Team captains, more linear maps, and boss fights are just some of the changes Mario Party 9 brings to the series. Read on to see just how different the franchise is now...
Ready to do the shrimp shuffle? Rhythm Heaven Fever is the latest entry in the Rhythm Heaven series and comes packed with 50 quirky minigames to tackle...
Brawlers are practically nonexistent on consoles outside of the Wii, and
with the next Super Smash Bros. coming out in who knows when, what are mascot
rumble enthusiasts to do? Enter Cartoon Network’s Punch Time Explosion XL – a
brawler featuring the popular cartoon characters from Cartoon Network’s many
T.V. shows. With 26 playable characters including: the Powerpuff Girls,
Samurai Jack, Johnny Bravo, Dexter from Dexter’s Laboratory, Ben 10, and narration
by Space Ghost’s George Lowe, it's a game brawler fans will want to check
out...
Whether or
not Rayman Origins actually stands a chance in hell when it arrives in stores
next month remains to be seen, but judging by what we’ve played so far, it
certainly deserves to. It’s vibrant, fast and beautifully animated like few
other games out there, 2D or otherwise. It’s also surprisingly fun, with inventive,
cleverly designed levels that range from quick, easy romps to crushingly
difficult speed runs. Most importantly, though, it has an “OK, just one more
level” appeal that sucked us in and kept us playing for hours longer than we
intended.
That may be too
generous for a preview. We’ve only been able to play through about the first half
of the game, after all, so it’s entirely possible that Origins turns to crap
right after that. Possible, but unlikely...
When we left
our heroes in our last hands-on preview, Zelda had just been kidnapped by a
tornado monster and Link was suiting up to leave Skyloft and venture down to
the surface world to find her. Equipped with the sail cloth – an item that
allows Link to survive a fall from any height – plus the Goddess Sword, wooden
shield and a potion (just in case), we set out through the break in the cloud
barrier to see what secrets lie below...
Remember in the year 2010, when Telltale said they were not bringing their Back to the Future point-and-click adventure to Wii? Well, they must have fired up their DeLorean and fiddled with temporal events because Back to the Future: The Game will be available on Wii later this month, compiling Telltale’s episodic adventure series with all five episodes on one disc...
Don’t you dare
write off Disney Universe as “just for kids.” Are the LEGO games just for kids?
No, they’re ultra-charming interactive takes on beloved franchises that anyone
with thumbs can understand, play, and enjoy. Now imagine that style of
all-inclusive gameplay, shelled in almost a century’s worth of beloved material,
and you’ve got an appeal that covers everyone from hardcore gamers to grandmas...
Hyrule has almost always been Link’s home traditionally, but no
longer – The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword takes to the clouds and begins our
hero’s tale in Skyloft, a floating utopia cut off from the world below. We
recently had a chance to explore this new world for ourselves, and we’re happy
to report that it still very much feels like a Zelda game despite some major changes to the formula...
It
may feel like World War II games have been done to death, but City Interactive
hopes to breathe new life into the crowded space of games covering the conflict
between the Allies and the Axis by capturing the essence of what makes flying
fun – and for creative director Jakub Majewski, that means making Combat Wings:
The Great Battles of World War II more like Wing Commander…
With its
official title finally announced, Kirby's Return to Dream Land firmly positions
itself as a throwback to classic Kirby of yore. We've loved Kirby's more
experimental forays like Canvas Curse and Epic Yarn, but the time seems right
to finally bring a more traditional Kirby to Wii. And if you didn't think Kirby was adorable
before, it's getting even tougher to deny it now...
Normally, when a bunch of jaded games journalists get together to preview an upcoming game, most of the noise in the room comes from the game itself. Within minutes of being let loose on the Gamescom demo of Rayman Origins, however, we heard something we hadn’t heard in years, at least not in a professional context: a lot of laughter and shouting, all of it coming from the supposedly world-weary writers at the controls. Clearly, this merited further investigation...
Since Yuji Naka left Sega, we’re not really sure what to expect from the creator and his new studio Prope. After last year’s cute Ivy the Kiwi, Naka seems to be channeling a love of the simplicity of fishing, perhaps first expressed in the Big the Cat levels from Sonic Adventure. Though in the Sonic creator's newest title, Fishing Resort, your island vacation has more options than just fishing all day...
The LEGO games are coming out fast and furious (well, maybe not so furious with those affable yellow faces) with the latest Star Wars version recently released and LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game close on its heels, coming up already in May. Since it’s the first LEGO Pirates game, but the release coincides with the fourth Pirates movie, LEGO Pirates manages to cram all four Pirates movies into its story, which we’re sure will lead to bite-sized individual movie portions, but is that really a bad thing? Particularly with... ...
When it comes to licensed games, the Wii version sometimes feels like the obligatory release; the quickie cash-in made to sate less discriminating players, if you will. But after playing both the Xbox 360/PS3 and Wii versions of Thor: God of Thunder at the C2E2 pop culture convention in Chicago over the weekend, we're easily more impressed by the Wii iteration. Rather than limply aping God of War like the 360/PS3 versions, it sports a more comic-oriented aesthetic, straightforward beat-em-up action, and flying sequences that take a nod from shooters like Panzer Dragoon... ...
It's hard not to want to cheer developer High Voltage Software on. The Illinois-based studio was something of a licensed game factory, cranking out multi-platform games based on the latest kid-friendly theatrical release or TV show, until they made the gutsy move to develop a series of Wii-exclusive games and tried to push the hardware more than any other third-party developer on the platform... ...
It's fairly rare that movie games catch us by surprise. It's even rarer that they keep surprising us, level after level. Rango manages to pull do that as one of the few movie tie-ins to offer a variety of environments and gameplay... ...
Though it has long since exited the console race, SEGA's ability to deliver arcade experiences at home is something few developers can match. Since the series' debut, first in arcades and shortly thereafter on the Dreamcast, Virtua Tennis has somehow managed to blend simple arcade-style controls with an undeniable feeling of being a tennis sim. Sure, the home versions are littered with balloon-bouncing minigames and extensive World Tour modes in addition to simple two-player on-court tussles, but the fundamental controls have always mixed pick-up-and-play ease with a surprising amount of depth... ...
We never got a chance to play the original de Blob, but we were curious since it got quite high review scores, and with de Blob 2 coming out soon on more systems than just the Wii, now other curious gamers will have a chance to see what it’s all about. The main theme is similar to Flower: it’s your job to bring color to a drab world. The gameplay is different, though: it’s a platformer, with the added component of puzzles surrounding mixing and matching colors. De Blob’s world is an adorable one, with teardrop-shaped citizens and characters speaking in mumbling gibberish. Just adding color to the world is satisfying and scratches certain obsessive-compulsive itches... ...
We spruce up Mike Tyson's latest bout using NES sounds from his very own Punch-Out!! The Fighters you recognize Vs. the SFX and jingles you love!! There aren't enough exclamation points!!!! ...
Mario Party 9 - Watch us play the newest Mario adventure in this video
02.03.2012 18:20 
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