not as common as the text-based dialogue, the game features beautifully-crafted animated cutscenes, which give the game a whole new life and allows you to see certain characters in a different, intuitive point of view.

I feel so helpless, but at least I have a pretty good seat…

Like previous installments in the series, the game plays as a turn-based tactical role-playing game. There are over 20 chapters, and each of which includes a battle and cutscenes. Battles in the game take place inside a grid, where the player must control Chrom and the Shepherds, known as units on the grid, to protect one another – all while routing the enemies. In each battle, you must try to protect the Shepherds by placing each unit on a square inside the grid that you think will be most beneficial for your team.

If you play the game in ‘Classic’ mode, you want to make sure all your units survive on the battlefield, because if they lose their entire HP, they die and won’t return to help you in the next battles you encounter – despite how many enemies you face at one time. In both game modes, because Chrom is the leader of the Shepherds, if he or your character dies, the game ends, and you’ll have to restart the game from the last place you saved. To survive and become victorious, players must take the time to think strategically to outwit enemies. A silly, careless move can result in the game being over, so it’s the players’ responsibility to continuously keep units on their toes.

Regardless of the difficulty level and game mode you select, nonetheless, the game provides an enjoyable experience to all, including returning veterans as well as series beginners. Fire Emblem Awakening is an exceptional game, and it’s the best title in the series yet, so make sure you pick it up when it arrives in North America tomorrow, February 4th, at retailers and in the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo 3DS.

9/10

Famitsu Awards New Super Mario Bros. U And Nintendo Land With High Marks

December 25, 2012Nintendo, Wii Ufamitsu, japan, new super mario bros. U, Nintendo, nintendo land, review, scores, wii ualba

Japanese video game magazine Famitsu has awarded Wii U launch titles New Super Mario Bros. U and Nintendo Land with high marks.

Each of the four reviewers on the magazine’s panel awarded New Super Mario Bros. U with a nine, giving the platformer a 36 out of a possible score of 40.

Three of the reviewers awarded Nintendo Land with a nine, and one gave it an eight, giving the party game a 35 out of 40.

Rabbids Land Review

December 18, 2012Wii UNintendo, party game, rabbids land, review, ubisoft, wii ualba

Rabbids Land is Ubisoft’s first party game for the new Wii U console and uses some of the new hardware’s functions well. However, it is far from being the perfect party game.

At the game’s main menu, players have the option of selecting three game modes: the board game, one-player mini-games, or two-player mini games.

The premise of the board game mode is straightforward; a player throws a dice and lands on a square to determine his or her fate. Because there’s only one board game layout, this mode quickly gets old.

Up to four people can participate in a board game, but everyone playing shares the same controllers. If multiple people are playing, they have to pass around the same Wii U GamePad, Wii Remote and Nunchuk. This gets annoying as players want to stick to the Wii U GamePad, but are required to pass along the controllers to progress in a board game.

The goal of each player on the board game is to obtain a certain amount of trophies, most of which are awarded to players for winning mini-games and correctly answering random quizzes, and to reach the center of the board. Players with the most trophies should not expect to win, however.

For example, if players are required to obtain a minimum of 10 trophies to win, a player with exactly 10 trophies will win if he or she reaches the center of the board before a player with 26 trophies reaches the goal. Regardless of how many trophies you obtain, you may very well lose to a player with fewer trophies and minimal gaming experience.

There are less than 30 mini-games in the game, and all of them are strictly for two players. If you are playing the game with three other people, there will always be two sad spectators who await their turn.

Because there are only a handful of mini-games offered, you’ll more than likely encounter the same ones multiple times within a board game, which gets very repetitive, because there are only a couple mini-games that are actually fun.

You can play a board game by yourself, without any additional players. For the majority of the time on the board, single players are staring at the AI moving around and making choices. Fortunately, the single player modes feature off-TV play, which helps as you can watch something else on the TV screen while anticipating your turn to roll the dice.

Rabbids Land initially provides fun to new Wii U players, but the short-lived experience quickly gets dull. There isn’t much to do in the game, and instead of feeling like an actual theme park, ‘Rabbids Land’ feels more like a desolate wasteland inhabited by disturbing yet somehow cute bunny-like creatures.

5/10

Digital Foundry Says Wii Mini Lacks 480p Component Support In Their Review

December 12, 2012Wiidigital foundry, news, Nintendo, review, wii minisickr

Technology enthusiasts Digital Foundry have managed to get their hands on the Wii Mini which is exclusive to Canada. The publication says that not only does it lack any form of internet connection, it also lacks 480p component cable support. Digital Foundry wraps up their review by saying that the Wii Mini disappoints on almost every level. Here’s some choice excerpts.

We held out hope that we could get access to the internet using Nintendo’s own USB-based Ethernet adaptor (a single USB port remains on the new hardware) but astonishingly this does not work at all, meaning that the platform holder hasn’t just removed the WiFi hardware, but has also deliberately nerfed any kind of internet access. To confirm that, we also found that all the internet configuration options on the front-end have been completely removed.

Remarkably, the unwarranted cutbacks don’t end there. Going back to the GameCube era, Nintendo hardware has supported analogue component output with a 480p progressive scan option. For reasons best known to itself, the platform holder hasn’t just removed the 480p functionality but has totally removed any kind of support for the component cable itself. Standard RCA AV inputs are – thankfully – fast becoming a relic of the last decade, if not the last century, but in the here and now, that murky composite picture is the best you’re going to get from the Wii Mini.

Unfortunately, the sad reality is that the Wii Mini disappoints on almost every level. It’s not a good-looking piece of kit at all, functionality has been stripped down to the absolute bare-bones, and perhaps worst of all for a product actively being marketed on its dinky form-factor is the fact that it’s not actually that much smaller than the original model. What we have left is a console designed for young children, marketed at a price low enough to qualify it as a toy.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate For Wii U Scores Highly In Famitsu

December 4, 2012Wii Ucapcom, famitsu, monster hunter, news, Nintendo, review, wii usickr

The latest edition of Japanese gaming publication Famitsu has awarded Capcom’s forthcoming Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate an impressive thirty-five out of forty. Three of the reviewers awarded the game nine out of ten, while one other reviewer gave the game eight out of ten. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS is expected to launch in the West during March 2013.

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