Everyone’s heard the old adage “if you want something done right, you better do it yourself.” Nintendo, running out of options for its embattled 3DS system as the Holiday season quickly approaches, seems to finally have understood that as Super Mario 3D Land is not only the most impressive game on the handheld, but it could spark a revival for it. Aspiring 3DS developers take note — this is how you truly take advantage of the console’s power.

Of course, Super Mario 3D Land starts off like almost every Mario game before it; Princess Peach has been kidnapped by Bowser and its up to Mario to save her. The key here is that when she got kidnapped, she was checking on a special tree in the castle courtyard which contained the leaves that give Mario the Tanooki suit. It’s a simple story really, one that you’d expect from the franchise but it’s told via charming cut-scenes that really take advantage of the system’s 3D capabilities. In between worlds, Mario will receive photos from the Princess, detailing her predicament. These letters could be the most impressive use of the 3DS screen yet; they pop with color and vibrance.

From a gameplay standpoint, 3D Land is everything you’d expect from a Mario game — but it’s also so much more. Interestingly, it’s tough to figure just what Mario game it borrows from the most. It feels an awful lot like Super Mario 64 or Sunshine, but it also borrows a lot from NES classic Super Mario 3. Super Mario 3D Land feels like Nintendo picked the best pieces of the entire Mario history and blended them together seamlessly.  The level design is incredible and perhaps most interestingly encourages users to experiment and explore. Take one of the castles found early in the game, there’s an unassuming torch that most will just run past, but interacting with it will prove valuable in your quest. Sure you could just go from one end of the level to the other, but you’ll be missing a good portion of the experience.

On that same note though, that sense of exploration could annoy some. The goal of most Mario games has always been get from point A to point B, and for the first few worlds I did just that. Sure, I would get the occasional star coin on my way, but I was never too concerned with getting them. It was quite a shock then when later in the game I found that I needed fifty of those coins to even advance through the game. As a result, I went through the game…each level and collected the coins. While this backtracking may seem a bit annoying to some, it was here, with all of the “Aha moments” that I truly fell in love with Mario’s latest adventure. By going off the beaten path you truly get an appreciation for the amount of work Nintendo put into the game.

To be honest, for a game in such an established franchise, Super Mario 3D Land is quite the deceiving experience. It’s easiest to think of it this way; this is a game with two different sides. The first is world 1-8, almost laughably easy, you’ll get a lot of extra 1-ups (by world two I had 60 or so without even really trying) and move fast, but then after world 8 (yeah, there’s more than eight worlds), things change drastically. The platforming is tougher and you’re going to have to have to be incredibly precise in your jumps and timing. Telling you about these worlds would be a major spoiler, so you’re going to want to experience them yourself, but just be ready for the swift shift in gameplay.

Super Mario 3D is a game that is meant to be played using the system’s 3D capabilities, in fact you could go as far as to say that this is the first game for the handheld that truly takes advantage of the 3D, without it getting in the way. Using the 3D effects, you’ll be able to experience Mario’s world in a way you’ve never done. Here, it’s easier to judge the distance between blocks, jumps and it even helps get a better feel for the level design. There are certain sections (mostly near the end) that are nearly impossible to pass without using the 3D, but what’s great is that not only can you adjust the game’s 3D using the slider on the system, but during certain sections a simple press of the d-pad will adjust the d-pad even further. There is one portion of the game where the 3D does seem to get in the way though — in each world, there are binoculars somewhere and looking through them will enable you to survey the map using the 3DS’ gyroscope and if you’re one of those that gets headaches when not staring at the 3D dead on be warned, you’re going to want to turn it off before using them.

What would a Mario game be without power-ups? In Super Mario 3D Land, you’ll of course have the standard mushrooms, power stars and fire flowers, but the game introduces a few new(ish) items to the game as well.  The most prevalent of course is the returning Tanooki tail, which allows Mario to flutter and float in the air (no, it doesn’t do everything it did in Mario 3). There’s also a new boomerang suit, which allows Mario to toss a boomerang at his enemies. While it was helpful, I found myself shying away from the boomerang suit when I could in exchange for the fireflower, which itself is improved and can take out multiple enemies at once.

For a 3DS game, Super Mario 3D Land is easily the best looking on the system. Everything from the shading to the wonderful animations and crisp textures makes for an incredible sense of production. The world of Super Mario 3D Land is a bright and colorful one filled with breathtaking visuals and they all fit in the palm of your hand. The sound is just as charming as you’d expect from a Mario game, and the soundtrack is a mix of classic tunes and new mixes that are so catchy it’s damn near impossible to get them out of your head.

Most charming about the game though is the sheer level of fan service it packs. The game is full of references to previous Mario games, from the Toad House from Super Mario 3 to having to cross a bridge and jump on a switch to defeat Bowser and send him to a fiery pit below.  It’s not just Mario games that get nods here; there’s a much talked about Zelda inspired world early on in the game, and there’s  even a few instances where standing on a certain spot in a hidden room makes the Zelda discovery noise. Perhaps most impressive is just how all of this, the fan service, the excellent production values, and the fun gameplay work together to create one impressive and unforgettable experience.

The Blast Factor: Super Mario 3D Land illustrates a very important point — never count Nintendo out. After nearly ten months, a ton of disappointing games and a massive price drop, the 3DS not only has it’s first must have game, but it has one that defines the system and what it can do. Super Mario 3D Land may not be perfect, but it is the most impressive 3DS game to date, and one of the best Mario games in a long time.

LOS ANGELES — By far, one of my favorite games on the show floor this year has been Super Mario Bros for the 3DS. Check out the reveal trailer below.

It would seem that Square Enix no longer has the lock on tactical, on-the-go battles. While Japanesetitles like Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre have long been fan favorites for turn-based, tacticalcombat, Ubisoft brings the strategy into the near future with the surprisingly good revamp of TomClancy’s Ghost Recon franchise. Shadow Wars could have easily been a slap-dash release to cash in onthe dearth of Nintendo 3DS games, but is instead one of the best tactical combat games we’ve seen in awhile.

The storyline is a by-the-numbers affair about fighting militant terrorist factions, mostly in former USSRrepublics like the Ukraine, Russia, and Kazakhstan. Your squad isn’t much more than stereotypicalarchetypes that you’ll get to know purely for their classification as sniper, recon, medic, engineer,gunner, and commando. Shadow Wars really spends too much time on its story, breaking up missionsfrequently with talking head interludes.

Even the graphics are a bit cheesy looking, as if Ubisoft intentionally made the overhead viewpointhigh enough to ensure a lack of detail in the various characters on the screen. On the other hand,the environments are actually quite attractive, and the use of 3D is some of the best we’ve seen onthe system. Since the maps are viewed from above, and the gameplay takes landscape elevation intoaccount, the added sense of depth is used to great effect.

Shadow Wars is a game of surprising tactical depth. Every aspect of the battlefield has some meaninghere. Obstacles, range, contours of the landscape, enemy and weapon types, line of sight, and a hordeof other elements combine to form a superb strategy game. Better yet, the gameplay is remarkablyaccessible thanks to an intelligent learning curve and plenty of in-game tutorials.

That said, you can still screw up an entire mission with one wrong move. Thankfully, Shadow Warsallows you to save at any time, which is a huge advantage when missions can take almost an hourto complete. The touch screen is used to display tactical information on your troops, their skills, andweapons. The D-pad is used to move a cursor around on the game screen, allowing you to select yoursoldier, which grid square to move them too, and what actions to perform. The analog stick moves thecamera around.

The interface is solid overall, although the game is crying out for a platform that is entirely touch-screenbased. The main single-player campaign is amazingly lengthy as well, so gamers can expect over 20hours of combat. In addition, there are unlockable, standalone skirmish missions. Finally, there’s alsomultiplayer, which only supports two players by having them takes turns on the same 3DS.

Blast Factor: Despite the disappointing multiplayer, the rest of Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars is an exemplary exampleof turn-based, tactical gameplay. There are hours of gameplay here, and a tactical system that is bothsurprisingly deep and accessible. The 3D effect is also used impressively, making this one of the best and most distinctive games for the 3DS’s launch.

Like most of Gameloft’s releases, the Asphalt series never banked its success on being original. Startinglife off as a straight-up clone of console-style arcade racers for cell phones, the series moved to the DSfor that system’s launch back in 2004. As it turns out, not much has changed in the intervening years.

Asphalt 3D takes clear inspiration from EA’s Need for Speed and Burnout series. It comes packed with 17tracks and 42 licensed cars. Such numbers can’t compete with the PSP’s Gran Turismo, but still provideplenty of variety. Asphalt’s physics and controls are incredibly forgiving, although the opponent AI isgenerally fairly strong.

For a straight-up racing game, Asphalt 3D is certainly serviceable. The game has a generic look and feel,but can definitely be fun. The problems come when the gameplay tries to emulate more advancedaspects of AAA racers. The use of slow-motion, cinematic crash sequences from Burnout, for instance,is done incredibly badly. The physics are inconsistent, so taps on the rear bumper might cause a car tocareen into the air, while hard slams do nothing.

The crash sequences are just unnecessary and distracting, ruining the pacing of the game and oftencausing the framerate to take a dive. The inclusion of a cop and speeder element is also weak, as are thedrifting and cash challenges, which all just seem half-baked. Multiplayer supports up to six, but is localWi-Fi only, and Streetpass support is limited to sharing best times.

Asphalt 3D looks ok, but definitely old school. The 3D effects add an extra level of depth, but the visualsstill look a generation or two behind. There’s an over emphasis on neon trails and shininess, althoughthe car models look good and the various tracks offer a variety of scenery to absorb.

The Blast Factor: Asphalt 3D isn’t terrible, just incredibly generic and flawed. Where Ridge Racer 3D focuses on providinga very familiar, yet refined racing experience, Asphalt muddies its own waters with too many extras thatsimply aren’t done well.

To say that the 3DS’s launch titles have been mostly disappointing is something of an understatement.Most of the games seem to have been shoved out just a tad too quickly, and been a bit lacking. So, Capcom deserves immense kudos for their portable rendition of Super Street Fighter IV. In short, it’s an amazing port of the console game, with very little compromise.

The 3D edition of SSFIV isn’t any kind of quick and dirty port just to get something out in time for launch. Capcom has made as few concessions as possible in fitting the game into the tiny 3DS, and it shows.Character models are well-animated and gorgeous, making them amazingly close to the 360 and PS3versions. The 3D effect adds a great level of depth to the visuals, and special effects have been pumped up to look even cooler. The backgrounds have been greatly simplified, which might annoy hardcore SF fans, but that’s a minor compromise.

More amazing is that the 3DS version boasts 35 playable characters—including two new additions—right from the start. The refined balance and moves list from the console versions is completely retained. So, while there’s a wide array of fighting styles available, the gameplay is so well balanced that no one character has a true advantage over any other. That said, the end boss is still amazingly cheap.

The single-player arcade mode has a vague storyline for each character, and the difficulty level settings can be adjusted to accommodate any level of player. On the medium and especially harder settings, the AI is remarkably adept at kicking butt. Of course, single play is merely the training ground for fighting game fans and multiplayer manages to take center stage here.

Capcom has taken their expertise in online fighting to heart and provided 3DS owners with a superb outlet for fighting players across the country and the world. Matches in general are completely smooth,with only occasional lag based on your connection. Games are easy to find and start, and this is one of the few 3DS games that shows off its online potential.

The game even uses the StreetPass mode. Playing the game earns you figurines of the fighters (or you can purchase them with StreetPass coins), which are used to form a fighting team. When a 3DS in sleep mode passes another unit using this mode, it will actually start an AI-controlled team fight, where the winner earns more goodies.

The one major complaint with any of the online functionality is the lack of a leaderboard where you can post bragging rights, or just check out the competition. Beyond that, the only real problem with Super Street Fighter IV on the 3DS is the obvious one: the controls. Capcom has made the game as playable as it could be. Unfortunately, neither the nubby analog stick, nor the D-pad is ideal for hardcore fighting and having to use the shoulder buttons to completely emulate the six-button arcade layout is problematic.

That said, the game still controls excellently overall. To compensate for difficulties with special moves, SSFIV uses the touch screen to allow players to instantly pull off special moves. It’s a good compromise.Expert players can use the touch screen to simply have instant access to combined button presses, while novice players can have the one-touch system pull off the whole move.

Blast Factor: Aside from the fact that the portable controls can never replace an arcade stick, there’s little to complain about here. Super Street Fighter IV 3D is a remarkable fighting game in its own right,but also the best portable fighter on the market. It looks great, and the 3D effects add a superb layer of depth to the visuals. The controls might not be ideal, but the game is still easily playable, and thanks to the great online play, you’ll likely be brawling on the go for some time to come.

Ladies, it’s time to steal your man’s DS, or get your pink one out like I did!  Not only is the DS a game system, but now it’s a helpful planning tool for mealtimes. In March, Nintendo partnered with America’s Test Kitchen located just outside of Boston (and home to Cooks Illustrated and Cook’s Country Magazine)  and released a new game called America’s Test Kitchen, Let’s Get Cooking. Having 300 recipes in a small DS cartridge is a space saver for anyone with a small kitchen like myself.  This is great for families as well, as it is filled age appropriate tasks for all your kitchen "helpers"!

The game is filled with all sorts of great features including a big section of definitions, helpful hints and techniques for everything that would be needed in any of the recipes. Unfortunately, it consists of mostly very basic recipes and techniques. I looked for a recipe for Chocolate Ganache and could not find it, yet I consider that to be a basic recipe for many confections. It also has videos of real chefs showing you how to perform basic techniques such as dicing a potato and cleaning a cutting board thoroughly.  I was pleasantly surprised when I opened up the recipes and saw real, excellent quality pictures of the food instead of computerized graphics. There is a wonderful option that allows you to exclude ingredients and seasonings you or a family member may be allergic to, or dislike. When you check the ingredient, it will mark it in the recipes so that when you are flipping through you will see a red X marking recipes you will wish to avoid.

When you first look at your recipe it gives you all the same information as a cookbook, how long it will take to prepare, how many calories it has, how many servings it makes, and it even gives you a place to make notes of your own so you can effectively bookmark favorites. You can select recipes by the pictures or you can search by recipes with certain ingredients, by difficulty and even by calories. Another nice touch to this program is that you can make a grocery list right in the program for the recipe you select. In the notepad feature I am planning on developing a pantry inventory list for staples, so that I can track items used and replenish them easily on shopping trips.

There is a "save" feature so that when you peruse the recipe section, you can basically "bookmark" recipes that you are interested in trying at a future date. All you need to do it enter the "Try It" section and you will find your recipes. You can even plan meals on specific dates using the calendaring feature. This would make budgetary meal planning much easier for a busy family.

Overall, I would choose to purchase this instead of a cookbook as I have space issues in my kitchen. It’s also very organized and has good ideas for special occasions and has full meals suggested for upcoming holidays.  For example, Father’s Day is coming up, so what better way to celebrate Dad than with an appetizer of Tomato and Mozzarella Tart, Grilled Steak, Twice Baked Potatoes, Spinach with Garlic and Lemon?  Then to top the meal off, a yummy perennial summertime favorite, Strawberry Shortcake.

I tried out  a few of the recipes and the directions are clear and are as fast as you set the speed, as well as being quite tasty. I personally recommend the Ranch Potato Salad.  So get your family together or try the recipes for yourself.  I hope to see a new, more advanced version of the program in the future.

The Shin Megami Tensei series has seen many forms and focused on many sub-genres over the years. The previous (and first) entry on the Nintendo DS was last year’s underrated Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor, a tactical RPG that utilized demon summoning and turn-based combat. This year, Atlus has released another SMT title: Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey.

The latest will feel very familiar to those hardcore RPG enthusiasts who played one of Atlus’ other series, Etrian Odyssey. That’s because Strange Journey is a dungeon crawler with a first-person viewpoint. It’s not as tough as Etrian Odyssey, thanks to far more save points as well as healing stations, and, in comparison, an abundance of money, but that doesn’t mean this is an easy game. It’s an SMT game, which means it comes with the kind of tough battles that requires a thorough understanding of the battle system.

At its most basic, Strange Journey is a dungeon crawler with turn-based battles. While seemingly random, battles occur after a set number of steps–you can see when one is imminent on your HUD thanks to a color gauge. You control one character that you can name, as well as up to three demons at a time in your party. You recruit these demons through conversations and negotiations — you have to answer a few of their questions in a way that will make them like you, and then give them money, items, or health in order to convince them it’s worth joining your party. Questions are sometimes tough to gauge, but you can figure it out easily — don’t make it sound like you want to kidnap barely legal fairies for  pedophilic pleasure, and you shouldn’t have any troubles recruiting those types of classes. Make big, tough demons respect you by showing how tough you are (or admitting how strong they are) and they’ll join up–you get the idea.

You fight by plugging attacks, skills or item commands into the menu for your entire team, and then a round plays out. You can summon new demons to the fight as well in order to replace either fallen ones or those you just don’t want in the battle anymore. If you don’t feel like fighting, you can select auto fight with the X button, which can be stopped in between rounds. This happens quickly, so make sure you do it if you know you’re going to win anyways. You wouldn’t want to lose a match against some tough demon because you were too lazy to go through a menu.

The first time you encounter demons, they appear as blue static on your screen. Once you have fought them and collected information on them–their name, weaknesses, etc.–they will show up in their true forms. You continue to collect information on them after this–after battles, you may notice that your Analyze level for a particular demon went up. You can reference that information to know their weaknesses or what they are strong against, which is useful knowledge not only for fighting, but when you’re building your own party for a region or boss.

You can carry up to 12 demons at a time, though that number is smaller at the start. Capturing demons won’t be enough though–you need to fuse demons together in order to make more powerful ones. You can’t fuse a demon more powerful, level-wise, than your main character, but there are still some excellent combinations to be had at all times in the game. After you have leveled a demon a certain amount, they will give you their “source”, which is basically some of their skills that you can apply to a demon fusion in order to customize a bit. There is also special fusion, which requires three demons rather than two, but this makes some of your better fighting companions who have much better skill-sets and base abilities than your standard fusion.

