Tiny Wings is similar in such a respect that you use one finger to play it; it’s simple, it’s fun, it’s visually fantastic and it’s very, very addictive.  Developed by Andreas Illiger, it tells a simple story of a little bird who has tiny wings (geddit?) so he cannot fly (awwwwww!), but he can use the hills and valleys of the world to launch himself skyward (yaaaaayyy!).

Control is as simple as this: press down on the screen to close his wings and increase downward speed on the downslope, release to open his wings and flap like a madmanbird on the uppety upside.  Not only do you have to contend with gravity, but night time is on your feathery tail, which makes your little friend fall asleep and stop his journey.  Needless to say, the better at jumping you are, the better you’ll fare against the timer.

The game is split into islands, with a specific colour scheme for each and with varying types of hill.  The hills themselves provide the biggest challenge; timing your finger presses and releases to maximise the speed and launch angle can be quite tricky to master, especially as you progress along the islands, but it’s very rewarding when you’re zooming along, out-flying the night.  The difficulty curve seems about right, with the first island being easy and each subsequent island getting progressively more difficult, but it’s all relative if you understand the underlying physics, which you’ll get in nearly no time at all.

Now, it wouldn’t be a self-respecting score-based game without bonuses would it?  You gain score automatically by the length of time you manage to spend in game.  Further to this are score coins which net you ten points a pop, and they’re always in a nice row to get you a good run and boost your counter by a significant amount.  You can also pick up blue speed coins which increase your speed, so these are handy if you mis-time a landing or takeoff and you’re set back in pace. Hitting big scores and massive jumps brings a smile to your mug, which is great, as so few games are able to lay claim to making me continuously smile along as I’m playing.

If you’re going fast enough and time your jumps well you can make perfect jumps, with three in a row putting you into fever mode and doubling any points you net – so long as you continue to get perfect jumps.  And if you’re going really really fast, you can even hit the lofty heights of the cloud level, which will net you even more points with a cloudtouch.  It’s a jumping point frenzy!

There are also in-game achievements set at tiered levels and will let you “upgrade” your nest as you obtain them.  Things like getting 5000 points on the first island, getting your first cloudtouch or staying in fever mode for 5 seconds will check off the achievements and unlock more for you to enjoy.  Unfortunately, there’s no Game Center support (yet), but there is OpenFeint available if you’re into the whole online leaderboard thing.

It’s cute, cheerful and colourful,  so kids, adults and big kids alike will enjoy it.  The music and sound is delightful, and the visuals are simply gorgeous: the’ve got an almost rusic feel, but it’s only one part of it and it’s more subtle.  The colour schemes work well together and island transitions make for some spectacular visuals, the most pretty being round about island four when the sky gets a nice red shade.

An interesting aspect is the procedural generation at play to change the colours and hills each day.  It’s a really simple yet effective way of keeping things fresh, so you’re not looking at the same colour schemes all the time.

Try as I might, I can’t find much to fault with it: it simply clicks and checks all the right boxes and works very well.  All I can say is well done Andreas! Keep making stunning games like this and I’ll keep buying them.

Pros:

• Cheap as any other cheapy cheapness iPhone game.
• Very fun, kid-friendly and colourful!
• Simple and very rewarding.

Cons:

• Erm, addictive?
• (clutches straws) No Game Center support (as of v1.0).

One word: character.

Poker Night At The Inventory certainly has plenty of character, with some excess to boot.  Developed by Telltale Games, who show their pedigree with some of the  Sam and Max games as well as some of the CSI games, and that one game with Strong Bad, it’s a unique poker game to say the least.  It’s strictly a single player outing and unfortunately your mates can’t get in on the action, which is a bit of a shame given the release through Steam, but I won’t hold that against it.

As far as poker games go, it’s not a bad package: straight up Texas Hold ‘em poker with five players (including yourself) duking it out with stakes of $10,000 (fictional).  However, Inventory shines out above the pack with its cast of characters: Max the Rabbit from Sam and Max, Strongbad from Homestar Runner, The Heavy Weapons Guy from Team Fortress 2, and Tycho Brahe from, well, Penny Arcade.

