1. Electronics & Gadgets

Nintendo Wii Game Reviews

Our reviews will tell you which Wii games you need and which ones you need to avoid.
  1. Game Story Spoiler Reviews (1)

9 Fancy-Schmancy Controllers and the Wii Games That Need Them

Sometimes a Wii remote just isn't enough. Here are some of the fancier controllers that have found their way to the Wii.

Major League Baseball 2K12 - Game Review

A look at a rather unexciting sports title.

Mario Party 9 - Game Review

A look at Nintendo's latest party game, Mario Party 9, which pushes Mario Party 8 into the dustbin of history.

PokePark 2: Wonders Beyond - Game Review

A look at the latest Wii Pokemon Game.

Rhythm Heaven Fever - Game Review

A look at a game all about tricky beats and quirky action.

The Half & Half Review: Centipede Infestation/Nowhere

A look at two games that don't quite deserve reviews of their own.

Ben 10 Galactic Racing - Game Review

Fan of Ben 10? You'll have to be to put up with this game.

Fortune Street - Game Review

A look at Nintendo's Monopoly-inspired virtual board game.

Happy Feet 2: The Video Game - Game Review

Will this movie-licensed video game with a musical theme get your foot tapping or leave you cold.

Saban’s Power Rangers Samurai - Game Review

A look at yet another game licensed from some lame TV series. Does it live down to its source?

The Top 10 Wii Action-Adventure Games

A look at the 10 best action-adventure games released for the Wii.

Get Up and Dance - Game Review

This "Just Dance" clone boldly goes where a whole slew of games have gone before. How does it do?

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - Game Review

Activision brings another CoD game to the Wii; find out if it meets expectations.

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games - Game Review

Mario and Sonic are back with another Olympics-themed Party Game.

Back to the Future: The Game - Game Review

A look at the latest Telltale Game, a sequel to the Back to the Future Trilogy.

Fishing Resort

My take on the latest Japanese fishing game for the WIi.

The Kore Gang: Outvasion from Inner Earth - Game Review

A look at an obscure platformer with a troubled history.

Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7 - Game Review

A look at Harry Potter's final days in a Lego Hogwarts.

Active Life: Magical Carnival - Game Review

A look at the latest - and least - game in the series.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - Game Review

A review of the greatest game ever made for the Nintendo Wii.

Spider-Man: Edge of Time - Game Review

A look at the bad and the good of the latest Spider-Man game.

Family Game Night 4: The Game Show - Game Review

A look at the latest Hasbro-themed mini-game collection from EA.

Bass Pro Shops: The Hunt - Trophy Showdown - Game Review

A non-hunter goes hunting, with mixed results.

Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventures - Game Review

A look at a fun game that wants to empty your wallet.

Disney Universe - Game Review

"Disney Universe" tries to prove you don't need Legos to Make a Lego Game. Do they succeed?

Just Dance 3 - Game Review

A look at the latest game in the popular series.

Kirby's Return to Dream Land - Game Review

Kirby goes to his roots in this old school platformer.

Go Vacation

Review of a game that does a lot right ... and a lot wrong.

Unreviews 2010 - The Games I Didn't Review and Why

A quick round up of games I did not review this year. Some of these games are good and some are bad, but what they have in common is that I didn’t play more than a couple of hours of any of them. So my comments can only be taken as a review of the game’s early part.

uDraw Pictionary - Game Review

Will pencil and paper eventually become obsolete? Surely the makers of 'uDraw Pictionary' are banking on it, because as much fun as the game is, it is still arguably less fun than the pencil-and-paper game that inspired it.

Donkey Kong Country Returns - Game Review

It is hard to fault the platformer 'Donkey Kong Country Returns,' even if you don’t like it, simply because it so clearly is exactly the game it set out to be. Brilliantly designed, beautifully constructed and endlessly creative, this is a lovingly crafted game. It’s also crazy hard, but it is clear that this is a conscious choice of the...

