“Too many ports!” consumers cried as they looked at the list of upcoming 3DS games after the system’s launch. With titles like Street Fighter, Ocarina of Time, and Star Fox taking most of the spotlight, it seemed the handheld’s early life would be devoid of truly new content.

But there sat Nano Assault, hiding away in the shadows during the busiest gaming season of the year, just waiting to be picked up by lovers of score based, arcade style action.

A sequel of sorts to the very finely crafted shmup Nanostray 2, Shin’en took the opportunity to mix things up by switching over to two similar genres. Much like the past game alternated between vertically and horizontally scrolling stages, Nano Assault divides its time between being both a twin stick shooter and a rail shooter.

Of course, considering the hardware, calling it a twin stick shooter is a bit misleading. With movement on the circle pad, aiming is handled by the face buttons (a/b/x/y). Using them in combination will only allow you to shoot in eight directions, a far cry from the wide range of motion provided by an actual stick. Clearly understanding this limitation, the game never throws as much at you as a high score run in Geometry Wars. The difficulty is always manageable allowing the buttons to be a surprisingly adequate stick substitute.

These ground stages have you roaming around the surface of round structures. But unlike Super Stardust HD, you won’t just be traveling around spheres. All manner of interesting shapes make up each stage. The goal is simple: to collect three DNA strands scattered across the map and eliminate all enemies. But the amount of variety present in each stage prevents it from ever getting stale.

Stages start short, but gradually increase in scope throughout the campaign. Environmental aspects like gates, rotating walls, and destructible sections allow levels to range from open shooting grounds to maze-like structures. The variance in enemy design also helps to keep things interesting as your pitted against tunneling worms, spinning saws, and organisms that explode into bullets to name a few.

Air stages make up the rail shooter segments. They’re far fewer in number, but are significantly longer than the ground stages. By default, there’s a weird disconnect between aiming and maneuvering. The targeting reticule actually starts moving before your ship will. This has its advantages since it allows you to aim at an enemy without moving directly in front of its line of fire, but I found it too disorienting. It wasn’t until I cranked the sensitivity to the maximum setting that I felt more at home, with the controls then resembling Star Fox.

Like the ground stages, the air stages have a lot of variety. Not just between each stage, but within different stage segments as well. You’ll dodge the environment almost as much as you’ll dodge enemy fire.

Most boss encounters take place with the rail shooter controls, but a handful make use of the twin stick mode and even a third mode. This third mode uses the twin stick controls while granting only left and right movement around a disk as you fire at an enemy in the center. Bosses are a real highlight as each feels different from the last. Unfortunately, the final boss is both one of the least interesting and least challenging fights in the game, making for a rather anti-climactic ending.

As you progress through the campaign, you’ll get a few different secondary weapons to play around with. You’ll only be able to select one per level, though, and certain weapons only apply to ground stages. It’s not much, but it allows you to mix up your play style a bit and they help fill the void caused by a lack of in-stage powerups.

Since the concept behind Nano Assault is that you’re fighting viruses in a microscopic ship, the art direction is very abstract. Expect lots of bizarre color palettes and blobular baddies. 3D is used to great effect on the curvature of the ground stages and depth perception in the air stages actually makes it easier to to dodge bullets heading toward the screen thanks to increased spatial awareness. It’s easy to enjoy these visual perks since the 3D seems to have no negative impact on the framerate. But when the screen gets too busy, it will occasionally dip regardless of whether the effect is in use.

Story mode will only take a few hours to beat, but arcade mode lets you replay each stage for high scores and compete on online leaderboards. Unfortunately, since there are 32 separate leaderboards (one for each level) across an already fairly niche game, these lists are currently populated with tens of people. A few alternating goals in each stage such as “score a certain amount” or “beat this level without dying” give you more to shoot for and will grant you coins that you can spend on enemy models and music. There’s also a boss rush mode that divides the games fights into three separate gauntlets.

For those who love a good, old-school shoot ‘em up, Nano Assault mostly fits the bill. What’s there is well designed and full of variety. But the lack of higher difficulty modes leaves little motivation to revisit the fairly easy campaign which can be completed in a few hours. Competing for high scores in arcade mode would be where the game thrives, but the limited install base of the system holds the feature back from its potential. It doesn’t feel quite as strong as its predecessor, Nanostray 2, but it’s still a solid effort from Shin’en.

This review is based on a copy of the game provided to the reviewer by Majesco.

A new Nintendo system means a new Mario Kart game. That’s just how things work. So here we are with the seventh entry in the chaotic kart racing series (not including the Namco co-developed arcade games). Aside from it being one of the very few first party games currently available on the 3DS, why should you care about yet another Mario Kart game?

The answer is simple: Mario Kart 7 is easily one of the best games in the series.

Of course, the core formula of the series is largely unchanged. You’ll still power slide around corners, boost off jumps, and lose a victory or two thanks to an unfortunately timed projectile. But the infamous blue shells seemingly appear less often, and frankly, I didn’t find nearly as much of the trademark frustration found in some of the previous entries.

Part of this is thanks to the multi-layered nature of the tracks. Each kart is now equipped with a hang glider and underwater propeller for air and sea navigation. A lot of sections that would normally have you plummeting to your death and waiting for a Lakitu to slowly pull you up have been replaced by sections of track submerged into water. Sometimes these sections have their own rewards like items and coins, but are often slower than staying on the higher path.

Underwater driving itself doesn’t feel all that different, other than an altered sense of speed and gravity. The hang glider, however, is surprisingly exhilarating. When going off blue jumps, the hang glider deploys and you get an incredible rush of speed. Collecting items, avoiding sections of track, and landing in front of people feels great every time. Normal jumps (or even bumps in the road) allow you to perform an extra boost by hopping at the right moment, similar to the tricks introduced in Mario Kart Wii.

Coins make a welcome return from their long hiatus adding an extra layer to each race. With each coin you collect, your top speed increases (up to a maximum of 10 coins) and you’ll get a tiny speed boost the moment you pick each one up. Get hit or fall off a cliff and you’ll lose some of your coins making combat not just about stopping somebody, but temporarily lowering their top speed as well. They also contribute to how fast you unlock kart parts, further incentivising you to snatch them all up.

