38 public written reviews
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Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror is the sequel to the hugely popular The Shadow of the Templars , developed by Revolution Software and released in late 1997. This point-and-click adventure game will again see you travelling across the globe, delving into the interesting Aztec history and meeting many different characters along the way. Despite keeping the core ideas of the franchise, The Smoking Mirror still…
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (known as Circle of Blood in the United States) is a 1996 point-and-click adventure game that was developed by English-based Revolution Software. The game will take you literally across the world, and follows a vast variety of deep characters with an ever-expanding plot. All of this, and more, adds up to produce an amazing game that cannot be missed. You play as George…
Read the full review Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars
Psychonauts is one of those golden gem games that don't get priority place on the store shelf, and despite raving reception from the critics, still don't sell as well as they should. This is why you should buy Psychonauts. It is a very unique platformer which, thanks to the amazingly creative mind of Tim Schafer, has stunning level designs and humour that no other game can match, and will just have you begging for…
When this game was first announced it was made out to be another platformer much like the first three games in the Rayman series. Obviously everyone was overjoyed as it was bound to be a great game. Sadly Ubisoft decided to make this with the Wii in mind and turn it into a typical Wii stereotype of mini games. Great... Before jumping into the good points, the bad points really should be highlighted. As much as it…
Indiana Jones is the second franchise that Traveller's Tales are bringing in to the world of Lego gaming, the first being Star Wars. The fact that Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures was released closely to the new Spielberg film - Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - is purely to get sales from the hype, as you will see no mention of an older Harrison Ford and his sidekick Mutt here, but instead playing through…
Read the full review LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
Night of the Raving Dead starts of differently than other episodes, and actually has Sam & Max about to be squashed by a soul-crushing machine. Max asks Sam how they got into this mess, and then the credits roll and you start from the beginning of the story. It's a neat touch, and it's really cool when you get to the bit you saw at the start, and it all clicks together. The plot, without spoiling the clever twist,…
Read the full review Sam & Max Episode 203: Night of the Raving Dead
Moai Better Blues starts off with a bang and presents you with a puzzle to solve straight away, a sort of 'taster' puzzle to get the game started, if you will. Sybil is being chased by a giant red triangle and Sam & Max need to stop it. Once halted, the introductory credits will roll (with a few slight changes from the titles last episode) and you'll be taken to Easter Island. On Easter Island you find that Sybil is…
Read the full review Sam & Max Episode 202: Moai Better Blues
An adventure game is a hard thing to pull off. You need to have, above all, a good plot with deeply layered characters, along with clever puzzles and items. Hotel Dusk: Room 215 ticks all the right boxes, although you might encounter a few minor niggles along the way. You play as a former police officer Kyle Hyde, who was let go due to an incident involving his partner, Brian Bradley. At the start of the game you…
If it seems that Sam & Max haven't been gone for long, it's because they haven't. It was only a short while ago that the crime-fighting duo were on the moon, fighting to save the world. Now they are back, and this time Telltale have really sharpened up the game to give off one of their best adventures yet. The game starts off differently than you might expect. Sam is sure that their pet fish is up to something,…
Read the full review Sam & Max Episode 201: Ice Station Santa
Sam (a shamus canine) and Max (a hyperkinetic rabbity thing) are Freelance Police and are based on the comics created by Steve Purcell. Hit the Road is their toughest case yet as they have been hired to find an escaped Bigfoot from a carnival. You then control Sam and Max as they work their way around locations to find and solve clues to what's happened to Bruno, the escaped Bigfoot. The game interface is a simple…
"The last one was fun, don't get me wrong, but it was too short." is the first thing that'll you hear spoken in the game, and for those of you clued in, you'll realise that this is basically poking fun at the last game. Fans asked for a longer game, and Telltale has given us just that. Not only is the game almost double the previous episode, it also introduces some great new characters and locations. You'll start…
Bone: Out From Boneville is based on the first volume of the Bone comic series by Jeff Smith and follows the adventures of Fone Bone and his two cousins, and is the first Bone game to be released by Telltale Games, with more to be released in episodic format. It is very rare that you will see a point-and-click game on the market, but Bone: Out From Boneville is just that. The main difference between this game and…
There are currently four games made by Nintendo for their systems that are based on training your brain - three for the DS and one for the Wii (this being Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree). Although each title is fun to play, the same problem remains throughout all of them; the game just doesn't last long. You'll play it for a month and then you'll get bored of it and leave it to gather dust. This doesn't mean they…
Sam and Max Season 1 has had ups and downs throughout the season, but Bright Side of the Moon ends on a positive note. Everything you've come to expect from the season is here; funny jokes, interesting storylines and brilliant voice acting. This game wraps up all the loose ends in the story line and does it really well. In the final game you get to find out who has been hypnotising everyone (early on in the game)…
Read the full review Sam & Max Episode 6: Bright Side of the Moon
By now we have established that the main theme of the season is hypnotics and that slowly the story is building up. In this penultimate episode, the story is nearly at the end. A pair of virtual-reality goggles that lets you into a massively multiplayer online game called Reality 2.0 is the hypnotic device this time around. The enemy? The internet. Reality 2.0 is the best game in the season so far, if only for its…
The problem with the last two episodes is that the speech and environments were being reused over and over, and sadly this problem is still here. But the thing is that you forgive that in this episode because of the best story in season so far, the best locations and... well, the best everything so far! The 'hypnotic' story that lies beneath the season is really coming through now, so fans of the games will want to…
Read the full review Sam & Max Episode 4: Abe Lincoln Must Die!
