Come summer 2011, after you’re done watching the impossibly chiseled Ryan Reynolds as the Green Lantern on the big screen, the super hero’s adventures will continue on your home gaming console of choice (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, Nintendo DS) in Warner Brother’s Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters.

Unfortunately, not much is known about the actual game as of this point, but as you can tell by the name and image that was sent out with the official press release, it’ll no doubt conjure up some bright neon green nostalgia for the first time you fired up the original Xbox, about ten years ago.

Atlus’ latest permutation of its dungeon crawler series, Etrian Odyssey, will be coming to the Nintendo DS this fall.

“The Etrian Odyssey series is renowned for successfully marrying deep roleplaying gameplay with a grand sense of adventure and the thrill of the unknown,” said Aram Jabbari, Manager of PR and Sales at Atlus. “The Drowned City, the third chapter in the fan-favorite franchise, takes the established exploration RPG gameplay to exciting new frontiers.”

Drowned City, eh? Gee. Do you think the game’s environment is going to be somewhat “sea based?” All smarminess aside, Etrian Odyssey III will continue to build on the franchise’s reputation for in-depth character building and management. There are 10 new classes and sub-classes, and a huge number of skills to learn.

Atlus also promises that Etrian Odyssey III will have a wireless local multiplayer mode. Up to five gamers are able to team up for “special combat challenges” in order to take down some of the tougher beasts in the game. Players will also be able to wirelessly trade items with one another via a local connection.

For more on Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City, check out the official site.

LOS ANGELES – Although the device was officially announced in March, Nintendo finally took the wraps off of their new ’3DS’ yesterday. In addition to housing a 3D, glasses-free top screen that has a scalable effect controlled by a slider, the device also contains a gyroscope (indicated to be advantageous for shooter fans), a motion sensor, and a dual-camera setup that will allow you to snap and share 3D photos. It also now uses an analog ‘Slide Pad’ that can be seen just above the D-pad in the image below.

While the 1st-party titles discussed look sufficiently promising, one of the more impressive pieces of the announcement had to be the incredible 3rd-party line-up of games and top franchises that are slated to appear on Nintendo’s new monster mini.You can check out the full spec sheet for the 3DS below the image or at Nintendo’s official 3DS page.

Activision’s upcoming Spiderman: Shattered Dimensions looks to be doing lots of things right in this new trailer that shows off some great looking art, combat and super-cool web effects:

I played one of the recent Spidey games, Spiderman: Web of Shadows and had a lot of fun with it – at first. Unfortunately, it suffered from some very irritating bugs, other performance issues and a less than inspired second half. It had a lot of potential but was bogged down by serious quality issues. And then let’s not even talk about Spiderman 3 or Friend or Foe. They were both miserable.

I think Rocksteady’s success with Batman: Arkham Asylum has proven to the last of the naysayers that if you make a brilliant super-hero game, the people will be powerless to refuse. Spiderman has just as much going for him as Batman does, so, if a knock-out Spiderman game experience shows up, I have a feeling people will buy it. I guess it’s just easier said than done.

Thankfully, Shattered Dimensions has gone back to the cell-shaded graphics that worked so well for Ultimate Spiderman (Treyarch). It will also offer the visual shake-up of four different Spiderman worlds that have all graced the various comic’s pages over the years. If this new title can match the same level of quality as Ultimate Spiderman, then we may really have something to talk about here. Spiderman: Shattered Dimensions is set for release Sept. 7.

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.

Atlus today announced that Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey would be making its way to North America in the spring of 2010. This game is very different from previous Shin Megami Tensei entries, as it is a first-person affair in a sci-fi setting, though it still retains RPG elements despite the different viewpoint.

In the near future, a mysterious, growing, black void appears at the Earth’s southern pole. Unable to determine its cause and powerless to stop its deadly encroachment, humanity sends an elite team of explorers into the heart of the phenomenon, just as Strange Journey’s look and feel represent a return to the heart of Shin Megami Tensei, bringing to mind the all-time classic Nocturne™. With over 300 demons to bribe, coerce, and negotiate with to gain assistance in battle, Strange Journey is every bit the deep, rewarding RPG experience fans have come to expect from the SMT franchise, yet delivered with a fresh new sci-fi story that taps into mature themes of morality and introspection.