The cast is oddly chosen, to say the least, but it’s been picked well. With four completely different personalities and visual styles coming through it gives the feeling that these guys, if they were real, would meet up for regular games of poker. Strong Bad is, well, Strong Bad, Tycho retains his gallows humour and intellect from the comic (though his voice seems a little off), Max is hyperactive, psychic,  psychotic and faintly stabby, and Heavy is his typical Russian self, albeit without his precious Sasha, or the Sandvich in tow.

Another character in the game has to be The Inventory itself – a secret underground den of gambling, drinking and hedonism – nicely covered up with airs and graces and a vague anti-establishment vibe, which gives it a feeling of being set in a prohibition-era America, but strangely modern.  Let’s not forget a star turn from Reginald Van Winslow (Monkey Island), too, who plays the host and narrator for your games.

Each of the characters will occasionally buy in with a themed unlockable for Team Fortress 2, so if you own the game it’s a good incentive to play through it in order to get the four prizes, which are really just accessories to wear.  Progressing through the various challenges will also net you new tables and decks, offering a little bit of variety and customisation.

It’s a relatively small game, and some of the animations and phrases get churned out a little too often, but it’s good fun every once in a while when you just want to chill out with a nice drink.

It’s unlikely to win awards, or even be lauded for art or something, but it’s a nice distraction and it brings together some unlikely banter from the four characters.  If you like comedic games with a bit of a challenge, then I’m sure you can spare the pocket money to get this.

Pros:

• Well done crossover cast.
• Unlockables to be had for Team Fortress 2.

Cons:

• More poker game modes would be nice.
• Repeated animations and phrases get old, fast.

With Pie Collect the aim is simple: collect pies and avoid moving obstacles. Controlling a spherical, spaceship-looking character, you must use the right stick to move around and collect pies to bolster your score. Every time you collect one a small orb appears on the screen which bounces vertically or horizontally between the edges of the screen. Hitting one of these ends your game and means you’ll have to start over – this will be a regular occurrence until you get to grips with everything, but thankfully that doesn’t take long. As you progress the play area will eventually transform into a large mass of moving orbs and avoiding them is a real test of both strategy and reflexes.

You’re not completely on your own, however, as there are a few tricks and bonuses to give you a helping hand. First and foremost, the bottom portion of the screen is occupied by a large picnic blanket which you can retreat to without being hit, and is useful for taking refuge whilst planning your next move. Collectible bonuses also randomly appear during gameplay and contain everything from extra points, an orb removal tool and even a deployable picnic blanket to keep you safe out in the field. Unfortunately the arrival of these bonuses is often ill-timed; it’s possible to receive an orb removal tool at the beginning of the game when there are very few to remove. There’s also a speed boost available which allows you to zip around at increased speed – this speed boost depletes over time but can be replenished by collecting pies.

To keep you hooked you’re able to unlock new characters to play as by completing various challenges, and if you fancy collecting pies with friends you’ll be pleased to hear local multiplayer is supported; seeing this included is a nice touch as it is a feature often excluded from titles these days. All of this action takes place to space age synth music, with your character zipping around on various space-themed backdrops (which both change depending on the character you’re currently using). The audiovisual aspect is in keeping with the rest of game: simple, but quirky and a bit of fun.

Pie Collect is a neat little game when all is said and done; no more complicated than it needs to be with some solid gameplay to be had. There’s a fine line between addictive and frustrating play and whilst Pie Collect can sail dangerously close to the frustration side occasionally the experience, on the whole, is a fun and addictive one. At a bargain price of 80 Microsoft Points, Pie Collect is definitely worth a shot.

Pros:

• Simple, addictive gameplay.
• Unique styling.

Cons:

• Frustrating at times.

Publisher: System 3

Ferrari The Race Experience is a new racing game from Eutechnyx and System 3 and, in much the same way as Ferrari Challenge, celebrates all things Ferrari. Included is a decent collection of some of the most famous Ferraris from decades gone, from the newer cars like the Enzo all the way back to classics such as the Ferrari 512. With a full career mode, plenty of other single player modes and multiplayer, it certainly seems like a bargain considering price (£11.99 or £9.99 if you own Ferrari Challenge), but is it?