If you've been playing the season from the start you will now be familiar with places such as Bosco's Inconnivance, Sybil's and the office. You will also be familiar with the things Sam and Max say when you click on objects and you'll be left wondering why some new lines weren't recorded. The fact this is so repetitive detracts from the experience of the game, including the fact The Mole, the Mob and the Meatball is…
Read the full review Sam & Max Episode 3: The Mole, the Mob, and the Meatball
Chances are if you are going to buy Situation: Comedy then you will already have played Culture Shock, which is probably a good thing. Although you can play this game by itself, you may not understand a line or two that relates to another episodes. The game also gives the feel that there is going to be one, big interlocking storyline throughout the season, so for the full experience it is probably best to play…
Back in 1993, LucasArts released a game involving a dog and rabbit crime solving duo. With its humour and story, the game was a hit, so imagine fan's delight when LucasArts announced in 2002 that they were releasing a new Sam and Max adventure, this time in 3D. Then imagine the disappointment when LucasArts cancelled the title. In fact, you don't need to imagine it - there was a petition put online that over 32,000…
Order of the Phoenix has brought back the free roam elements that were missing from Goblet of Fire and now lets you roam around Hogwarts, which is fully re-created to include every room and corridor that you have seen in the film. That's all very well, but when the gameplay is mind-numbingly boring and repetitive, it makes you wonder why they bothered. You control all of the game as Harry (excluding the few minutes…
Read the full review Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
This is the second brain training title from Dr. Kawashima and as you slot in the cartridge and load it up, you'll think you're playing the wrong game. Why? It looks and sounds like the old game, right down to some of the things Dr. Kawashima says. The only thing that is different in this second Brain Training game is the actual training games and the Sudoku puzzles. Is this a bad thing? Not at all - fans of the…
Read the full review Brain Age²: More Training in Minutes a Day!
Mario Kart isn't your average racing game. The graphics aren't meant to be realistic, nor is the gameplay. Have you ever seen a banana skin dropped from the back of your car or a blue shell fired to hit the person in the lead on Need for Speed? Didn't think so. Mario Kart DS is the fifth game in the series and is the first to use online abilities, which it uses perfectly and makes what was already a great game, a…
Animal Crossing: Wild World will have you in many different stages throughout its lifetime. First you will have to make the leap to buy the game after getting over the fact the game looks a tad childish, you'll then put the cartridge in and play for hours thinking this is the best game ever. Finally, after about a year or so, you'll realise the game is getting a tad tedious and a chore to play. At the start of the…
Worms really needs no introduction. You control a team of weapon-loving Worms on a mission to complete a number of missions in single player mode, or completely wipe out the other team using a variety of crazy weapons in multiplayer. Although many people prefer 2D versions of Worms, I believe Mayhem is one of the best Worms games... and it's in 3D. Single player mode involves you taking your team of Worms through…
Read the full review New features such as clothing makes this 3D Worms brilliant.