The game received a 36/40 from Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu upon release overseas, the highest rating any Shin Megami Tensei title has ever earned from the mag. Considering how much we loved Atlus’ previous SMT effort on the DS, we’ll be keeping an eye on this one as more information releases until its March 10 release. For now you have a bunch of screens and art work to gaze upon, so gaze away.

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.

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.

SEATTLE — The Penny Arcade Expo gave me my second taste of Nostalgia, Matrix Software and Ignition’s latest Nintendo DS RPG. After a hands-on go with it at Comic-Con in San Diego and a hands-off demo at PAX, I feel like I’ve got a pretty good handle on what the game is offering, and I like what I know.

You play as Eddie, who is searching for his father in a semi-real, semi-fantasy world. You will visit real world locations such as Cairo and London, but with that embellished, fantasy vibe to them–for example, when you’re in the pyramids in Cairo, you will be attacked by mummies and monsters, and you will fight them off with magic, guns and swords. +1 for going the 19th century, alternate reality‚  steampunk route.

While there are four main characters in your group, there will be other characters you can use at different times in the game, so you get to switch things up a bit as you play. In addition to your standard turn-based battle system (attack, magic, skills, etc.) there are also airship battles. Enemies attack you from all directions while in your airship, and you have to fight back using cannons and weapons attached to the front of your ship. Depending on the placement of the enemy, certain characters will perform better against them–you will want to use a cannon on the side to attack an enemy on your left, for instance, while one directly in front of you is a perfect target for the sword jutting out of your hull.You are graded for your skill in battles, so you will want to figure out the best strategy for tackling opponents in order to secure the best grade.

The airship is used to travel long distances–in the demo, you had to set out from London to Cairo, and since both were in the proximity of their real-world location, finding your destination is not a difficult process (unless you failed geography, of course). The airship is also fully customizable as well, and there are more than one of them to fly around–later airships bring you higher and higher, but the higher you fly, the more difficult your opponents will be. Not only do you have to contend with monsters, but other airship owners–many of them sky pirates–will give chase as well.

It’s tough to gauge how entertaining an RPG can be from just 15-20 minutes of gameplay, but what we do know about Nostalgia looks promising. The game is slated for an October release, and you will want to clear some time off your schedule to play it–without even tackling sidequests, the story is upward of 30-40 hours, which is very long for a DS RPG. We’ll have more info for you as the game nears release, and also a review for you once it hits retail.

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

Late yesterday, a sneak peak of the sequel to Okami, Okamiden, was released on youtube. The sequel will be released on the Nintendo DS and, from the looks of it, will appease the old fans while also appealing to new ones. The clip itself is under a minute long, but what it shows is visually appealing. I’ve never played the original Okami, but the clip of Okamiden has piqued my interest a lot. The cute wolf, which players fight along side and ride on, is one of the highlights of the clip. The world presented is given an ancient, almost classic look and definitely looks like it won’t be your run-of-the-mill DS game–you have to love how good cel-shading makes things look.‚ 

You also get a small sample of how the stylus will work as the celestial brush, as our diminutive hero uses it in battle against a few enemies. Hopefully gameplay and information continues to leak from Japan, because this is a title I’m starting to look forward to playing.

We mentioned the possibility of a new Okami title in the works thanks to a recent Capcom trademark, but I have to say, the Nintendo DS is not where I thought the sequel to the wonderful 2006 game would go. Fans were split about where the next version should go, either‚  in HD version on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 or on the Wii once again, where it’s control scheme–the IR and celestial brush were made for each other–worked wonderfully. Now we get to see how well the stylus works, or at least, that’s the assumption. The DS can do cel-shaded and make it look good as well, so I’m interested in seeing how more of Okami’s wonderful art style fits in your pocket.

Clover Studios, the original developer, is defunct, with many of its members now composing Platinum Games (MadWorld and the upcoming Bayonetta). Capcom still owns the IP though, and Ready at Dawn worked on the Wii version. Hopefully an official press release comes soon so we can see just who is working on this game and what it will entail.