Anyone who has played Ferrari Challenge or Supercar Challenge will be immediately familiar with the controls and the way the cars drive. They’re easy to control as they stay fairly planted to the track – so not much chance of spinning out of control – unless you turn all the assists off, which can lead to uninteresting races once you get into first place. This doesn’t mean you can just whiz around every corner, though, with very little margin for error given through difficult corners which heats the races up a bit. The handling itself is a bit floaty, as in, it can feel like your car is hovering above the track until you get used to it. Cars can also seem slow to react to your input, which can make those hard corners that bit more challenging. Whilst damage modelling is present, it’s hardly great; the only real way to smash your car up fully (but still in a very drivable state) is through a few very high speed collisions, so the normal damage you will pick up is barely visible.

The game has a good selection of tracks from around the world. Some of these are real tracks, some are made up and some are suspiciously named. There are also few tracks that look identical to real life tracks but are named differently. One disappointment with the tracks is that Fiorano, Ferrari’s private test track, is only playable in the tutorial mode and not playable on time trial runs or races. Most of the tracks, whether they’re real, fake or a bit of both, are fun to race around.

The main mode in Ferrari The Race Experience is, as with most games, Career mode. It is split into three sets of race series – GT Race, Road GT and Classic – which all have their own selection of cars that you can race with, varying in price and giving it some replayability; you can’t just drive the fastest cars straight away. Replaying the career mode, though, may not be an appealing prospect. There are seven race weekends per car, per car type, which consist of a qualifying session and two races. You start the first race in the position that you qualified in, but for the second race you start from where you finished in the previous race. So, finishing in first place in the first race leaves you with five laps around a track unchallenged, unless you crash. Don’t get me wrong, the racing is quite fun for a while, it’s just after a period of time it all becomes too easy (even on the highest difficulty) and that leaves you grinding through races.

Other single player modes include the normal Single Race and Time Trial modes, but there are also Trophy and Arcade modes which offer something a bit different (but sort of the same). Trophy mode has you select one of your cars, and with it you must compete in three races, gaining points for your overall position each race. The racer with the most points after three races wins the trophy. It suffers the same drawback as Career mode, though, as getting from 16th to 1st in the first race leaves you with two races of just drving around with no competition ahead of you.

Arcade mode is definitely the best mode on offer here. There are four difficulty levels which each have three races, and unlocking the next difficulty level requires you to win the previous one. It has the same format as Trophy mode with the points and race system, but somehow it feels a bit less boring, as long as you pick a fast car. Moving up to Expert and Legend difficulties can be a lot more exciting, as you can’t just drive past everyone and get to 1st straight away.

So, Ferrari The Race Experience may not be the bulb that shines brightest in a sea of brilliant racing games, but once you get used to the controls it is quite a decent racer. Some of the race series on offer can be long and tedious but give some enjoyment. It may be worth giving it a go if you’re a fan of racing games and Ferrari Challenge, especially for the price.

Pros:

• Decent racing title.
• Good value for money.

Cons:

• Some dull races.
• Poor overall presentation.

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

Sports Champions is the seemingly obligatory sports title for the Move motion controller which includes 6 different events: Disc Golf, Gladiator Duel, Archery, Volleyball, Bocce and Table Tennis. Each of the events include the Champions Cup mode, where you try to beat 10 other AI opponents to win either the bronze, silver or gold cup, with the difficulty increasing with the cup value. There is also Free Play mode in which you can challenge any of the AI opponents or a friend (with nothing but pride at stake) as well as a challenge mode which tests your accuracy on all of the events to gain a high score.

Disc Golf

This event is one of the few events that truly shows the capabilities of the PlayStation Move controller, as the 1:1 tracking of your hand is perfect. You can throw the disc at any angle, direction and power that you can physically do yourself. The game has a varied selection of holes of different difficulties which have you pulling off some complex throws. Curving the disc around a big tree and getting it near the basket, though, is really satisfying. When playing the Champions Cup you will see a lot of holes over and over again, but it can be relieving to see a familiar hole when getting to the harder stages of the cup. One of the better events.