Disney Epic Mickey - Game Review

Mickey Mouse runs rampant through a cartoon world with paint and paint thinner in one of the best games ever made for the Wii.

Tony Hawk: Shred

For me, Tony Hawk has always been about crashing through plate glass windows. The early Tony Hawk skateboarding games were fanciful concoctions in which the extreme sports star would skate through fragile windows and collapsing floors. Tony Hawk: Shred reminds me of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 and 4, letting players crash onto collapsible roofs,...

Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit

Sometimes it’s the little things that indicate how much care has been taken in the creation of a game. Of course, the big things are also important, and if a game fails in both the big small facets of game design, it looks a lot like the Wii racing game Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, a game apparently made by people who just really didn’t care.

Sonic Colors - Game Review

In 1991, Sega released the first game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, fast-paced side-scrollers in which a speedy animal races through elaborate paths and battles fiendish villains. In 1996, Sega released the first 3D Sonic game. And in 2010, 14 years later, Sega released the first fully successful 3D Sonic game. It is called Sonic Colors,...

GoldenEye 007 - Game Review

Should the new GoldenEye 007 for the Wii have simply ported the design of the original 1997 classic N64 game of the same name, or was it better to create a new game with more up-to-date gameplay? I don’t know, and more importantly, I don’t care.

NBA Jam - Game Review

One of the charms of video games is the way they make you feel you are actually doing something. Arcade basketball game ''NBA Jam perfectly illustrates this: every time I made a shot, leaping ten feet in the air and slamming the ball through the hoop or softly tossing the ball so that it gently glided through the net with a swish, I felt like I...

Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Game Review

There are certain things in life that everyone is expected to love. Eric Clapton's guitar stylings, Meryl Streep's acting, Picasso's paintings. These are things all right-thinking people admire above all other things. And yet, Clapton is far from my favorite guitarist, I've only liked Streep in a couple of movies, and I just don't get Picasso at all. Worse than all that, I don't think "Super …

Red Steel 2 - Game Review

Few sequels have less to do with their precursor’s than the action game 'Red Steel 2,' which tosses out the original’s premise, setting, visual look, and gameplay structure, keeping only the use of swords and guns and the words “red” and “steel.” Throw out those two words, and not a single person on the planet would realize the two games were...

Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon - Game Review

In a post-apocalyptic world, a teenage boy does what any boy would on a desolate planet: he tries to pick up a girl. But all through the beautifully-named role playing game Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon he never stops to wonder: Is she really worth all this trouble?

Max and the Magic Marker - Game Review

It is often said that the pen is mightier than the sword, but it turns out it’s not nearly as mighty as the felt-tipped marker. At least, that is lesson of the WiiWare puzzle game Max and the Magic Marker.

'The Calling' - Game Review

Sure, little girls seem cute and perky when they’re alive, but just let one die and she becomes a vessel of vicious, unrelenting fury that drags the innocent and guilty alike into an unimaginable nightmare. At least that seems to be the case in Japan, where the angry, stringy-haired ghost girl is a staple of horror movies. Creepy dead girls...

'Endless Ocean: Blue World' - Game Review

It’s hard to know how to describe Endless Ocean: Blue World. A scuba diving simulator? An underwater Tomb Raider? An interactive nature documentary? A really easy adventure game? A very long music video for the band Celtic Woman?

'Tomena Sanner' - Game Review

It always happens this way. You’ve got on your suit, you’re running to work, and suddenly your path is blocked by ninjas, aliens, break dancers and uniformed schoolgirls. At least that’s how it always happens in Tomena Sanner, a quirky Japanese WiiWare game that involves nothing more than pressing one button at just the right time.

'No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle' - Game Review

Travis Touchdown swings his sword, slicing cleanly through his attacker’s neck. Blood gushes like a red geyser as the head hurtles straight up into the air then lands back on the neck before the body can fall. That head lands so neatly, in fact, that it opens its mouth and starts threatening Travis. In the action game 'No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle,' this is how the world works.

Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces - Game Review

'Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces', is a flight combat game that soars like an eagle, breezing through the clouds, swooping and looping and gliding effortlessly. At least that’s true in terms of gameplay. In terms of story, the game manages to get off the ground only to hurtle back down to earth like a stone, breaking into pieces, bursting into flames and leaving nothing but ashes.

'Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars' - Game Review

In which I discovered 2D fighters still have a place in our 3D world.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers

It is said that if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, chances are it’s a duck. Something similar can be said about Final Fantasy games, which are distinguished not by recurring characters or locations but simply by a look and a feel and a general approach to gameplay. The Crystal Bearers certainly captures more of the feel of the...

'Silent Hill: Shattered Memories' - Game Review

'Silent Hill: Shattered Memories' is the latest chapter in the long-running horror-survival series. I came into the game feeling a certain amount of skepticism, and by the end I’m still feeling pretty ambivalent, but Memories is certainly one of the more ambitious and well-made games for the Wii.

New Super Mario Bros. - Review

When my 8 year old nephew Jack saw that I had the platformer "New Super Mario Bros." in my hand, his eyes widened and he shrieked in glee. Had I known what to expect when my editor handed me the game, I would have done the same. "New Super Mario Bros.," it turns out, is a beautifully modernized revisiting of the classic NES and Super NES Mario games of my youth!

A Boy and His Blob - Game Review

Life would be so much easier if I had my own shape-shifting blob. When I needed to change a light bulb I could turn my blob into a ladder, when I needed to exercise I could turn it into barbells. I never knew I needed a blob until I played the puzzle game 'A Boy and His Blob,' but now I feel my life is not complete without one.

DJ Hero - Game Review

Going into a club and being assaulted by the insistent, bone-shaking metronome thump of modern dance music has always struck me as a thoroughly unpleasant experience, so I wasn’t especially excited by the prospect of playing "DJ Hero," a rhythm game in which players use a turntable peripheral to mix dance music. I was pleasantly surprised; played at a reasonable volume, the game’s music mash-…

Lego Rock Band - Game Review

A review of the latest, Lego-themed entry in the 'Rock Band' series.

Spore Hero - Game Review

Do I like Spore Hero? It’s a difficult question to answer. Certainly I found it interesting. At times I found myself unable to stop playing, engaged by a constant stream of new things to do and new skills that opened up new areas of the game. Beset by a slew pre-Christmas Wii titles, I chose Hero as the most intriguing of the bunch. And yet, I am not completely certain whether I actual…

The Secret Saturdays: Beasts of the 5th Sun - Game Review

I’ve never heard of the Cartoon Network series The Secret Saturdays, but it appears whoever created the show has strange, esoteric interests. How else to explain why the series is built around cryptozoology, which is the study of creatures like the Yetiwho may or may not exist, or why the video game based on that series, The Secret Saturdays: Beasts of the 5th Sun, centers on the belief of the…

LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias - Game Review

I hate this game. I hate this game so much. I just want to make it absolutely, positively clear: I hate LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias.

Dead Space: Extraction - Game Review

When I started playing the rail shooter "Dead Space: Extraction", I was instantly riveted by the game’s jittery camera work, intriguing story and exhilarating action. Yet, two days after completing the game I barely remember it. Why is that?

MySims Agents - Game Review

Kid’s games. For me, the phrase brings to mind tedious exercises in bland, cloying dialogue, nonsensical stories and dumbed-down, poorly implemented gameplay; games no one over ten could enjoy. But sometimes, just sometimes, a game aimed at children is just plain fun. Such is the case with "MySims Agents".