Source: Kotaku

EA games announced that Scrabble will be launched on iGoogle in conjunction with Opensocial, an improved way to play games on the iGoogle homepage. This is EA’s 6th adaptation of Scrabble and is customized to provide players with an authentic experience and allow head to head games with friends and family. Since gameplay is asynchronous, a player can play up to 5 different games simultaneously. With the easy score tracking, players will be able to know exactly where they rank against their friends and other iGoogle users as well. You can even choose speed levels in order to match your difficulty level. To play Scrabble as a gadget just go to the website. Scrabble is available on several platforms including Nintendo DS, PSP and Xbox 360. For mobile phones, Scrabble can be purchased via handset or from the EA games website.‚  You can also get it from the Apple Store for iTouch and iPhones I

Nintendo loves their launch events, and to get Fossil Fighters going in North America, they held a launch event at the La Brea Tar Pits so that kids could get a feel for the paleontology vibe in the right kind of setting.

Instead of finding fossils though, the kids found “fossilized” copies of the new game, which may not seem as cool as finding an actual dinosaur bone, but please remember you don’t have to donate Fossil Fighters to a museum; you get to keep it and play more than make believe with it!

Eric S., 8, of Miami, Florida breaks open a "fossilized' copy of Fossil Fighters for the Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi portable games systems at the La Brea Tar Pits, Thursday, August 6, 2009 in Los Angeles. Eric won a game play tournament at the event to celebrate the game's upcoming release on August 10, 2009. (Photo by Nintendo, Bob Riha, Jr.)

Fossil Fighters was developed by Red Entertainment, who are also co-developing Nostalgia with Matrix Software. You play as a young paleontologist who doesn’t just dig up the bones of old dinosaurs; you dig up fossils capable of coming to life to beat down other living fossils. No word as of yet on whether Joan Rivers is one of these dug up Vivosaurs (kids, ask your parents before watching the Comedy Central Roast of Joan Rivers, hilarious as it may be).

It’s got kind of a Pokemon vibe to it, but with Nintendo on publishing duty, it may have something different to offer those of you that like to collect monsters and bring them to battle. It actually sounds like Spectrobes in a way–especially with fossils being more powerful when you effectively and efficiently dig them up–so let’s hope that they have a battle system that doesn’t make me want to throw my DS against the wall (tell us how you really feel, Marc!)

Fossil Fighters is officially out today, which means you can expect to see it on store shelves soon. You won’t have to dig your own copy out, but at the least, you will still be able to dig up Vivosaurs for use in the game.

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

It’s certainly a varied week for the Nintendo Download. On WiiWare, you’ve got three games to choose from, and then two more from the Virtual Console service. DSiWare has a bit of a quiet week, with Gameloft releasing Brain Challenge and nothing else coming for the system.

For WiiWare, the titles are listed in order of exclamation points. Bit Boy!! makes his North American debut; if you want some more info on the title, we interviewed the developers after its European release. Incoming! is a cartoony tank fighter, with support for either one or two players. Last, we have the lone release without an exclamation point in Ant Nation, though that may be because the description of the game reads like a guide to torturing ants in order to toughen them up. If you’re the kind of person who put ants under a magnifying glass in order to set them aflame, then this game is for you. Apparently, you were toughening them up for their street brawls against the local spider thugs. You’re a hero!

On Virtual Console, you have one game for each Sega platform. I used to play Secret Command at an arcade that had home consoles behind glass, rigged to joysticks. That’s how I was introduced to Battletoads on the NES, as well. Next there is a Sega Channel release for the Genesis, which I have never played before. Pulseman was published by Game Freak though, the company that works on Pokemon, so maybe I’ll take a look all these years alter.

The full press release can be found after the jump. Picking anything up this week?

Dragon Quest VIII released on the Playstation 2, which ended up being the best-selling console of all-time. Dragon Quest IX was slated for the Nintendo DS, which has its own plans of blowing away any numbers that the Playstation 2 was proud of. Those numbers aren’t limited to total number of systems sold either, as these latest software numbers show. Dragon Quest VIII sold 2.23 million copies in its first week of release in Japan, which is pretty impressive–we’re talking about a series that is more popular than Final Fantasy in its native land. Dragon Quest IX though, outsold Dragon Quest VIII’s first week with 2.34 million sales. The difference being that Dragon Quest IX has been out for just two days.