Gladiator Duel

This event does a decent job at tracking real life movements and swings of the controller. Your opponent only has 5 hit zones: head, left torso, right torso, left leg and right leg. This can lead to some swings to the head registering as body hits, which can be frustrating as hit location is relevant to how much damage you deal. Speed is also a factor in damage, making the extra excursion of swinging hard worthwhile as your opponent will lose more energy. This event will definitely get you working up a sweat.

Archery

Not much to say about Archery, it is what it is. It is probably the best event to have 2 Move controllers for, if you want it to feel closer the the real thing. There are several different game types in Archery, like tic-tac-toe, which is basic tic-tac-toe played with arrows where you don’t have to wait your turn to shoot, making it a frantic contest for points. Most of the game types get crazy on the harder difficulties, where winning or losing is a matter of just a few points.

Volleyball

Like flapping your arms about and then saying you’re playing Volleyball? Well you’re in for a treat. This event really is disappointing, it just seems like all you need to do is swing your arms at the right time and eventually you’ll win. You can control where the ball goes but it seems like you only have 3 different outcomes: left, right or centre. Not much else to say; wave your arms, win, rinse and repeat.

Bocce

Before playing Sports Champions I had no idea what Bocce was, I now know that it is rather good fun! You throw your bocces (balls) at the pallino (a smaller ball) and whoever’s bocce is closes at the end of the round wins points. This event shows the Move hardware off quite nicely as it judges your power and angle well and can even register any back or side spin you apply. The courts that you play on have various obstacles which can be used to hinder your opponent.

Table Tennis

From a technical point of view Table Tennis is the best event on Sports Champions, as it feels as real as is possible with a video game. Power, direction and spin are all applied to the ball perfectly and smash shots feel really nice. Table Tennis is another event, along with Disc Golf and Bocce, that do a really good job at showing what the PlayStation Move can do.

Sports Champions is a good game (probably the best that is currently available for the Move) but falls down with the events. There’s only two that have huge replayability once you’ve completed the Champions Cup: Disc Golf and Table Tennis. It’s also let down by the fact Table Tennis is the best event, as this is probably the most accessible sport to go out and physically play yourself. The compatible events don’t do enough to warrant the purchase of a second Move controller, and the whole game is all together a bit disappointing, with little moments of fun thrown in for good measure.

Pros

• A couple of great events.
• Fun with friends.
  

Cons

• Some poor events.
• Low replayability after Champions Cup.

Publisher: Mediatonic

Who’s That Flying?! is a new horizontal shoot ‘em up meets tower defence game from Mediatonic (Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess) in which you play as the Guardian of the Earth and must fight of hordes of Doom Beasts with your Hyper-Powered Laser Arm. The game has 3 different modes: Story mode, Infinite mode and Challenge mode; each provide a different way of playing the game. The controls are really simple, the D-pad or analogue stick moves you around the screen, holding X shoots your laser, pressing Square when your Awesome Meter is filled unleashes one of 3 attacks (turbo fire, super beam or hyper beam) and holding R grabs the bigger enemies so you can hit them from close range.

The story mode consists of 15 levels over 5 worlds. Each level involves flying through the air shooting an infinite amount of laser beams at Doom Beasts that are trying to destroy the city, with others there to attack you to allow the Ravagers to destroy the city. You cannot take damage and the success or failure of the level depends on how many enemies you allow into the city. The other enemies (the ones just there to distract you) attack and fire different sorts of projectiles which stun you for a short period of time allowing the Ravagers to destroy the city. At the end of each world there is a huge boss to fight, which all require similar, but different enough, tactics to defeat.

Infinite mode is a survival mode, where an infinite number of enemies will keep trying to attack the city and you try to survive as long as possible, to amass a high score. Infinite mode can be played in 4 of the game’s worlds: New York, Tokyo, Mexico and Moscow.