Track design is consistently interesting with lots of paths and secret jumps. Themes range from a charming recreation of the original Super Mario Bros. style in “Piranha Plant Slide” and the desert town of Super Mario Bros. 2 in “Shy Guy Bazaar” to more puzzling choices like “Rosalina’s Ice World” and “Music Park”. But even when the themes stop making sense, the tracks are still a blast to play and full of great design.

Three tracks in particular scrap the lap structure for extra long point A to point B races. The new rainbow road is one of these and is one of my favorite new tracks. Aside from the standard rainbow crazyness, you’ll find yourself driving on Saturn’s rings and eventually speeding along the surface of the moon using craters as jumps. Even the retro circuits have been spiced up quite a bit to incorporate hang gliding sections, coins, and other elements into classic tracks.

Kart customization adds an interesting wrinkle to each race. After selecting a racer, you can mix and match kart bodies, wheels, and gliders to suit your needs. This not only affects your speed, but also how well you handle off-road. It’s a nice addition that helps you adapt your kart to your play style.

I don’t know who was in charge of choosing the playable characters, but this has to be one of the weirdest Mario Kart rosters yet. The staples are all there, of course. But the bee from Super Mario Galaxy? Wiggler? Metal Mario (who I and just about everybody else mistook for a powerup in early screens)? Who fishes out the Lakitu racer? Himself?

The single player will provide little challenge. Multiplayer is what Mario Kart 7 is really about; both traditional and asynchronous. Online multiplayer works great. Getting into matches is easy, I’ve experienced zero lag, and the ability to set up special racing communities with custom rule sets is quite neat. It doesn’t have the Super Smash Bros. level of customization when it comes to choosing which items to play with, but the ability to restrict matches to “bananas only” or “mushrooms only” is a welcome feature. If only there was an “every item except blue shell and lightning bolt” setting.

But the most interesting use of online is the ghost data transferred over spotpass. Every day, my 3DS is downloading more and more ghost racers from around the world to race against in Time Trials. When I select a track, I can see visual graphs showing how well players across the globe are doing on a particular track and where each downloaded ghost falls into it. I can then either choose a specific ghost I want to challenge or let the game choose seven ghosts for me to go up against at once.

And since Time Trials lack the chaotic weapons of traditional multiplayer, ghost racers provide a more competitive, skill focused alternative to the party-centric feel of the standard modes. For a company whose online presence is the butt of so many jokes, what Mario Kart 7 manages to do in this regard is quite notable and keeps me coming back to the game.

Yes, Mario Kart 7 is more Mario Kart. You already knew that before you started reading this. But what Mario Kart 7 brings to the table feels genuinely worthwhile. The additional mechanics that add an extra layer of complexity to each race, the consistently enjoyable track design, and the clever online functionality of Time Trials really come together to make Mario Kart 7 more than just “the 3DS version.”

This review is based on a copy of Mario Kart 7 purchased by the reviewer.

Sonic and I have had a rocky past. Sure we had our fun in the 16-bit era when I first got my hands on a Sega Genesis and the original Sonic the Hedgehog. As the series progressed to include Knuckles and its crazy snap-on cartridge, I was rapidly losing interest in the little blue guy. Then along came the Dreamcast and Sonic Adventure which hooked me once again. That is until I came across the levels starring anyone but Sonic. When I hit the first Big the Cat section, I left the game for good. I’ve played a few levels from random other entries in the series, but Sonic Generations is the first time since the classic games that I’ve completed a Sonic the Hedgehog game.

I bring this anecdotal history of my time with the franchise up, not to disparage the fans of the game or the franchise itself. I bring it up only because SEGA has made it very apparent that Sonic Generations is for the long time fans of the franchise, and after playing most of the console version, I wanted to see how the 3DS entry stacked up as a modern platformer.

When I first started the game, I was overjoyed to find that it started with a level. I don’t mean there was a big intro followed by a level. I mean, just as if you were putting in its 16-bit predecessor, you hit start and start running. I could not appreciate this more. The classic Sonic felt exactly how I remembered the old games, and that sense of nostalgia they were going for immediately hit me. SEGA won that round.

After the initial stage, it slowed things down with the story. Just like its console counterpart, it revolves around a creature that has broken the timeline, forcing Sonics both old and new to team up and defeat Dr. Robotnik (he will never be called by any other name to me, no matter what you say) to bring the world out of its strange limbo state. Each world is pulled from a different Sonic title and is played first as classic Sonic, then as the hip, new, skinny Sonic. In the 3DS version, a third stage is then played where you recover one of the seven Chaos Emeralds. These take place in a pipe very similar to those in the bonus stages of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, only they are much, much easier.

While playing as modern Sonic on the PS3 or Xbox 360 versions has you running around in full 3D, the levels in the 3DS version are ironically in 2D. I guess it would be more accurate to say they are in 2.5D, since they do often move around corners to give a sense of being less flat. Modern Sonic also has his new moves like the boost, homing attack and eventually the ground pound. These extra abilities are fun to play around with and definitely make his levels feel more speedy than his classic counterpart. Eventually, you will unlock the homing move for classic Sonic as well (modern Sonic creates a paradox by teaching it to himself), which make the Sonics feel a little less distinct, but does allow you more options for exploring.

I was happy to see that, other than Green Hill Zone which must ne included by law, the stages are pulled from different zones and sometimes even different games than the console version of Sonic Generations. Sadly, there are fewer of them (seven to be exact). I had fun running around in and exploring the ones that were there, but that is another glaring difference between the two Sonics. While classic Sonic’s slower pace made it feel like I could actually look around for a second and explore my surroundings, finding alternate paths as modern Sonic felt more about memorizing a specific spot to do a twitch reflex jump to get to a new area. Unlike the console version, the levels didn’t have collectibles within them to motivate your exploration.

One of my biggest gripes about all Sonic games are the bosses. With very few exceptions, I don’t generally find them memorable and always find them tedious. Sadly, this has not changed here. The good news is the final boss. While it is the same character as the console versions, it is a much better designed fight. You can actually tell what is going on and what you are supposed to be doing. There are also races against Metal Sonic, Shadow, and Silver, which were also more enjoyable than their fights on the console.

