Review: Codename: S.T.E.A.M. (3DS)

If you like Valkyria Chronicles, you are going to like this game. Maybe Fire Emblem or Advance Wars are more your thing? Codename: S.T.E.A.M. might be a good fit. Even if you have never played or heard of those games, keep reading because it still might be the kind of game you like.

S.T.E.A.M. stands for Strike Team to Eliminate the Alien Menace. That pretty much sums up what you need to do.

Instead of a top down view of a map in many traditional turn-based strategy games, Codename S.T.E.A.M. lets you view the game world from on the ground which is unique and refreshing.

The single player campaign in this game is great and balanced (much like the rest of the game). There are all kinds of missions and new aliens are doled out to you at a reasonable rate.

Review: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D (3DS)

The Zelda franchise is one of my personal favourites, so I have been anticipating the remake of Majora's Mask on the 3DS. Typically criticized as the strangest Zelda and perhaps the most unusual, Majora's Mask takes players on an emotional journey where they are confronted with happiness, grief, and in extreme cases, even death.

It's hard not to give away a few plot spoilers (for a game originally released back in 2000) when reviewing Majora's Mask -- you have been warned.

Review: Super Smash Bros. for 3DS (3DS)

If I ever built a time machine the first stop would be 1992 to pay a visit to myself, fully charged 3DS in hand. I'd leap out of dark alley and hit myself with a rolled-up copy of EGM. While my past self was dazed I'd snap open my 3DS and show my past self Super Smash Bros. (for 3DS). Besides being impressed by the tech -- especially compared to the current GameBoy, the Game Gear, or the Atari Lynx -- my 1992 brain would implode with the thought that Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, Donkey Kong, Mega Man, Pac Man, Samus, Starfox, and that crazy new character Kirby (and a gaggle of other characters) could be in one game.

Review: Kirby: Triple Deluxe (3DS)

Ring them bells, Kirby!

If ever there was a character that stands for unbridled and dangerous consumerism, it's Kirby. The pink, cheery little puff-ball, consumes anything and everything (preferably living things). The unrepentant bastard inhales bug creatures no more threatening than a houseplant then has the temerity to absorb their power to fit to his own dark whims. So, no matter how cute, pink or cartoony the action is, the game continually reminds the player that given enough time, Kirby could consume the universe...

...and never once think about going to the bathroom.

Consumerism will undoubtedly destroy us all!

Review: Bravely Default (3DS)

There are few genres in the video game world that can create extreme polarization like role-playing games. Either you love them or you avoid them like the plague. I'll assume, for the sake of this review, you love them and that is what has brought you here.

First off, if you loved the early Final Fantasy games then you are going to feel right at home here. Often billed as the spiritual successor to Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, the game uses a job and battle system similar to what you would find in Final Fantasy V. Although the characters and towns are different, it's going to feel very similar to what you would have experienced in either of the former titles.

Review: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS)

The Zelda franchise may not sell as well as Mario games do, but that's partly because the games are directed at a more hardcore audience. Where Mario is accessible and enjoyable to all ages, Zelda games are more intense (and arguably more violent) and require a different kind of attention. With the Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Nintendo is trying to attract a more well-rounded audience that skews to a younger crowd on the 3DS. In doing so, they have made a game that appeals to those familiar with the franchise and those just stepping in for the first time.

Review: Jewel Master: Cradle of Egypt 2 3D (3DS)

Puzzle games that are addictive tend to get copied a lot. Such is the case of Tetris, and later another less-known (but also Russian developed) game called Shariki. Shariki was the original inspiration for what would eventually become Bejewelled, and  thus an entire generation of what is collectively known as "match three" games was born.

Jewel Master: Cradle of Egypt 2 is another game in the Jewel Master series, of which over a quarter million games have been sold. Built upon the basics of a match-three game it does add some extra elements in to make things a little more exciting.

Review: LEGO Legends of Chima - Laval's Journey (3DS)

I'm pretty sure I've made this observation with another LEGO game or maybe I read it in someone else's review, but the never-slowing flow of LEGO games can only be explained by the existence of a LEGO Algorithm that developers are using to change a few variables, spin and dial, drop in some different textures and ka-ching! A new LEGO game!

Maybe such a theory is cynical at best and "just being a jerk" at worst, but I have no other explanation for the way it feels like Science was somehow employed in being able to produce a spate of games that so successfully reuses the same tried and tested formula.