The next installment, Dragon Quest X, is slated to be developed and released on the Nintendo Wii, putting the game back into living rooms and out of your pocket. At least Dragon Quest IX has shown that you can sell the game in the latter format, even with a sequel in the numbered part of the series.

Hat tip to Kotaku for this eye-opening bit of morning number-crunching.

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.

Countdowns seem to be more and more popular these days as a way to announce a game–well, popular with publishers anyways, as most fans cannot bear to sit there and wait for the timer to end–but at least we still have old media there to spoil the party. Eventually a copy of a magazine gets into the hands of someone with a scanner, and then the entire Internet knows what is planned before the countdown finishes. Things were no different for Square Enix’s latest teaser countdown, which first showed a sketch of a farm and bridge with the number “4″, then a dragon, then a boy riding a dragon, then a girl alongside him. As you can guess, this was pretty ambiguous, and there were plenty of opinions out there as to what it may be.

With the music sounding as old-school as it did, I figured it was going to be something retro in a way, maybe a new entry into the Final Fantasy Legend series, or at least some kind of spiritual successor. What we found out thanks to leaked scans of Shonen Jump was that Square Enix will be releasing Four Warriors of Light: Final Fantasy Gaiden for the Nintendo DS in Japan. Based on the brand’s power, I think it’s safe to assume this will also hit North American shores. This indeed does sound like a return to roots for the Final Fantasy series, although there are some changes. There are no magic points apparently, and one of the menu options is “Charge”, but it is menu-based, and your goal is even something as simple as saving a princess. We’ll have more details as they come out, but for now, you can enjoy the tunes and neat looking sketches on the teaser site.

Starting with games we reviewed in June, Blast is going to bring you “Editor’s Choice” awards. For now, we will pick one game for each system–either retail or downloadable–and give it the distinction of being the best purchase you can make all month. That may change as the release schedule fattens up and more and more AAA titles come out at once, but for now, we’re in the summer, where there are fewer releases overall. The Editor’s Choice logo will be inserted into reviews at the end of the month, and will look like this (though much smaller):

The one question I have for you, the readers, is whether we should make a distinction between downloadable titles and retail games. Would you prefer to see them rated separately? Is together fine? Let us know in the comments or via e-mail.

Wii

Ghostbusters: The Video Game: “Ghostbusters: The Video Game is a lot of fun to play. The gameplay is tight, wrangling ghosts is satisfying, and listening to Bill Murray and company play their beloved characters once again”"and so effectively”"made me smile more often than not. Red Fly Studios did the game a favor by recognizing the Wii’s strengths and playing to them, and for that, you should thank them. Grab a friend, plug in two Nunchuks, and get to work saving New York City once again.”

DS

Mighty Flip Champs!: “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.”

PS3

inFAMOUS: “inFAMOUS is far from perfect, but that doesn’t stop it from, at times, being a masterpiece sandbox game that will have you coming back for more, regardless of its problems. The good far outweighs the bad, but it’s the perfect candidate for a much improved sequel. What inFAMOUS does well is give you a fun game that will last longer than many titles, even if you just play through once; you’ll want to play it more than once though, given the amount of things you can do as you save or enslave Empire City.”

Xbox 360

Red Faction Guerilla: Wait, what’s this? We don’t have a review up for this game yet? No worries, it will be here before month’s end. Just trust us when we say we love it. That’s why it’s here!

Windows PC

Wallace & Gromit: Muzzled!: “Overall, Telltale has yet again told the tale of excellence in every facet of game design. From dynamic and alluring storytelling buffed by memorable characters, to the authentic feel of the familiar claymation style presentation, Muzzled! succeeds so very well.”

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.

Studies show that an attractive woman increases traffic by 12,783%, even if she is only tangentially related to the original content.

Because Guitar Hero: Smash Hits is just a re-release of previous tracks, I didn’t really feel it deserved its own review.‚  If you are interested in purchasing it, check the track list beforehand – Some songs are re-used from the Aerosmith, World Tour and GH3, so there might not be enough new content to make it worth your while.