The game starts by telling you that William the Kid (who is the CEO of the Nectar of the Goats - or N.O.G. for short - Corporation) is trying to eliminate cow’s milk from the earth by kidnapping all cows from the earth, including his rival Mr. Udderly (president and CEO of Amalgamated Moo Juice Incorporated). Kid plans on replacing cow’s milk with goat's milk and there is only one person, or fox, that can save the…
New Super Mario Bros. brings Mario away from 3D worlds and into the classic formula of side-scrolling. If you've played previous Mario side-scrollers, you'll probably be thinking this is all of the same - you're wrong. New Super Mario Bros. refreshes the Mario series and brings it up to date with a bang. There are a total of eight worlds in the game but you can finish the game by taking secret short cuts and only…
Back at E3 in 2006, Nintendo held a press conference at the Kodak Theatre displaying Wii Sports. It was simply a demo and only a basic version of the game tennis on the released version of the game. On the 14th of September 2006 the Wii release date was announced, the fact it would be included 'free' in the Wii package (excluding Japan) and two new games - Bowling and Boxing - were announced. Wii Sports features…
Super Monkey Ball rolls onto the Wii with a solid single player mode, loads of decent mini-games and a pretty good control scheme. The game isn't exactly very taxing in terms of difficulty, but it is a good game to have a nice play on without making you sweat. The control in the game is obviously unique to the Wii contoller. It involves you tilting the remote in the direction you want your monkey to roll to and…
The whole point of Brain Training is to - believe it or not - train your brain. The age you want your age to be at is 20 according to the game and to see whether or not you are a genius you will be asked to play a selection of random games to determine what your brain age is. The DS is turned on its side much like a book and has you writing your answers on the touch screen, tapping the correct answers or speaking…
Read the full review Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!
The Simpsons Wrestling was released for the Playstation back in 2001. The story basically goes that Kang and Kodos have challenge the citizens of Springfield to a wrestling match, but only one person will go against them. The town have a wrestling tournament to decide who that strong person should be. Each character (sixteen in total, each voiced by the real actor) has four moves excluding jumping. When the wrestler…
The Simpsons have had their own line of games since 1991, starting with the simply titled The Simpsons: The Arcade Game which was surprisingly released in arcades. We are now up to Hit and Run in '03 and perhaps this is one of the best Simpsons games to date? At the start of the game you find out that the town is infested by mechanical bees, black vans and Buzz cola. Weird? You bet, but it is just a storyline like…
For those of you who don't know, Simon the Sorcerer is a series of point-and-click adventure games created by Adventure Soft. The game is full of witty jokes and is compared with Monkey Island 1 and 2 in terms of visual style and layout. The first two Simon the Sorcerer games were superb, but does the third game involving our young wizard live up the high expectations? In a word - no. Infact, you'd be better of…
Read the full review The third game ruins what was a brillaint series.
WarioWare has been around since 2003 with the release of Mega Microgame$ for the Gameboy Advance. What has WarioWare done to refresh the format of the game then? Not much - the main difference here really is the use of the remote. The object of the game is to basically work your way through a bunch of wacky mini-games using the remote in various different ways: just pointing it at the screen, holding it by your…
Excite Truck is basically a super fast truck racing game with immense jumps and speed developed by Monster Games Inc. The game is a 'sequel' to the game which debuted on the Famicom, ExciteBike. The game as it is involves you picking a truck, racing with it and trying to rack up your stars and hopefully come first in the race. You work your way through each of the cups in hope to become an ultimate truck racer -…
Spyro is one of those game characters that everyone in the gaming world will know about, even if they have never played the game. Although he isn't as famous as a certain "it's-a-me" plumber character, he is still recognised as being a gaming legend. Spryo: Year of the Dragon is the third in the Spyro series and it doesn't disappoint at all. There is nothing particularly unfamiliar here - Spyro is followed by his…
Read the full review The third game in the Spyro series doesn't disappoint.
Let's face it: this game is a top seller because you are getting a remote for the normal price and a game on top for a fiver. But is the game even worth a fiver? The game is fun while it lasts... but sadly, that really isn't long and the replay factor just isnt' there - not even for parties, where you would whip out something like Wario Ware: Smooth Moves. Wii Play makes a big use of the Miis and pulls it off quite…
EA have been churning out Need for Speed games for ages now and some could say the series is now getting dry and crusty, and they need to just hide the license in a cupboard. I say that's rubbish, and Need for Speed Most Wanted is the best in the NFS series so far - and that's saying something. The game has two main modes - career and challenge. Career sees you taking the role of a street racer who is slowly trying…
The Monkey Island series is considered by many people, including myself, as being the best adventure games (or games, for that matter) of all time. That's a big title to hold and if you've played the two previous games in the Monkey Island series, you should pretty much understand why these LucasArts classics got this title. But does the third game, The Curse of Monkey Island, live up to these high expectations? Of…