The story and presentation in Strange Journey are also worth discussing. Graphically and artistically, this game is appealing. Environments are varied, despite the fact they are mostly just walls and alleyways for you to traverse in a maze-like fashion, and character animations (and designs) are splendid, as is normally the case in SMT titles. Conversations are menu-based using statis animations, but you don’t do a whole lot of talking unless you are in between missions or a new story element pops up while you’re out in the field.

As for  the story, you are part of an elite strike team sent to accompany scientists and researchers to the Schwarzvelt, an odd distortion of time and space that appeared in Antarctica and is threatening to swallow the planet. In addition to completely satisfying the quantum physics nerd in me with constant references to advanced sciences and theories, the story remains entertaining throughout thanks to the dialogue that permeats the experience–the main conflict is between humans and demons, and although demons are considered evil and terrible (as well as dangerous) their behavior and the world they live in is simply a reflection of human activities and the selfish desires of humanity. Sure, the demons are bloodthirsty, and many of them want nothing besides your death (or at least a sandwich made from your corpse), but their existence is tied directly to humanity’s treatment of the planet during the absence of the demons. For once, you can stop to think about what a JRPG is trying to tell you on a philosophical level–and that level is something besides, “As long as you have friends, no goal is outside your reach!”(and a cliche cast of friends, at that).

Strange Journey is a lengthy experience as well–you don’t necessarily have to level grind to succeed, but you will have to spend time searching out demons and leveling up sufficiently. No worries though–dungeons are long enough, and with plenty of goals in them, so you won’t have to do much running around outside of what is required of you from the story and side missions you can take on. You may fly through the early portions of the game as the game teaches you about recruiting demons, fusing them and the like, but as time goes on and you need to make sure your party is loaded with enough firepower to take on the demon clan’s heavy hitters, things get a bit more difficult and time consuming.

Luckily there is plenty to do outside of just fighting while you roam the mazes. Forma can be found using an application in your suit–forma is basically a material that is used in the ship’s laboratory to make items, weapons, accessories, and additional apps. Once you have the app for locating forma, an indicator will go off on your map once you are within range–it’s worth finding every piece of forma you come across, because chances are good the ship’s labs can turn it into something you can use. This helps keep your searches for battles and demons from feeling grindy, which is welcome in a game like this that requires so much fighting.

Blast Factor: Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey is a blast from the past in a lot of ways, but it’s a welcome one. The DS gets another lengthy RPG title to add to its collection, but it’s one time with. There’s an entertaining story, one that’s a little deeper than you would think from a handheld RPG, as well as the joy of fusing and creating new demons–and of course, it’s a challenge to complete, which is welcome news to those who follow the SMT games, or even those who can’t wait for Etrian Odyssey III.

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey is available exclusively on the Nintendo DS. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

Objection! Take that! Hold it! Another Ace Attorney game? Why, yes indeed!

The newest addition to Capcom’s courtroom drama adventure series, Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, gives gamers more of the same intriguing mysteries and logic solving gameplay. Made for the Nintendo DS, the game features Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth this time around, famous for being the unrelenting rival of the original Ace, Phoenix Wright. Unlike its predecessors, Ace Attorney features some new elements that spice up the series nicely, but the linear gameplay that fans are used to remains generally the same. You’ll miss Phoenix and the short-lived Apollo Justice at first, but Miles Edgeworth quickly gains your heart as you lead him through one strange case after another.

The main thing fans will notice in this game is the glaring absence of the courtroom. In its place, players explore crime scenes and use Miles Edgeworth’s logic ability to discover the truth. It’s actually just what the game title claims; an investigation-type game. There are many familiar faces that fans will recognize, and some really great new strange people to press in interrogations. Also, in addition to the amusing character motifs that are an Ace Attorney series staple, Capcom also uses 2D sprites that the player can mover during investigating crime scenes, which is actually a very nice addition. Gamers get to control Edgeworth through five different cases, each with a different crime with an intertwining common denominator that ties them together at the end.

Each episode works the same way; introduction, investigate, interrogate, repeat, solve. During the course of the episode, Edgeworth must make logic connections, present evidence to support his claims, and press and question witnesses and suspects. Some players may find the logic a little holey, and it most certainly is a trial-and-error process. Edgeworth is penalized for each wrong decision he presents, represented by a logic meter at the top of the screen. If the bar drains to empty, Edgeworth gets thrown off the case and the game is over. Often, much like the other games in the series, there are multiple pieces of information or evidence that would make sense to present, so the game gets frustrating at times as Edgeworth is continuously made a fool of as you choose the wrong thing. There are certainly times where the player will know right off the bat what to present and the logic is obvious, but sometimes the choice won’t even make sense until after you present it and the characters explain why it’s correct.

After playing through four other Ace Attorney games, unfortunately for Miles, this one seems a bit stale. Although the added elements certainly are fun at first, for the most part, the game is pretty much the same as the others. Quirky characters and interesting cases are still present, and the writing truly saves the game and makes you want to continue playing. However, the frustrating trial-and-error process might turn some people off, especially those who are new to the series. Naturally, we wouldn’t ask for it to be easy; discovery and figuring things out is what the game is all about, of course! But the fact remains that there are definitely some far-fetched conclusions that will throw even the most experienced Ace Attorney into a fit of rage as they continuously connect things incorrectly.

Blast factor: Capcom preserves the things that make the series great, and at least attempts to bring new life with the investigation aspects and logic meter. Needless to say, the things that make the original Ace Attorney frustrating are glaringly present in their latest offering as well. This is not to say that you won’t have a great time holding y and screaming "Objection!" as loud as you can into your DS in a crowd of people, but that players should be prepared to get a little flustered. Ace Attorney is a wonderful series, with a different style than any other games I’ve played. Give it a chance, and I’m sure most will not be disappointed.

If there was one word to describe developer Paon’s turn-based RPG, Glory of Heracles, that word would be ‘average’. Released on January 19, 2010 on the Nintendo DS, Glory of Heracles combines classic turn-based RPG elements and stylus-based mini-games with an average story. Set in ancient Greece where the Gods of Olympus rule, Glory of Heracles begins with an amnesiac hero waking up on a beach. He wanders for a bit until he meets Leucos, an immortal boy(?) who joins your quest to find out who you are. It is quickly assumed by some helpful wood nymphs that you are Heracles, an immortal gifted with the powers of the Gods. But are you really? Along the way you’ll meet some interesting (and clich©) party members willing to help you, portrayed by 2-D sprites. Thus begins your average quest.

Although Glory of Heracles is by no means a bad game, it is by no means a good game either. In fact, while playing through the slow progression of the story, I felt rather indifferent about what happened to my party, especially because the battles were excruciatingly easy. In fact, if you ever get bored of tapping ‘attack’, the game features an auto-pilot mode that allows you to sit back and watch your party do all the work themselves. However, Glory of Heracles does a few interesting things to keep the player amused.

Like many other classic RPGs, almost everything is upgradeable; even the magic the party uses. Using the stylus, players can ‘boost’ their magic by playing a series of mini-games during battle, including touching the center of a circle or hitting buttons in the correct order. There’s a lot of equipment to be had, all of which can be upgraded, and the game even has the option to polish rusty equipment to raise its stats. The battle system is fairly easy to learn and the tutorials do a great job of showing you how it’s done… which is good because this game has a literal ton of random battles. We’re talking one every few steps. A few hours in, the party faces immortal enemies, which then makes your battles slow on top of plentiful. It’s a good thing battles are easy, right?

The dungeons and towns in this game are bland and repetitive, and although Heracles attempts to combine 3-D backdrops (which have some amazing camera-angles, by the way…) with their classic 2-D sprites, the Nintendo
DS’s limited graphic capabilities make it look rough and ragged. Glory of Heracles, although it can run a player 20+ hours, works its way through the story slowly. The pacing seems off, even making the dramatic climax of the epic less dramatic and more inevitable. Essentially, after the fourth or fifth ship ride to one of three continents, the player will most likely just want to end the story and get on with their lives.

Blast Factor: The gameplay is standard and will probably keep you entertained for a bit. Hard-core RPG fans will most likely enjoy this game more than the average gamer, but it still leaves the player with a sense of indifference. The setting of Ancient Greece is a nice change from most other RPGs, and the game uses many classic elements that are wonderfully nostalgic, but it still doesn’t save the game from still being just average. If you can stand the slow story progression and plentiful battles, the game is at least worth taking a look at.

Glory of Heracles is available exclusively for the Nintendo DS and DSi, and retails for $34.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

I don’t know why I know all the words to Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe.”  It came out two decades before I was born; it’s not in my music library; and I’m not a big fan of pre-disco sunshine pop.  Yet low and behold, I found myself singing along with every word when Karaoke Night came around at my local dive bar.

Space Invaders is the same way; I have no idea where I first played it, but it sure wasn’t in 1973, and it sure wasn’t in Space Invaders Extreme 1.  Cultural osmosis has somehow made it one of my favorite arcade-style games, and when Space Invaders Extreme 2 first booted up, it’s busy screen and lurid colors made me cringe in anticipation.  But low and behold, it turned out to be an awesome little game!

The basics are the same: you control a tiny ship at the bottom of your screen and you have to blast endless waves of alien invaders to kingdom come before they can land their ships on Earth.  In the style of Geometry Wars, the game is updated to a much faster pace and given a psychedelic paint job and thumping electronic soundtrack.  The design is a bit too gaudy for me; I found myself reaching for tissues to dab my bleeding eyes after playing this for half an hour.  But after a certain point you grow accustomed to it, and more-or-less learn to ignore it.

The gameplay is downright addictive, though I admit I had to put the game down several times because it was making me too stressed.  The incrementally increasing speed of the ships has always turned me from a cool cucumber into a nervous nelly, but the speed of this game–even in early stages–made me downright frantic.  It’s not a soothing game to be played on the train to work, as I found out when my fellow passengers backed away from my frantic button mashing.  I particularly enjoyed a Tetris-like color combo bonus.  It added an element of strategy to the game that made my inevitable death seem more avoidable and gave me a greater feeling of control over the game.

I’ll just come out and admit that I was unable to beat the game.  Not even close.  One speed-up too many had me squealing like a hamster stuck its tubing, and I cracked under the pressure.  But I learned from others that the game only has five stages, which makes it quite short for those of you who don’t experience my chase-induced emotional trauma.  But it wouldn’t do for a game like this to drag on.  It’s a fun diversionary game–something to get addicted to, conquer, and put away.

Blast Factor: This is my first experience with Space Invaders Extreme, and it was a surprisingly fun remake of the treasured classic.  As I’ve noted, it’s a game that really got my heart racing, which admittedly doesn’t happen much, even in big beautiful console games.  Minus the screen-savers-on-drugs backgrounds and graphics, this is a great little game to grow addicted to and pass around among your friends.

Space Invaders Extreme 2 is available on the Nintendo DS for $19.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

Let’s be clear here: Cooking Mama is a great franchise.  Most titles for the Nintendo DS are hit-or-miss, and it’s rare to have something to consistently look forward to.  That said, it’s not a title I would normally pre-order or spring to buy, because I fear that the series has very little room to grow.  But Cooking Mama 3 has put my fears to rest by keeping the core elements intact, making them more challenging for seasoned players, and adding a whole new set of gameplay features to keep the series fresh.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is a hard axiom for most developers to follow, but Majesco has done admirably little to change core gameplay.  You’re still playing catchy mini-games to cook food with Engrish-speaking Mama, and these games still have enough charm to appeal to casual gamer and veterans alike.  They’ve only been improved by streamlining the process to keep frustration at bay; there are some points where rather than starting over, you’ll be given the option to save yourself and soldier onward.  A cookbook full of new recipes will make you feel like you’re actually able to make creme brulee, but don’t let it go to your head–you can’t.  I checked.

The biggest new feature is Shopping.  You must battle your way through frustrated salarymen, women with screaming babies, overeager salespeople to capture your desired ingredients.  If you’re too slow, you’ll have to play a mini-game to escape.  It’s a very cute feature, though it isn’t well-integrated with the game as a whole, and sometimes employees are particularly difficult to escape, and repeating mini-games is not my favorite thing to do once I’ve mastered them.

Blast Factor: This game is so charming–and has such a high replay value–that I can’t help but give it an excellent review.  Mama always manages to defrost the icy leftovers of my heart, and this may in fact be my favorite installation in the series.  If you’ve ever panned this title, now is the time to reconsider.

Cooking Mama 3: Shop and Chop is available on the Nintendo DS for $29.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

Nostalgia is aptly named, for a few reasons. The idea of the game has existed for over a decade, though development of it on the DS did not begin until much more recently. As you play through the game, you will see a varied set of influences from an expansive and rich period of gaming in the genre–you may have played many of the games Nostalgia’s developers got their muse from, but you’ve probably never played them all together in one place. At times, this makes Nostalgia a special RPG, as it pays tribute to the past while using its own ideas to craft a memorable and long-lasting experience, but at other times, it makes the game feel like Dƒ©jƒ  Vu was a more appropriate title than the one on the box.

You play as Eddie Brown, the son of world-famous adventurer Gilbert Brown. You’re in search of your father, who has gone missing–the opening to the game finds you in control of Gilbert, so while Eddie isn’t aware of what has occurred, you, the gamer, are. You decide, using the same character traits that make Gilbert who he is, that you will go out on your own to find out what’s happened to dear old dad, and make a name for yourself as an advennturer while you’re at it. Your first task as an adventures involves clearing rats out of London’s sewers–the game uses real-life locales in the 19th century (with a steampunk twist)–and you meet your second party member there, Pad. From there you get your airship, find out a little more info about what happened to your father, and then spend the rest of the game exploring caves, dungeons, towers, ruins, jungles and the skies in search of your father and eventually, as the force capable of defeating an evil organization bent on world domination.

The characters are generally likable, though there are some issues. While there’s no groan-worthy character in your main party, none of them are particularly endearing either–this may have more to do with the dialogue than the characters themselves, as there isn’t that much talking in Nostalgia, or a least, not that much exposition to expand on the character’s personalities. This causes the story to have less of an impact on you, since you don’t have as much of a connection to the characters.

One thing I do enjoy is the fact that a fifth member of the party often joins, and it rotates among many of the game’s important NPCs. While you can’t control them, it’s just one more layer of strategy for your battles, as they either heal you (freeing up your healer for attacking) or are very powerful attackers, which helps you finish battles more quickly. There are stretches in the game where you will always have a fifth person, even if it’s a bunch of different people filling that role.

The story, while predictable at times given its obvious hat-tips to the genre, stands on its own two legs and succeeds, in spite of the lack of particularly interesting characters. Whether you like the characters or not, the game does push you to what to find out more about what is going on in the main story. You also get the chance to flesh out the main characters through side stories: Fiona has memories of a past life, Pad doesn’t know who his mother is, and Melody was an orphan in a village full of wizards–it’s up to you to learn more about them. These side stories open up brand new locations not available to you in the main story, and they also give you chances to take on some difficult bosses and earn loads of experience and money. What’s also nice is that you don’t have to do any of that before beating the last boss–the endgame allows you to continue with your save so you can complete Nostalgia at 100%, regardless of whether you’ve saved the world or not yet.

Setting is a strong point of Nostalgia. The use of real-world locations gives the developers more freedom than you would expect, as they can give their own steampunk version of London, St. Petersburg, or New York. While the cities themselves are not affected much by the steampunk elements, the locations near them–high-tech, secret bases, airships, magic and the like–make the surrounding areas that much cooler to explore. The developers also did a wonderful job with the music in this title. The soundtrack is great, from each city’s respective music that fits the setting–eastern-influenced tracks for Japan and India, fitting jungle tunes and desert songs for South America and Africa–to the battle, boss and dungeon music. It’s one of the highlights of the game, and one of the better RPG soundtracks I’ve heard in awhile.

Graphically, Nostalgia looks much like of Matrix Software’s other DS efforts (Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV) though sometimes it looks better or worse depending on your location. The 3D models are nice to look at though, and the art direction for the game–including enemy, dungeon and town design–works well. Some areas can be a little more boring or graphically behind than other parts of the game, but they don’t detract from the experience too much overall.

The video game industry is full of some pretty baffling premises. When the original Kingdom Hearts came out in 2002, the marriage of Final Fantasy and Disney seemed fated to be a confusing and unholy commercial alliance. But I, like many, was pleasantly surprised by the result. Beating the source of my childhood nightmares into submission with a blunted sword proved to be quite cathartic, and doing so side-by-side with Yuffie and Squall only sweetened the deal. The story was nostalgic and sweet, the worlds jaw-droppingly well actualized, and the combat unimaginative but nonetheless enjoyable.

By the time a formal sequel was released four years later, the KH franchise had–like its main voice actor–gone through an uncomfortable voice change.‚  The combat became faster, flashier, and more enjoyable, true–but the story began to distance itself from Ma Disney and Pa Square with the inclusion of strange new characters and baffling retcons.‚  The newest installment of the series, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days for Nintendo DS, continues this journey into strange territory in a format that fans of the series can’t help but recognize.

What immediately caught my attention with this game are the graphics.‚  Unlike Chain of Memories, Square declined to downgrade to 2-D graphics and attempted to produce a PS2 experience in a DS game.‚  The results are surprisingly good: the 3D worlds look and feel very much the same as they did in KH1 and KH2.‚  Although camera controls can be a bit slippery, the game makes the best of the DS’s button capabilities.‚  Overall, this is one of the best designed DS games I’ve played, and it earns even more points for minimal use of microphone/stylus gimmicks.

Like in Chain of Memories, where your character’s progression was based off their card deck, 358/2 Days has a unique leveling control system.‚  You are given control of a tetris-like grid and given the option to fill it with a limited number of spells, items, and effects that will guide how your character behaves in battle.‚  It’s a little limiting but it’s an interesting approach, and I fully support supplemental games such as these experimenting with established mechanics.

Speaking of experimentation: you’ll notice I said that the worlds look and feel the same as they did in previous games.‚  This leads me to the most disappointing aspect of the game: repetition.‚  Yep, you’ll be going to Agrahbah again, just like you did in the last three games.‚  The music and sound design are the same you’ve heard in the last three games.‚  The menu and battle systems are identical as well.‚  Now, of course I believe in not-fixing that which is not-broke, but this is getting a little ridiculous.‚  The game has a very narrow scope–you won’t (or shouldn’t) play it if you haven’t played all the previous games and enjoyed them, so odds are high that you’ll be experiencing some serious deja vu.‚  Matters are only made worse by almost two hours of hand-holding tutorials that even this game’s youngest players would have to roll their eyes at.‚  After all the tutorials and expositional cutscenes, it feels like an eternity before you begin playing the game, and it makes the disappointment of traveling the same levels all the more acute.