That being said, I enjoyed it, since I am a relatively new convert to the whole Guitar Hero scene.‚ ‚ ‚  I still can’t use all five buttons, so I’m not good enough to be mocked on South Park, but there is something oddly hypnotic and fun about the whole concept.

Playing did make me create my own “wish list” of songs and features for future installments, though.‚  As a note, I tried not to include any songs that have been confirmed for future games, or use artists – Van Halen, The Beatles – who have their own games in production.‚  If I did mess up somewhere, feel free to e-mail me or to point it out in the comments.‚  In no particular order:

- “Your Love” by Outfield.‚  Along the lines of “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey, this is a strong karoake number that would translate well to Guitar Hero or Rock Band.‚  As an added bonus, it is from 1986, giving it retro points.‚  Covers are not acceptable, unless a bosom-y avatar for Katy Perry’s version, “Use Your Love,” is used.

- Anything by Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin, but especially “Wish You Were Here” or “Comfortably Numb” or “Kashmir“.‚  Although there is hope that Pink Floyd will eventually get their own game, it hasn’t happened yet, and the talks are at such preliminary stages that I feel find settling for a song or two.‚  I nominated “Wish You Were Here” even though it is such a sparse song because of its haunting vocals, and the guitar solo in “Comfortably Numb” is a natural for Guitar Hero or Rock Band treatment.‚  According to the scuttlebutt on Wikipedia, concerns about the quality of the original masters and royalty payments to the bands have caused the hold-up for both.

- More noteworthy live tracks.‚  Pretty much anything from Cheap Trick’s Live at Budokan would apply here; “Surrender” was in Guitar Hero 2, but it is scandalous that “I Want You To Want Me” also hasn’t gotten the digital treatment yet.‚  Similar to Cheap Trick, anything from Nirvana’s Unplugged album would be great, although a bit somber for a GH/RB game.‚  An “acoustic” game in general might be a good idea.

- More difficulty sliders.‚  In sports games like Madden and NBA Live, you can specify whether certain penalties and fouls will be called, or dumb down certain aspects of the computer AI.‚  Likewise, I’d like if I could play these rhythm games at the higher difficulties, but limit the songs to four fingers.‚  For example, there is a big jump in difficult in Rock Band 2 from the normal to hard difficulty.‚  Why not give the option of normal with more notes to hit, as opposed to jumping straight to the five-fingered hard?

So, you’ve heard my half-baked ideas.‚  What are some of yours?

- Steve

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 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.

Starfy is an established character in Japan, with four releases on the Game Boy Advance, but outside of an appearance as an assist trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the ocean’s resident platforming hero has yet to make it to the west. That is about to change next month, when the Legendary Starfy hits store shelves in early June, but as of now we still don’t have much detail as far as what the game entails.

Luckily, six of the people who worked on the game sat down with IGN for a conference call, so now we have a little more to work with. Starfy is a 2D platformer, set in the ocean, which means that the main character’s range of motion is more than we are used to in many platformers-after all, he’s moving through water, so the effects of gravity are a bit different than they would be for say, Donkey Kong, or the Mario Bros, or even the other star-shaped platformer, Ristar.

The developers claim that this version of Starfy is the most accessible, as they have had four other games to perfect the Starfy formula on. It would be nice if North America’s first go with the series was the definitive Starfy experience, but it’s tough to tell without having played any of the others. Thankfully, the developers say that they would be willing to bring those here as well, based on fan response to this one. You know what that means; if you think you want Starfy, or you’re a fan of 2D platformers-something Nintendo has the best record in the industry for over the past 20+ years-then pick this one up when it hits store shelves.

We’ll have a review for Legendary Starfy shortly after it ships to retail on June 8. For now, check out these screens provided by Nintendo. We’ll have more information on the game as it moves closer to its release date.

Knights in the Nightmare has a multi-layered combat system that may take some time to learn-that’s why there is a demo on the Nintendo Channel that allows you to go through the tutorial and practice each of the different battle aspects, but for those who either do not have a Wii and can’t download the demo or just want to see a little more explanation, Atlus is here to provide.