Wii Fit Plus - Game Review

Nintendo has taken Wii Fit and added a bunch of exercises and mini-games: the result: Wii Fit Plus.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade - Game Review

With dragonflies flitting through fields of tall grasses and waves crashing on pristine beaches, gorgeous pink-orange sunsets and rain pouring down in slanted sheets of water. "Muramasa: The Demon Blade" is a game for lovers of scenery.

Metroid Prime Trilogy - Game Review

When Metroid Prime Trilogy was announced, I realized it would be my opportunity to solve a small mystery: why didn’t I like Metroid Prime 3: Corruption?

Guitar Hero 5 - Game Review

I received Guitar Hero 5 the same day I received The Beatles: Rock Band, so I called up my friends and asked if they would like to come over and try out a little of both games. The first group of friends refused to play anything except the Beatles game, so I set up a second play date with the express understanding that we would give Guitar Hero...

Tales of Monkey Island: The Siege of Spinner Cay - Game Review

I'll tell you this is a great game, but that's all I'll tell you!

Beatles Rock Band - Game Review

Beatles Rock Band is the best band rhythm game of all time. The worst part of the game; trying to get your friends to go home.

Cursed Mountain - Game Review

Sometimes, late at night, a gamer playing a survival horror game will scream out in fright. But if you hear someone scream while playing Cursed Mountain, they’re not scared; they’re furious.

Spectrobes: Origins - Game Review

A headstrong boy and his sensible girl partner go on an adventure in outer space where they learn the importance of teamwork and friendship. If that strikes you as just the sort of original, powerful storyline you are craving, then you are just the ten-year-old the role-playing game Spectrobes: Origins is looking for.

Let's Tap - Game Review

I’m not exactly sure why my friends David and Yi wound up playing the party game Let’s Tap at my apartment. When I asked them a couple of weeks ago if they were interested in playing a game in which you put the Wii remote on a box and tap the box with your fingers to control the game, which I thought was a really cool idea, they both made a face and shook their heads.

Overlord: Dark Legend - Game Review

A reviewer goes through the five stages of playing Overlord: Dark Legend: Excitement, enjoyment, confusion, sadness and anger.

Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal - Game Review

No one could have been more excited to see a new Monkey Island adventure game than Mimi. A friend of mine who played her first Monkey Island game when she was 11 years old, Mimi was so excited at the prospect of a new game in the series, nine years after the last one, that I invited her and her boyfriend Jeff to come over and play Tales of...

Wii Sports Resort - Game Review

Unless you bought your Wii used, it came with Nintendo’s "Wii Sports," a game that brilliantly showcases the abilities of the Wii’s motion sensitive remote by letting players swing a virtual bat or a golf club with a sweep of that remote. It was so much fun that many people didn’t bother buying another game for months. But once you’ve played the sequel, "Wii Sports Resort," you may never want to play Wii Sports again.

Grand Slam Tennis - Game Review

The ball speeds towards me. I pull my remote back and swing it in a graceful arc. My tennis playing avatar wiggles her racket then seemingly gives up on the ball, watching it pass by disinterestedly. I yell something obscene. This isn’t what always happens in EA Sports’ Grand Slam Tennis. To be fair, it isn’t what even happens most of the...

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - Game Review

Movie tie-in video games are generally made much too quickly, since they need to come out simultaneously with the movie. The result is short, shoddy games. So the developers of the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince game lucked out when the movie’s release date was pushed back eight months. Those eight months gave developers a chance to...

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 - Game Review

Athletes only have so many years at the top before they are betrayed by their aging bodies. Fortunately for Tiger Woods, the videogame series named for him is improving even as he is declining. Games like Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 are so good that they will continue coming out in a future where the only time Tiger picks up a club is to play...

The Conduit - Game Review

I think it’s great that Sega is committed to putting out games for core gamers. With so many publishers pumping out tedious mini-game collections or bland casual games, it’s nice that someone is really taking the Wii seriously as a gaming platform, especially since even Nintendo often gives short shrift to core gaming. Now that I’ve praised...