There are some fun new elements, such as being able to play as any Organization XIII member.‚  I love playing as villains, and Square seems to know it; Sephiroth, Edea, Beatrix, and Seymour in all their overpowered glory have all been brief party members, as if to rub it in your face how strong and awesome they are before snatching them away.‚  I wholeheartedly admit that it’s just as fun in 358/2 Days.‚  It allows you to experiment with different styles of combat and helps you get through the repetitiveness of the environments.‚  I played this game on vacation and had no opportunity to try out the multiplayer option, but based on the game’s party mechanics I bet it’s a successful new addition.

But I confess that Organization XIII as a whole leaves me bemused and confused.‚  Like the characters of KH1 they are given a very finite amount of introduction and development, but those were beloved childhood figures; Ariel and Tarzan didn’t need excessive explaining.‚  Organization XIII and its goals seem aimless and unexplained.‚  As 99.9% of them are allegedly attractive males, I can’t help but feel the franchise is indulging its fantastic character designer (spokesman for the belt and zipper industry Tetsuya Nomura) while simultaneously pandering to its uncharacteristically sizable female audience.‚  This female gamer finds herself less moved by spiky bishonen than by good character evolution; what was so wrong with Maleficent that she needed to be supplanted by some jerk with too many x’s in his name?

Plot twists and turns include body cloning, memory cloning, and cloning in general.‚  The game as it stands is like a PSA against natural procreation.‚  While it makes great character drama to consider the duality of the human condition and the nature of individuality, I’m wary of the series devolving into a confusing mess of a soap opera for created characters and their existential angst.‚  The game wasn’t without some charming details and dialogue, but it just felt like a distraction.

Clearly I feel trepidation about the future of this franchise.‚  KH1 was the smiling five year-old girl: good-natured and charming in her simplicity.‚  Now she’s a surly fourteen year-old and I’m left to worry that the black lipstick is more than just a phase.‚  Perhaps I’m jaded by the distance we’ve traveled from that bizarrely successful premise.‚  The central mysteries of the original game have never been answered, and we seem to have abandoned them in favor of newer, sexier ones.‚  I caught myself reminiscing about the good old days when the point of the game was to travel to Disney worlds, lock them up tighter than a drum, and whistle while you worked.‚  And Final Fantasy characters? ‚ Forget them–they have vanished entirely, leaving only unsatisfying moogle shopkeepers to fill the void.

Blast Factor: That said, this game is exceptionally well executed, and if you’re still invested in the story, you’ll probably enjoy traversing the same worlds to get the same story from a different perspective.‚  But if you’re like me and feeling a little anxious, you can probably skip this title; you’ll likely further confuse your understanding of the story, and speed the process of disenchantment before the next true sequel is released.‚  I think the litmus test is to ask yourself how you feel about the title itself.‚  It’s pronounced “Kingdom Hearts Three-Fifty-Eight Days Over Two.”‚  Does this represent something pleasantly intriguing or obnoxiously hard to understand?

For my money, I think there’s a marketing executive somewhere who needs to reevaluate his or her calling.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is available exclusively on the Nintendo DS, and retails for $34.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

Pokƒ©mon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky was my first foray into one of the spin-offs of the popular series. I haven’t played any of the proceeding games, and I was told that Explorers of the Sky is the equivalent of Pokemon Yellow from when I used to play Pokƒ©mon. After digging a bit further, I found that this game is very similar to the previous ones, just with more side adventures and different start up Pokƒ©mon.

Here’s the plot: You’re human. Until you’re turned into a Pokƒ©mon. Your character is determined by a personality test which assigns you to one of several Pokƒ©mon who are members of a “Guild.”‚ Now you have to explore a bunch of dungeons, battling opponents and collecting various items in the hopes that you will revert to your human form. You’re also given a partner who helps you travel through the dungeons. Sound riveting? It would be, if the‚ execution didn’t come off so poorly.

My opinion of this game prior to playing was slightly optimistic, but I knew upon turning it on that something was off. Instead of the new sleeker graphics which come with most new DS games, I was greeted with graphics reminiscent of the Game Boy or Game Boy Advance. This wouldn’t have been a problem if I wasn’t accustomed to better graphics. Nevertheless, the “vintage” look was a minor issue compared to the‚ gameplay.

This is nothing like the Pokƒ©mon we had growing up, since the Mystery Dungeon series is a completely different type of game. The type of gameplay involved here is a basic dungeon crawler. You travel through dungeons and fight enemies, pick up items and move on to the next dungeon. You move in a basic grid system until you get to the exit leading to the next dungeon. However, these dungeons are not structured but randomly generated. After several rounds it became clear that the simple gameplay was meant to keep the player immersed in the game, but it failed at that because the dungeons are boring as hell. It’s easy to navigate the dungeons, defeat the enemies and move on. Sometimes the random dungeon generates with the exit next to your character, which forces you to look around a waste time looking around instead of simply walking out. (Fun Tip: If this happens to you, just go to the next level).

A redeeming feature of this game is the character side-stories. In the side-stories, you learn the motivations of each of the Pokƒ©mon you’re associated with and are presented with a more branched out plot than your own story. However, this isn’t much of a consolation, since you are still required to continue playing through the dungeons in order to gain access to the side stories. The repetitive soundtrack also starts to get on your nerves after a couple of dozen dungeons. Overall, this review seems overly negative, but I should point out that while I think the game is a cheap attempt at cashing in on the Pokƒ©mon brand (I’m half sure that if this was a game about creatures it would be quite‚ forgettable) it succeeds with the audience it is appealing to.

For this review, I decided to shake things up a bit. After I had played through Explorers of the Sky, I tossed it off to my younger brother and let him play it. As a 10 year old Pokƒ©mon lover, he couldn’t get enough of the game. He took everything the game threw at him and enjoyed every last minute of it. There was nothing wrong with it to him. The kid, who played REAL Pokƒ©mon games, had absolutely no problem with the game. Instead he’d get very excited when side stories arrived and loved the experience overall. I asked him if he felt there was anything wrong with the game, and he said no.

Blast Factor: Dungeon crawler fans, this is my disclaimer: This game probably isn’t for you. But I’m giving it a decent score based on intention, not execution. This game is designed for little children who have just started gaming. It requires no real effort, but it is entertaining to little children who just want to have a good time. This has a dual purpose: 1.) to try and attract new children into the Pokƒ©mon mythos through a different type of game and 2.) expand on the brand. 5 games in, the Mystery Dungeon still has alot of kinks. But we also have to acknowledge that the kids who play this game will be introduced to dungeon crawler games and hopefully be interested enough to expand into the real Pokƒ©mon games and legitimately challenging dungeon crawlers. So if you’re a bit older, I recommend looking elsewhere but if you’re looking for a gift, by all means pick this up for the kids.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky is available exclusively on the Nintendo DS and DSi, and retails for $34.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for review purposes.

When you think of Dragon Quest, you think turn-based battles and a very traditional but polished JRPG experience. The last few years has seen the franchise branch out a bit more, both in its native Japan and overseas, with Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker and Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime for the Nintendo DS, as well as Dragon Quest Swords on the Wii. It’s becoming a Nintendo staple, much like brand new, main series Final Fantasy titles are to Sony and Microsoft, so it’s no surprise that we’ve got another new genre featuring Dragon Quest properties, this time on an exclusive for the Nintendo DSi via its DSiWare service.

Dragon Quest Wars is half tactical RPG, half board game. Think of your characters as pieces with their own distinctive moves, weaknesses and strengths, much like chess pieces. You’re on a grid, and you get four characters to choose out of the six available. In a nutshell, you have attacks, offensive and defensive boosts, and healing spells.You set your team’s moves, one member at a time, and then select their attack, spell or boost, or choose to do nothing. It’s entirely stylus-based, and though you may hit a snag early learning just how the game wants you to place characters and cancel attacks you’ve entered–you don’t ever have to cancel, just select the character again and choose again–overall the controls work well. A little more information on the how-to portion of things would have been nice, but you can figure it out easy enough.

Each character has their own set of these, and you have to mix and match them from the character select screen in order to create the time that’s perfect for your play style.

The Slime is a balanced character, with a basic attack and a spell, along with two hearts worth of health (health ranges from one to three hearts, depending on the character). A solid unit, but there’s nothing particularly special about them, except that they can get through defenses meant to impede physical attacks with their spells.

The Dracky has only one heart, but their attack is capable of knocking enemies backward. They can also use magic, but just to attack enemies on their diagonal sides. They’re faster characters since they are airborne and small, but again, low health means you need to be careful with them–you will want them though, because they can also increase the damage of your other characters, making them a great support piece.

The Golem is your tank, with his three hearts. He can do two hearts worth of damage per hit–enough to defeat everyone except for another Golem–but loses a heart by doing so. Hammerhoods can counter attacks and avoid damage, and can also swing at three enemies in a line. They have two hearts of health, and can use an spell to heal themselves before the beginning of the next round.

Chimera’s can cast their magic from a distance and attack two enemies at once, and have two hearts. This will prove more useful than you know until you get your hands on the game. Last, we have the Heal Slimes; you can probably figure out what their main feature is, but they can also setup magic and attack barriers to prevent casting or damage to an area or character. They have no attack of their own though.

Assembling the right team is important, because you are either going to be going up against another person, or you’ll be outnumbered by computer units. Besides the 10 level tutorial, which teaches you the basics and a few tricks to get you started, the game is essentially all multiplayer. You can play matches single player, choosing from six different maps of different grid sizes, but the meat of the experience is going to come from battling friends and strangers using the DSi’s wireless features and the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection. You can play against one other person or computer, or go all out in a four-on-four match for ultimate Dragon Quest Wars supremacy.

You can win by defeating all of the enemies or entering your opponent’s safe zone before they can invade yours. When more than two players are involved, scores matter a bit more, as they are used to rank you. You get points for defeating enemies, so don’t by shy in the corner in a four-way deathmatch. You’ll also be happy to know that you have a 60-second time limit to plan your moves online, which will keep matches from taking forever. The best part may be that online play is worldwide though–even if everyone else in North America is snoozing, you can rely on those DQ loving folks on the other side of the Pacific to match up with you.

Blast Factor: It may seem odd to get a tactical RPG from Intelligent Systems and Square Enix–two companies known for making strategy games–and end up with something that’s more like a board game, but that’s just what happened, and the result is a surprisingly deep and engaging experience. For $5, you can forgive the lack of a true single-player mode, and embrace the fact you can play online against anyone else in the world anytime you would like.

Dragon Quest Wars is available exclusively on the Nintendo DSi through its DSiWare service, and is priced at 500 Nintendo Points.

When Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars released for the Super Nintendo all those years ago, it opened up a new window of opportunity for Mario. It was proven that his popularity and gameplay could also work in the land of role-playing games, and even without Square Enix’s aid, Nintendo continued to make RPG adventures for their most famous mascot. The Paper Mario series went in one direction, mixing 2D and 3D game worlds together on home consoles, while AlphaDream’s Mario & Luigi series made Luigi a relevant character and designed a game around the idea of controlling two characters at the same time. Up until now, I’ve always thought Paper Mario had the edge in game design, but Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story may have tipped the scales in favor of AlphaDream’s series by doing what neither Super Mario RPG or Paper Mario have done: putting Bowser in the leading role.

Sure, both Square Enix and Intelligent Systems utilized a playable Bowser at one point, but not to the extent that Bowser’s Inside Story does. You control Bowser for at least half of the adventure, if not more, and when you control the Bros., they are, more often than not, inside of Bowser, and performing tasks with the sole purpose of powering Bowser up so he can continue along his merry, destructive way. He’s the focus, and there are very few moments in the game where this is not the case. For all intents and purposes, this is the first time Bowser has been given the hero treatment, which is nice to see considering he’s been there since the beginning.

The inclusion of Bowser also means that the main problem plaguing AlphaDream’s last Mario & Luigi game, Partners in Time, is no longer a concern. While Partners in Time was a wonderful game, it felt like an extension of the Game Boy Advance original, except now with four characters to control instead of two. Many of the moves were the same and puzzles were solved in much the same manner. Bowser is a hulking Koopa though, and his placement in the game means this feels as fresh as the original: he shoots fire, he punches through rocks, he can roll around in a spiked ball, and he can body slam switches and cracked floors beneath him to open up new pathways.

Bowser’s also very different in battle,‚  as his moves are designed to overpower and out-muscle the opposition–remember, he’s as big or bigger than most of your enemies, unlike Mario & Luigi. There are certain baddies that Bowser doesn’t even have to fight, he can just stampede over on the world map, whereas the Bros. would have to fight them. His special moves are stylus based as well, something else lacking from Partners in Time. These are all involving his minions, which you will find scattered throughout the game world in cages. For the Goombas, you’ll have to tap them as they run across the screen so you can set them on fire and then can headbutt the opposition while en fuego. For the Koopas, it’s like a game of Bowser Pong, as you move your Bowser paddle (Bowser in a spinning shell form) up and down with the stylus to knock Koopa shells into the enemies repeatedly. They are all fun and use the stylus in smart ways, and you will use them often, to your advantage in battle, because of it.

The Bros. also have some new gameplay elements to talk about, inside and outside of battle. Traversing Bowser is done in 2D rather than the series’ traditional overhead view. You now no longer have to buy items to use special attacks, but you can instead learn them by finding Attack Pieces scattered through different sections of Bowser and the overworld. These attacks range from things you are used to, like the Green Shell attack, to brand new attacks like the Jump Helmet, the Snack Basket, and my personal favorite, an attack that lets you slam an item-filled meteor into enemies repeatedly. While these do not use the stylus, they are a huge improvement over the special attacks in Partners in Time, as they are more varied, more impressive visually, and more satisfying to use. The fact that they are now tied to skill points rather than your wallet also makes it so you don’t have to worry about whether you can afford to “waste” a use now, or if it would be better utilized later.

I haven’t mentioned the story yet, but that’s not because it’s lacking. This is probably the most entertaining of the three titles, with the humorous dialogue you know and love from AlphaDream’s series cranked up to maximum with the return of Fawful. Bowser shows he’s not as dumb as many other Mario titles have shown him to be, and is funny while he proves that fact to you, Luigi is as helpless and humorous as always, and Fawful steals the show every time he shows up on screen. The game is loaded with Nintendo references, and every time you spot one it puts a smile on your face–even the ones that point at Wii Fit were written with tongue planted firmly in cheek.

As always, Mario & Luigi eschews many traditional RPG conventions, and pokes fun at them to boot. It never takes itself too seriously, and in many ways, the battle systems are more advanced than what you are used to in traditional, turn-based JRPGs thanks to the timed hits and defensive play. Why just cast a fire spell when you can breathe fire more effectively based on your button press timing? Why shouldn’t you be rewarded for hitting a button at the exact right time as your opponent strikes? AlphaDream makes sure that there is no attack or defense you cannot improve with the press of a button, and it keeps the battles interesting and you, the gamer, on your toes throughout the 20-25 hour adventure.

My favorite part about this title though, are the battles where Bowser grows to Godzilla-like proportions so he can battle gigantic enemies and mechanized buildings that stand in his way. These battles have you turning the DS into book form and using the stylus to punch and repel attacks, and your breath to blow fire. There are a few of these scattered throughout the story, and each one requires you to approach the situation differently. They are very Japanese in their style–it is a lot like a Godzilla battle after all–but they are a wonderful addition–trust me, you’ll be upset when you realize you’ve fought your last of these. Thankfully, the game isn’t over when you beat the final boss, as you can return to game world to continue leveling and collect items in order to unlock some surprises.

Blast Factor: If you liked either the original GBA title or the last DS entry, Partners in Time, you are going to love Bowser’s Inside Story. It’s the class of the series, and there’s one giant, spiked and shelled reason for that. AlphaDream finally made a DS RPG that feels like it belongs on the DS, and with the writing as witty and sharp as it is, it not only plays better than the others, but is also funnier to play, too. This is one of the better games in the DS’ entire library, and you are missing out if you don’t pick it up.

Plus, the big guy finally got a starring role, and he nailed the part.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story is available exclusively on the Nintendo DS and DSi systems, and retails for $34.99. Played through the story mode and explored the world post-game.

Professor Layton is not your average puzzle game. Sure, the focus is on puzzles–there are 150 brand new ones for you to solve during your journey, and that’s before you take all of the bonuses into account–but it’s just different from any other puzzler on the market. Part of the reason for this is that developer Level 5 has put as much loving care into the story, graphics and style of this puzzle title as they do for any of their other games, like the epic RPGs they are most well-known for creating. The final result is a polished and satisfying experience that pushes Layton ahead of the competition and makes it much more than just a puzzle game.

If you liked the first Professor Layton title (and the Curious Village) then you’re going to like the Diabolical Box as well. This game may actually be a bit better–the story is just as good, with maybe a bit more emphasis on it, and the puzzles are very well done. There are plenty of difficult puzzles that will force you to think, but they are not usually the main story ones–this means you can keep the game moving along at the desired pace without frustration, but you can also challenge yourself when the mood strikes. The fact that once again all of your missed puzzles end up in Granny Riddleton’s Shack, to be solved at your convenience, is a huge plus.

When you finish the story and have completed the puzzles you missed, the game doesn’t end. The story elements are all done with, but now Layton focuses more on its true nature. Picarats, which you earn for solving puzzles–you earn more of them for solving a puzzle with fewer tries–can be used to unlock bonus content. More puzzles for you, earned by completing puzzles? It’s a great feature that will keep you working on the main puzzle stories as well as searching out each and every last hidden puzzle in the title. These are not the only puzzles you can play once the game is over though. Once again, Level 5 and Nintendo are bringing you puzzles via the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection on both the DS and the DSi. This is a great treat for those who want to keep playing Layton even after the cartridge has been completed, and gives you a reason to hang on to the title.

