Onelargeprawn
Runner games have recently earned a lot of popularity on portable devices for their “quick to get into” gameplay. Similarly, zombie games have also gained a lot of popularity lately, so of course it was about time that the two genres would mix. Enter Z-Run for the PlayStation Vita, a runner game featuring zombies. This should make everyone happy, right? Let’s find out.
Back in 2010, developers Press Play released a game called Max and the Magic Marker. The game invited players to draw and create parts of the levels to solve puzzles and complete the game. The sequel to the game has just landed on PC and Xbox360 (after having a bit of time to itself on the Xbox One). I accompany Max on his adventure to see what The Curse of Brotherhood actually is.
Hardcore anime and manga fans will most likely have heard of Hirohiko Araki’s Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, a story set across several generations of the Joestar family, the main character of which is always nicknamed Jojo. The rest of you non-otaku will in likelihood have never heard of it. It obviously doesn’t have the western popularity of, say, Naruto. So it seems odd that Namco Bandai managed to localize All Star Battle and bring it to an audience that, frankly, isn’t too aware of it. Let’s delve in a bit and see if we can solve this mystery.
Movie tie-in games are a dime a dozen, aren’t they? Very seldom are there good ones, and those that are usually aren’t tied to a specific movie release, but have had time to be polished and scrubbed (such as the brilliant Batman: Arkham series). This time around, and tied to the film release of Spider-Man 2, we have the video game. Does it fall into the same traps that so many tie-ins do, or will it be able to web-sling its way out of the mire of tie-in hell? Let’s find out.
Mario Kart has, since 1996, been one of the best casual racing games around, not just on Nintendo, but possibly across the gamut of consoles. It’s also the greatest example of rubberband racing you’ll ever come across. Now in its eighth iteration, it’s time once again to hit the tracks and see whether the latest in kart racing is a slow start, or a mad dash for the finish. (Ed: You enjoy coming up with these ridiculous puns, don’t you?)
TT Games certainly has been busy lately. Not too long ago we reviewed The Lego Movie Videogame, and hot on its heels comes the Lego version of The Hobbit. You might want to refer back to our review of Lego Lord of the Rings, because this is going to be a “what’s different” kind of review. Ready? Good…let’s break some things.
Hands up anyone who remembers playing Microprose’s Master of Magic way back in the mid-1980s. That few of you, huh? Ok, hands up those of you who regularly enjoy games such as Civilization. Ah, much better! Who would enjoy playing Civilization, but with magical spells, and set across a number of realms instead of a single map? Sceptical? Read on and let me tell you about Warlock 2, a new 4X game and the sequel to the original Warlock: Master of the Arcane.
If memory serves, we quite liked Castlevania: Lords of Shadow in 2010. It seems like an eternity but the wait for the game’s sequel is finally at hand. To recap, during the course of the prior Lords of Shadow game, the protagonist, Gabriel Belmont, had been turned into Dracula, or Dracul, or Drac, or D. Depends on how well you know him (according to Eddie Izzard, anyhow). Despite his death at the end of Mirror of Fate at the hands of his son and grandson, he somehow got better, and the story now continues in Lords of Shadow 2. Is this game meaty and juicy enough for you to sink your teeth into, or is it a dirty neck that’s likely to leave a bad taste in your mouth? I sharpen my fangs and find out.
In the dying days of the era of the SNES (1995, to be precise), a game called Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island debuted. What made the game fascinating, more so than many other games on the console, is that it used a chip inside the cartridge to perform graphical tricks that were heretofore unseen on the SNES. It was a masterpiece of a game, with a whimsical art style and brilliant new music, both of which were unseen in Mario games before. It was an instant hit, and went on to sell 4 million copies and keep the SNES afloat for a few more years. I remember playing it years ago and loving everything about the game. And of course, the term “Nintendo Hard” applied just as much to this game as other games that have earned this dubious honour. Yoshi’s Island saw a remake for the Nintendo Gameboy Advanced, and then again for the Nintendo DS. Now we have the game’s true sequel: Yoshi’s New Island for Nintendo 3DS. Is it as ground-breaking and amazing an experience as the first Yoshi’s Island game was? Let’s take a trip to the New Island and find out.