Reviews

Braid

Xbox Live Arcade is brilliant. Ikugara, Rez, Worms and Uno have sucked up hours of my time, even though I’m unable to reach level three of Ikugara. However, what the Live Arcade has missed so far is quality original games, instead relying on old classics to prop up...

Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution

The Wii version of this turn-based strategy game was canned, as the developers thought they wouldn’t be able to get a decent version of the game running on the system. So why they thought that the DS could is a bit of a mystery. The DS isn’t renowned...

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2

It’s tough being a fan of Geometry Wars. Not just because if you blink you usually end up dying, which can lead to some very dry eyeballs, but also from a monetary point of view. This year has already seen two versions on DS and Wii, and now...

Arkanoid DS

There’s a Wikipedia article dedicated to Breakout clones – of which Arkanoid is the most notable. It’s hard to say what the first such game I played was. I definitely remember playing it on some sort of PC or Mac thing at a friend’s house when I was...

echochrome

“Nice video / Shame about the song.” That’s probably the only thing I can remember from Not the Nine O’Clock News, which isn’t bad considering it was first broadcast when I was between the ages of -2 and 0 years old. It rather sums up echochrome though, which...

WALL-E

WALL-E’s opening level shows promise, with the trash-compacting robot whizzing around an abandoned futuristic version of Earth solving puzzles with cubes made out of various scrap metals. As soon as the second level recon robot EVE becomes playable. Her free-roaming flying levels are the best looking in the...

Ninja Gaiden II

The original Ninja Gaiden (on Xbox, not the NES one) was a tough game. So much so that FHM infamously gave it a scathing review because they couldn’t get past the first boss. For this sequel an ‘Acolyte ninja’ easy mode is available from the start, but the...

Secret Files: Tunguska

This point and click adventure game has had to survive not one but two conversions. Not only has it been converted from PC to Wii, but the speech has also has been translated from German to English. The change of format has gone smoothly – the controls work...

Space Invaders Extreme

I know what you’re thinking – re-releasing Space Invaders on the DS is about as worthwhile as stabbing yourself in the eye with a ballpoint pen. There has already been a retro revamp of Space Invaders on the DS in the form of 2005’s Space Invaders Revolution, which...

UEFA EURO 2008

England qualified for Euro 2008, easing past the group stage with two days to go, thanks to top drawer performances from Phil Neville and superb leadership by me, on the left wing. Obviously in real life this didn’t happen. In real life England spluttered towards the inevitable outcome...

Cub3d

Everybody has had their say on GTA IV, so to see a review on these hallowed pages now would be more than a little pointless. However, not many words have been said about Cub3d – the playable puzzle arcade game found within some of Liberty City’s ‘adult establishments’....

Ninja Reflex

Can you imagine this: a game for the Nintendo DS, made up of short mini-games, which you’re supposed to play for a little while every day in order to improve some faculty? It’s an original idea the likes of which we’ve never seen before. Except of course I’m...