Review: Naruto Powerful Shippuden (3DS)

Every once in a while a game comes along that takes every opportunity to slap the player in the face. In a nutshell, that's Naruto Powerful Shippuden, a game that constantly hits below the belt with utterly arbitrary challenges that encourage hair-pulling frustration and grinding levels to earn experience points (XP) to upgrade skills and unlock more skills.

Review: Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D (3DS)

From my 2010 Wii review of Donkey Kong Country Returns:

"Stop rolling into the pits!" 

This happened to me again and again. For some reason, to perform the ground attack a player has to quickly shake the Wii Remote. That's fine. However, if you happen to be moving forward at the time, you'll roll forward. That's good for attacking enemies and bashing things but it's also a very efficient way to send you wheeling into a hole. There are some really tricky platforming elements in the game and the inability to just press a button to perform this action makes some areas far more difficult than they needed to be.

Review: Luigi's Mansion - Dark Moon (3DS)

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon is more than just a philosophical examination of life after death, a treatise on the supernatural and otherwordly; things unseen by the naked eye that brings to question God and the nature of existence; what it means to be human; and the boundary between what is Real and what imagined things hide in the shadows.

The game also has some swell puzzles.

It’s the puzzles that blunt the edge of the stabbing (cute) terror that dogs Luigi at every turn. Enlisted by Professor E. Gad to reassemble the Dark Moon artifact to bring some semblance of normality to Evershade Valley, Luigi takes up his Poltergust 5000 – it both sucks and blows – to clear out mansion after mansion of otherworldly and not-so-otherwordly creatures he'll come across many puzzles.

Review: Fire Emblem - Awakening (3DS)

Fire Emblem is a series that unfortunately is not nearly as popular as it should be. It’s extremely well known among the hardcore fans of role-playing strategy. Though the series dates back to the 1990's, it's still perceived as a niche title for those that love a challenge.

Fire Emblem is well known for its perma-death aspect. If you make the wrong move, the game isn't afraid to slap the player and you’ll lose characters for the entirety of your game. This promotes careful decision making, and really enforces the tactical aspect of the gameplay.

Review: Paper Mario: Sticker Star (3DS)

It took more than a couple of hours for me to really shake the feeling that Paper Mario: Sticker Star did itself a disservice somehow when it came to the abandonment of the role-playing aspects that I remember from the other Paper Mario games. Gaining experience points and grinding for items are just two things that are missing from Sticker Star. Even if the rest of the game is actually relatively good, all things considered,  it's no role-playing game.

Review: New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS)

"In [the Mushroom Kingdom], you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women."

- Tony Montana (Scarface, 1983; paraphrased)

New Super Mario Bros. 2 certainly takes a more serious and dramatic turn when it's viewed through the lens of Brian de Palma's ode to drug-fuelled, mid '80s, Cuban gangsters in Miami. It's still a Mario game as it's traditionally known. It's a side-scrolling platformer where goombas are flattened, blocks smashed, turtle shells hurled, and tricky platforms navigated by, what else, jumping. And the coins... so many coins.

Review: Resident Evil: Revelations (3DS)

If you easily get seasick, this horror zombie adventure from Capcom is unlikely to go over well. If you are sensitive to 3D at all, it will just make the experience that much worse.

First, a little background. Revelations is set in the year 2005 (between Resident Evil 4 and 5). The story revolves around Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield, who you might remember from the first game. Jill and Parker are sent to search for Chris and Jessica on the “SS Queen Zenobia”, which is a cruise ship that serves as the main setting for the game. The typical storytelling crutches such as flashbacks are used to “flesh out” the story (sorry for that pun) which is told via a third-person perspective (although you can switch to first person if you wish).

Review: Kid Icarus: Uprising (3DS)

As of this writing, Kid Icarus: Uprising was released months ago. Whatever else I write about it should be taken in that light; it has been the portable game I keep coming back to even at this late date. That accounts for the tardiness of this review. Once a review is complete, there's usually no reason (and no time) for me to return to a game unless the multiplayer pulls me in or there's some significant new content available for it.

That's what I've been using to excuse myself from writing the review. "I'm still playing it!" I tell myself. "I can't possibly be ready to write the review."

Review: Mario Tennis Open (3DS)

The good thing about Nintendo Character GamesTM is that it's a almost a given that it will be an enjoyable experience. ("Almost" because the Mario Party games can be hit or huge miss.) Mario Strikers Charged, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Kart, Mario Golf and Mario Tennis do a great job capitalizing on the most popular Nintendo characters and as a result, or more likely because of it, a lot of care and attention go into the games to make them pleasant games.