"Good, you hit him. Now hit him seven more times."

Sonic Generations includes a hundred challenge missions that you can play to extend the longevity of your purchase, but I honestly wasn’t sure when or how I was unlocking them. They use recycled assets from the game’s levels and give you specific goals to accomplish. I played a few of them, but there just wasn’t enough there to grip me when I’d rather just replay the normal versions of the levels.

How does it stack up as a modern platformer? It is little shallow and content light compared to its contemporaries. If you were ever a fan of the Sonic franchise and want a nostalgia trip, Sonic Generations might be right up your alley. It plays well and you’ll have some fun with it, but as I mentioned before, it is pretty short. If you’ve never played a Sonic game, I would recommend grabbing the first two games from one of the myriads of ways you can purchase them these days.

This review is based on the 3DS version of Sonic Generations provided to the reviewer by SEGA.

Just over two years ago, The King of Fighters XII released with a great fighting system, a hopelessly broken online experience, and an almost complete lack of single player modes. Today, the latest entry in the series releases with the intent to right the missteps of its predecessor.

The expanded roster of The King of Fighters XIII doesn’t have much new for the series, but it brings back a lot of the fighters missing from XII including Team Women Fighters members Mai, King, and my personal favorite, Yuri. With over 30 fighters available, the amount of choices are once again approaching the levels of its decade-old asset ripping, last generation entries.

Cancels are the name of the game here as XIII features Guard Cancels, Drive Cancels, Super Cancels, Hyperdrive Cancels, and Max Cancels. What does it all mean? As long as you have the required power in your gauges to pull it off, you can cancel most actions midway through to create utterly devastating combos. Of course, there are limitations. You can’t cancel an attack with the same attack, for example. But you can cancel it with the EX version.

EX Specials are practically identical to those found in Street Fighter IV, though they take the same amount of power as a Desperation Move (read: Super Special), meaning you’ll likely use them less often and more deliberately. There’s an interesting risk/reward aspect to the supremely powerful NEO MAX attack. You can actually lessen how much of the power gauge it requires by going into Hyperdrive Mode. The catch is that your Drive Gauge will start to decrease, giving you a limited amount of time to perform the attack as well as giving away your plans to your opponent.

The Evasive Roll and Blowback Attack make a return to round out your defensive options. Rolling through enemy projectiles and countering melee attacks with pin point timing never stops being satisfying.

If this all sounds daunting, you’ll be happy to know there are a couple teaching tools to help you out. Tutorial mode will have you perform all of the base mechanics step by step while the Trials mode teaches you character specific combos. As you progress, the combos become absurdly long. Fortunately, you can watch a demo video of each one to give the wall of arrows on the screen a very real sense of context.

Arcade mode is far more substantial than the last entry with tons of (skippable) dialogue specific to every single matchup of characters, a few semi-animated cutscenes, and two end bosses. But it just wouldn’t be a fighting game if the bosses weren’t incredibly annoying. The first has both a move that immobilizes you and another that involves lifting you up and slowly punching you several times for what feels like an eternity (but is actually about three seconds). The second isn’t much better as he shoots projectiles at aggravating quantities. Will anybody ever make a fighting game boss that isn’t a chore to play? I have my doubts.

Other fighting game staples such as Time Attack, Survival, and Story Mode make an appearance. Despite their common nature in the genre, their additions are worth a mention since the last game managed to leave all of these things out. While I’m glad Story Mode gives the player more to do when playing alone, its execution is a bit questionable. Most of the story taking place is only tangentially related to any of the fighting you’re doing. In fact, most of the cutscenes involve non-playable characters. That coupled with some slow pacing in the introduction make the whole thing come off as awkward. Still, I’ll admit that there’s some nice artwork in it and the ability to start at any chapter alleviates the frustration of losing.

Speaking of nice artwork, I can’t speak highly enough of the sprite work. The animation of every character is silky smooth and there’s a high level of detail both in the characters and the stages. It really shows how modern 2D artwork can rival or even surpass the 3D models that so many other fighters have chosen to use.

Online has been streamlined with a much more logical menu structure. You can also play Arcade or Practice Mode while waiting for challengers. And the ability to setup a profile team makes “maining” a team of three specific characters much quicker to choose. As far as lag, my experience was all across the board. While I did have one match that was completely free of lag, others (including some in controlled environments with fellow reviewers) were victim to slowdown and occasionally choppy. I can only hope that this is tightened up over time.

The King of Fighters XIII is a far more substantial package than its predecessor in terms of modes and characters and the mechanics have an extra layer of refinement. In spite of its issues, it’s still an easy recommendation to fighting game enthusiasts who aren’t already burnt out on the series (especially at its semi-budget price). Even newcomers can work their way up thanks to multiple in-game learning tools.

This review is based on the Xbox 360 version of The King of Fighters XIII provided to the reviewer by Atlus.

Last year, Sonic Colors showed me that 3D Sonic games could be fun again. Of course, this was the very same year that Sonic 4 dashed my hopes of a quality 2D Sonic experience. So when it was announced that the next game in the series would feature both styles of play, I was skeptical of SEGA’s ability to handle the classic stages.

It turns out they actually learned from their mistakes… well, most of them anyway. Sonic Generations, while not perfect, manages to be a rather successful blend of old and new Sonic gameplay that’s fun in spite of its shortcomings.

But it wouldn’t be a modern Sonic game without an attempt to explain why there are two Sonics revisiting levels of the past. And so silly tales of time travel and time eaters try their darndest to make you care about what’s happening. It all feels rather unnecessary, but it’s also fairly unintrusive, so each time a cutscene presents itself you’ll be back to playing the game before you know it.

The worlds of Generations are divided into three distinct eras starting with the SEGA Genesis and ending with the current console generation. At first, it seems like a brief setup with each Sonic only getting one Act per world (18 stages in total) with a boss capping off each era. But 90 challenge stages scattered throughout each world add much more longevity to the experience.