EA Sports Active - Game Review

Some people love working out at the gym. There is something about the sweat and strain that just makes them feel good. I am not one of these people; I work out not because I enjoy it, but because in between workouts I feel stronger and less prone to aches and pains. EA Sports Active is just like working out in the gym; it makes me sweat, it...

Boom Blox Bash Party - Game Review

Some games should not be played alone, and that is particularly true of any game with “party” in the title. Case in point: puzzle game Boom Blox Bash Party. Sit on the couch by yourself playing the single player mode and you might dismiss Bash Party as a middling casual game, but invite a few people over and the game becomes something quite different; an excuse to mock your friends.

The Munchables - Game Review

It would be difficult to live in a world where your lunch was trying to kill you. But such is life in Namco-Bandai’s The Munchables, a game in which food fights back.

New Play Control! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat - Game Review

It was a strange idea that worked. In New Play Control! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Nintendo has dropped the bongos of the original in favor of a straightforward Wii control scheme that proves you don’t need to hit a plastic drum to have fun.

Punch-Out!! - Game Review

A look at Punch-Out!!, a high-energy Boxing game from Next Level Games that can combine the Wii remote and Wii balance board into something that is both a fun game and a strenuous workout.

Klonoa - Game Review

Sometimes, when reviewers critique a remake of a game they first played long ago, it is difficult to tell whether they are reviewing the game itself or their fond memories of the original. A case in point is "Klonoa", a Wii remake of the 1998 platformer "Klonoa: Door to Phantomile." "Klonoa" is an enjoyable game, but as someone who has never played the original, I can’t help but feel reviewers who have are a little more impressed than they should be.

ExciteBots: Trick Racing - Game Review

The weird thing about Monster Games’ ExciteBots: Trick Racing is not that a giant metallic preying mantis runs up to the start line on its hind legs, sprouts wheels and turns into a racing car. The weird thing is the game was not made by the Japanese, who seem to base half their games on dreams and hallucinogenic experimentation, but by a bunch of folks living in the oh-so-practical state of Minnesota.

Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars – The Director's Cut Game Review

I don’t know when the term director's cut stopped meaning a work re-edited to fulfill the director’s original intent before it was subverted by second-guessing or budgetary restraints to a work padded out with rejected ideas and outtakes to make it seem like something new, but I do know that Revolution Software’s adventure game Broken...

Marble Saga: Kororinpa - Game Review

2007’s puzzle game "Kororinpa: Marble Mania" was an excellent third of a game masquerading as an entire one. Now Hudson Entertainment has returned with a second installment, "Marble Saga: Kororinpa", which happily turns out to be not just the other two thirds of the original, but a complete game actually worth its asking price.

Pro Evolution Soccer - Game Review

It is surprising how emotionally involved one can become in the journeys of a small, inflated ball constructed of synthetic leather. As I played PES 2009: Pro Evolution Soccer, I began yelling “no, no, wait!” every time the ball was speeding towards the goal I was defending. When it was on the other side, I was hunched forward, eager, determined; if one of my players kicked that ball into the goal, I cheered, laughed and taunted my opponents.

"New Play Control! Pikmin" Game Review

A review of the strategy game New Play Control! Pikmin for the Nintendo Wii

MadWorld - Game Review

A game review of MadWorld, a Fighting/Action game for the Wii.

SimAnimals - Game Review

Game Review of the strategy/god game SimAnimals for the Nintendo Wii

Tenchu: Shadow Assassins - Game Review

Review of the Stealth Game Tenchu: Shadow Assassins for the Nintendo Wii.

Deadly Creatures - Game Review

A review of Deadly Creatures, an action game for the Nintendo Wii

House of the Dead: Overkill - Game Review

A review of the rail shooter House of the Dead: Overkill for the Nintendo Wii

Word Jong Party - Game Review

A review of the word game WordJong for the Nintendo Wii.

Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 2: Strong Badia the Free

A review of the Nintendo Wii adventure game Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 2: Strong Badia the Free

Wii Music - Game Review

A review of the music game Wii Music

Fishing Master World Tour - Game Review

A review of the fishing game Fishing Master World Tour for the Nintendo Wii

World of Goo - Game Review

A review of the WiiWare puzzle game World of Goo for the Nintendo Wii

Deer Drive - Game Review

Hunting.about.com's review of Deer Drive.

Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore 2 - Game Review

A review of the singing game Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore 2 for the Nintendo Wii

Sonic Unleashed - Game Review

A review of the action-adventure game Sonic Unleashed for the Nintendo Wii

Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek - Game Review

The Adventure Game Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek Comes to the Wii - Video Game Review

Skate It - Game Review

A review of the Wii skateboarding video game Skate It

Sam & Max: Season 1 - Game Review

Review of Sam & Max: Season 1, an adventure game the Wii

Tomb Raider: Underworld - Game Review

Review of the action adventure video game Tomb Raider: Underworld for the Wii

Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip - Game Review

Video game review of Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip for the Nintendo Wii

Call of Duty: World at War Game Review

Review of the Wii version of the Video Game Call of Duty: World at War

Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels for the Nintendo Wii - Video Game Rev

Video game review of the sword fighting game Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels for the Nintendo Wii

Guitar Hero: World Tour - Video Game Review

A review of the Nintendo Wii version of Guitar Hero: World Tour

"FIFA Soccer 09 All-Play" - Video Game Review

Game review of Electronic Arts' FIFA Soccer 09 All-Play for the Nintendo Wii

Circus Games - Game Review

Review of the mini-game collection Circus Games for the Nintendo Wii game Console

"Game Party 2" Video Game Review

Video game review of the mini-game collection Game Party 2 for the Nintendo Wii

Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party 2 Video Game Review

Video game review of Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party 2, a rhythm game for the Wii

"De Blob" Video Game Review

Review of De Blob, a platformer for the Nintendo Wii Video Game Console

"Samba de Amigo" Game Review

Review of rhythm video game Samba de Amigo for the Wii

"Active Life: Outdoor Challenge" Review

Video game review of the Wii game Active Life: Outdoor Challenge

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Game Review

Video game review of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

'Order Up!' Game Review

Review of Order Up! cooking video game

Big Beach Sports Video Game Review

Big Beach Sports Video Game Review for Nintendo Wii

'Chocobo's Dungeon' Game Review

Game review of Chocobo's Dungeon for the Nintendo Wii

'Speed Racer' Game Review

Game review of Speed Racer for the Nintendo Wii.

No More Heroes - My Review in the New York Times

My review of No More Heroes, plus a couple of non-Wii games.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands - Game Review

"Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands" begins with an unusually exciting tutorial chapter in which the titular prince must escape ruins as they quickly sink into the sand. Following a little golden tinker-bell like creature, the prince leaps from building to building, climbing quickly as the sands rise. Reaching a dead end, sinking quickly, the creature tells the prince that if he trusts her, h…

And Yet It Moves - Game Review

With a title that sounds like a line from a poem and a paper collage visual style, one might expect "And Yet It Moves" to be an “art” game along the lines of "The Path" or "Every Day the Same Dream." Instead, AYIM is an indie puzzle game that puts a twist on a familiar genre, not breaking the rules of video games but simply upending and thus refreshing them.

Metroid: Other M - Game Review

Samus, the 6’ 3” bounty hunter heroine of the Metroid series, has always been the strong, silent type. With her heavily armored space suit and...

"Ivy the Kiwi?" - Game Review

Ivy, a chick who may or may not be a kiwi, needs to find its mother. For some reason, this involves running through a series of brick mazes to...