As stated, the other parts of Layton are as impressive as the puzzles. The characters are well drawn, the NPCs have loads of personality, the voice acting is first-rate, the story is entertaining (even if you sometimes figure out plot points before Layton and his apprentice, Luke) and the animated cutscenes are entertaining enough that, while watching them, you understand exactly why a Professor Layton movie is in the works. As stated, this is what pushes Layton’s titles ahead of all of the other puzzle and brain teaser games on the market, and in the Diabolical Box, there’s a lot more of all of the above than there was in the Curious Village.

There are three long-term puzzles that you must solve in Diabolical Box as well, which can be found in your trunk. The first of these is a broken camera that you fix–solving certain puzzles nets you pieces of the broken camera, which you then put together inside the hollowed out shell. Since you are building a camera from scratch, you have to figure out where each piece goes through trial and error, as well as by using logic. It’s fun, especially when you pick up more pieces and realize you may have been off in your earlier predictions for piece placement. The second of these is the fat hamster; you need to get him into shape on a chess board like area. You earn items that the hamster can sense from three squares away, and you need to arrange them in a way that makes him walk enough to reach his goal. The first of these is eight steps, then 14 steps, and so on. It’s also fun that the hamster wants nothing to do with getting into shape, and tells you as much. The last of these three games is the tea set game, where you must mix tea for the correct citizens in the village based on the hints and tips they give you. This is my least favorite, though if you pay enough attention you should be able to pick up on the clues and give everyone the tea they are asking for.

Blast Factor: Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box may be more of the same, but it’s more of a wonderful thing. The sequel to the Curious Village is more polished with more of a focus on story, but not at the expense of the puzzles, the true star of the game. This game comes highly recommended whether you’re very much into puzzles or not, as everything else works so well in it that it may be good enough to make you a convert.

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box is available exclusively on the Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi, at the price of $34.99

I fully admit it: I love to daydream about how awesome it would be to have the magical powers invariably given to video game heroes.‚  That has never been truer than during my play-through of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for Nintendo DS”"I couldn’t stop fantasizing about Apparating out of this game and into another one.

Harry Potter and the Half-Hearted Adaptation is an attempt to capture all the nail-biting drama of the sixth installment of a seven-part mega-series and distill it into a DS-shaped sleeping pill. In this respect, it succeeded beyond my most generous expectations.‚  The cel-shaded artwork is admirably executed, but ultimately damaged by its faithfulness to the film actors’ likenesses: characters are difficult to tell apart and their stilted movements rely too heavily on motion capture techniques.‚  As I steered my little Harry Potter around the grounds of Hogwarts, I had the eerie sensation that I was really driving a miniature Daniel Radcliffe around a studio lot.‚  The shamelessly incoherent storytelling and expressionless dialogue only deepened my feelings of alienation towards these tiny, pixilated actors as the game progressed.‚  Major plot points were displayed as bland, disjointed cutscenes, leaving me in control to run around school just in time for the boring stuff.

Speaking of Hogwarts, the unabridged castle maps are probably the best part of the game.‚  I remember receiving the first Harry Potter tie-in game as a gift from well-meaning relatives years ago, and I was disappointed by the limited exploration opportunities.‚  Like Tomb Raider II, the most fun part wasn’t shooting the tigers but locking the farting old butler in the meat locker and roaming about your awesome digs!‚  I do wish there were more magical elements integrated into the environments; staircases remained resolutely immobile, which felt like a waste of perfectly good gameplay material.

As swiftly as I lay a compliment down at this game’s feet, I feel obliged to snatch it away.‚  As lovely as Hogwarts is to explore, tramping from one end of a castle to another gets really snoozeworthy when you’re playing Harry Potter and the Endless Fetch Quests. I was initially onboard with the errands as tutorials to familiarize myself with the extensive environment; but by the time Luna Lovegood asked me to track down her missing dress, shoes, and handbag to go to a plot-furthering meeting with me, I felt mightily abused.‚  The fetch quests provided no returns in terms of plot furtherance, but just creeping closer to the conclusion of this game began to feel like a worthwhile reward.

There are fun elements buried in this title. The over-abundance of minigames drowns the “real” gameplay, but that’s not to say they’re unenjoyable.‚  The physics feel correct and I loved reconnecting with my inner preschooler by playing endless games of marbles.‚  I just don’t know what that has to do with stopping a Dark Lord and saving the innocents of the world from racism, tyranny, and fear. I mean, come on”"it’s not even magical!‚  Didn’t Harry have, you know, more marketable job skills than this?‚  I expect more out of a Hogwartian education than the ability to win timed matching games.

Blast Factor: What makes Harry Potter cool”"as a franchise or a character”"is totally lost upon this game; be prepared to trudge through the monotony of gameplay-lengthening fetch quests, and to display yourself as the biggest tool in school in the process.‚  The coolness of the castle is the lone shining point, and its repetition and disappointingly linear structure dull this feature to the point of tarnish.‚  It’s ironic that you spend 85% of the latest Potter trading irrelevant items for even more irrelevant items, as you’ll surely be itching to trade this particularly irrelevant title in ASAP.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is available for the Nintendo DS for $39.99

As long as they kept the same tone, I feel like I could play new installments of Shin Megami Tensei for years without tiring.‚  Excluding the most recent console edition, Persona 4, almost all of them take place during desperate situations or in a bleak dystopia.‚  With the Final Fantasy series being escapist in tone “" you ride on birds, listen to long-haired freaks talk about world domination and explore forgotten lands “" the SMT games are oppressively depressing, as if all of them were programmed by George Orwell.

The latest installment, SMT: Devil Survivor, is not an exception, and despite all this negativity, I always look forward to the experience.‚  Frankly, there aren’t enough role-playing games that feature realistic scenarios and characters, as opposed to some tart with a sword.‚  Depressing at times?‚  Absolutely, but it also feels that much sweeter when you do reach that conclusion.‚  You need sour to make the sweet taste so great when you finally do get it.

Devil Survivor takes place in present day Tokyo, which has been sealed from the outside world by a civilian defense force after a demon outbreak and a power outage occur.‚  As the self-named, 17-year-old lead character, you and your allies use COMPs (portrayed tongue-in-cheek by the game as DSes) to summon your own demons to beat enemy demons.‚  The COMPs also receive mysterious e-mail reports that seem to predict future catastrophes, unless you can stop them beforehand.‚  Along the way, you have to make painful decisions that cause people to live or die.

The best way to describe the gameplay of Devil Survivor is as conventional, turn-based RPG with tactical elements.‚  Your human characters serve as leaders of a trio, the other two members of which are demons purchased from an auction house or created via fusing other demons.‚  You can control as many as four squads on a map, for a total of 12 active characters, although you can swap out demons in the middle of a map.

While you form squads and approach enemies on a map, hence the tactics, the battles take place in turn-based fashion.‚  You and your demons attack enemies in rounds of combat based on speed, hitting weaknesses and avoiding strengths.‚  Hitting enemy weak points “" such as using zio (lightning) on mechanical enemies “" sometimes rewards you “bonus” rounds of combat.‚  And, in a welcome improvement from the past Persona and Digital Devil Saga games, the top screen of the DS is used wonderfully to display all the strengths and weaknesses of enemies, meaning you don’t have to memorize them for 100+ demons.

In fact, everything in Devil Survivor is streamlined, simplified and enhanced from previous SMT installments, if that makes sense.‚  For example, the Persona games featured inherited skills by fusing together monsters, but you’d often have to annoyingly try the same combination multiple times to get that Angel-character with fire skills.‚  In Devil Survivor, you can simply choose what skills to retain when fusing.‚  This alone prevents a lot of tedium of past games.‚  Other nice features include an easy-to-use fusion database, and a profile database to keep track of character background and developments.

If I have to find something to quibble about, it would be that the demons are still a bit too disposable.‚  In the Persona games, you have to rely on fusion to power-up characters, as gaining levels only provides incremental stat gains.‚  As a result, it isn’t uncommon to use fuse your way past several demons without even trying them out.‚  There is little room for sentimentality; each new day of the story essentially requires you to cycle your old demons out for new, more powerful ones.‚  However, even this makes sense from a story perspective, since the situation is so bleak you shouldn’t expect to bond with your demons…

BLAST FACTOR: Devil Survivor is yet another near-mandatory RPG for the DS.‚  While the story’s tone and characters aren’t for everybody, if you liked any of the previous SMT games, then this really is mandatory.

With its latest entry in the Guitar Hero series, Modern Hits for the DS, Vicarious Visions is proving it is interested in more than just churning out bastardized versions of its top sellers to make a buck. A special guitar controller accessory and good song selection help to minimize repetition and song quality issues in an otherwise great game. Let’s start with the controller, since the idea of Guitar Hero on the DS might be confusing to some despite the previous installments. A four-button attachment plugs into the GBA slot of your DS, and you strum across the touch screen with a (provided) guitar pick. (Unfortunately, if you did splurge on a DSi, you are out of luck for now.) You hold the console vertically as you play (i.e. clockwise from the normal DS layout), which is helped by the guitar accessory, which acts as a handle of sorts. Like the console versions, you hold down the respective colored button as you strum (slash) across the touch screen with the pick. Whammies / extends are played by holding and rubbing the pick on the touch screen.

Although the complexity is somewhat diminished “" the console controller features five buttons vs. four on the DS “" the difficulty is retained because the note pace is increased. I hover between 95 and 99 percent on normal on the console versions of Rock Band and Guitar Hero, and I had a similar mark on Modern Hits. The most diabolical songs will require you to quickly scratch out 10 notes, followed by a normal rhythm for a couple notes, followed by some quick-switching chords, and then back to a flurry of notes. To sound like Led Zeppelin, the scoring system remains the same in Modern Hits. You get a base score for hitting each note, and playing strings of notes without error multiples your score. Certain notes contain energy power for your guitar, and if you collect enough, you can unleash it and double your multiplier for a span of time. In a clever usage of the DS’s microphone, yelling at it starts the power-up, which is far easier than the console versions’ requirement of hitting a button or holding your guitar at a 90-degree angle while still trying to play notes. The higher your score, the more stars you receive for completing a stage.

The limitations of a handheld version of Guitar Hero are smoothed over pretty craftily by the programmers at Vicarious Visions and the content selection. While the graphics and animation are severely downgraded “" there isn’t much real estate on the DS screen anyway “" the sound quality is shockingly good. I thought it was slightly above the standard set by most cell phones. The content is also smartly confined to modern music, so the scratchiness to some of the songs actually helps. “Reptilia” and The Strokes in general just sound better with a bit of roughness. The same goes with most of the game’s roster: The Fratellis, Wolfmother, Weezer, Coldplay, The Kaiser Chiefs, Sum 41, Lenny Kravitz, Modest Mouse. That’s a solid range within the “modern rock” sphere, from strictly indy to pop rock and pop punk. I didn’t notice a distracting lack of sound quality at any point, and because all modern music is used, every song is the original master as opposed to a cover band version.

The only issue I had with Modern Hits was one of repetition. To unlock new songs, you typically have to beat the two or three songs at a venue, and then complete one, two or three “fan requests” at a venue. Fan requests are similar to the random challenges in the Rock Band games. For example, you might have to finish the bass part of a Strokes’ song above a certain percentage, or win a guitar duel. While this in itself isn’t bad, being forced to replay songs you’ve already beaten is somewhat annoying. I preferred the progression systems in World Tour (earn cash to unlock new venues) and Smash Hits (earn a certain amount of stars between all the game’s songs) to the one in Modern Hits, which forces a lot of backtracking. Still, this is a relatively minor quibble in the scheme of things.

Blast Factor: If the idea of playing Guitar Hero on your DS sounds great to you, then Modern Hits will be great to you. While it doesn’t really offer anything new from the console versions, Modern Hits doesn’t lose much in the transition thanks to some great song choices and its well-designed controlled adapter.

Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits is available exclusively for the Nintendo DS, and is has a suggested price of $39.99

It took long enough, but another of Nintendo’s cute, marketable mascots has made its way to North America. The Legendary Starfy is not the most innovative platformer around “" in fact, it combines its originality with elements from other Nintendo franchises “" but the end result of its mixing and matching is a quality marine platformer that will have you coming back for more.

Starfy is the prince of Pufftop, a kingdom in the sky. One day, a bunny in a spacesuit crashes into Pufftop and is captured by unknown assailants until Starfy saves him with his spin move “" the bunny, Bunston, then runs off to the world below. Starfy and his pal Moe give chase, and your adventure begins. Surprisingly, the story in this platformer is entertaining, and you won’t want to skip the text-based cut scenes, or the comic book style cartoons that occasionally come up during important moments. The localization is very well done and humorous, much better than the tripe that usually pollutes these types of games (I’m looking at you, hedgehog.) Despite an appearance that the game and some of the humor is intended for a younger crowd, you won’t roll your eyes unless the game means for you to do so.

Starfy and his friends are cute “" almost disarmingly so. Close your DS with the game running, and Starfy emits a wail like you’ve hurt his feelings by leaving, but he’ll greet you with a satisfied cry when you return to play again. The assault of cute on your senses is never ending, with Starfy making adorable faces as you run, jump, attack, or just sit there. The music is catchy and bubbly, and will get stuck in your head while you play and after you shut off your DS. The 3D backgrounds are well drawn and animated, and add to the 2D foreground; both utilize all of the colors of the rainbow in that sugary sweet style that Kirby is so well known for. The aforementioned cut scenes involve a bunch of character animations that look like your typical Japanese animation emoting, which is pretty adorable when it involves little sea creatures and a star.

The controls seem a bit awkward at first “" why is the button to dash on land and underwater different? “" but that goes away as you learn more abilities. When you require that the transition process between abilities is seamless late in the game, it is, and the control scheme will make much more sense than when you first start up. These powers vary from longer and stronger spin moves to double jumps to the ability to float, and you will use all of them in a variety of ways over the course of the adventure.

You have your basic Mario style run and jump platforming, but you also have Kirby style gaming mixed in as well “" though in the case of Starfy, many of these powers are inherent, rather than acquired the way Kirby does. It all works very well together though, which is somewhat surprising given the amount of things they want you to learn to do and implement. Besides reaching the exit, you will have some other goals, like collecting treasures and pearls. Treasures can be heart containers (collect three to extend your life bar) or costumes and accessories for a 3D model of Starfy to model on the pause menu. Pearls come in large and small sizes (worth five and one pearl respectively) and are used to regenerate your health and to buy unlockables from the pause menu.

Why aren’t there more clones of Chrono Trigger?‚  If any game seems like it deserves a slew of clones, it would be one of the Top 10 role-playing games of all time, one that is so synonymous with quality that its Nintendo DS remake tops most of the user-rated lists around the Internet.

Unfortunately, the answer was constantly running through my head as I was playing Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled for the aforementioned DS.‚  Chrono Trigger set the bar so high that no other game really tried to emulate it. ‚ Even Chrono Cross, the PSX “sequel” of sorts, scrapped the combat system and takes place in an alternate, fractured timeline.

A mediocre, original game is sometimes worth playing.‚  For example, I hated all the grunt work of the Super Nintendo’s Harvest Moon, and the Aerobiz series is painfully dense at times, but both concepts are original enough to be worth sticking with.‚  Black Sigil’s issue is that it feels like a warmed-over, plodding clone of a classic.‚  My constant thought while suffering through yet another boring battle was, “Why don’t I just play Chrono Trigger instead?”

The similarity to Chrono Trigger stems from the top-down perspective, three-person party and general atmosphere of both.‚  In some aspects, Black Sigil holds it own.‚  The dialogue is snappy, and while the plot of being thrust into a strange new world with feuding empires has been done a million times before, the spunky and sarcastic characters make it fun anyway.

The stoic, man of few words, Kairu, is the lead character, and since he doesn’t talk, it’s yet another comparison to Chrono Trigger.‚  But Aurora, Kairu’s sister, is the real star in most of the early scenes.‚  Her spunky and snarky replies to other characters’ comments, mostly about her sex appeal, differentiate her from a typical video game damsel.

However, the two titles skew wildly when it comes to battle system.‚  Black Sigil’s combat has two jarring features “" absolutely no transitioning and a high encounter rate.

By no transitioning, I don’t mean visible enemies like in Chrono Trigger.‚  I mean that you will be walking, and suddenly the game almost seems like it “freezes” and then you move to a combat screen.‚  There is no sound effect or music to signify that you’ve switched to combat, and if you’re near an exit, you don’t know if you’ve successfully made it to the next screen or entered yet another battle.

And the battles, good lord, there are a lot of them.‚  I may have fought more in my initial 10 hours of Black Sigil than through entire games.‚  It doesn’t help that some weapons have limited range, and there is no automatic “move” command.‚  For example, if an enemy is behind a rock outcrop, you either have to wait for Kairu’s turn (his movement is seemingly unlimited) or wait for the enemy to attack you, and thus move into your range.‚  You can also manually move character by using the L-trigger key, but this isn’t explained in the game, and it seems like something that all characters should do automatically if they chose to attack, not just Kairu.‚  As a result, a single battle can drag out for an extra 15 to 60 seconds because your characters apparently lack the intelligence to properly position themselves.

Also from the “stupid idea” department, your main character is randomly afflicted with status ailments.‚  A storyline reason is later given for this, but it doesn’t make it any less annoying.‚  Beyond the Beyond, the very first PSX RPG from 1995, tried a similar thing with one of its main characters, and 14 years later it is still mind-numbingly frustrating.

Black Sigil doesn’t help itself with some muddy visuals and a general lack of refinement.‚  Exits, climbing areas and ladders can be hard to spot on various screens, meaning you have to “trace” your way around the borders of an area to find the proper way out.‚  The menu screens are generally OK, except that I sometimes forgot whether I had to pick the microscopic book or the microscopic armored guy to equip and use my skills.

The high encounter rate, movement issues and just poor planning really do detract from what is an otherwise solid game.‚  I understand the desire to create a more “traditional” RPG that relies on a bit of grinding, a la Dragon Warrior or the original Final Fantasy, but the extra time spent it takes to beat Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled feels artificial and based on poor programming. Unless you are desperate for a new game, you’ll get more enjoyment from hunting down the originals and remakes from those franchises.‚  Or, just play Chrono Trigger again.

Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled is available on the Nintendo DS for $29.99

Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again is a sequel to the 2006 DS game Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis, and it isn’t just a quick follow-up to its predecessor. Instead, Nintendo went all out, giving you a full-blown sequel that could have released at retail for just 800 Nintendo Points; there’s some excellent value here, but just how good is the core gameplay?

Here are the basics for Mario vs. DK: You don’t control Mario, but you do control his Mini windup toys. These toys are placed in a room that is essentially a puzzle; you need to guide them to the exit, picking up coins, extra lives and cards that unlock special levels along the way, all the while avoiding enemies, spikes, fireballs, and other traps. Here’s the kicker though: you can’t control the Minis once you start them moving, so you need to make sure that you have (A) set them on the proper path and (B) make sure that you adjust their path for the environment as they walk around. There are very few levels where you can just set up blocks for them to walk on and then stop paying attention, as much of the work needs to be done while they are moving.

The first few levels are introductory, and each of the four worlds introduces you to a different type of puzzle piece. At first it’s the pink blocks that you use to get the Minis around over spikes, over enemies, or to use as steps. Later on you get magnetic pathways, enemies that turn into blocks when you hit switches, switches that open gates…there’s a lot going on in each puzzle by the time you hit the last standard world, and it keeps things fresh and challenging. Each of the four worlds consist of eight levels and a boss fight against Donkey Kong–the boss fights actually come from this game’s predecessor, but as far as I can tell are the only bits of rehashed content–and one special level that is exponentially more difficult than the levels you needed to complete to unlock it.

40 levels for $8 is a good deal, but that’s not all the game has. It turns out that Minis March Again actually has 100 levels, as more difficult rooms appear when you have completed the initial game. These rooms are not only more challenging for their design, but also due to the way the levels begin. In the first 40 levels, you were given time to survey the room and make changes to blocks in order to set your Minis on the right path. In these more difficult puzzles though, the Minis start to move after three seconds.

So now we’re talking 100 levels for $8, which given the quality and complexity of the title, is a steal. Nintendo didn’t stop there though: the level editor from March of the Minis has been included in its sequel, but now you can upload the levels you create using the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection and share them with friends and strangers. You have 140 slots for levels that either you create and keep or to download from others, giving you, at any one time, 240 levels of Minis March Again. You can search by the newest levels or the highest ranked, and it shows 50 at a time in each section. Nintendo is also planning on releasing new levels for the game periodically, meaning between the creativity of devoted level builders and Nintendo’s professionals, this game is going to have some serious replay value. I built a level myself to check out the editor, and it’s very simple and effective. You can build off of a template, or just erase everything in the template and start from scratch, but you have to score a gold star on your own level before it can be submitted. It was also a good feeling to check up on the level to see that it had been downloaded by someone else already the next day.

Graphically, this game is appealing, as it takes aspects of the Mario universe and puts a cel-shaded style on them. It’s no better looking than March of the Minis, but it retains that colorful, fun presentation that worked so well over two years ago. The sound is also fun, with some neat sound effects for the Minis as they bounce around the level bumping into stuff and falling.

There is enough going on in the level editor that the entire game could have been based around just that, with all of the content being user created or submitted by Nintendo at a later date. Instead, we get 100 pack-in levels with a promise of future content, and a constant drip of newly created levels from the game’s users. A game that you will play for months that works in both long stretches and in shorter, pocket gaming scenarios for all of $8 is simply fantastic. While it isn’t the best puzzle game on the service, it is the deepest and has the most replay value, and that counts for something.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! is available exclusively for the Nintendo DSi via the DSiWare store, and costs 800 Nintendo Points.

You have played puzzle games before. You have played platform puzzlers before, too. That does not mean you have played anything like Wayforward’s latest, Mighty Flip Champs. The developers of LIT have take a simple concept, mixed it with a standard video game genre, and given us a completely different take on it thanks to some splendid puzzle design and the dual-screen nature of the Nintendo DS.

In Mighty Flip Champs!, you play as Alta, the holder of a magical warp wand that allows her to “flip” through dimensions. She uses this power to retrieve her animal friends and to escape each trap-riddled dungeon. You can only move left and right on the D-pad as Alta, though you can also climb the mesh ladders found in many levels. If you press any of the face buttons on the DS, you will “flip” to the next dimension, which is first shown as the bottom screen in a reflected form. Essentially, you walk around on the top screen in the direction you need to go in order to be safe on the bottom screen, and then you flip. You will see when you are about to send Alta into a bed of spikes or in the middle of a solid wall–both are great ways to kill off Alta, but horrible for progressing through the level–and can adjust accordingly. You also get a helping hand from the stylus, as it allows you to mark a square on the bottom screen that also shows up (and remains) on the top screen, even after flipping. It’s a good way to remind yourself of where you need to end up while the world uproots itself around you.

The level and puzzle design starts out simple enough, with the game letting you get a feel for the flip mechanic in simple ways like walls that block your progress in screen one that are wide open paths in screen two. Then they start to add more screens to the mix, add spikes, long drops, extra walls to make travel between areas on a single screen more difficult, special blocks that break when Alta flips into them, and areas where it is necessary to flip multiple times before you hit the ground in order to avoid walls and spikes along the way. The last level in each area also takes control of the wand out of Alta’s hands, and puts it on a timer. This means you need to move fast and think fast in order to get out of the level without getting Alta smooshed in a wall or stabbed with spikes.

There are over 40 levels in Mighty Flip Champs!, which, given the difficulty of the title as you progress, is a lot of time you are going to spend on the title attempting to beat it. Throw in the fact that each level is graded based on the amount of time it took you to complete it and the number of flips you used, and you have 40+ reasons to replay the game. The puzzles are challenging, but they are not impossible; the feeling you get from completing one–and completing it well–is very satisfying, and well worth the effort you will put into it. You can’t ask for much more than that out of a puzzler, or any game for that matter.

Graphically, Mighty Flip Champs! is simple, but polished. The characters in-game are small, but they have a number of animations they go through as they move or just sit there in place. The art shown in between levels is well done, with the characters taking on an anime style that’s pretty pleasing–the cat has a jetpack, which is all you needed to sell me on it.There’s a neat effect on the reflected bottom screen, as it looks like it’s shimmering–a nice touch, considering it’s supposed to be another dimension at that time.

The sound in the game is also excellent, with a catchy tune for each world of rooms. The music sounds very old-school, and is the kind of catchy stuff that sticks in your head even when you aren’t playing–the song for the first world is stuck in my head as I write this section. It certainly adds to the game experience (you have to love a quality soundtrack in a puzzle game) and is still fun to listen to, even after you failed to pass a level for the Nth time because you can’t remember to flip on time.

For a game with this much replay value and polish, I would have no problem paying standard DS retail prices. Thankfully, we do not have to, as this is a DSiWare exclusive release that costs all of $8, or 800 Nintendo Points. This is a great value for $8, as it is a game you will spend a lot of time trying to complete and master–since the stages can be short as well, it’s also a great title for quick pocket gaming, as you can pull out the DSi and give it a whirl for a few minutes before you need to stop.

Wayforward took a traditional genre in puzzle platformers and added an innovative mechanic to it with the dual-screen flipping, and ended up coming out with Mighty Flip Champs!, a special game that all DSi owners should try their hand at. The title is challenging, lengthy, well polished, and a total blast to play, even when it starts to fry your brain. Highly recommended.

Mighty Flip Champs! is available exclusively for the Nintendo DSi through the DSiWare store. It is priced at 800 Nintendo Points.

With a considerable amount of pluck and charm, Steal Princess manages to elevate itself past some middling gameplay mechanics and into the range of an above-average puzzle game. While the premise is utterly bizarre on paper, the tongue-in-check humor reminiscent of Disgaea, Makai Kingdom and other Atlus imports creates an experience ultimately worth sticking through.

The humor starts within a minute of gaming. After watching your controlled hero, Anise, get caught by an Indiana Jones-esque boulder puzzle while robbing from the Demon Palace during the opening scene, she is seemingly dead. This causes an unidentified voice to remark, “No!‚  You can’t die before they reveal my face!”

Wisecracks like this are a common element of the game, most emanating from reluctant hero Anise. She wants no part of saving a kidnapped prince and the kingdom at-large from the threat of the Almighty Demon Emperor. Unfortunately, because of a thief with the same name as her “" wink wink, nudge nudge “" she takes up the mantle of “legendary hero” instead of being strung up at the gallows. The supporting cast is similarly nutty. The unidentified voice from the game’s opening moments is your guardian fairy, Kukri, who zealously insists that you are the legendary hero, and whom Anise ignores with hilarious thought bubbles for the majority of the game. Although the Demon Emperor is capable and coherent, none of his henchmen are, especially the sprite-ish demon Lucretia. How does she talk? Well, she always asks her own questions and provides her own answers, often repeating, that’s how she does it!

Steal Princess needs all of this humor and personality in its characters, because the game itself is fairly by the books, and downright frustrating at times. It is a traditional top-down mix of puzzle and adventure, as you use the stylus and control pad to move Anise around a grid layout. Anise comes equipped with a whip, which is mostly used to position enemies and hit switches. Other items, like swords, bombs and lances, are left lying around stages and are used to defeat enemies. The whip is the only item that carries over from stage to stage, and Anise can only carry two items at a time, so much of Steal Princess relies on good planning.

Most stages require you to complete a stated objective “" normally, defeat all enemies “" and to also bring a key dropped by the final enemy to a locked box in the stage. There is no time limit, although beating a stage within certain times earns you gold, silver and bronze medals. Gems are also scattered throughout stages and dropped by defeated enemies, which are used to pay down Anise’s debt in town and to buy items for your own maps in the Create-A-Map mode.

The initial stages of the Grasslands area walk you through the controls and mechanics, but Steal Princess starts to tax the brain pretty quick, and I hit my first dead end within the first 10 stages. Throughout my experience, there was nothing so ridiculous that I couldn’t figure out what needed to be done. This isn’t an esoteric graphical adventure like Myst, or one of the mind-numbing puzzlers from the 1990s like Solstice, The Lost Vikings or Young Merlin. “Tricky” is a descriptive and correct term for most of Steal Princess’ difficulty.

When the difficulty of Steal Princess is elevated, it is generally a reflection of the game’s lack of focus. It mostly rears its ugly head in design and play control. For example, while the game is primarily a puzzler, it throws mini-bosses and stage bosses at you. None of these battles are particularly entertaining, as most either involve running circles around the boss until you get an opening for an attack, or vaulting up to their platforms to take a slash at them. Repeat either tactic for two minutes, and you have victory with minimal effort and danger.

The second issue is the slippery play control. Movement is much easier with the control pad, but vaulting “" using your whip to scale up several platforms “" is easier with the stylus. Several stages in a row might require minimal use of whip, meaning you haven’t used the stylus for 20 minutes, and the next stage will require seven vaults in a row over a chasm that means instant death if you fall. Then, you might be right back to control pad gaming the next stage. There is little rhyme or reason to the game balance.

If you dig the Steal Princess experience, you can also create levels with the custom map maker, and then trade them over WiFi or with friends locally. There are 150 levels to start with, but it will be interesting to see what comes out of the minds of the niche Atlus fan base now that they have been handed the keys. It’s a solid addition to the game that extends its replay value further, and you can’t complain about that.

If you can overlook these flaws and focus on the quirky characters and dialogue, then Steal Princess is a good addition to your DS gaming library. It aligns itself closely with the type of off the beaten path games Atlus is known for.

Steal Princess is available exclusively for the Nintendo DS and retails for$34.99

You would think that the match puzzle game genre would have spent itself by now, as there are only so many original ideas contained within such a specific puzzle type, but Nintendo and Skip (Chibi Robo, Captain Rainbow, Art Style series) show us that they have at least one more idea up their sleeves in the form of Art Style: PiCTOBiTS. This is the second match puzzle game on the DSi Ware service, and like its cousin, Art Style: Aquia, there is almost nothing else like it on the market “" kudos to the developer for pulling that trick off twice in one month plus.

In PiCTOBiTS, you have a set of blocks on the bottom screen, and larger, solid falling blocks as well. The falling blocks are incomplete shapes, and you have to pick up the same color block from your pile of individual ones and then place it on the incomplete piece, before it touches any other blocks and breaks into more individual pieces. You can pick up one block at a time, or slide the stylus across multiple blocks for a more efficient and faster play-through.

If the blocks reach a height that impedes the progress of additional falling blocks, you lose. This isn’t a problem early on, but the difficulty ramps up toward the middle and never looks back. This is a puzzle game you can spend a significant amount of time playing without fully mastering, which gives it some serious replay value. You can knock the blocks down towards the bottom by using the POW feature “" the game is steeped in classic Nintendo history “" but that takes away one of your slots for holding individual blocks. These slots can be reopened by purchasing them with coins, which you earn for each shape you make disappear.

To finish a level, you need to create an image of a classic Nintendo character. The obvious example I will give, in order to avoid spoilers, is Mario from the original platformer. You use orange and brown blocks, with some shades of green as well, in order to create his picture. Each time you clear a shape, whatever number of squares you cleared becomes the number of “bits” (essentially, pixels) that go up to the picture. Clearing a few shapes in succession “" up to nine in a row “" multiplies the number of bits that go up to the top screen. Learning how to chain these combos together can cut down on your clearing time significantly, and add to your score.

You take the coins you earn from clearing the levels, and use them to unlock “dark” versions of the levels “" these are basically your hard mode, and they live up to that reputation. The first level’s dark mode is exponentially more difficult than its normal version; this is a game you will play a long time in order to clear completely. If the dark levels aren’t your thing, or you play so much that you have so many coins you don’t know what to do with yourself, you can also unlock the music in the game “" these are classic Nintendo tunes, by the way, in their 8-bit form “" and listen to that at your leisure.

Like the other Art Style games, it’s almost criminal how much value Skip and Nintendo have put into this thoughtful little title. It’s just 500 Nintendo Points “" if you haven’t spent all of your free 1000 points yet, this is easily the best purchase you can make. If you have, it’s more than worth popping another few bucks onto your handheld in order to acquire it.

Art Style: PiCTOBiTS is a DSi exclusive, on sale for 500 Nintendo Points at the DSi Ware store.

The Dark Spire should come with a large warning label on its cover, and not in the good way, like a new Wu-Tang compact disc, or whatever the kids listen to nowadays.‚  Rather, the warning should concern its anachronistic gameplay:

CAUTION!‚  Game will cause flashbacks to mid-1980s and early 1990s computing exploits.‚  The game programmers would like to take this moment to laugh at you if you were expecting any sort of overall story arc, automated functions or general helpfulness present in games released when more than 16 colors existed.‚  Also, please check any responsible feeling of popularity at the door, as otherwise, you will surely lose it playing this product.

With this pseudo-warning, I don’t mean to rag on The Dark Spire, but instead to put everyone on notice for what you can expect.‚  If you love Dungeons and Dragons, or wonder why they don’t make ‘em like they made Wizardry and Might and Magic and Ultimaanymore, then The Dark Spire will have significantly more appeal than if you grew up with the post-SNES Final Fantasies and gaudy full-motion video of PSX and PS2 titles.‚  The only game I can think of that is kind of like this game that came out in the past five years is Etrian Odyssey. This is a game that throws you into the middle of things and expects you to know how to plot a course – literally, because its map does not keep track of where you are at any given time.

If you have no idea what I’ve rambled about for the past three paragraphs, then honestly, this game probably isn’t for you.‚  If you’re kind of curious, realize that The Dark Spire has practically no graphics, outside of cardboard, non-animated models for its enemies and slightly-shifting backdrops, depending on whether a wall or door is in front of you.‚  The music is simple as well, strictly bleeps and blips as effects with a background theme underneath. It is a bare-bones, turn-based, dungeon crawl role-playing game that will only appeal to diehard fans of the genre.

The result is a bit mixed though, even if you grew up playing these sorts of games, like I did.‚  Playing this sort of game now seems masochistic.‚  The lack of refined graphics and sound isn’t as much of a killer as the crippling lack of options and accessibility.

The most glaring example of this would be the complete lack of information about any of the game’s weaponry.‚  The only idea you have of a weapon’s quality is 1) its price and 2) a short, one-paragraph description.‚  Traditional table top dice rolls are used to calculate damage, with modifiers based on class and race, but I only know this because of exhaustive testing done by hardcore gamers on various message boards.

Nowhere in the game does it tell you that a short sword is an 0d6, one-handed weapon.‚  Heck, it won’t even tell you if a shield can be used with it until you buy the damn thing and try to equip it.‚  And even though price is a guideline of a weapon’s efficiency, it’s not perfect.‚  A katana costs 3,000 gold, but if you have a dwarf warrior, a battle axe that costs a fraction of the price will do just as much damage.‚  But then, if that dwarf takes on a secondary class of ninja, it’ll do a ton of damage with a katana.‚  Such reasoning seems more random than logical and intuitive to me.

The other “why is it THIS hard?” issue would be the lack of direction and positioning on the auto-map for The Dark Spire.‚  In other games like the Might and Magic series, you can either cast spells or purchase skills that will reveal your position on the map for more than one move. ‚ Not so in The Dark Spire–if you get disorientated, you either have to cast a one-use spell or to keep compasses stocked in your (limited) inventory.‚  Neither is a satisfactory option for an issue the programmers could have simply solved.

Overlook these two annoying gameplay quirks, and you have a game that would be above-average if we time warped back to 1985.‚  It is at its best when your characters are churning through floors of the ominous tower, earning experience points to power-up base stats, class levels, secondary skills and spells.‚  There is the full array of traditional, esoteric quests that require you to do things like finding a pirate’s journal to gain access to their ship so that you can go up a couple floors to feed a squirrel pickled beer nuts to later get the elevator on the first floor working.‚  Weird?‚  Absolutely, but it is charmingly old school lunacy, as opposed to the frustration of the auto-map and weaponry.

In the areas of level grinding and quests, The Dark Spire is second-to-none, as you don’t have to re-roll your characters’ stats 50,000 times to get an 18 in one area.‚  Why bother with that when you can earn experience points to raise it later?‚  Later quests allow dual class characters to take on an uber-class combination.‚  For example, a character with level 10 training in thief and warrior can become a ninja, a front-line killing machine.‚  If you can master the mage class piously enough to retain your priest skills, you can become a druid, which has full access to spells from both classes.‚  These uber-classes also have their equipment restrictions lifted.‚  A thief can’t equip plate armor, but a ninja can because of its previous warrior training.