Anybody who played with the incredibly broken physics of Sonic 4 is undoubtedly wondering how classic Sonic controls. While it doesn’t feel exactly like playing the Genesis games, it does manage to feel surprisingly good. Momentum is actually kept properly without constant micromanagement and Sonic isn’t constantly unrolling his body to leave himself vulnerable; two huge problems with Sonic 4. It isn’t without its faults, though. Sonic takes an unusually long time to get up after being hit. But the controls do enough right to feel like a good approximation of the games everybody loves.

Modern Sonic plays about as good as he did in Sonic Colors (minus the powerups). That is to say he plays as well as the levels he inhabits. When it works, you get an exhilarating sense of speed while still having plenty of pathways to explore. But when it doesn’t, your clipping through the environment, getting the camera stuck behind an obstacle, or slowly walking backwards (involuntarily) down the side of a very tall building toward your death.

Sounds awful right? But just like with all aspects of the game, the good manages to outweigh the bad. These faults, though glaring when present, managed to happen pretty seldom in my extensive time with the game. Modern Sonic can still occasionally feel a little too automatic as the levels ping pong you around in a flashy display of speed. They didn’t reinvent his style of play. But it’s a further refinement of the previous games and there are usually enough branching paths and 2D sections mixed in to keep things entertaining.

Challenge stages have a surprising amount of enjoyable features, considering their optional nature. Some have you using the elemental shields from Sonic 3 to get past obstacles, even allowing you to unlock the shields as part of your customizable ability set for use in the main levels. Others have you calling in tails to help you fly through Chemical Plant or hitting buttons to toggle an array of walls and platforms in a psuedo-puzzle platformer stage. But they can’t all be good. With a full 90 challenge stages, there are some real stinkers, too.

Speaking of stinkers, the final boss of Sonic Generations is, by a wide margin, the lowest point in the game. It is a complete mess. It’s hard to believe it was ever playtested. The rest of the game’s bosses are generally decent, though a bit repetitive. If nothing else, they at least don’t reuse slight variations of the same fight over and over like Colors.

And of course, there’s the nostalgia. Ultimately, Sonic Generations is a celebration of the franchise and is jam packed with fan service. Aside from the stages themselves, there are plenty of remixes of classic and not so classic tunes, some of which are a real treat to hear (and some of which will at least give you a good laugh). You can also unlock extra artwork and music from across the franchise’s history that can be used in place of the default themes. Playing a level to Jet Grind Radio composer Hideki Naganuma’s Sonic Rush score certainly put a smile on my face.

Sometimes the choices of what to represent is a bit questionable. One of the worlds is taken from Sonic 2006 which is hated pretty unanimously and the rocket powerup used in the Planet Wisp stage is arguably one of Sonic Colors‘ least interesting items. But trips through stages such as the Chemical Plant (Sonic 2) and Speed Highway (Sonic Adventure) make up for these odd choices.

Aside from a few framerate issues in small sections of certain stages, Generations is delicious eye candy.  The modern version of Planet Wisp in particular is absolutely gorgeous as you make your way through the alien vegetation in the early part of the stage. No matter which version of Sonic you’re playing as, there’s always a lot to look at to the point where it can occasionally be distracting. But one thing it is definitely not is boring.

The same can be said about the game itself. Even after finishing off the main game, it still had its hooks in me. The brief nature of the challenge stages have a powerful “just one more” effect. I found playing through the main stages a second time arguably even more enjoyable as I had a better grasp of how to effectively navigate them as fast as possible or take more time to explore and find hidden red rings.

Sonic Generations may not be as creative as last year’s Sonic Colors. It doesn’t really have any new mechanics to spice things up and all the stages are reinterpretations of existing material. But what’s there manages to feel tighter than its 3D predecessors and the inclusion of 2D stages that actually work are a welcome change. Is it still flawed? Sure. But I’d be lying if said I didn’t have a damn fun time playing through it.

This review is based on the PlayStation 3 version of Sonic Generations provided to the reviewer by SEGA.

Kids today don’t know what they’re missing.

Sure, that’s something that every generation says as they get older, but in its own way, it’s true. And while there are new things to fill that void for younger generations, it is rare to find a true sense of overlap between the old and the new.

In this case, what the youth of today are missing out on is the arcade scene. Sure, there are places like Dave & Busters (which are relatively rare, what with only 55 establishments spread across the continent), or a themed shack at an amusement park. You might even find some old rundown and mislabeled games sitting around a bus terminal, but those aren’t the same as what many were able to experience throughout the 80s and 90s.

Once upon a time, arcades were glorious, joyous places that were as easy to find as your nearest shopping mall. In fact, it sometimes seemed as though malls were legally required to have at least one arcade in them up until the turn of the century.

Arcades were frequently darkened places, lit up primarily by the glowing marquees and flashing screens of dozens of upright video game machines featuring titles both old and new. Screens boasting the high scores of the very best the local populace had to offer would be accompanied by the booming soundtracks and effects of every game in the vicinity, all competing for your attention, and through that, your quarters.

Sure, some would host skee ball, air hockey, or other such games which added to the lights and sounds of the atmosphere, but the video games were what it was all about. Together, they produced a delightful symphony of chaotic stimulation which all seemed to come together to input one thought into a young mind: fun. It was like the then-contemporary version of being a kid in a candy store.

But as years went on and home video game consoles became more and more advanced, the arcade scene has gradually faded out– particularly in North America; Japan’s have seen better days, but they still have a better one than we do right now. What is left rarely provides anything new or exciting any more, while the classics have seen better days… days when it didn’t cost a dollar for one round at a game made in 1982.

In short, the impact just isn’t the same. Could the sensation of playing a game in an arcade ever truly return? Would it?

Fast forward to today, as Bandai Namco has set out to recreate the arcade experience at home with its Namco Generations line of titles. After years of trying to change their classic franchises to fit what seemed big at the time– just look at any of the numerous Pac-Man spin-offs– they have returned to looking at what made those games great in the first place, and gone on to enhance them in such a way as to appeal to fans both new and old.