Challenge mode is unlocked once you finish the story mode and is a series of challenges (obviously) in all of the 5 world locations. The challenges give the game even more lifespan by being difficult, but are still fun. There are 5 different types of challenge: Sudden Death – in which you have to achieve a certain score without letting a single Ravager into the city; Turbo – the game plays at double speed and you must achieve a certain score by the end of the level; Score Target – the game plays normally but you must get to a certain score before the level finishes; Battle Royal – hordes of enemies from all of the different worlds attack you all at once and you must defeat them; and finally Ultra Boss – where you must defeat that world’s boss in the quickest time possible.

The gameplay is fun and chaotic at times, and helps make the game very re-playable. The game also includes other unlockables as an incentive to replay the game and improve on your scores. In the extras section there are two sections dedicated to rewards for doing well, called ’Latest magazines’ and ‘Evidence room’. There are two magazines you can unlock by playing the game, which are available once you have a certain number of gold medals in Story Mode. The evidence is an in-game achievement system, with 12 awards available to earn for clearing levels perfectly and killing certain numbers of enemies.

Who’s That Flying?! is a great minis title, with an interesting twist on the classic horizontal shoot ‘em up. The high re-playability and in-game achievement system extend this game way past playing the story through once and being done with it, with Challenge mode giving the game a lot more depth after story mode and Infinite mode being a decent mode to give you more for your money. Games like this show what can be done with the limitations of the minis platform. Truly brilliant.

Pros:

• Fun gameplay.
• Lots to do throughout and after the story.
• Genuinely hilarious cutscenes.

Cons:

• Thumb can get tired.

Publisher: Noumenon Games

It’s not often that puzzling and racing are combined in the same title but this is what Noumenon Games have gone for in their first offering, Nimbus, in which you must navigate your ship around a series of levels packed with puzzles and hazards. The twist is that your ship is always at the whim of gravity, thus you are required to use the environment and game physics to your advantage to keep moving. Moving vertically upwards will quickly slow you down, whereas moving downwards will cause your ship to accelerate and gain velocity. Getting to grips with these basic mechanics and their intricacies is essential if you want to progress, but it’s extremely easy to pick up and you’ll be a master of it in no time.

Puzzles in Nimbus are fairly standard, most of which you’ll have seen multiple times before. Progress is often blocked by coloured walls and you’ll be required to search around for the correct key to move on, although the walls are sometimes linked to coloured-coded switches. Flying over these will toggle the presence of the wall and allow you to continue, or in some cases trap or release objects. Spiked mazes make an appearance and accurate control through them is key. Your ship does come equipped with a brake, however, so you can always slow down to avoid hazards. Certain stages also necessitate interaction with the environment in other ways, such as nudging objects out of your path or into switches you’re unable to reach. It really feels like a racing version of Chip’s Challenge.

Most levels include features that are there to aid you in your progression and puzzle-solving. A staple of these are bouncy pads on surfaces; hitting one of these will send you flying off and are a blessing if you’re losing momentum. Levels also regularly feature boost pads that speed your ship up, cannons which can fire your ship off in a direction of your choice, boost strips that force your ship to travel along them in a specific direction and teleporters that will transport your ship from one area to another. Larger cannons act as the checkpoints which you can start from again should your ship come to a rest or you collide with something nasty such as spikes, fireballs or lasers. You’ll even encounter gravity-switching pads later on in the game. Flying over these alters the direction of gravity and can give your ship motion in a new direction – it’s slightly disorientating to begin with but a lot of fun once you get your bearings.

There are over 50 levels available split between four main ‘worlds’, each with a different visual theme. Level selection is very Mario-esque, with an overview of them connected together with branches. Some contain multiple exits which allow you to access other levels off of the main branch, so playing through certain ones more than once is advisable. Level design on the whole is great and while they range in length from a few seconds to a few minutes, each is laid out well and makes expert use of the game mechanics. The majority can be passed first time, with some that may require multiple attempts. Each one is timed and once you hit the finish your final time is uploaded to the leaderboards, so there’s incentive to have another go, shave your time down and climb closer to the top. Added extras are thrown into levels in the form of gold coins; collecting these unlocks new ships and trails for you to use.

