This is a game that does an excellent job of working around the 3DS’ limitations. Conversations feature crisp and vibrant character models. The game employs talking heads for these, yet thanks to great writing and voice acting this never took me out of the experience.
Video Game Review: Shin Megami Tensei IV Read Post »
Racing, overall, is too focused on knowing how to handle turns ahead of time on each track. Fortunately, there is a rewind button that avoided many frustrations. This rewind button has a limited number of uses, but even then I feel it offers too much freedom in how far back it can take you on the tracks.
Video Game Review: Grid 2 Read Post »
Matches fit this well as they go by very quickly. The player can only take 1-to-3 hits (usually two) based on what game type is played. Points are set up based on the number of times the player hits an enemy rather than number of kills, which gave more of a hit-and-run type of gameplay. There is also a tornado in the main match type that slowly closes in until only a small centre section of the area remains, further emphasizing quick matches.
Video Game Review: ShootMania Storm Read Post »
Actions outside of combat presented even more issues. Quick time events, which do not tell you which button to press (I still have no clue what to press when rockets come after me in mid-air), stealth sections with wonky controls and awkwardly climbing up walls combine to make the shorter, non-combat sections a chore. Also, if you are one of those people amused or disturbed by Team Ninja jiggle physics, the PS3 version lets you control them with Six-Axis motion controls, so buy accordingly.
Video Game Review: Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge Read Post »
All I can say for the graphics is that they deliver on the title. This is a very brown game, with tracks that — despite their different layouts — mostly ended up feeling the same when you’re actually racing through them. Outside of that there was nothing that stood out in either a positive or negative way. Everything got the job done, but nothing more.
Video Game Review: MUD – FIM Motocross World Championship Read Post »
The controls work perfectly except for two minor nitpicks. Catching the enemy off guard to counterattack requires you to press the block button at the same time the enemy makes contact. This worked most of the time, but almost exclusively during boss fights the animation would take too long for it to be pulled off. Alternating between special attacks was done using the d-pad or touch screen, and neither was accessible enough in the midst of combat.
Video Game Review: Castlevania: Mirror of Fate Read Post »
There were a couple of boss battles that exposed weaknesses in the controls as they would group wires too close to accurately jump onto the right one or throw too many obstacles to deal with, but overall I had almost no issues sneaking, pickpocketing and taking out enemies. Most mini games control very well, but I did have a few minor issues with the Sixaxis ones as it is hard to grasp a perfect sense of how far I needed to tilt the controller. Still, these are infrequent and designed in a way in which they are more nitpicky than anything else.
Video Game Review: Sly Cooper 4: Thieves in Time Read Post »