Though the Namco Generations line would officially begin in 2010′s Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, its roots would go back to 2007′s original Pac-Man Championship Edition, which itself would be followed by the original Galaga Legions. And much as the original Pac-Man Championship Edition was further evolved into its DX sequel, so too was Galaga Legions.

Common throughout all four games is the aesthetic. While Super Mario Bros. helped break the medium away from black screens with its blue skies, Namco Generations brings them back, with graphics rendered in neon colors which simply pop and manage to evoke that same sense of vibrant glowing which filled the arcades the original titles debuted in back in the early 80s. In the case of the Galaga titles, this is further enhanced by different space-themed backgrounds which race by as you blast wave after wave of incoming insects, the eponymous Galaga.

This is accompanied by a techno-infused soundtrack which manages to pump out plenty of bass, with laser and explosion sound effects which seem to boom forth from your television. Together, these make the Namco Generations titles feel like you’re back in the arcade, only with a more modern twist. Leaderboards and Achievements help round out the sensation, as you can play to see who is not only the best in your circle of friends, but the world at large.

It’s almost surreal, in a way. Bizarre Creations, the creators of Geometry Wars, were basically doing something very similar when they released their games, but something about Galaga Legions DX and the rest of Namco Generations just feels so much more complete. Whereas Bizarre managed to create something which felt like it upheld the tradition of classic arcade shooters, Bandai Namco feels almost as though they have reinvented it, as playing one of the Generations games feels much like the first time one stepped up to a Pac-Man or Galaga arcade machine.

Speaking to this game specifically, Galaga Legions DX sacrifices a few aspects of its predecessor, but it gains so much more.

For starters, one should note that Galaga Legions itself is a significant departure from the original Galaga. Rather than firing one single shot after another at lines of space-bugs as they attempt to close in on you for the kill, Galaga Legions has you firing a rapid stream of lasers as wave after wave of bugs come on-screen, following neon trails which give you a clue of how they will be moving.

There is even an option to simply have your ship constantly fire automatically, which comes in handy. You also have two invincible “satellite” guns, which can be placed and positioned in various spots on the screen by tapping the right analog stick in one of four directions, leading to a bit of optional strategy as you determine the best way to engage the next swarm of Galaga.

Galaga Legions DX follows the same premise as its predecessor, but changes how you engage the enemy. Gone is the automatic fire, and rather than being able to position the two satellite guns around the screen, they instead operate in two configurations, which you can toggle between with a click of the shoulder button/bumpers.

The Blue Satellite “power” configuration is called “Focus Fire,” and true to its name, focuses all of your firepower in a single direction, which you can move in 360 degrees around your ship with the right analog stick. The Red Satellite is known as “Diffuse Fire,” and is considered the “skill” configuration; your satellites move independently around the ship, with a central laser always firing upward. With Diffuse Fire, you can fire in three different directions at once, which is handy as Galaga begin to swarm in from both sides. No matter which you prefer, it is best to master using both, as there will be times when not switching to the right configuration can spell death.

There is only one power-up in the game, which tends to come at the last level of an area, or throughout a Championship mode match. Some earlier titles in the series contained a feature where one of the Galaga would swoop in and “capture” one of your ships; by defeating the bug with your next ship, you could free the original, and the two would unite side-by-side, giving you two shots at once.

In Galaga Legions/DX, blasting away at a black hole-like orb on the screen won’t get you an extra ship, but instead somehow convert a whole swarm of Galaga to your side, where they will move according to the formation of your satellites, unleashing a barrage of blasts upon the enemy. Of course, these guys aren’t invincible, and can easily be worn down by the opposing Galaga if one isn’t careful. Even so, the rush of having that much firepower on your side is exhilarating.

It may go without saying, but the game does not really have much of a story, though some of the neat effects and sound bytes could easily lead one to believe otherwise. Galaga Legions DX is about getting the highest score you can, and doing that is a little trickier than one might think. Rather than simply blasting as many bugs as you can, your goal is to try to wipe them out as quickly as you can. This is accomplished by finding and taking out certain Galaga, whose destruction can eliminate large masses of the enemy swarm.

Beyond those gameplay differences, the biggest changes to Galaga Legions DX are that it is bigger, has more options, and is ultimately… more forgiving, truth be told.

Whereas the original Galaga Legions had five areas to complete, DX features nine. The original game had two modes, Adventure and Championship, with the former allowing you to clear one area after the next, and Championship allowing you to try for the best score in any one of those five you wish.

Unfortunately, DX forgoes the Adventure Mode, which makes the computer voice announcing that you’re “moving on to the next area” seem a little out of place, as actually moving on to the next area requires you to back up a couple of screens to select a different one to take on. Even so, you are presented with nine areas to take on, a Championship mode, and even a Time Trial Mode, in which you can race to clear the Galaga from any single stage of any area, including Championship, in the best possible time.

A more recent, but temporary, addition is the “Championship Score Attack Tournament,” which takes place from November 11th to November 22nd, 2011.

Galaga Legions DX goes beyond the original in other aspects, too. One which should be familiar to fans of Pac-Man Championship Edition DX is the “slowdown” feature, which basically slows everything on the screen down when danger is immediately imminent. In addition, you have three levels of difficulty to choose from for each area, and while the Easy mode tones things down a bit from the original Galaga Legions‘ sole difficulty level, it still has its challenging moments, especially as you ascend to higher-numbered areas. And if that wasn’t enough, you can also destroy shots fired by the enemy here, too.

Together, these two features make Galaga Legions DX a more ideal introductory game than the original. In fact, combined with the new weapons layout, it can make playing the original Galaga Legions seem even more challenging when you return to it.

The last big addition is an aesthetic one: While the original Galaga Legions featured three different skins to choose from (including one modern and two retro-themed), DX has a whopping seven, with the modern style, five representing various games from the series’ history, and a recently-added “Namco” skin. This is a particularly fun one, as your spaceship is replaced by a laser-shooting Pac-Man, with two smaller Pac-Men acting as his satellites as you blast away at legions of ghosts.

Better still is that the further you go with this skin, the more you see characters from other classic Namco titles pop up, each with the same neon glow as the other characters seen in the Namco Generations titles. In fact, it leaves us wondering when Bandai Namco plans to give Dig Dug the same treatment Pac-Man and Galaga have received.