Accurate movement is crucial to progression and is ultimately down to the control scheme. Ship control is accomplished through the WASD or arrow keys, as opposed to the mouse. After playing for a while the reason for this decision becomes clear, but at times it feels somewhat twitchy. In a narrow spike maze this can lead to crashes if you’re not perfect with your movements. The challenge posed may sometimes give way to frustration, but persistence usually prevails in the end. There are three difficulty options available to cater for a wide range of abilities, though, which affect the number of times you can retry from the last checkpoint. On easy you have infinite lives, on normal you’re given 5 and on hard you’re given none.

The visuals are top notch, being crisp and bright throughout. As with the level selection inspiration coming from the Mario games, the look of the game feels inspired by Sonic the Hedgehog. The first world in particular screams Green Hill Zone (or Splash Hill Zone if you’ve been playing Sonic 4) but this isn’t a bad thing as it looks great. The accompanying music is quite good, with various synth tunes to compliment the gameplay and the overall feel of the game. The same track plays for each level within a world however, so if you’re not too much of a fan they might grate slightly.

Nimbus offers a lot in a small package, with many well-designed and lovely-looking levels for you to puzzle and race your way through. Leaderboards, multiple exits and unlockables add a substantial amount of replayability, so there’s incentive to play well past the main levels are over, alongside the fact that Nimbus definitely has the “one more go” factor. It may not be totally perfect in the control department, but for £5.99 you’re getting an expertly-crafted experience which will satisfy the majority of gamers out there.

Pros:

• Loads of levels.
• Large amount of replayability.
• Lovely visuals.

Cons:

• Controls can be twitchy at times.
• Same music used over and over.

Publisher: Activision

Two things: I have no space in my living room for a fully kitted out Guitar Hero session and I have a wife. Therefore I decided to pick up Guitar Hero: On Tour (GHOT for short) to see what all the fuss was about. Plus I’m into various different rock bands so that wasn’t a problem.

Thanks to Activision, this is the only game where you’ll need a screwdriver to start. Nope, not some bizarre power up but a real life screwdriver. You need to assemble the guitar grip by unscrewing and rescrewing some plastic, and the peripheral then slots neatly in to the GBA port. Just remember to take out whatever was in there first.

You play with the DS held in the book orientation. With your left hand through the strap of the guitar grip supporting the DS and your left fingers responsible for pressing the fret buttons, your right hand is left free to strum the touch screen at the appropriate moment. Don’t worry southpaws out there, there is a lefty flip option. It sounds complicated but isn’t and does work well; you’ll get cramps after a while which are inevitable, though.

Loading up the game for the first time you can choose your avatar from various pre-made models. You start off the game playing with your band in a disused subway station, but as you gain popularity by completing songs successfully and increasing your status, better equipment and venues appear. With the money you earn you can customise your avatar and guitar more to suit your tastes.

Songs are completed by pressing the correct fret button and strumming at the right time. Hit enough notes in a row and you will gain score multiplier bonuses. If you’re doing really well you will be able to activate the star power by saying “Let’s Rock!” into the microphone. For those of you who don’t want to shout, you can also blow into the microphone to activate it.

Anyone who has played one of the Guitar Heros on the big brother consoles will feel right at home. The screen is laid out in the familar fretboard pattern as the four (yep, we lost a fret on the DS) coloured notes come down the screen. Your avatar and band mates will be dancing and rocking out behind the main screen, but you won’t be able to pay them much attention as your concentration will be glued to that fretboard. You can also strum back and forth on the touch screen on long notes using the on-screen whammy bar.

I must admit I was sceptical of the musical quality they could cram on a cartridge, however I was glad to see that my fears were unfounded. Whilst not CD quality, the aural sounds are pleasing and not at all tinny or distorted. There’s a good range of bands on the cart, though you won’t like them all – I unlocked Maroon 5, for example.

Guitar battles can be played against a friend over a wireless link. Here you can interfere with the other player’s strumming by setting off pyrotechnic attacks, cutting guitar strings or activating other distractions and hindrances. If your mate has a different version (Decades or Modern Hits) you can wirelessly stream tracks, which is great. The battles are good for a laugh, as it’s a bit tedious playing solo against the DS.

