Reviews
GameSpot says LostWinds “isn’t good enough”
In his Thursday review, GameSpot’s Tom McShea gave Frontier Developments’ LostWinds a “mediocre” rating of 5.5 of 10. A surprising evaluation in jarring contrast to the game’s mostly glowing reviews, McShea conceded the game proves “motion controls can fundamentally change how a genre is played,” but due to sloppy controls, a “sleepy presentation and...
Review: Defend Your Castle
Defend Your Castle is a WiiWare title based on the Flash game of the same name. Since I just linked you to the original free game, why should you pay 500 Wii Points for the same game? This game was meant for the Wii. The simple point click control for the original game gets even better with the Wii Remote since it really feels like you’re tossing the characters up in the air. The Wii version...
Review: Bubbles more fun to Pop on WiiWare
What makes a great Wii game? As Nintendo’s motion-controlled monster continues to storm the market, the question remains without a consensus, and developers have struggled in their search for an answer. Several third-parties have attempted to emulate the spirit of games such as Wii Sports, but most seem to be missing the point. The “Wii spirit” that makes the system’s best ...
Review: Mario Kart Wii takes the race online
More than two decades of verification have solidified it as truth, but given the absurd quality of recent software, it seems worth reiteration; the best titles on Nintendo’s console have been first-party Nintendo games. Whether pushing innovation with Wii Sports and Wii Fit or polishing the established with Twilight Princess, Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the Kyoto-based ga...
Top 10 most well received Wii games
Here are the current top 10 Wii games according to aggregate reviews found on Metacritic. Average scores in parenthesis: Super Mario Galaxy (97) Super Smash Bros. Brawl (96) Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, The (95) Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition (91) Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (90) Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure (87) Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (85) Bully: Scholarship E...
Super Smash Bros. Brawl Review, in haiku form
The various Infendo staffers are each tackling a portion of the Super Smash Bros. Brawl review, so keep an eye out for that in the near future. In the meantime I thought I’d celebrate and review Brawl in my own slightly silly way: with a few haikus. What better way to balance out the chaotic button mashing of this fine title than with a handful of soothing, thought provoking 5-7-5 bits of pr...
Matt’s Crazy Hair makes its ABC World News debut, reviews Brawl
Matt Casamassina reviewed Brawl for ABC World News. Watch the review, or don’t … you know the game is great! The big story here is that ABC World News showed a video game review. That’s not a very typical occurrence (if ever). This game is going to be absolutely huge!
Review: Ninja Reflex an attractive, challenging party game
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=6iyO7Y5AOIo[/youtube] The Pittsburgh Tribune critiques the $30 mini-game in shallow but promising fashion. For a title that’s essentially a collection of party games, developer Nunchuck Games obviously put an emphasis on quality graphics… Despite the supremely aggravating control glitches in Katana and sensei’s repetitive intros — Ninja R...
Review – Professor Layton and the Curious Village
As a kid, I had a book of brainteasers that I thoroughly enjoyed. MindTrap, Choose Your Own Adventure, and classic LucasArts adventure games were all consumed with great gusto. The announcement of a game like Professor Layton and the Curious Village piqued my interest to a staggering level. Sure, Mario Galaxy was coming soon, but what I really wanted was Layton. I was afraid I might be setting mys...
Review: The Spiderwick Chronicles
For all the complaining I do about other people’s Wii reviews these days, I decided to approach my latest with as open a mind as possible. Hardcore fanman thoughts? Subdued. Pre-existing movie license game criticisms? Shelved. My anathema to PS2 port graphics? NyQuil’d into submission for the time being. That said, with The Spiderwick Chronicles, which is loosely based upon the fantast...
Review – Assassin’s Creed: Altaïr’s Chronicles for DS
It was almost an out of place April Fool’s joke. Shortly after its Xbox 360 and PS3 release, a few sites indicated a February 2008 release for Assassin’s Creed on DS. I admit, it made me laugh (sort of like Halo DS). And then the rumor wouldn’t go away. Finally, the actual game came out and I had to play it for myself. Having never played Assassin’s Creed on either PS3 or 3...
Why do Wii games review so poorly?
Next Generation continues its love affair with line graphs and analytics today with a “review” of why Wii games — which sell sell yet review poorly — are such an enigma. Maybe Wii games have lower review scores because we, as an industry, still don’t know what makes a good Wii game. This isn’t proof mind you ”“ we probably won’t know for a long time, if ev...