In the end, Galaga Legion DX is a terrific throwback to when arcades ruled, and provides an addictive gotta-shoot-em-all experience to boot. You’ll find yourself drawn in as you constantly blast away at an enemy who never seems to end, looking for that weak link which will completely ruin their attack.

It’s also worth noting that much like Pac-Man Championship Edition and Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, Galaga Legions and Galaga Legions DX provide fairly different experiences built around the same premise. If you’re new to the series and have to choose one, DX is the way to go, but once you’ve mastered that, the original Legions may make a worthwhile additional investment.

Finally, on a personal note: If you have never been a fan of the original Galaga, even after playing it, don’t be too quick to write this game off. I was never a very big fan of Galaga either, but I fell in love with Legions, and DX is even better still. At the very least, it’s worth downloading and trying the free demo.

This review is based on the Xbox LIVE Arcade version of Galaga Legions DX provided to the reviewer by Bandai Namco.

From the tactical espionage action of Solid Snake in Metal Gear to the vampire-slaying exploits of Simon Belmont in Castlevania to the gung-ho guerrilla combat of Bill Rizer and Lance Bean in Contra, Konami made a name for themselves by developing and publishing quality games which could perhaps be best described as “manly.” It was simply something they were good at, and you could even see it in their name (if spelled backwards): “I man, ok?”

Simple, perhaps even subliminal, but effective.

But while those titles have managed to endure, even thrive into the present day, there was another title which was not quite so fortunate: Rush’N Attack.

Originally known as Green Beret in Japan and Europe, Rush’N Attack was cut from a similar cloth as the other titles mentioned above. Its titular play on words set the stage as your United States special operative infiltrated Russian enemy lines during the era of the Cold War in order to rescue a number of POW’s, all while taking down as many of the Reds as he could.

All while armed with only a knife (plus a few odd limited-use weapons from fallen enemies).

If taking on the Russian army single-handed with only a knife isn’t as manly as traipsing through Transylvania with only a whip, marching off to fight Genome soldiers with only a pack of cigarettes, or fighting off an entire alien invasion with a machine gun and no shirt, then I don’t know what is.

And yet alone it would sit, largely forgotten as the Cold War ended and time passed it by, as the U.S. would instead spend the following years proving their superiority over the Soviets by neatly arranging their blocks into stacks, making entire rows disappear at a time.

Fast forward about 25 years and some change. Beyond a little-known arcade-only spiritual successor known as Missing in Action, Rush’N Attack would lay dormant as the Snakes, the Rizers, and the Belmonts would go on to greater glory. That is until April 2010, when Konami revealed that the all-but-forgotten title would be receiving a sequel. And no, they were not joking.

Released in March 2011, the new game subtitled Ex-Patriot, would retain some of the elements of its namesake, but also attempt to forge a new direction for itself. You’re still facing the Russians, albeit 15 years on from the end of the Cold War, and your protagonist, Sargent Sid Morrow, is still armed with only a knife, but so much else has changed.

As an aside, perhaps saying “only a knife” is a little off the mark. Morrow’s knife is actually quite large, falling just shy of being comically huge or being labeled a sword. One look at this blade would be enough to make even Paul Hogan blush.

That said, the game is still played in the two-dimensional perspective of the original, though it now sports some nice three-dimensional graphics, courtesy of Unreal Engine 3. But whereas the original was more run-n-gun– er, knife and action-oriented, Ex-Patriot utilizes stealth to a more significant degree.

In addition to crawling around ducts and moving quietly out of the enemies’ line-of-sight, you’ll have Morrow sliding into darkened doorways and hanging from ledges, just waiting for the right moment to make the kill. It’s an almost morbid thrill to position him in the shadows before whistling, leading a nearby guard to pass right by, where you can suddenly emerge and pull your prey into the darkness, where the sounds of repeated stabbing accompany the occasional spurt of blood before the body is dumped back outside.

Alternatively, you may want your oppressors, who kept Morrow locked in captivity for quite some time, to know you are coming. With the right moves, you can quickly run up and perform any of a number of attack moves and combos you learn as you progress through the game. The more you kill, the better you become at it, though the game awards more points for embracing the art of the silent shank.

Furthermore, you can arm yourself with more than the knife by killing certain well-armed individuals. Grenades, rocket launchers, and rifles are among the weapons which are yours for the taking, but with the obvious detriment that not only are they finite in their use, but a lot louder as well.

The levels, while few in number, are rather large in size and relatively non-linear as you go about your objectives, as provided by the mysterious man who frees you from your prison cell at the beginning of the game. You learn about the Russians’ discovery of a new material called “Ulyssium,” which has the capability of being weaponized, and which is also being used on your POW teammates in experiments. As you explore the levels, you’ll come across batches of Ulyssium, which increase your health bar, as well as other items, including health kits and night vision goggles.

In the early going, the game is a lot of fun as you sneak around and perfect the art of killing. Unfortunately as you progress, you discover some parts which are a mixed blessing before an ultimate let-down.

Despite the stealth, there is plenty of action to go around, including some fairly challenging bosses. There is also platforming, which is a bit of a mixed bag. In situations where Morrow is able to grab a ledge and pull himself up things are fine, but in other areas, particularly where you must jump from one box to another in order to traverse a pool of radioactive… stuff, the physics are a lot less merciful; even after landing, the buoyancy of the crates can topple you right into the glowing green drink.

Precision is key, but thankfully, this game differs from the original in that you have unlimited lives and checkpoints. As such, you can keep making attempts until you get a proper feel for where and how you need to land. It can be a little frustrating, but patience pays off.

Unfortunately, that same patience is more likely to wear thin as you make your way through the second of Ex-Patriot‘s three chapters.

Moving from the prison’s dark recesses and sunny exterior to a nuclear base located in a snowfield, the challenge begins to pick up, even on the easiest difficulty. But whereas the prison guards were mostly armed for short-range combat, you’ll find a number of watchtowers with armed guards about midway through the nuclear base. Between the foggy atmosphere and the snowy surroundings, it becomes very difficult to see the bullets coming from the guards’ guns as they essentially cut you down where you stand.