Trauma Team - Game Review

A brilliant surgeon is let out of prison to perform a special operation. An orthopedist moonlights as a masked avenger. A diagnostician bonds with a very smart machine. A medical examiner confronts her own mortality. These are the stories of Trauma Team, a quirky medical simulator that combines arcade medical procedures with ghosts, talking...

Kirby’s Epic Yarn - Game Review

You really can’t get much cuter than "Kirby’s Epic Yarn," a platformer from Nintendo in which a yarn hero takes on yarn monsters in a world of cloth. Yarn is the quintessential Nintendo product, a family-friendly mix of the surreal and the adorable.

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock - Game Review

The one thing that can be said unequivocally about 'Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock' is that the story is really dumb. Unless, that is, you are a 14-year-old boy into comic books about heavy metal, in which case it might be really cool. But for the rest of us, it’s about as dumb as you can get.

'Just Dance 2' Game Review

While 'Just Dance' was a huge hit for the Nintendo Wii, it would be stretching the truth to say that it was a game as the word is generally used. While games can be won by skill or luck, Just Dance could not really be won by either, owing to a scoring system that seemed almost oblivious to the player’s movements. Now, 'Just Dance 2' has come...

DJ Hero 2 - Game Review

While Activision’s 'Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock tried to lure players in with an elaborate story, their other new rhythm game, 'DJ Hero 2,' takes the opposite approach. Relentlessly anti-story, the game portrays the life of a DJ as one in which you go to clubs, wave at the audience in exactly the same way every time and then mash up a bunch...

uDraw Pictionary - Game Review

Will pencil and paper eventually become obsolete? Surely the makers of 'uDraw Pictionary' are banking on it, because as much fun as the game is, it is still arguably less fun than the pencil-and-paper game that inspired it.

Rock Band 3 - Game Review

In which our hero plays keyboards in the rhythm game 'Rock Band 3' while pining for the instruments that are not his.

Alice in Wonderland - Video Game Review

Few things are so despised among serious gamers as movie tie-in games. Quickly and shoddily made, they take the movie’s characters, put in some generic gameplay and throw in random scenes from the movie that are meaningless out of context. So while 'Alice in Wonderland' is not the best game to come out for the Wii this year, its developers,...

Lost in Shadow - Game Review

When Peter Pan lost his shadow when a slammed window sliced it off, it lays in a drawer until he retrieves it. The puzzle-platformer Lost in Shadow has a different take on the life of a severed shadow; after being violently sliced from a young boy by a sword-wielding knight and tossed off a high tower, the boy’s shadow rises and heads back up...

Mario Sports Mix - Game Review

I always hated dodgeball when I was a kid. To me it seemed like a sport designed by sadists for sadists in which the whole point was to see how much pain you could cause with a big rubber ball. So I wasn’t too excited to see that one of the four sports in developer Square Enix’s "Mario Sports Mix" was dodgeball. But as I’ve often noticed in...

De Blob 2 - Game Review

After failing to conquer and bleach colorful Chroma City with his vast army, one wouldn’t think dictator Comrade Black could do much damage as a wanted fugitive hiding out in neighboring Prisma City. Yet, attempts by the globular protagonist of De Blob 2 reveal in his wake a strange cult that rejects color in favor of a simple, monochromatic...

Rango - Game Review

There’s an old joke in which two women are complaining in a restaurant. “This restaurant has such terrible food. It’s inedible,” says one, and the other replies, “yes, and such small portions.” Game reviewers are often like that, talking about how unpleasant it is to play a game and then complaining that it ended too soon. I’m not going to...

Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars - Game Review

Lego "Star Wars III: The Clone Wars" contains dozens of characters and multiple storylines. If you were to ask me who those characters were or what adventures they were involved in I couldn’t for the life of me tell you. But if you were to ask me whether the game was fun, I would reply with a resounding yes.

