Matt Gander

Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy

Yes, we’re reviewing it on Nintendo DS rather than a ‘bigger’ console version. We’ve liked the look of this ever since the first shots were released; the limited geometry of the characters and environments seem to work in the DS’s favour. There was a bit of apprehension before...

Field Commander

There’s no way this review could pass without the following, so let’s get it out of the way: this is a shameless, if occasionally pretty, 3D clone of Advance Wars. From the strengths and weaknesses of each unit, to the special ability every General has, it’s near identical...

Ultimate Ghosts ‘n Goblins

Our favourite non-specialist gaming review heralds from FHM, in which the writer infamously gave Ninja Gaiden one out of five because he couldn’t get past the first boss. We’d be interested in what FHM would make of this; it’s tougher than frozen leather, and all for one simple...

Star Fox Command

In the beginning there was gibberish. The superlative Star Fox 64 gave the furry critters the power of speech, although if you owned the PAL version – Lylat Wars – you could go back to nonsensical ramblings if you wished. Rare’s Star Fox Adventures and Namco’s Star Fox...

Monster House

Like the way a cheese burger is different from a normal burger – in that it contains a slice of processed cheese, and maybe some mystery sauce if you’re lucky – Monster House is a bit different from the usual rushed out licensed pap. For starters, it’s not...

Miami Vice: The Game

Just like The Chronicles of Riddick, this movie tie-in has been created from the ground up for just one console – PSP here to Riddick’s Xbox. This lets the developers – Rebellion, in this case – utilise the strengths of the format in question, rather than hastily convert...

Sol Divide

Over in the land of crispy fried schoolgirl socks and Hello Moggy, this 2D shooter from Psikyo was bundled together with the half-decent Dragon Blaze. This isn’t yet another one of our ‘Europe gets screwed again’ rants though – it turns out we’ve done alright this time round,...

Capcom Classics Collection Remixed

“Where the hell is Strider?” we wondered when reviewing Capcom Classics Collection on PlayStation 2 late last year. The answer, it would seem, was that it was being saved for this 20-strong portable compilation. Problem solved, then. But now we have another predicament: Street Fighter II and Ghouls...

Tekken: Dark Resurrection

Japanese Tekken fans haven’t been looking forward to this. Well, we’re sure that some of them have, but certainly not as many as you would expect. It’s all down to the host format – they believe that Tekken should either be played in an arcade with a sturdy...

Dotstream

The presently Japan-only bit Generations series (to be known as the Digiluxe Series in North America) is the Game Boy Advance equivalent of the Nintendo DS’s Touch Generations, both offering easy to pick up games with intuitive controls. The difference with bit Generations is that they all have...

Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers

This sequel to one of the more involving war games of recent times didn’t get a dedicated news article on these hallowed pages when it was announced: instead we bundled it in with details of EA’s SSX on Tour. If we had to go back in time and...
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7

Dragon Blaze

There isn’t a polygon in sight, but that doesn’t stop Dragon Blaze from being one of the most charming 2D shooters in quite some time, with lots of colourful enemies, nicely rendered bosses and detailed backgrounds. The fantasy theme is welcome too, replacing the formulaic spaceships, robots, tanks...
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5