There’s longevity provided by trying to get perfect scores on all of the tracks along with five difficulty levels. Get five stars on them all and you are officially awesome. For anyone who has tried a previous Guitar Hero you’ll feel at home instantly and for the newbies amongst you, you’ll pick it up pretty quickly. Some people might just see it as an expansion pack of songs, though.

Pros:

• Good range of bands.
• Excellent full length quality music tracks.
• Streaming ability between different Guitar Hero DS versions.

Cons:

• No Wi-Fi around the World battles.
• No downloads available for new content.
• Not suitable for the DSi user due to the lack of GBA slot.

Publisher: Nintendo

Rhythm Paradise fits snugly into the casual gaming market. I for one have never understood the appeal of the “press this button at the right time” genre, so I threw caution to the wind and picked this up for under a fiver.

The game itself plays fairly well. You start off with one game unlocked, and the aim of this first game is to fire a pole through two square tiles so they become joined. Once you achieve the recommended level then the next game will open up. The trick is to listen to the music rather than concentrate on the visuals. Sounds easy? It isn’t!

Controls are simple. You can tap, lift or flick the screen and that’s it, no buttons are involved. You hold the DS in the book orientation for this game, a good choice as you end up flicking a lot so you need space for the flick. The main problem I’ve found with the controls are that in some games they are highly responsive and in others it doesn’t seem to matter what you do, it just doesn’t work. Luckily for those of you who get stuck, like myself, the game will eventually allow you to skip the stage. I think the QA testers realised some of these games just didn’t work as well as they should have and, to give them their due, you are meant to do a practice round before you do it for real. After that you know which games you’re going to epically fail at.

Graphically the game is a mixed bag. Most of the games have gone for a kitsch comic book style, black outline graphic thing. There are also a few with retro polygon looks. The comic book style suits the game better though. There aren’t any wow look at the graphics points but it’s not to the detriment of the game. It’s clearly aimed for the rhythm gamers among us than the guitar hero-ists.

There’s no plot to speak of, you’re just given a task at the start of the minigame. Each individual game has a goal which is explained in the short intro and practice session. These range from singing along with a choir, fuelling robots, playing table tennis and blasting space invaders to name a few.  The games all follow the same premise and you’re given a clue by the music as to when to tap, flick, lift or repeat the actions of the DS. By keeping that rhythm in your head you’ll be able to get better at the games.

On the plus side, there are over 50 games on the cart to play, with added longevity by trying to get perfect scores. If you get a perfect score, a diary entry relating to one of the games wil be opened up. Getting a Superb ranking will open up more games to play. It’s a nice touch but hardly saves the games graces.

Two player? No. Wi-Fi? No. As a commited multiplayer gamer I think the lack of two (or more) player modes is a shame, seeing as this really is a game anyone can play, due to the simple controls.

Pros:

• A lot of variety.
• Accesible controls.

Cons:

• Controls not that responsive.
• Some games just seem to be broken.

Publisher: Nintendo

Pokémon - it’s been around for a long time, with the basic concept remaining the same: you are challenged to collect all the monsters in the land (the original figure was 151 Pokémon and it’s now nearly 500). SoulSilver and HeartGold are remakes of Pokémon Silver and Pokémon Gold on the Game Boy Color system(arguably the best games in the series, still). Game Freak, however, were not content to make these games just re-makes, though. For those that have played the original there are nods to certain events that happened in the first run of the game, but I won’t go into them as they might spoil some enjoyment. This time around there is a whole new generation of Pokémon to catch in Sinnoh, and many of the Pokémon from Diamond and Silver appear in the game.

This time, your game comes packaged in a larger size box than usual, which is to accommodate the Pokéwalker - think of the Dreamcast VMU units and you’re along the right tracks. This little gadget lets you put one of your captured Pokémon into it wirelessly from the DS card. Once safely ensconced you can put it in your pocket where it will work as a pedometer. As you walk you build up watts and you can use these to hunt Pokémon in the Pokéwalker, search for items, or open up more routes on the Pokéwalker. Your Pokémon will not evolve in the walker but will usually have gained a level of experience (when returned to your game card) depending on how far you walked with it. Some Pokémon can only be captured in this way, via the Pokéwalker. You’ll need to build up a heck of a lot of watts to unlock all the routes available. It’s a robust little unit and will be able to take a few knocks, just don’t drop it in water! It takes one CR2032 battery should yours ever run out, although since it is one monochrome LCD unit the battery should last some time.