And try as you like, none of the stealth tactics you learned from completing the previous chapter will afford you much relief, while simply charging in will only see your game cut short that much faster. On the ground, or even in an adjacent watchtower, be it left, middle, or right, only those with the best skills are likely to proceed.

This is where Rush’N Attack Ex-Patriot falls apart. While the first chapter was an absolute delight to play through, the second chapter changes things up, and not for the better.

As a result, I cannot really recommend this to anyone but the gamer who doesn’t just love a challenge, but thrives on it. As I proceeded through the first chapter, it almost felt as though I was witnessing a potential new franchise in the making. Sadly the second chapter brought such expectations to their knees, one bullet at a time. Someone may thrive on this kind of challenge, but frankly, I found it tiresome, and worse, boring.

Still, I can’t help but root for this underdog of a Konami franchise. Developer Vatra Games had something good going at the start, but it seems they weren’t able to keep it up for the duration, leading to a game which begins with high hopes, but ends in deep disappointment.

I do hope that Konami allows Sgt. Morrow another chance at glory, hopefully in a sequel that is a little more balanced and refined. After all, he’s been sitting away in a Russian prison all this time. I can forgive him for being a little rusty, so long as he’s better prepared for his next mission.

If you’re still not sure, then check out the free downloadable demo on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace; it covers a good portion of the first chapter, and if you like what you see there and think you’re up for a steeper (and arguably cheaper) challenge, then the full download should be just what you’re looking for.

This review is based on the Xbox LIVE Arcade version of Rush’N Attack Ex-Patriot provided to the reviewer by Konami.

I remember the first time I saw Scribblenauts for the Nintendo DS. I had heard it was interesting on a few podcasts, so when I found out it was going to be at PAX, I made a point to check it out. Apparently it had a “write whatever object you want and it will appear” mechanic that was blowing everyone’s minds. At the con, there was always a huge swarm around the WB Games booth, and I only got to play around with it for a few minutes.

Sadly, reviews of the retail release indicated that things didn’t come together in the way gamers were anticipating. Or maybe they were just anticipating something that the developers weren’t attempting to create. That is a debate for another day.

Both the original and its sequel Super Scribblenauts got lost in the avalanche of games that we call a modern release cycle, and I never got around to trying out the final retail builds of either. When Wesley informed me that there was now a version for the iPhone that I could grab for a mere $4.99, I figured it was finally time to dip my feet into the Scribblenauts pond.

Like its predecessor, Scribblenauts Remix is about a boy named Maxwell and his apparent addiction to collecting “Starites” by means of solving puzzles or helping those around him. For some inexplicable reason, he has a magic notepad that will create whatever he writes down, unless it’s dirty or copyrighted. None of this is explained, and the game is better off for it. You are thrown right into the action rather than having a ten minute unskippable cutscene explaining the mystical origins of Starites and why Maxwell needs to collect them.

"The puzzles can get pretty strange sometimes."

In Remix, the majority of the levels are taken from the first two games, and some exclusive iOS levels have also been added to the mix. If you’ve played the other two, the recycled content might not appeal to you. As a new player, I had no idea which levels were pulled from which source, so it wasn’t an issue.

They went the smart route when picking levels, as all the ones that were chosen seemed to involve a minimum of physical movement from Maxwell to solve. Moving him around is widely considered to be the franchises weakest aspect. Instead, all the levels are small, self contained puzzles that don’t require too much movement on Maxwell’s part. This is to the point where even having an onscreen avatar seemed completely unnecessary. This is compounded by the fact that you can move your view of the level to wherever you want without having to move Maxwell.

The puzzles themselves are not difficult. That can easily come off as a knock against this game, but I have a feeling that they are going after a younger crowd, so I cut it some slack for this. That said, I still had fun coming up with solutions. On one level I was to provide a farmer with three varieties of animals. Instead of just giving him the basics, I gave him a “demonic cow”, an “angelic pig” and a “ghost chicken”. Sure enough, the farmyard companions that appeared had the additional traits built in, and the Starite was mine.

What Scribblenauts Remix really has going for it is the creativity aspect. It’s obvious they knew that going in, as the main screen allows you to create random nonsense to your hearts content. I had as much fun with that as I did playing through the game proper. I’ve even gone back to it after completing all the puzzles in the game just to play around.

The $5 price point might seem high for an iPhone game, but that is really just a matter of perceived value of content on the platform. I definitely had more than my $5 worth of fun, but anything above 99cents is a sticking point with some people.

It may not be the game that blows you away on the iOS platform, but Scribblenauts Remix is one of those playground titles you can go back to just for the fun of creating a machine gun toting Cthulhu fighting a giant hairy wizard.

"Machine Gun Toting Cthulhu vs Giant Hairy Wizard"

To make something fresh, you don’t always have to start from scratch. Sometimes you can take something that’s very well established and simply put it in an entirely different context. Suddenly, what is old becomes new again.

This is something Aliens Infestation does in more ways than one. In it, you’ll find a combination of many things. While the most pronounced is its Metroid “Lite” structure, it also borrows elements from cover based shooters and even has a tinge of survival horror. Everything comes together to form a game with its own strong identity, never feeling like a clone of any of the games it takes inspiration from.

You’ll start with four marines tasked with exploring the Sulaco, but these four might not be the ones who make it out alive. Every marine that dies is dead for good. Don’t worry, that doesn’t mean you have to beat the entire game with only four lives. There are fifteen additional marines scattered around the map who, provided you don’t already have a full party, will join you in a heartbeat.

Each marine plays the same, but has their own unique dialogue and personality that make you want to keep them alive. Sure, some of them are meat-heads that are hard to care about (and will probably end up being used as boss fodder), but others are more quirky and endearing like the cowardly rookie, the man cursed with luck, the toothless old man, and Bonesaw (no, not that Bonesaw).

As if this system of living, breathing, extra lives wasn’t interesting enough, marines can also be captured instead of killed when their health is depleted. They’re then marked on the map and you have a very limited time to reach a xenomorph nest to save them before they’re gone for good.