Spongebob Squigglepants - Game Review

Remember "WarioWare: Smooth Moves," the game that involved playing a series of fast-paced microgames with the Wii remote? Well, replace “Wario” with “Spongebob”, replace “microgames” with “nanogames” and replace “Wii remote” with “uDraw Tablet” and you have "Spongebob Squigglepants," a shameless WarioWare clone that manages to be almost as...

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters - Game Review

As a celebrity, Tiger Woods has become a bit tarnished in the last year and a half, but as a brand name, Tiger Woods still represents the pinnacle of golf video games, a reputation only enhanced by the latest title in the long-running golfing series, "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters."

The Conduit 2 - Game Review

The 2009 first-person shooter "The Conduit" didn’t really deserve a sequel. Dreary and repetitive, any success the game had was due to the dearth of Wii shooters. Now we have "The Conduit 2," and while it certainly is not the best action game on the Wii, developer High Voltage has clearly learned from their mistakes.

Liight - Game Review

An original idea is always a good place to start when developing a game, which is good news for "Liight," a puzzle game in which you must ingeniously position colored spotlights. So it’s a shame that for a game of lights and colors, "Liight" is a little washed out.

Lego Pirates of the Caribbean - Game Review

After basing Lego action-adventure games on such famous film series as "Star Wars," "Indiana Jones" and "Harry Potter," the release of "Lego Pirates of the Caribbean" raises a question: Have we run out of good movie series?

Virtua Tennis 4 - Game Review

As a general rule, a video game review should be an essay that considers the strengths and weaknesses of a particular game and tries to determine the quality of that game accordingly. But some games do not deserve a review. Instead, they deserve a scolding, a diatribe, a flogging. Some games simply require that someone says, in stentorian...

Thor: God of Thunder - Game Review

There is something rather enjoyable about being a god. To be able to call down cyclones or hurl lightning bolts at your foes is just kind of cool. Which is probably why, in spite of some serious flaws, I had so much fun playing Thor: God of Thunder. That kind of power is downright intoxicating.

ExerBeat - Game Review

The workout game ExerBeat wants to make working out fun. It wants to make working out engaging, musical and varied. What it doesn’t want to do is make you work out very hard.

Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters - Game Review

Want to know why people hate movie tie-in games. This is why.

Wii Play: Motion - Game Review

No one really wanted a sequel to "Wii Play," but that didn't stop Nintendo. Have they done better this time?

Cars 2 - Game Review

An unenthusiastic review of Cars 2, a racing game for the Nintendo Wii.

Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave Incident - Game Review

A review of "Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave Incident," a game that combines puzzles, adventure and hidden object searches into an interesting package.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Stealth Force Edition - Game Review

Game review of the latest Transformers game, in which playing it is compared with reading a very dull school book.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 - Game Review

In which the author reviews the latest Harry Potter game and discovers the fiendish Voldemort's power has no bounds at all.

Crazy Machines - Game Review

"Crazy Machines" mines the same territory as "The Incredible Machine" and "Create." Does it strike puzzle gold?

Captain America: Super Soldier - Game Review

A review of the game tie-in of the movie "Captain America: The First Avenger."

Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension - Game Review

My take on the kid's action adventure game Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension.

Burn the Rope - Game Review

Review of the WiiWare puzzle game Burn the Rope.

Nicktoons MLB - Game Review

Video game review of Nicktoons MLB, a cartoon-themed baseball game for the Wii.

MotoHeroz - Game Review

A look at the ingenious and very difficult 2D platforming racer.

Art Style: Orbient - Game Review

A gravity game uses minimalism to create a big experience.

BIT.TRIP COMPLETE - Game Review

BIT.TRIP COMPLETE collects the six WiiWare BIT.TRIP games on one disk. I take a look.

FIFA Soccer 12

I take a look at the latest incarnation of Electronic Arts' Soccer series.

Driver: San Francisco - Game Review

An evisceration of the terrible game "Driver: San Francisco."

Xenoblade Chronicles - Game Review

A new game enters the JRPG hall of fame.

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