Wi-Fi trading has also returned. Can’t get a certain Pokémon? Simply upload an unwanted Pokémon of yours and ask for a trade. You can trade with people all over the world and different language versions of the game are fully compatible, so you’ll often end up with Japanese Pokémon with Kanji script names. Pokémon, when traded, retain the original name given to them by the trader. So, if you trade a fish Pokémon that you called Kevin to a trainer in Arkansas, it’ll still be called Kevin to the trainer in Arkansas; they can’t change the name. The GTS (that’s Global Trade System) allows people who don’t know anyone with the game access to literally millions of people. The only catch is you have to have encountered the Pokémon in the wild or battles to ask for it. Wi-Fi mode is equipped with chat as well for those of you who have friend codes. I’ve used the system over a couple of months and have never lost a Pokémon yet. The only problem with the system is you can’t guarantee you aren’t getting a ‘hacked’ Pokémon (when I say ‘hacked’ I mean obtained by Action Replay) - why people do this I’ve never been quite sure.

The Wi-Fi events also make a comeback, which allow you to unlock special Pokémon like Latios and Latias. It’s a simple case of logging on to your home network and downloading a gift from Nintendo WFC, and a few minutes later you’ll have a special item that will trigger an event off. These Wi-Fi events mean you don’t have to travel to get these Pokémon when they are released, thus you might actually complete the Pokédex eventually (Although unlikely!). Wi-Fi events can also lead to more Pokewalker routes being unlocked - handy if you live in some remote hovel of your country where the nearest neighbours are cattle.

A small graphical brush up has occured since Diamond and Pearl, so the Pokémon sprites look a lot better and the buttons for choosing which move to use now don’t look like they’ve been cut and pasted from a ZX Spectrum screen. Sadly the Pokémon themselves are still fairly static, but they do jiggle a bit when they get hit. I find this bizarre as they have animations when in the Pokéwalker, admittedly it’s basic but it’s still animation. Day and Night cycles are back, with the towns and cities in the game (as well as surrounding areas) getting darker at night and lighter during the day. Certain Pokémon only appear on certain days of the week, thus encouraging you to come back and explore time and again. Little hint: Mt. Moon, Thursday, Midnight.

The old favourites of the Battle Zone and the Safari Zone reappear. Battle Zone consists of battles (surprisingly) and each of the five different zones have their own rules. You can play them solo or link up wirelessly with a friend. Safari Zone gives you a chance to capture pokemon that you don’t find (or not easily, anyway) in the wild. This time around the Safari Zone has been split in to six different regions. Previously you were given limited amount of steps, but SoulSilver/HeartGold incorporates a new system. You select six tiles, out of twelve, of whichever landscape you wish to explore, which saves aimlessly wandering and getting lost. You can also add objects to the Safari Zones to see if they attract different Pokémon.

There’s also much more for players to do in SoulSilver/HeartGold, due to the extra places to explore and gym leaders to defeat. Typically, you have one map to travel through and only eight Gym Leaders to challenge, alongside the Elite Four. However, in SoulSilver/HeartGold you are able to journey through both Johto and Kanto, challenging eight Gym Leaders in each area, alongside the Elite Four, the Champion and a final boss once you’ve battled your way to the top.

Having played right through the game until the end I felt that there was enough new content to warrant a purchase for the old hands amongst us. That said, though, it’s a perfect starting block for anyone wanting to dip their toe in one of videogaming’s biggest franchises.

Pros:

• Two maps for the price of one, 50% more gaming for your money.
• Hordes of monsters to collect and trade.
• One of the best supported Wi-Fi titles (Trade, Battle, Chat).

Cons:

• Still no animations in battles.
• Some pixelation issues.
• No real in depth plot, same as usual. You are good, Team Rocket are bad.