Game Reviews
Latest Reviews
Browse our collection of reviews.
Latest Reviews
Review: Defender (GameCube)
"Live up to your name, Defender!"
Defender was Williams Electronics first video game and its biggest seller with over 60,000 units sold. It was noteworthy for the level of control players were given over their space ship as well as excellent visuals and sound. It was a badge of honour if you could play the game with any skill due to the complexity of the controls, but nevertheless Defender stands..
Review: Mr. Driller Drill Land (GameCube)
"Dig a Chance!"
If Namco had a corporate mascot that wasn't Pac-Man it would almost certainly be Mr. Driller. The retro arcade game from the end of the last century has spawned a franchise seeing seven games released with a version of some form on nearly every console made in the past decade. Its popularity is not only down to the simple, yet engaging gamplay based around drilling through..
Review: Metroid II: Return of Samus (Game Boy)
Is Samus's second adventure a bit less confusing than her first?
When Metroid was first released, it was a very unique game; with a ton of exploring to do across a giant map and with loads of hidden items and path, those willing to spend the time to find everything were well rewarded. There's no denying the original game has aged fairly poorly now though - the game lacks many things we take for..
Review: Shadowrun (Super Nintendo)
Computers and magic meet in this overlooked gem of an RPG
Waking up in a morgue with amnesia it’s clear that your character, Jake Armitage, is having a bad day. Set in Seattle in the year 2050, Shadowrun is a cyberpunk RPG based on the pen and paper game of the same name. Having been gunned down in the streets you must uncover exactly what’s going on and fast, because people are still after..
Review: Adventure Island II: Aliens in Paradise (Game Boy)
Easily one of the Game Boy's best pure platformers.
With the success of their Adventure Island series on the NES console and their first release on the Game Boy platform, Hudson was obviously looking to continue that success with the release of their second Game Boy release. While the game is based on the third NES release, it actually eclipses it in some ways and brings a level of platforming to..
Review: Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters (Game Boy)
This Game Boy sequel manages to one-up the NES original.
When the original Kid Icarus title hit the NES, many gamers weren't sure exactly what to think of it. For starters the game's protagonist was a cute little winged angel (at least we thought so) who ran around shooting tiny arrows at mythological enemies. Of course it didn't help matters that the game was released around the same time..
Review: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Game Boy)
A treasured classic and the absolute pinnacle of Game Boy gaming.
There were initially some concerns that the gameplay experiences on the Game Boy system might end up being a bit too shallow. Fortunately, that notion was put to rest early on with some of the outstanding releases for the system. Of course no title would shatter that misconception like the release of The Legend of Zelda: Link's..
Review: Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge (Game Boy)
Mega Man's debut handheld adventure. Is it anywhere near as good as its console counterparts?
Back when the Mega Man franchise started with the release of the NES game, Capcom never thought it would do well - the first game was expected to bomb horribly, as almost nobody at Capcom thought people would like it. Fast forward to today, and Mega Man has become one of Capcom's biggest franchises, with..
Review: SD Gundam Dimension War (Virtual Boy)
Mobile Cute Gundam
Based on the popular mecha anime franchise, SD Gundam Dimension War is a turn-based strategy game where you are place in command of a small task force as you travel across the galaxy aiming to wipe out the opposing units you encounter. Gameplay is split in to two parts - a map screen where you manoeuvre your troops and a close up view for battles.Both sides mainly consist of the..
Review: Operation C (Game Boy)
Does the diminutive adventure bring the big guns?
Let's just get this out of the way now: if you like the NES games, you'll probably dig this entry. Operation C isn't an adaptation or a port (arguably); it is an old-school Contra game. It may lack in a few notable areas, but you'll largely enjoy it.Operation C does a pretty good job of sticking to the series’ formula; a half-naked guy with big..
Review: Kid Dracula (Game Boy)
Nobody parodies their own games quite like Konami!
Konami had already enjoyed some success creating a parody of their Gradius series of shooters with their Parodius releases, so they must have felt like they were on to something when they decided to do the same with their popular Castlevania series back in the early '90s. Kid Dracula basically takes all of the platforming goodness of Castlevania..
Review: Gargoyle's Quest (Game Boy)
One of the Game Boy's early releases also happens to be one of its best.
Nintendo's little gray brick enjoyed one of the longest lives of any system to date, outlasting its rivals and finding its way into the hearts of gamers the world over. Following a very basic logic, a system with a long lifespan will typically have a large amount of titles worth your time. In fact, games were being released..
Review: Hybrid Heaven (Nintendo 64)
The N64's own Metal Gear Solid? If only.
Back in 1998, Konami's Metal Gear Solid took the gaming world by storm. Its masterful combination of action-packed gameplay and cinematic storytelling was unlike anything ever before seen in a videogame. The only bad news was that unless you owned a PlayStation, you wouldn’t be playing it, as it was exclusive to Sony’s 32-bit console. Nintendo 64 owners..
Review: Picross 2 (Game Boy)
Even more fun with numbers!
Mario's Picross was a very nice attempt at making a Mario game based on Picross puzzles (Or nonograms, as they're sometimes called), but there were a few shortcomings - the biggest of which was that most puzzles just weren't really hard. With a maximum size of 15x15, the game's "toughest" puzzles just didn't actually provide much challenge!Picross 2's main goal..
Review: Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (Game Boy)
Is the third time the charm for the Super Mario Land series?
While Nintendo kept things fairly standard with their first two Super Mario Land releases, they obviously decided to make some changes when they got ready to create this third release in the series for their Game Boy system. Instead of featuring Mario, they decided to give players a chance to be the bad guy for a change and take on the..
Review: Donkey Kong (Game Boy)
What initially seems like a simple remake turns out to be one of the greatest Mario games ever made.
In 1994, Nintendo had a great idea - why not make a true sequel to the original Donkey Kong arcade game? The result is Donkey Kong for the Game Boy, originally known as Donkey Kong '94 during development. When you first start up the game you might feel like you've possibly been ripped off - it..
Review: Adventure Island (Game Boy)
Is Master Higgins' first Game Boy adventure worthy of its name?
There were a good number of NES franchises that ended up making appearances on the Game Boy system, some better than others. Hudson had already enjoyed some popularity on the NES console with their Adventure Island series, so it was pretty much a no-brainer that they'd eventually bring the series to Nintendo's portable system. For some..
Review: Mario's Picross (Game Boy)
Fun with numbers.
Picross has always been one of the weirder puzzle games that Mario has tried his hand at. It seems very boring to slowly create a picture using nothing but numbers, but once you get the hang of it the time simply flies by and you'll find yourself playing for hours on end.Mario's Picross was the first game in which Mario attempted to solve these strange puzzles, and the only pre-DS..
Review: Virtual Bowling (Virtual Boy)
More Virtual Boy bowling action!
Just like Tetris, there were two Bowling games released for the Virtual Boy and just like Tetris, each region only got one of these games. While North American gamers were treated to Nester's Funky Bowling, the Japanese exclusive was Virtual Bowling which features various weights of ball, different lane conditions and provides two ways to play plus a training mode..
Review: Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (Game Boy)
Mario's greatest portable adventure?
Nintendo managed to squeeze quite a bit of the Super Mario experience into the original Super Mario Land, but many gamers felt like the game was a bit too scaled down to feel like a true Super Mario adventure. Nintendo obviously sensed this when they sat down to create Super Mario Land 2, as the game basically took everything that was great about the original..