Because these battle and customization aspects are so good, The Dark Spire gets a moderate thumbs-up.‚  Like the latest independent flick, it clearly has a very defined, narrow audience, but it does provide snack food nutrition for that group.‚  However, if anything, The Dark Spire just stoked my nostalgia for the genuine article–After a few weeks with it, I just re-installed my copy of Might and Magic III with a DOS emulator, and found that entirely more satisfying overall.

It has been the year of the Nintendo DS so far in 2009, with a few megaton titles flanked by plenty of hardcore offerings to keep gamers of all types happy. There are a few unconventional titles that deserve attention in addition though, such as Nintendo’s latest release for the handheld, Rhythm Heaven.

Rhythm Heaven is the DS sequel to the Game Boy Advances’ Japan-only Rhythm Tengoku. Unlike many music or rhythm games, where you try to match certain symbols on screen with timed button presses to mimic the music, everything is controlled by the stylus on the touch screen, with timing, or rhythm the focus. By tapping the stylus, releasing it, or “flicking” it at the proper time in each of the 50 mini games, you can add to the music and learn a thing or two about rhythm.

Tapping and releasing the stylus are obvious control inputs; you simply perform that action at the correct time in order to match the rhythm of the song. Flicking is a bit different though, as you tap, hold, and then flick to perform a different action required of you. It’s all in the wrist when it comes to flicking, and after some practice you will learn just how hard or fast you have to flick in order to consistently perform the action correctly. That’s all there is to controlling Rhythm Heaven, but in spite of this seemingly simplistic control method, there’s a very deep music title to be found here.

There are three levels of success with your stylus movements: correct, half-miss, or a complete miss. You can get by with half-misses, but in order to master the game, you will need to string together lots of correct taps and movements. Too many complete misses and you will fail to pass a level, and will need to try it again before you can move on to the next one. If you fail enough times, the game will ask if you want to skip that particular game for now, and allow you to move on to the next game. This is a welcome addition, as sometimes you just don’t have the rhythm down for a particular game at that time. For example, I could not complete the table tennis rhythm game for the life of me, but after playing a more difficult version of it later on, I was able to go back and easily complete the original version.

There are multiple sets of music in this title, and each one has a “Remix” which combines all of the lessons and games you have learned in each set together into a longer song. These start off easy enough, but as you delve further into the game the songs and requirements become more complicated; it’s nice to see this level of difficulty from what seems like such a simplistic game at first glance.

Each level can be completed without you absolutely nailing the rhythm all the way through, but you won’t get opportunities to score a “Perfect” ranking on the games if you fail to secure a “Suberb!” medal first. Games where you have achieved a Superb ranking will randomly give you opportunities to score Perfect, so replaying levels for practice and to score medals is encouraged. Medals allow you to unlock additional mini games as well as basic and advanced guitar lessons that let you play some of the songs from the game. The game has plenty of replayability even without this, as there are a ton of games and styles to master on your way to securing Perfect and Superb rankings, so including this in is a nifty bonus for those who are very dedicated to Rhythm Heaven.

Visually, this game is simple but full of charm. It’s produced by the same team that has created Wario Ware, and you will notice the similarities in style right off of the bat. It’s very heavy in its Japanese charms and quirks, but for me, that’s a bonus. In fact, the original music from the Japanese release of Rhythm Heaven is intact here; aside from the occasional vocal track with poor lyrics (there are just one or two of these instances throughout 50 songs) the music is fantastic, fun, and catchy. I can’t tell you how many times I have had some of these songs stuck in my head when I was not playing the game.

Rhythm Heaven fits perfectly into the idea of what I like to see in handheld video games. It’s fun, it’s charming, it’s quirky, and though it’s easy enough to pick up the title and progress through the game once, it’s very difficult to master, which gives me reason to go back for more. The visuals are fun, and the music is fantastic-I almost wish Nintendo would release the soundtrack over DSi Ware so I could listen to it out of context when I want to. This is a must-buy DS title, and one that will stay in your collection and in your DS for a long time to come.

Imagine there is a world where you can play Mario and Tetris at the same time, on a single game system. Now imagine that Indiana Jones was there, and that he brought along his giant steampunk robot, and you were all drinking tea. The crazy scene you’ve arrived at is more or less the starting premise for EA’s Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure for the DS.

Henry Hatsworth is an aging gentleman adventurer from Tealand, who goes out into uncharted continents in search of a golden suit which, legend has it, is so dapper that it will bestow upon the wearer magical powers and allow him (or her, though it is a gentleman’s suit) to rule the world. Hatsworth doesn’t believe the legends but searches out the first artifact, a golden bowler hat, for the sake of a good adventure. After he finds it, however, he realizes that the hat was part of a magical balance keeping a magical puzzle world from leaking through dimensions and causing trouble in the real world. When Hatsworth puts on the hat, the balance of reality shifts, the puzzle world starts to impose on the real world and Hatsworth must quest around the world to locate the remaining pieces of the suit and restore order to the world. This is, of course, one of the most ridiculous premises for a game since “plumber rescues princess from dinosaur,” but the game approaches the matter with a fantastic sense of humor, and the story is established quickly and simply and then makes way for the hyper-active yet very high quality gameplay.

The operative gimmick of the game is that there are essentially two games operating on both DS screens at once. As you progress through the platformer on the upper screen, a scrolling screen of colored tiles rolls up the lower screen. Pressing the X button allows you to switch between screens more or less at will, though you have a limited amount of time to operate in the puzzle world. The puzzle screen functions a lot like a Puzzle Quest game, in that you have to match three tiles of the same color in a row, which makes them disappear and gives you energy or power-ups. In fact, the only way to access items dropped in the adventure world, like the bowler hats that represent extra lives, is by successfully lining them up with other tiles in the puzzle world. There is no penalty for allowing a regular or power-up tile to scroll up past the top of the screen, but once that happens the item will be gone forever.

Enemies that you kill in the adventure world also occupy tiles in the puzzle world (with adorable little confused faces) and if you don’t take care to delete them or shift tiles to keep them in the puzzle screen, they come back into the puzzle world as floating tiles that zip around the screen, trying to hit you. Essentially, unless you want to face a second round of much harder-to-kill enemies, you have to kill each enemy twice. Some enemies also turn in to power up tiles like health or energy, so some good comes of this too. Ostensibly, if you are really, really good at the adventure mode, you don’t have to take care of every enemy tile, and can power through the levels while ignoring the puzzle screen, but the game is pretty well balanced, and throws enough enemies and power-ups your way that ‚ playing in the puzzle world becomes necessary yet dynamic.

The puzzle world affects the adventure world too. There is an energy bar that Hatsworth uses for ammunition and health that is replenished by getting tile matches in the puzzle world, and power-ups will occasionally appear in the puzzle screen of their own accord, so if you’re being swarmed by enemies in adventure mode, jumping into the puzzle world for a little bit can offer a handy way out.

Unquestionably the most awesome aspect of the game is “Tea Time.” When the puzzle world’s energy bar is full, you have the option of activating Tea Time by pressing the lower screen. Time will stop, and Hatsworth will drink tea with Sherlock Holmes or his buddies from the adventuring club, cry “Good Show!” and leap into a giant indestructible steam-powered robot, who can fire its fists like missiles into enemies or fire huge lasers, obliterating anything standing in front of it. I firmly believe that every game I play from now until I die should have this feature.

Even when you’re not rocking our in a giant robot suit, the adventure mode makes for an excellent game on its own terms. Hatsworth runs around in his tweed suit hitting enemies with his cane and blunderbuss, or with a machete if the power bar is above a certain level. The worlds you can explore are clever by any platforming standard, and the enemies are diverse enough to not be repetitive, ranging from tiny purple blobs to axe-wielding beasts the size of bears, and challenging enough without being frustrating. There are occasionally simple puzzles to be solved within the adventure mode, and several levels offer multiple ways to get to the end of the level, including alternate ends that unlock bonus levels. Additionally, gaining new pieces of the golden suit will unlock new abilities and add new dimensions to the platforming segment of the game: for example, the golden pantaloons give the wearer the ability to stick to walls, a feature which the game forces you to make full use of.

The only parts of the game that fall short are the mini-boss segments of many of the levels, where there is no platforming and just straight up sword-swinging combat against several waves of enemies. While the reasoning behind this is understandable-that many enemies forces you to engage both the adventure and puzzle modes at a pretty frantic pace, whereas a single Mario-type enemy would gloss over the puzzle aspect entirely-it can be kind of overwhelming. At times, even jumping into the indestructible robot isn’t enough to make it through the onslaught.

Bottom line, Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure is a probably about as good as DS gaming can get. The gameplay is fast-paced and engaging, and the two very different aspects of gameplay are very well balanced and compliment each other perfectly. The story is ridiculous but presented with an endearing tongue-in-cheek humor that is actually a subtle satire on late 19th Century Victorian notions of civilization, technology and colonization-yes, this game would make a 19^th Century Literature class worthwhile. And, of course, it is worth saying one last time: tea drinking lets you rock a giant steampunk robot. At $29.99 from Game Stop, it’s worth every cent.

If one were to combine the sword and sorcery feel of a well-scripted D&D campaign, the strategic elements of a game of chess, and one super-dark game device prompts you to kill your best friends if you’re not doing well, the result would be developer tri-Ace’s Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume for the DS. The majority of the actual gameplay is dedicated to strategic combat elements, but there is also plenty of RPG style combat engagements and a very heavily developed (and incredibly mutable) story to keep any serious gamer engaged for hours.

The story is difficult to nail down (for reasons I will discuss in a minute), but the single consistent element is the protagonist, Wylfred, is deeply distraught by his father’s death in battle, and has vowed vengeance against the Valkyrie Lenneth, the goddess of fallen soldiers who marks which men are to die in battle and live in glory in Valhalla. Wylfred takes very little solace in the fact that his father is in heaven partying with history’s greatest warriors, particularly when his little sister dies because the family is steeped in poverty since his father can no longer bring in money. Wyl, like most angst-ridden teenagers, decides the best thing for it is to run away from home, earn money as a mercenary, and, at some point down the road, track down and wreak vengeance upon the goddess of death. And this is just the back story you get during the training level; things get even more depressing after this.

The game opens as Wylfred and his best friend Ancel, who insists upon accompanying Wyl on his adventures, gear up for their first big battle as mercenaries. One of the monsters defeated in the battle isn’t quite dead, and mortally wounds Wyl, who, as he lays dying, prays that any power at all be made available to him so that he might not die before fulfilling his quest to destroy the valkyrie. His prayer is answered by Hel, the ruler of the underworld, who also has it out for the valkyrie, and who gives Wyl command of one of the most innovative (and kind of messed up) narrative gameplay tools I’ve ever seen: the Destiny Plume.

The Destiny Plume is a magical feather that saves Wyl from the brink of death, and can “unlock the potential” of any ally, basically turning them into an uber-powered, unstoppable, one-hit-kill machine, who will tear through any and all enemies remaining on the battlefield. There’s a hell of a catch though: once an ally’s potential has been unlocked and they’ve ripped through everything around them, when the battle round is up, they die. And to make this very clear, they do not die the way a Pokemon dies, where you just get it healed up and you can use it again. They do not die the way Mario dies, where he just gets another green mushroom and tries again. No, they die the way Aeris died in FF VII: you can never use them again, there is a little death scene, the other allies cry, the voice actor sighs out a death rattle, and Hel congratulates you for being evil enough to sacrifice your friends for the purpose of your revenge quest. Oh, and you find all this out at the end of the first level when you have to use the plume on Wyl’s childhood friend Ancel. That’s right, you kill your best friend in the first ten minutes of the game.

As engaging as Valkyrie Profile’s story is, the strategic battle system will undoubtedly dominate gameplay. Each battle is between Wyl and his allies and several enemies spread out across a grid-based map. Turns are divided into ally phases and enemy phases, during which each combatant can move around the grid, attack enemies in range, use provisions on themselves or allies, employ tactical measures that will affect enemy units behavior, or, in Wyl’s case, turn an ally into a raging hulk for the rest of the round.

Allies’ position on the grid is as important, if not more, to RPG elements like spells, weapons and stats. Each unit has a specific range of attack determining which enemies they can attack, which enemies can attack them, and which allies they can help. Attacking an enemy from behind can stun them, making it impossible for them to retaliate, getting inside an archer’s range means that their bow and arrow is rendered completely ineffective, and attacking with an ally in range means both units get to launch attacks against the single enemy target. There are also offensive and defensive bonuses to be gained for surrounding an enemy in a particular way (e.g. if you position an ally on either side of an enemy, their attacks to 30% more damage), and you can position a weak unit behind a stronger one, and as long as the units remain in line with the enemy, attacks targeting the weaker unit will hit the one in front of it instead.

There is a separate screen for an actual attack against an enemy, where the grid falls away and only the units attacking each other are visible. This stage is also turn based, but reaction time is still important to an extent. I found out the hard way that if an ally’s magic attack launches an enemy into the air, it’s no just for show and any physical attacks triggered before the enemy hits the ground will be completely useless. You also get a chance to trigger over-the-top but very satisfying finishing moves if you react fast enough (good for racking up Sin).

The graphics are pretty good: while the environments, dialogue scenes and finishing moves all look nice, the little avatars for the units on the battlefield can be a little goofy looking, especially when they get a triumphant close up at the end of a successful fight. I know DS graphics are capable of that last extra step, and while it’s refreshing to see a game privilege story over graphics, I’m still going to keep pushing for games that achieve both in equal measure.

All in all, Valkyrie Profile is a very technically sound game. The story and gameplay are strong, and while using the Destiny Plume may have triggered some slight psychological trauma over the course of gameplay, I definitely count that in its favor, and cannot advocate strongly enough that games follow Valkyrie Profile’s lead and make story innovation an active part of gameplay. For fans of the strategy genre, it is definitely worth the full forty dollar purchasing price.

Nintendo released the newest entry in the DS series earlier this month, dubbed the DSi. The “i” has two meanings; one, it’s related to the addition of cameras to the hardware, and two, because the DSi is meant to be more of an individual’s property than the DS was. There’s much more room for personal customization in this device than with the previous DS and DS Lite, meaning that you may not be as willing to share it with your brother, sister or roommates as you once were.

Though it may not look like it at first glance, there are loads of changes made to the DSi from the previous upgrade, the DS Lite. Cosmetically, it’s thinner, though it is a bit wider (or longer, depending on your orientation). It also has a full matte finish, instead of the glossy finish on the previous system; this reduces fingerprints and smudges, but you may see more grease on it from your fingerprints (easily wiped off grease, but grease nonetheless). The power switch is now a power button found on the inside of the system-for those who tote their DS around in their pocket on occasion (guilty), this is a bigger change that it may seem like at first. I’ve turned the system off by accident while it’s been back there before, and it wasn’t fun. The volume slider is now a set of buttons, which makes changing the volume to a more exact setting easier. The D-pad is the clicky model from the original DS, rather than the squishy, uncomfortable one from the DS Lite. The speakers now let out their sound through a oval on each side, rather than a series of small circles; this is supposed to increase the quality and volume of the sound from the device. There is also a slot for SD cards on the right side of the device. In addition to SD card support, there is also onboard memory (256mb) which gives you space to put your downloadable games and the AAC music files you want to play.

Rather than the two small hinges that often cracked on the DS Lite, the DSi has one solid hinge that stretches from one shoulder button to another. Also, the shoulder buttons are more like buttons now, and less like triggers. One camera is on the outside of the device, while the second camera is on the inside, next to the microphone. An additional light was added to the charging/battery life ones, to show Wi-Fi connectivity. In addition, your system no‚  longer shows a red light when it begins to run low on battery, but instead shows red when you start to run out, and then blinks red when you’re nearing a dangerous point and absolutely need to charge. This extra differentiation is welcome, especially now that you can adjust the brightness settings in game by pressing select and using the volume buttons, rather than powering off the system and readjusting them. This helps you get the maximum battery life out of the handheld.

Battery life is slightly shorter than on the DS Lite, but not so much that it’s very noticeable. You’re still able to get five hours or so out of this with the brightness and volume jacked all the way up, and you can get 15-18 if you manage the settings more efficiently than that.

The start menu has been overhauled, and now looks more like the Wii Menu in the sense that it has channels. Your photo channel, sound channel, settings, and DSi Ware games are all found here, as well as the game that you have inserted into the device. You can also hotswap games out while on the main menu rather than powering down, and you’ll see the logos appear and disappear on the menu as you do so. The top screen is used to cycle photos you have taken (the ones used for this slideshow can be selected within the photo channel), which is a nice touch, though a bit embarrassing when you’re on the subway and have pictures of yourself all over the place. You can take pictures while on the main menu at any time by pressing the L or R buttons, and then you can switch which camera you are using with the Switch tab using the stylus (or your thumb, if you’re in a hurry for your photo opp).

The photo editing application is fun, but it’s definitely something that’s going to be more enjoyable for the younger DS crowd. There’s a giant section in the DSi manual that details all of the things you can do with the application, so it’s not that it’s basic, it’s just that it seems like the kind of thing where a gamer would rather spend his time with the games than the application. The same can be said about the sound recording device, though I would be lying if I said I hadn’t used that for some of my own fun while out in public already. Don’t judge me.

My favorite addition to the DSi-and the thing that sold me on the device immediately-is the DSi Ware store. Much like Wii Ware, the DSi Ware store releases new games every Monday that are meant to represent the kind of gaming you should be doing on your DS. There are different price points for the games-free, 200, 500 and 800+ points-and they range from things like Bird and Beans, which is meant to be a quick, pick up and play highscore challenge for 200 points to more fleshed out experiences like Art Style: Aquia (500 points), an innovative and addicting puzzler, or to the kind of thing that will make cost conscious handheld gamers very pleased: full retail releases delivered for you digitally at a lower cost than in stores. Brain Age Express Math is an example of this, as it contains much of the content from the retail releases and essentially acts the same way, but for just 800 points ($8 equivalent) rather than for the $20 expected in a brick-and-mortar store. Nintendo also gives you 1000 free points to start with, so you can immediately pick up a few of these titles without spending any more of your own dime.