They have sent us the second in their tutorial video series for Knights in the Nightmare, with the focus this time on the lawful and chaotic phases that you must switch between. You earn different items and can use different attacks depending on which phase you are in, and as the Atlus folks in the video attest to, you will need to switch between the two in order to be successful.

If you haven’t checked out the first video in the series, be sure to do so; the trailer for the title is also there. If you have, check out this new video below as well, and get yourself pumped for the release of what looks to be, at the least, a unique and challenging RPG experience for the Nintendo DS.

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.

Knights in the Nightmare looks like it may be 2009′s version of The World Ends With You. I don’t mean that it’s copying the gameplay, or the style, or anything like that. What I mean is that developer Sting and publisher Atlus have created an RPG that breaks from the norm by a considerable amount, partially thanks to an innovative and multilayered battle system that will be unlike any standard RPG you’re used to.

In fact, the battle system has so much going on that at first glance, without any explanation, it seems tough to figure out just what is going on. That’s why Atlus has started to release a set of tutorial videos, meant to help potential players get interested in the title, as well as teach us about just what is going on.

The first of these tutorials is below, as is the trailer for the game. Check back here for more info on Knights in the Nightmare, as this is looking like one any DS-owning RPG fan would be crazy to miss out on.

I have to say, if the music in the game is anything like the music in the trailer, then we have even more reason to be excited.

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.

Rhythm Heaven, the sequel to the Game Boy Advances’ Rhythm Tengoku, will release in North America on April 5, at the same time as the Nintendo DSi. It was the sixth-best selling game in all of Japan in 2008, due to addicting yet simple gameplay elements that had people enthralled with tapping away at their touch screen.

The demo for this DS title recently released on the Nintendo Channel on Wii, meaning I wasted no time in downloading it to give it a try. At it’s core, Rhythm Heaven is a music game that has you use the stylus in different ways in order to keep pace with the tunes. In the demo, there were a few different ways to manipulate your object or character: you “flick” the stylus with a quick wrist movement to launch an object, press and release the stylus on the screen to make your character stop and start singing, or press down to make an object (such as pump in Fillbots) perform its task. There is a fourth control option, but it wasn’t tested because it is not in the demo. Control is simple enough, but timing is everything-this is a rhythm based game after all.

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.

The three levels available in the demo were “Built to Scale”, “Glee Club”, and “Fillbots”. For Built to Scale, you used the flick control type to launch a bar into two objects that were moving closer to each other slowly, according to the beat of the music. If you went too quickly, you would miss entirely; too late, and you just knock over the objects. Flick at just the right time though, and the bar connects, building the object for the assembly line in front of you. More of this can be seen in the video below; it’s simple, but difficult to hit every one just right, especially with quickly changing speeds and random off beats that change your expectations of the song’s progression. There was also one portion that occurred in the dark, and you could not see the pieces as they came closer, meaning you needed to rely entirely on the music and your own sense of rhythm.

Glee Club has you controlling one adorable little creature as he sings with two others. You must match their vocal tracks by pressing and releasing on the touch screen; you will know when you are messing up, as they will start to grimace and give you sideways glances. Occasionally, the conductor would yell out, “Together now!” and you would have to wail by using the flick motion. In extended pieces, this level type has a lot of potential, especially since you feel like you are much more part of the song than in something like Built to Scale.

Last, you have Fillbot, where you control a pump that is filling up robots. Though in the demo the same robot is built each time-meaning the beat is the same-you can see in the video that there are different robot sizes that require different fill times, meaning you need to pay attention to the changes in the music just like all of the other games. It’s simple to do once you get in a groove, but if you miss by going too early or too late, the robot will duck their head out of the way and avoid the pump. This can throw you off track, and I hope that there ends up being some quick robot production; that would mean a missed fill would wreak havoc on your assembly line of music.

While the demo was short, there was enough there to see that this could be one of the most charming and addictive titles on the system. Fans of rhythm and music games will want to pick this up when it makes its stateside debut. Given the fun I had with the demo as well as the appeal it continues to have over in Japan, you can color me intrigued by the game and concept as I await its release date. Be sure to check out the video below so you get a better idea of just what this title entails!

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.