This sense of urgency works very well with the game’s high tension. You aren’t super soldiers. Xenomorphs are much faster than you, even when you use your depletable stamina gauge to run as fast as you can. And the more you run, the more likely you are to encounter packs of enemies simultaneously, which is exponentially more dangerous than taking it slow and fighting enemies one by one.

But while the tension feels expertly crafted in the earlier moments of Aliens Infestation, more powerful (and upgradable) weapons and increased familiarity with the limited types of enemies and their spawn patterns diminish it somewhat. Walking forward slowly is far more effective than it should be as most enemies take a second to jump out at you allowing you to fire first. You’ll never get to a point where you can run and plow through aliens without a care, but the sense of dread as you explore during the game’s later portions is definitely lower than it could have been.

Despite its 2D presentation, there is a cover system with blind fire, though you’ll likely only use it when fighting human enemies. But it’s the use of limited ammo and having to reload clips that really help the game to differentiate itself from the average run and gun. It’s odd to think of something as simple as having to reload as an interesting mechanic, but in the context of a 2D game it feels new and even terrifying as you find that your incredibly slow shotgun is completely empty after noticing an enemy dropping down from the ceiling.

You’ll never find the same level of openness as a Metroid game here, but you will find a handful of things to help you reach new areas including various key cards, a wrench, and the keys to the Power Loader to name a few. New weapons on the other hand exist almost exclusively for their killing power, with the exception of the flamethrower which allows you to burn off the alien resin covering certain doors. Paths aren’t exactly hidden, so if you’re even moderately persistent in your exploration, you’re likely to obtain 100% completion like I did (something I almost never accomplish in Metroid games).

Bosses are an unfortunate low point. Each consists of a giant bullet sponge hell bent on performing annoyingly repetitive attack patterns. What should have been a much needed crescendo feels more like a chore. Luckily, boss fights make up a very small portion of the game.

Aliens Infestation earns its spot in the list of licensed games done right. A few rough edges hold it back from being an instant classic and it can be completed rather quickly, but what’s there is a game that manages to feel unique despite what it borrows from other titles. Don’t let the fact that it’s “last gen” stop you from enjoying this successful blend of retro and modern ideas.

This review is based on a copy of Aliens Infestation purchased by the reviewer.

Sometimes a game comes along that seems like it’s hitting all the right marks. You like the concept, the aesthetics and the music. All the still images and preview videos get you really amped up for the game’s release. But alas, once you’ve played it, it just doesn’t click with you.

I am sad to say that was my experience with Rock of Ages. A game that, on the surface, had enough elements that seemed interesting and unique to me that I thought for sure I would like the game. I was wrong.

Rock of Ages combines tower defense elements with a Marble Madness style ball rolling game. You, as Sisyphus, grew tired of rolling that rock eternally up a hill and decided to break out of Hades via a time vortex that Chronos was guarding. As you progress through time, you will come across all manner of unsavory historical figures who are trying to stop you for some inexplicable reason.

The resulting encounter becomes a contest of who can smash the other person’s door in first and squish the opponent inside with their giant boulder. But each boulder must be carved from a solid piece of stone. While you wait, you can spend money, earned from smashing things on your way to the opponent’s door, on your own defenses. More often than not, the defenses will serve mainly to slow down your opponent. But if you can deal enough damage, you can actually break apart their boulder completely.

That is the tower defense portion of the game, and it is where I found the most frustration.  While potentially there were a lot of different ways in which you could setup various units, you are in such a time and budget crunch that it generally resulted in madly placing what few things I could without really doing much planning. The AI on the other had, knows exactly what units to place where. This leads them to spend most of their resources defending shortcuts; ones I wouldn’t have noticed were there otherwise. So while this should have made the battles harder, all it really did was expose weaknesses in the levels. Nearly every match I won on the first or second try, even if it was almost always by a close margin.

At least until I got to Plague. Ah Plague, the one big difficulty spike in the game that nearly resulted in an incident involving me and the pulling out of hair. It wasn’t until my pal Adam Milecki revealed his winning strategy that I was able to continue my progression. The problem was the strategy he suggested, spam the war elephants, pretty much worked in every situation from that point on.

The other major part of the game is where you are rolling the ball down the hill towards your opponent’s gate. If you’ve played Marble Madness or Marble Blast Ultra then you should feel right at home with the controls. I enjoyed this part of the game more than the tower defense mechanics. Skillfully rolling your boulder while dodging the harmful and smashing the smashable felt pretty good. One could argue that this is the main mechanic in the game. In fact, I didn’t even know about the tower defense mechanics existing until Rock of Ages had already come out. This portion felt exactly how I thought it would and, while fun at first, didn’t have a lot of staying power.

Boss fights seem to rarely work out these days. We may all have ones we remember fondly from back in the day, but they seem to rarely be good now. The boss fights in Rock of Ages are not designed to have you worry about defeating the boss before he defeats you. Rather, they are a matter of figuring out how to hit the boss to take down his health. You don’t have a health bar on these parts and if you fall off the edge, you will be placed back on the playing field unharmed. This made them feel really pointless on one hand, but on the other hand I was kind of glad you couldn’t lose. I really, really didn’t want to be stuck on them.

"Quick, hit the dragon in his weak point or this will take longer!"

The aesthetic aspects of Rock of Ages are great. I love how the style changes as you progress through the ages, I love the use of music, and I especially love the sense of humor. The title screen opens with a Mystery Science Theater 3000 reference, and how could I not love that? The cut scenes between levels are completely off the wall and are filled with pop culture references and random crazyness. The Monty Python style artwork is fantastic.

Rock of Ages also has multiplayer, but I was unable to try it for this review. I attempted to connect to a multiplayer match via Xbox Live several times, but I could not find any games to connect to, nor did anyone connect to my game when I tried to host. There is local split screen matches as well, but I was not able to try those either.

Overall, I found myself frustrated with Rock of Ages. As I mentioned above, I really wanted to like this game. Unfortunately, I just found the mechanics more frustrating than fun.

This review is based on the Xbox 360 version of Rock of Ages provided to the reviewer by Atlus.