The one thing that Nintendo has not commented on yet, but is something I hope happens, is the addition of a Virtual Console type store to the DSi. If there’s DSi Ware and Wii Ware, there should be a handheld Virtual Console for both. There’s a wealth of titles in the history of just Nintendo handhelds, never mind if other systems were to be included (much like they are on the Wii’s VC). I think you would see the sales for the system surge even more than they have were an announcement such as this to be made. This would also help to justify the loss of the Game Boy Advance slot, as that is one of the few deductions made on the DSi as it transitions from the DS Lite. Finding even used copies of some GBA games is near impossible, and other times the prices are still close to retail price. Remember what I said about Brain Age Express Math? Picture that kind of reduction in price (remember, no expensive cartridge production!) for classic GBA titles.

The DSi launch was somewhat strange, as the only console exclusives for it were the DSi Ware games and the promise for future content, such as DSi-exclusive cartridges that would act much like Game Boy Color ones used to. Still, the system has enough improvements on it that it’s a worthwhile upgrade even for DS Lite owners. Those of you that still have the original DS shouldn’t even need me to tell you about how you need to go get this version of the DS. Except for the deduction of the GBA slot (and who knows, maybe that gets remedied in the future digitally), this is the definitive version of the DS system, and is worth it’s $170 price tag.

Yes, Nintendo fans, you missed out on Final Fantasy’s VII through XII once Square and Square Enix began to release their famed numbered series on Playstation consoles, but beginning last generation, the developer and publisher began a spinoff series exclusive to Nintendo consoles. This series, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, was a surprise, as it was an action RPG that, rather than be focused on story and a single-player campaign, invited you to bring a few friends along. The series has done well enough since its inception that this spinoff now has its own quality spinoffs!

While the original utilized a complicated (but worthwhile) combination of the GameCube along with Game Boy Advances as controllers and a place for the game’s menus and maps to show up during multiplayer, the second entry in the series came on the Nintendo DS in the form of Ring of Fates. While impressive in the sense that you had a multiplayer, Diablo/Gauntlet style action RPG on the DS, it seemed a bit unfocused at times. The game was not sure of whether it should be a single player adventure or a multiplayer one, and this hampered the experience of both. The fact that online play was a no-go and multiplayer was limited to local play was also a huge disappointment, given the DS can handle that sort of thing.

Enter Echoes of Time, the latest entry in the Crystal Chronicles series. This game brings with it online play as well as local multiplayer, once again boasts four player multiplayer, a brand new story, and tons of replay value in the forms of quests, loot collecting, item and gear creation, and the ability to jump in and out of single and multiplayer through the use of save points at any time. Rather than just release the game on the DS alone though, Square Enix also ported the game over to Wii in a way that attempts to replicate the DS experience. In this review, we will take a look at how successful each iteration of the game was, and which one you should pick up (if not both).

Let’s start with the DS version of Echoes of Time. For a DS game, this looks good, with detailed (and varied) environments, loads of enemies, impressive looking spell casting, and customizable characters that reflect your changes in gear on screen. The art style is basically what Final Fantasy Tactics A2 would look like, were it in 3D and an action RPG rather than a strategy based one. There is some voice acting, cutscenes that help to tell the story, and a long quest that can be replayed multiple times thanks to the four different classes of characters, all with their own strengths, weaknesses, and exclusive equipment. Square often charges more for their DS games than other publishers, even Nintendo, but it’s tough to argue with the practice given the level of quality and production they put into the cartridge titles. Echoes of Time is an example of that, as it’s worth the $40 price tag given everything it includes as well as the care Square Enix put into developing the game world.

Fighting is basic, as you attack with the press of a button, or hold that button and release it to use a special attack. Magic is used by selecting one of your available elemental (or healing spells) on the touch screen, and then moving a circle underneath the enemy or area you want to cast it. Rather than learn new spells, you gain the ability to stack magic; move one ring of Fire onto an enemy, then lock it there and move a second ring. Cast, and you’ve now performed Fira rather than the simple Fire. You can also combine your spells with the spells of those you are playing with, which can help to make quick work of enemies and even some bosses when done right. Square Enix thankfully did away with the tiresome magic orb system, and has instead given you access to all of the spells immediately, and for use as often as you want assuming you have magic points.

In order to upgrade your spells attack or healing power, you need to collect tokens from defeated enemies. These appear with a small avatar in the center that represent certain spells or attacks, and they boost the power of that spell when you collect enough of them. You can also earn these by completing quests, and it’s a great way to make your attacks more powerful in addition to leveling.

There are plenty of weapons and items to buy outright, but you pick up tons of material that can be used to create those same things for a cheaper price, and there are also some weapons and armors that you may be able to create before you can buy them. You need a scroll to create an item, but you can find these in chests, by defeating enemies, or by purchasing them. If you’re playing with friends, you can also drop items, materials and money for your friends to use, if you happen to have need of each other’s inventory in order to create things.

You can also upgrade equipment you buy or create before you wear it by infusing it with jewels. These jewels can be found or created, and increase the power of your equipment. You create jewels by trading in your leveled up equipment for them-equipment has its own leveling system and level cap, and when it’s full it’s best to turn them into jewels and find something new. This keeps your inventory fresh and also gives you customizable equipment and various play styles, as jewels can do something as simple as cause healing items to give you back more HP, or they can make you impervious to certain elements or attacks.

The DS version of the game is a must own title, and even at $40 it’s easy to be amazed at just how much there is for you to do in this game. The addition of online multiplayer is a huge boost to the series, as you no longer need to get a bunch of friends together in one place in order to play multiplayer; the ability to drop in and out of single player at save points is also much better than the two separate save files you needed in Ring of Fates.

Let’s get this out of the way now: if you own a DS (or a DSi) and you haven’t bought either Pokemon Diamond or Pokemon Pearl, then you need to go and buy Pokemon Platinum. Seriously, go now. You can read the rest of this later.

Are you back? Okay, good. You just purchased the definitive Pokemon game. Though you missed out on two excellent titles in Diamond and Pearl, Platinum has you covered by including the things that were exclusive to each of those together, along with its own new additions as well as some welcome upgrades and tweaks.

We’ll start with the basics: Pokemon is the monster catching and collection game out there. It may come off as somewhat kiddy on occasion, due to the somewhat simple story and the presentation, but don’t let that deceive you, as it has a very deep battle system that requires lots of forward thinking and planning, as well as serious level grinding if you want to succeed. You are presented with three different Pokemon types at the outset of the game, each with their own elemental leaning and skill set-and the way you play the game is changed according to which one you pick.

If you picked up Diamond or Pearl already, picking a different Pokemon at the beginning may help to alleviate some of those feelings of dƒ©jƒ  vu. But don’t worry, the game offers plenty of other things to make you feel like you’re playing something different. For one, Platinum introduces a few new characters to the story that are meant to give you more guidance than in Diamond or Pearl, which helps you cut down on needless wandering. Looker, an International Policeman, is one such character; he will help you infiltrate and thwart the schemes of Team Galactic, the group that is set on destroying the Sinnoh Region through the use of the powers of the Legendary Pokemon.

Still, even with more streamlined directions, the story is close to the same. Platinum has more features than that to make returning players want to jump on-board again though, with new areas to catch and train Pokemon like the Battle Frontier, which includes four towers that must be completed in different ways. There is also the Distortion World, where just one Pokemon, Giratina, resides. For completionists, Giratina is available in his Origin Forme here, and only here. If you have the Pokemon Shaymin from Diamond or Pearl, you can trade it to Platinum and evolve it using a special item as well.

The Distortion World is an area that utilizes the 3D engine of Pokemon Platinum in ways you don’t normally notice. There are no other Pokemon besides Giratina here, meaning you just have to focus on solving the puzzles and making your way out of this alternate dimension. It’s not particularly difficult since there are no battles to distract you, though it is neat to see a change to the Pokemon formula, and a more difficult puzzle setup than is normally seen in the Pokemon Gym’s on your way to defeat the leader’s for their badges. I like the concept more than the execution; if this kind of gameplay is added to future Pokemon titles and fleshed out a bit more, I could see myself loving it as a way to break up the constant battling/catching nature of the game.

The Wi-Fi Global Station has seen its share of improvements and tweaks as well. Now dubbed the Global Terminal, it’s essentially the hub of worldwide Pokemon trading. You can post Pokemon you would like to trade on the board (feels almost like the trading block in a sports franchise or a fantasy league, except with Pokemon) and browse other people’s trading blocks to see who is available to help you complete your collection. You can also record your favorite battles and post them to the Global Terminal using the new Vs. recorder; maybe you feel particularly proud of a strategy you used and want to show it off, or you want to learn from someone who has a bit more experience battling with Pokemon than you do.

The interface for online trading has also been given a reboot for the better. Whereas before it was a series of navigable menus, now you control your character in an empty room where you are notified of requests for trades, battles or voice chat sessions from players you have swapped friend codes with. I prefer this look to the basic setup of the previous titles, and it works fine with people who have Diamond or Pearl as well. If you already own a copy of either of those games, remember that you can trade your own Pokemon to Platinum to speed up your progress through the story-the more badges you collect, the higher the level of traded Pokemon you can carry around with you (Pokemon you have traded for may not always listen to you, once their level exceeds your qualifications as a trainer).

The Wi-Fi plaza also has mini-games for you and other Pokemon players worldwide to enjoy. It’s essentially an amusement park where you and three others can hang out and play mini-games with each other. You are loaned a Tap Top when you enter, which can be touched to make different light and sound effects. Trade this Tap Toy with others that are in the Wi-Fi plaza, or play some of those mini-games against them. I felt this section may be something that’s a bit more worthwhile to the younger crowd, as it was my least favorite of the additions and upgrades made to the online component of the title, but for that younger crowd it looks to be a value-add.

So what’s the verdict on Pokemon Platinum, the third entry in the main series for the DS? If you have not purchased Diamond or Pearl yet (and didn’t heed my advice at the beginning of this review) then you should go get it now. It’s the definitive edition of Pokemon, with the most features, all of the Legendary Pokemon from the DS titles, and plenty of wonderful little creatures to collect as well as near endless end-game replayability against friends, the Pokemon Championship League, and the Sinnoh regions 200+ Pokemon. If you have already plowed through Diamond or Pearl, then don’t dismiss Platinum outright. I will admit that I grumbled about trudging through the same story and world again, since I had already put plenty of hours into my copy of Diamond, but once I bought a few Poke Balls and felt that pull to catch and train the Pokemon I had, it didn’t matter that I had already played it. The fact that it’s a wonderful game with new features was enough to pull me back in, once again.

Nintendo fans have missed out on the Grand Theft Auto experience this generation, but no longer; Rockstar Leeds has developed Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, exclusively for the Nintendo DS. In many ways, this is a definitive Grand Theft Auto experience that fans of the series cannot afford to miss; despite the transition to the dual-screen handheld after the grandiose and gigantic Grand Theft Auto IV, Chinatown Wars still comes off as impressive even before taking the hardware it’s on into account.

After New York Comic Con, we covered the game in detail and claimed that it may have been the best title showcased at the convention. More time in Liberty City has done nothing to detract from that opinion, as this is easily one of the top games available from the diverse and deep Nintendo DS library. Rockstar Leeds took many aspects from Grand Theft Auto’s impressive history, combining them together with new elements to create a game that sticks with the formula you expect from GTA titles but at the same time comes off as completely refreshing and unique.

You play as Huang Lee, a member of the Triads whose father has just been killed in Hong Kong. He’s in Liberty City to deliver a sword-Yu Jian-to his Uncle Kenny, who is vying to become the new leader of the Triads. Huang is ambushed by unknown assailants along the way, and is thought to be dead. You are tasked with finding out where the sword has gone and who killed your father, and like in any Grand Theft Auto game, you will meet a cast of characters with missions for you to carry out on your way to reaching these goals.

While the story is good enough, it’s certainly one of the weaker parts of the title, especially when compared to other recent GTA games. “Weaker” is a relative term though, as almost everything else works incredibly, and there is so much to do outside of the story that you would be forgiven for ignoring your Uncle Kenny’s wishes for hours at a time.

Despite what screens have led you to believe, this game is fully 3D, and seen from an aerial perspective. The camera rotates at 360 degrees, showing off the 3D models and interactive environment. The little things, like mail boxes, street signs and lamp posts all use realistic physics to react to your crashing and bumping into them. You will crash into a car, and that car will flip through the air just like it would on a home console-this is the moment where you realize just how powerful Chinatown Wars is graphically, despite being on the DS.

Chinatown Wars uses a semi cel-shaded style that works very well on the system, and cutscenes, though told through text and character portraits, have that trademark GTA art style down, and they work effectively. Though characters and cars may appear small at first, you shouldn’t lost track of what’s going on, and you can tell what is happening on screen. Driving, for example, is easier than you think it would be given you are using a directional pad; your car can auto-align to center itself, and you can use the shoulder buttons as brakes to make turns more effectively. You can also set your GPS routes to appear on the city roads themselves, which is useful while learning your way around the city-I know I’m always overwhelmed the first few times I boot up a GTA game and have to find my way around-and also for those who don’t want to keep an eye on two screens at once.

Rockstar promised this would be the most action-intensive GTA we have seen, and they were not lying. Everything happens very fast, with more arcade influence than some of the game’s console cousins; there are tons of explosions, bullets, police officers, gang members, fires-if it’s dangerous, there’s a lot of it around Liberty City. Ridiculous weapons like the flamethrower and chainsaws are back, and they are a blast to use, especially when you start to get cornered by gang members jumping out of speedy cars. Missions will see you accomplishing a variety of tasks, but there is an emphasis on taking down entire groups of gang members before they can get you, as well as high speed car chases where guns are fired and Molotov Cocktails are tossed out windows to slow your pursuers. If it’s action you are looking for, I’m happy to report that Chinatown Wars delivers in spades. Even better, you can now replay any mission you have completed by checking out the white board in your apartment; you are able to improve your times and scores on these missions from here, which can then be uploaded, along with the rest of your stats, to the Rockstar Social Club, where Rockstar will hold contests for prizes. Those who participate in the Rockstar Social Club will also have access to some exclusive missions down the line, a nice bonus and incentive to keep playing.

What really ups the action in Chinatown Wars though is the new police evasion system. Rather than simply outrun the cops when you cause trouble, you must now actively engage them to impede their chase. When you get a single star (or are back down to one star) you can utilize the old system of laying low, but you will find yourself in far more trouble than that given the level of action in this game. In those cases, you will need to “disable” the cop cars by ramming into them, causing them to crash into buildings, walls, other cars, or just smashing them around with your vehicle while at high speeds. This kind of turns things around, making you more of the hunter than you are used to. Remember, the goal is not to blow up or destroy the cars, so don’t think you will be off the hook by tossing hand grenades out the window at oncoming cruisers. Instead, you just need to get rid of those who are chasing you by taking out their vehicles-they can’t very well catch up with you if they are on foot and you are in a sports car.

It may be hard to believe given the number of titles don’t make it over to North America from Japan, but Boing! Docomodake, based on a Japanese cell phone mascot, has made its way stateside and is now for sale. Let’s forget for a moment the inspiration for the game, as I’m going to assume that most of those reading have no attachment to the character or previous experience with him. What we have here is a fun and quirky puzzle platformer game that exudes charm, despite not knowing anything about the characters involved beforehand.

You play as Papa Docomodake in this AQ Interactive developed title, as he searches for his missing family members. In order to find them, he needs to reach the exit of each area after solving a few puzzles along the way. Papa is a bit plodding and slow on his own, but thankfully he has a nifty power: he can split himself into mini Docomodake’s, which can then be used to build ladders, bridges, fill in gaps, and be thrown as objects. You start with four of these minis, but gain more as you travel by finding treasure chests along the way.

There is actually a lot you can do with the minis, and you will need to utilize all of their powers-sometimes within the same levels-in order to collect all of the coins and treasures as well as find the exit. Thankfully, the game comes with a tutorial that you can use to prepare yourself for the main game, and each time a use for your minis comes up or a new obstacle appears for the first time, your in-game info screen is updated; this can be accessed at any time during the level, so if you have forgotten how to do something, you can access it right there and save yourself some time.

You can move and jump with either the directional pad or the face buttons (so no worries, left-handers, this game is designed with us in mind as well), and the stylus is used to move your minis around the screen to wherever you wish. While you can move your minis anywhere that is visible on the screen without moving Papa as well, they are vulnerable to attack (and you as the player accidentally ramming them into a floor of spikes) and have 10 seconds to live after this occurs; reattaching them to Papa Docomodake resets this clock and saves them. If you do happen to lose some minis along the way, have no fear, as you can either wait until the end of the level to regain them, or hit the bell found in some levels with a projectile mini to revive them. If Papa is hit while he has his minis collected, one will pop out with this same 10 second clock, but if he is all out of minis, it will be Game Over for you. Thankfully, you can restart from the level you were just on with all of your progress saved, so it isn’t a huge deal to fail.

The gameplay is fun, but there are some minor issues. Controlling all of the minis can be a pain on occasion when you have enemies or spikes around, as you may cause injury to some of them without meaning to. There are also jugs you need to fill up, and the minis shoot out of them once they are full. If another accidentally goes in the jug though, you have to fill it again and hope it doesn’t happen a second time. Pressing the shoulder buttons causes four minis to come out of Papa at once, which is convenient unless you’re backed into a corner; then they bounce off of the wall and maybe into that nearby bed of spikes. None of these are serious issues though, but are just something to consider while playing and strategizing with your minis.

You could take exception to the game’s length-it’s about four hours long-but you are able to go back and replay the levels to earn better grades in them by collecting all of the coins and treasures in a timely fashion. You can then use these coins to unlock different assets such as art work and music, which is a nice reason to go back if you find yourself enjoying the game’s charm. Boing! Docomodake also retails for just $19.99, so there’s a solid amount of content given the price.

The puzzles aren’t particularly difficult, and the game is a bit short, so it probably skews more towards the younger DS crowd than the older. But there was charm in it for this gamer, thanks to the mini game mechanic, the ranking system, and it’s quirky nature, and it’s hard to go wrong for just $20, especially given it has some replay value. Pick it up if you see it in stores, and hope more titles like this will make their way to North America in the future, whether through standard retail or the upcoming DSi Ware online store.

