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Kid Icarus: Uprising

All images (except one) are 2D representations of 3D images.

I had yet to play a game on the 3DS that just blows my mind out my ears. I was starting to think that perhaps my brain would never be free from this cage of a head I have, until I played Kid Icarus: Uprising; suddenly my brain was blasted from my head. I had a chance to sit down with this game at a recent event showcasing Nintendo’s lineup for its loyal audience. Nintendo as of late has been focusing more on its core players with some very intense games. Even third party games such as Resident Evil: Revelations, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D and Tekken 3D: Prime Edition cater to those of us who froth at the mouth for awesome material. However, I respectfully submit that Kid Icarus: Uprising (if you’ll excuse the pun) rises above the rest.

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Review
Cooking Mama 4: Kitchen Magic

At any given time, there will be at least one person playing a Cooking Mama title on their DS while riding the subway; this is a scientific law*. And why not? Cooking Mama is, essentially, a mini-game based cookbook, taking recipes and teaching them using a gaming interface. Cooking Mama 4: Kitchen Magic is the latest in the addictive series and is the first of the bunch made specifically for the 3DS – but it is not necessarily the greatest. Let’s take a look at why Cooking Mama 4 is not as tasty as it could have been.

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Review
Nano Assault

Shin’en Multimedia’s Nano Assault for the 3DS (published my Majesco) is what you get if you were to combine Starship Troopers with Inner Space*. Your mission is to pilot a small ship armed with lasers through a treacherous micro-verse (around and inside alien cell clusters) and destroy an out-of-control virus. Does this sound like a fun shoot-em-up? It should – because it is!

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Review
Mario Kart 7

All pics in this article are 2D representations of 3D images.

A group of colourful characters, some good and some not-so-good, fight it out to establish their supremacy; MK7 is here! Of course, I’m not talking about Mortal Kombat; I am referring to the newest title in the other MK franchise: Mario Kart 7. In light of the awesomeness that is Super Mario 3D Land, does this latest foray manage to stay ahead of the pack? Or is it the pits?

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Review
Super Mario 3D Land

Remember: all pics here are 2D representations of 3D. Don’t complain or I will ground pound you.

It is always challenging to review Super Mario titles; while there are a whole whack-ton of them, they are all just so damned good. Of course, there is a big pile of expectation placed on our plumber friend’s shoulders due to the fact the his latest adventure, Super Mario 3D Land, is a first party title on a relatively new platform (that has some less-than-stellar titles available for it since launch). Of course, there are other great titles available already; but there is just something about Mario that brings out the best in Nintendo hardware; it really defies description. This 3DS title is no exception, no matter which dimension you’re looking at.

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Review
James Noir’s Hollywood Crimes

Puzzle games tend to be my downfall – in a good way. I have enjoyed solving all kinds of puzzles since I was a kid; the more obscure the puzzle, the more fun I have in the search for a solution. Tying in puzzle-play with a cinematic narrative is not a new concept. Traditional games that had limited 3D-rendered graphics (The 7th Guest or the Tex Murphy series, for instance) relied on a strong story coupled with puzzles that were challenging to give the user a worthy experience. Ubisoft’s 3DS title, James Noir’s Hollywood Crimes, struck me as being similar to those addictive games of the past, with a few differences.

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Event
Super Mario 3D Land in’a New York!

Today, at Times Square, Military Island was turned into Mario’s 3D world. People were able to step into a real-life video-game in the middle of New York City. There was a life-sized warp pipe, trampoline coin jump and even a flagpole at the end! Fans and non-fans alike got to play the game before release. We just thought that this was a neat event!

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Event
Nintendo Holiday Preview – Super Mario 3D Land

I have a confession to make: I didn’t really enjoy New Super Mario Brothers Wii. I felt the controls were not nearly as precise as they should be; everything was so floaty and slow. I was pretty disappointed, especially after playing Super Mario Galaxy 2 (the greatest game ever made). But you know, as adults we put bad experiences behind us and move on, right? No! it all came flooding back after I went hands-on with Super Mario 3D Land. It was like Vietnam flashbacks of slight annoyance.

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Event
Nintendo Holiday Preview – Mario Kart 7

Mario Kart games are a socialite’s dream. I can’t count how many Mario Kart parties I’ve had and with the release of Mario Kart 7 I may need to clean my basement because more parties are to come. I recently had a chance to sit down with Mario Kart 7 for the Nintendo 3DS and I’m here to tell you that it’s a game you’ll definitely want to pick up.

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Review
Professor Layton and the Last Specter

Lately, the days have been getting shorter and the air grows cooler with each passing week. People are starting to wear warmer clothes as they shuffle through the red, yellow and orange piles of dried leaves that are spread across the ground like an autumn blanket. It is that time of the year again, when the latest title in the Professor Layton series sits snugly in the cartridge slot of my DS; somehow, the air doesn’t feel so cold as I unravel the mystery in the intrepid professor’s latest adventure in the strange town of Misthallery.

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Posted in 3DS, DS, DSi, DSi XL, Reviews | 2 Comments »