PopCap is bringing some of their more popular titles to the Nintendo DS, which makes sense given its handheld nature and the short burst nature of puzzle titles. After already releasing Mystery P.I.: Portrait of a Thief late last year for the system, they have now released one of their most addictive puzzlers, Peggle, as Peggle Dual shot.

The game will let the player use either the stylus or buttons to control the game. Each option has its benefits. The stylus is easy to point at the screen and has a nifty zoom feature new to the DS version of Peggle. If you press down on a spot for an extended period of time the screen will zoom into that spot, allowing you to make a better decision about your next shot of the ball.

Using the buttons to control, you can speed up time to help you get the shots you want. Use the directional pad to move left and right, or use the shoulder buttons to aim around. This is more accurate than the normal stylus mode, though it doesn’t zoom in–usually don’t need to zoom in since you can tap the button to see all possible shooting locations.

PopCap decided to use the bottom screen for all the game play and only use the top screen for the menus and graphics of the currently selected Master. This is kind of unfortunate as it would be nice to have the extra space of the top screen, but since the levels were designed for a computer monitor anyways it works for the original levels.

The actual game play is the same as the PC versions of Peggle. You shoot a ball at pegs, trying to get rid of all the orange ones. They did include both Peggle and its sequel Peggle Nights in the game, which is a pretty good deal and explains the title. It does seem to lack the final Master of Peggle Nights, though.

Peggle Dual Shot has a few new additions to the original versions. First, there is a new underground mode added. When you get the purple points peg it now keeps track. After hitting four of them, the free ball bucket disappears and you go into the underground mode when your ball falls off the screen. The underground mode looks more like a pinball machine with bumpers all over the screen and jewels to collect. When you hit the action button it makes all the bumpers hit the ball, and you can hit the button to move the flippers. The player uses the bumpers to try to collect as many jewels as possible before the ball falls through both screens. The underground is neat in that it uses both the top and the bottom screen.‚  If you collect enough jewels your score will increase during the final extreme fever scoring. They will also get you free balls if you collect enough of them.

The game allows you to send a demo to another DS, and even encourages this by using it as one of the ways to unlock the extra levels in the game. There are 10 extra levels beyond the original levels of Peggle and the Peggle Nights levels. These are levels created specifically for the DS version of Peggle.

One of my few complaints with this game is that when you zoom in, the graphics take a hit, which they do not do on the PC version of the game. Things start to look pixilated, which isn’t a deal breaker by any means but it’s something you notice. The graphics mostly look like the PC version otherwise.

Overall, if you’re a fan of Peggle and want to be able to play the game on the go, Peggle Dual Shot is for you. If you have never experienced Peggle before, you’re getting a great deal by having two PC games packaged on one DS cartridge along with new levels and stylus play, if you so choose, and trust me, you want to play Peggle, as it’s one of the most addicting puzzlers out there on the market.

Blue Dragon Plus, published by Ignition Entertainment, is a fairly entertaining and very, very long combination real time strategy and role-playing game for the Nintendo DS. Developers Mistwalker and Brownie Brown did a good job of addressing elements from both strategy and RPG genres, providing lots of maps, abilities and combat units for the strategists, and plenty of stats, story-motivated gameplay and back story for the approximately one-bazillion party members for the RPG-ers. Unfortunately its combination of the two genres falls flat overall, ultimately leaving you with un-innovative, though technically sound gameplay. Blue Dragon Plus boasts a story campaign of over 30 hours, which is a lot of time to spend hunched over your DS, and to really appreciate it, you would have to sort of meet it halfway and show it a certain degree of patience.

Blue Dragon Plus is the sequel to Blue Dragon, a 2007 RPG for the Xbox 360, and its story picks up a year after the events of that game, with very similar premises. Shu, a generic spiky-haired anime hero must set out to save the world from certain doom in the wake of the destruction wreaked by purple-skinned super villain Nene through the course of the first game. For those returning to the franchise, a good chunk of the heroes and villains in this game are familiar faces from the original, and for those newcomers, everybody’s talents and place in the story are explained at length and easy to pick up. The most relevant common element are the Shadow powers the characters have, which are big animal spirits that each party member can summon to unleash special abilities in battle. Shu’s manifests itself as a big, blue dragon-hence the game title.

The game takes place on a big mechanical space cube infested with hostile mecha-robos programmed for wanton destruction. Shu and company must investigate the old technology on this cube and shut its down while preventing the robots from escaping and bombing their home city. Also, Nene comes back to life and you get to fight him all over again. There are twists, turns, friends become enemies, enemies become friends…a fairly standard RPG story.

Progression through the game is broken into two parts: individual combat stages and a map screen connecting all the stages and showing how your parties move around between them. The combat stages are where the RTS elements come into play, and generally where the story unfolds, and the map stage is where all the RPG stats tweaking, character adjustment and item organization happens.

Because combat is RTS-style, every combat encounter is a wide stage with a pre-set number of enemies against the members of your party, the number of which changes according to the story and to your adjustments. Now, as anybody who has ever fallen victim to a Zergling rush will tell you, there is strength in numbers in any RTS game, and what this means for Blue Dragon Plus is that there are a lot of playable characters (up to 16 at times). This is mitigated some as the story forces you to split your party up into 2-4 groups to explore different areas of the map, but while a good group size is three or four party members, if the story leads two groups to combine, you can suddenly have 9 characters in a crowded hallway all trying to be part of the boss battle and all getting in each others way. ‚ At its best, its like watching a 16-bit 3 Stooges routine, but at its worst, your best attack units will not be able to reach a monster because they’re stuck behind your healers who are on the front lines for some reason, taking all the damage.

The combat is a pretty basic point-and-click system with the stylus. Characters will automatically engage nearby enemies with a physical attack, and the player can activate more powerful Shadow abilities. These abilities need to be recharged between uses (so you can’t just spam over-powered ones) and are type-sensitive, (so, for example a ground type attack is more effective against flying type enemies). The system is pretty intuitive, but the game still does a thorough job of walking you through the finer points of RTS combat, even giving you tips on how to arrange your units in battle and which ones to pair together for optimal results.

These beginner tips and simplicity of the combat system mean that Blue Dragon is really more an introductory-level RTS game, and doesn’t have some features more advanced players would expect. The stylus isn’t the most precise instrument in the world, and will often select the ability or location just next to the one you were trying for, which, mid-battle, can be a little frustrating. Also, there’s no way to influence a characters point-to-point movement, which means occasionally a unit will decide the best way to get across the map is to wander through enemy territory, unintentionally leading all your enemies right to the rest of your party. And, if you are gearing up for a fight, there’s no good way to ensure that the first person who reaches the battle isn’t your low-defense healer and not the high-defense attack unit it’s supposed to be. The gameplay isn’t rigorous enough that these missteps ever become a real problem, or cost you more than a few HP before you correct them, but they do limit the quality of the RTS elements to a point so that the novelty wears off long before 30 hours have elapsed.

There is a sharp contrast between the amount of time the game dedicates to introducing the player to the fairly simple RTS combat system (a tutorial and most of the opening few chapters) and the arguably much more complex stat and item system (almost none: read your manual). There’s not necessarily anything there that is new to any RPG player, but it’s a familiarity the game assumes of its players, sort of like it’s an introduction to the RTS genre specifically tailored for RPG fans. Items can only be equipped in the map stage in-between combat, which means if you forget before starting a fight, you can back yourself into an unpleasant corner, but once you do start playing around with stats modifiers, healing and attack items and mixing and matching types of party members for streamlined combat, it’s hard to stop. Like any good RPG, there are a slew of stats to be built up (though when there are 16 characters in play, this can get maybe a little out of hand) and plenty of items that can boost your weaker areas, and even unlock shadow abilities of a different type to round out your party (healers can learn powerful attack spells, etc.).‚  There are also plenty of opportunities for exploring the map and power-leveling in between story missions, and, if 30 hours of story and a zillion playable characters aren’t enough, there are side-quests a plenty and the option to construct robotic party members with parts you find on the map. So, if you are the kind of gamer whose favorite thing to do is wander through the tall grass in Pokemon, endlessly capturing and levelling up, you’ll find plenty to play around with here.

Blue Dragon Plus isn’t a bad game; it’s just that at times there’s too much of it. The story relies too heavily on our interest being hooked from the previous game, and it’s difficult to really develop a character well through dialogue boxes, let alone when he or she has to share the stage with 12 to 15 other players. The RPG and RTS elements are for the most part pretty solid representations of the two genres, but the game doesn’t do anything creative with them beyond just throw them together (which was innovative two years ago when FFXII: Revenant Wings came out, but is now just sort of copy-cat). There are some good elements here, and if you have 30 hours to kill, there are certainly worse ways to do it, though there are definitely better ones too. The $30 price tag seems reasonable given just how much game there is here to sink your teeth into, but do some soul searching first, and make sure you have the patience for it.

While Dragon Quest IV, released late last year for the Nintendo DS, was an enhanced DS port of a game that had seen North American shores in previous years, Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride is brand new to the region, as it was the first of the Dragon Quest games to not see a stateside release. It’s a shame that it took so long for this to happen as well, because Dragon Quest V is easily the best of the classic entries in the series, rivaled only by the underrated Playstation 2 masterpiece, Dragon Quest VIII.

No matter the wait though, as Dragon Quest V has been released in North America, localized for the first time by Square Enix as a follow-up to Dragon Quest IV and another lead-in to Dragon Quest IX’s eventual release. Hand of the Heavenly Bride is the second entry in the Zenithian Trilogy, and despite being nearly 17 years old, is a joy to play thanks to its successful game mechanics and classic Dragon Quest gameplay.

All of the Dragon Quest games share a number of themes and elements. The battles are turn-based, and in these older versions, in the first-person perspective. You have your basic fight, magic and item options, with a variety of spells and items to use to aid you in battles. You will spend a lot of time level grinding so that you can battle tougher monsters and survive boss fights, but you will also need to spend time fighting in order to raise money for equipment. There’s almost always new equipment in each town you come across, and it does not come cheap.

When you die in Dragon Quest, you are revived at the Church where you last saved, but you get to keep all of your experience and the items that you acquired. What you do lose is half of your gold-that may not seem like a big deal, but when you lose half of your gold and can’t afford that new armor to avoid dying again, it becomes a problem. You can stop this from happening in two ways: level grind to buy new equipment and make your fights against bosses easier, and once you reach a town with one, start putting your extra gold into the bank. When you die, your money in the bank remains; you can only deposit in units of 1000 coins though, and you will still lose half of what you were carrying when you perish. Dragon Quest does not apologize for being old-school and grind-filled, so if you’re not into that, this is not the RPG for you. You’re missing out on everything else it has to offer if you avoid it, though.

The game has a day/night cycle, with certain shops closing or opening at night and NPC’s having different things to say to you depending on the time. You can go to sleep in the inn at any time to set the time at early morning again, but there are certain things you can only do at night; those you will have to wait for, as you can’t just sleep until evening. This is a good time to get some level grinding in.

You play as the anonymous hero, who you will have to name when you begin your game. Unlike most Japanese RPGs though, where you play as the doe-eyed, naƒ¯ve youth who will someday save the world, you start as a curious six-year old following his father around. Pankratz, your father, is a local hero of sorts, the friend of the rich, powerful and ordinary citizen alike. Just because your six years old doesn’t mean you can’t cause some trouble though, so while your father is off on his daily routine of heroism, you find different caves and areas to explore in the meantime, building up your experience against low-level enemies and making your father proud of you.

You don’t stay six years old forever though, as, following a major story event a few hours into Hand of the Heavenly Bride, you fast forward to a time when you are 16 years old. Your father is dead, the mother you thought was also dead is rumored to still be alive, and you begin your search for her in earnest. You learn of the legendary hero, the one who is meant to save the land using the fabled Zenithian equipment. You would think this is the moment where you learn that you are indeed the hero, and the sword works for you, but when you finally get your hands on the sword, it’s unwieldy and cumbersome for you-you are not the legendary hero.

You spend most of the game searching for this hero, and when you find them in an unlikely way, it’s then time to save the world. Before that though, you will get married and have your own kids-Dragon Quest V spans three generations, but not without some input from you, as you get to choose one of three options to be your wife. This, along with the multiple generations, separates Dragon Quest V from much of the competition, even today, 17 years later.

The elements that make up role playing and puzzle games are fundamentally opposite.‚  In one corner lies a character embarking on an epic multi-hour journey through a vast content rich environment, and in the other the player matches similarly colored objects on a virtual game board.‚  The day these two genres fused together seemed as likely as the day Halo would be released on the PS3.

However, in 2007, a little game called Puzzle Quest was released and blew the collective minds of gamers everywhere.‚  Genres? Who needs genres? Not developer Infinite Interactive, that’s for sure.‚  Puzzle Quest sent the player on a heroic pursuit of enemies, annihilating them with the puzzle-game mechanic.‚  It sounds far-fetched, but the formula translates into a truly unique gaming experience, one that was well received by critics almost everywhere.

Galactrix utilizes the same winning formula from the original, but this time war is waged in the far reaches of space with the puzzle component played on a new zero gravity board featuring hexagonal gems.‚  Rewards and upgrades come from successfully completing a number of brand new mini-games and ultimately to upgrade your galactic cruiser or unlock the most difficult leapgate, you must hone your skills and be calm under fire.

The narrative in Galactrix is surprisingly deep and compelling given the lack of spoken dialogue or sets of detailed cut-scenes.‚  Galactrix begins with black screen and a slow scrolling collection of dialogue, ominously setting the story of events to come. ‚ The story in a nut-shell of Galactrix is that a horrific scientific accident has aggravated an alien race to the point where extermination of humankind is the only solution.‚  As events come to fruition and the drama is high, you may never skip a dialogue scene and find yourself with compassion for certain characters and contempt for others.

However, as resilient as the storytelling in Galactrix is, it pales in comparison to the foundation of game-play, the match-three formula of Bejeweled that succeeds on so many levels.‚  In no way would I call myself a hardened puzzle-game fan and that was no problem in Galactrix because the early battles and mini-games tailored to my novice needs.‚  A very helpful tutorial system can be toggled on or off (always on for me) and during the puzzle sequences, the piece that will help you most to move will glimmer until you recognize it.

The game board is now hexagonal and adds that extra layer of strategy for those who desire it, or a headache for those who thought the original was difficult enough.‚  When battling an opponent matching blue pieces will replenish shields.‚  Red, yellow, or green will grant your ship the very necessary energy component used to execute special upgradeable subsystem attacks.‚  And finally, matching three or more mines, each with their own specific value, will deal damage to your opponents ship.‚  Throughout Galactrix you will be able to upgrade your ships defensive and offensive capabilities.‚  Certain attacks will cost you specific color energy but will deal direct damage to the enemy ship.‚  Furthermore every subsystem upgrade has specific advantages and the player must make sure the most effective attacks are unleashed at the right moments, if you desire to slay the enemy pirate scum that are terrorizing the universe.‚  Battling takes great patience and knowing when to utilize the replenishing ‘shield restore’ or the assertive ‘mine field’ attack is an art that takes time to master.

Fire Emblem has been one of Nintendo’s more popular franchises ever since it was first introduced to the rest of the gaming world back in 2003 on the Game Boy Advance. Previously, the series had been Japan-only, but the seventh entry in the series, known simply as Fire Emblem, introduced western gamers to Nintendo’s longest-running RPG franchise.

Since North America and Europe responded well to the series, the next few sequels all made it to those parts as well, and then Ike, one of the main heroes from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and its sequel, Radiant Dawn, was one of the new (and popular) characters introduced in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. All of this showed Nintendo that Fire Emblem was a hit outside of Japan, and with that, they decided to remake the original entry in the series for the Nintendo DS.

The main protagonist in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is Marth, of Super Smash Bros. Melee and Brawl fame. Players now get to see what started this long-running series, and also what transpired in the story of one of its most well-known heroes, but how does the game hold up nearly 20 years after its original release?

The story is normally one of the stronger points of Fire Emblem games, and though Shadow Dragon is not quite up to par with the Fire Emblem titles we have seen released in North America, it’s still a well-told tale that keeps you interested outside of the gameplay. ‚ You begin play as a younger version of Marth, and you need to escape your castle and homeland while former allies of your father and his kingdom lay waste to the countryside. Marth’s sister stays behind in order to draw the enemies and give him time to escape, as he is the last in the line of men capable of wielding Falchion against Medeus, the revived evil that started this conflict. You spend the rest of the game attempting to locate your lost sister and recover Falchion in order to put a stop to Medeus and his partner in crime, the sorcerer Gharnef.

There are nowhere near as many twists and turns in this storyline, but regardless, the localization is well done and it’s more than interesting enough to keep you going. Gameplay is where it’s at in the Fire Emblem series anyways, and in this area, Shadow Dragon more than delivers by taking the best of the old and new and mixing them together.

First, let’s take a look at the basic gameplay structure, for those who are not familiar with this series. Fire Emblem is a strategy RPG, which is a lot like a board game; you pick a unit, move him/her a certain number of spaces on a grid, and then you can attack, use an item, heal, or just wait to end your turn. Once all of your units have completed their turns, the enemy gets to move, attack, etc. As for weapons, there is a rock-paper-scissors style in play, as sword beats axe, axe beats lance, and lance beats sword. It’s more complex than that when you get into bows, aerial units, magic and the like, but it boils down to that basic rock-paper-scissors gameplay, which is new to this particular entry in the series.

In order to combat this problem though, you can see what the enemy’s movement and attack ranges are. Developer Intelligent Systems took that ability one step further in this entry and gave you the option to view all enemy movement and attack range at once, simply by pressing the X button. This helps you move along at an appropriate pace to setup attacks and avoid needlessly losing your front line, and is a welcome addition for both veterans and newcomers to the series.

In addition, there are now midpoint save stations that can be used once per battle; after a particularly dangerous portion of the map, or right before one, use one of the save points incase you do lose a character that you are not ready to part with just yet. Unlike the “suspend” saving option, you can reload these saves more than one time. If you’re one of those people who takes their character’s death in stride and soldiers on, then these save points won’t mean much to you, but if you’re one of those people who needs every unit they have cared for and used to survive, then this is just what you need to keep from restarting each level repeatedly.