Latest Previews
June2023
Hands On Oxenfree II Is Shaping Up To Be A Huge Improvement On The Original
If the first 30 minutes are anything to go by
After spending half an hour with Oxenfree II: Lost Signals at Summer Game Fest, there's an immediate sense that the sequel is shaping up to be a much bigger, bolder, and indeed stranger experience than its predecessor. As it probably should be. In speaking with developer Night School's founder and...
Hands On Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown Is Dread-ful, In The Best Possible Way
Shaping up well on Switch
It’s not everyday that we demo a game at an event and immediately ask to go back for seconds. The upcoming Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown managed to quickly sink its daggers into us with its punishing but rewarding combat, breathtaking vistas, and flashy animations. So naturally, we couldn’t walk away without taking...
Hands On This Kitty Turned Out To Be Our Biggest Summer Game Fest Surprise
Dream big, little kitty
Cats are sneaky little gits. They scratch, they hiss, and they're rarely, if ever, cute. Hey, we're dog people, what can we say? [Disclaimer: Hmm, we're probably 50/50 on staff. And dogs are smelly. - Ed.] When you finally get your hands on Little Kitty, Big City in 'early 2024', however, we wouldn't begrudge you instantly...
Hands On Disney Illusion Island Is A Spectacular Platforming Surprise
We're not taking the Mickey
Sitting down with Dlala Games’ (Battletoads) CEO AJ Grand-Scrutton at Summer Game Fest to play Disney’s Illusion Island, there’s an immediate sense that this might well be the developer’s most accomplished title yet. We spent 30 minutes playing a solid chunk of the game ahead of its launch on July 28th, 2023, and...
Hands On Sonic Superstars Is Exactly What Sonic 4 Should Have Been
A triumphant return
Despite the promising debut trailer for Sonic Superstars, a niggling feeling of doubt had crept into our minds prior to our hands-on session with the game at Summer Game Fest. After all, this latest side-scrolling effort from Sonic Team really has two things going against it straight away. Number one; aside from the spectacular
Hands On Mortal Kombat 1's Stunning Presentation Has Us Anxious About The Switch Port
Can this really hold up on Nintendo's platform?
Against all odds, Mortal Kombat 11 turned out pretty well on the Nintendo Switch. Like many ports from the PS4 and Xbox One, there was always a concern that Netherrealm Studio’s cinematic fighter wouldn’t be able to cut it on Nintendo’s hybrid console. Still, with 60fps performance and all the...
April2023
Round Up The Previews Are In For Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp
Early impressions have arrived
One game we're looking forward to finally getting our hands on here at Nintendo Life is Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp. As mentioned in the title, it includes both of the Game Boy Advance titles, with a number of new features such as online play now included. The first impressions of the upcoming Switch release have...
Hands On Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp - Slicker, Shinier, Sassier Strategy
Modern warfare
After numerous delays to an initial proposed launch date of December 2021 due to real-world events that Nintendo evidently felt made launching a light-hearted warfare game problematic, Wayforward's Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp is finally almost here. Featuring the classic Game Boy Advance campaigns from both Advance Wars and Advance...
July2022
Hands On 'Live A Live' Gives A Unique 16-Bit RPG A Gorgeous New Lease Of Life
We're LIVE from the past, present, and future
If you have any interest in Super Nintendo RPGs, then you’ve likely heard of Live A Live. Released in 1994 for the Super Famicom in Japan, it came out during what many claim is Square Enix's — then known as Square, or Squaresoft in the West — 'Golden Era', launching just under a year after Secret...
May2019
Hands On Building Upon A Solid Foundation In Super Mario Maker 2
Making the Wii U look like a Super Mario Faker
If there’s one thing that still gives the Wii U life, it’s the excellent Super Mario Maker. That’s all about to come to an end now though, at least if our time with Super Mario Maker 2 is any sort of authority. The user-created colossus is making its way to Switch, and if you hadn’t quite...
January2014
Matters of Import Grappling With Attack On Titan: The Last Wings Of Mankind
Or Shingeki no Kyojin: Jinrui Saigo no Tsubasa, to Japanese players
Considering the intense critical and commercial acclaim Hajime Isayama's Attack on Titan has been receiving, the emergence of a game based on the events portrayed in the anime and manga series was more of a question of “when”, rather than “if”. The more surprising news is...
July2013
We find out why the one-time Wii U exclusive remains a key title
Following Ubisoft's decision to delay the launch of Rayman Legends on Wii U and take the game multi-platform, many Nintendo fans were so irate they insisted that they would be boycotting the release come August (or September if you're in North America) time. Sadly, the negative...
February2013
Activision's latest money-spinner takes shape
As we wrote earlier this week, Activision has announced the next game in the Skylanders series: Swap Force. At the New York event we had a chance to see some early levels of gameplay. What was immediately obvious was the higher fidelity of visuals this time round. With new developer Vicarious Visions...
November2011
Muddin' makes you feel good
For those who don't know, Mutant Mudds began life as a 3D polygonal platformer called Maximillian and the Rise of the Mutant Mudds that was to be released as a retail title on Nintendo DS. Sadly, the retail release and a pitched DSiWare rendition were never able to get off the ground, leaving developer Renegade Kid to...
October2011
It's all about perspective
The last time we played Super Mario 3D Land, we came away confident that Nintendo was taking its mascot forward, as our preview explained. That was based on a four level demo but we've since played the game's opening two worlds, so does that first impression still hold true? Well, it all depends on your point of view...
September2011
Feature BIT.TRIP SAGA vs. BIT.TRIP COMPLETE
We'll help you decide
When Gaijin Games released its first BIT.TRIP title BIT.TRIP BEAT back in 2009, the game took many players by surprise not only with its unique musical and visual presentation, but also with its extremely addictive gameplay. And as beloved as BEAT would become, the series would only get more interesting as each new release took...
July2011
Piping hot
Nintendo could have gone in any number of directions with its first Mario outing on 3DS: an enhanced remake of a previous game a la Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, an extension of the Super Mario Galaxy series or a sequel to the mega-selling New Super Mario Bros.. It's done none of these, or possibly all of them at once. For a start,...
Preview The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Hands-on once more with the Hero of Time
In all the Wii U commotion at E3 this year, Link's next and final outing on Wii was rather lost, but we were able to reconnect with the Hero of Time at a recent preview event in the UK. Three levels in total were playable: an aerial bird race, a dungeon and a face-off against Lord Ghirahim. With Wii Remote...
Has Pit found his wings yet?
Masuhiro Sakurai's game of two halves continues to delight and frustrate in almost equal measures. When we played the game back in January we came away thoroughly impressed with the aerial sections but less enamoured with the ground fighting elements, and this hasn't changed based on our latest hands-on time with the...
May2011
First Impressions FAST - Racing League
Taking Shin'en's latest for a spin
Plenty of Nintendo fan ire has been drawn by the lack of an F-Zero game for the Wii, and with Wipeout exclusive to Sony consoles there's a huge gap in the market for sleek-looking futuristic racers. WiiWare developer Shin'en Multimedia is hoping to fill that with its upcoming WiiWare title FAST – Racing League,...
Hands On The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
Link's past and future in one evening
Last year's E3 conference was full of 3DS announcements, but one moment that still sticks in the memory after a year is the revelation of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D for the console. With less than a month until the game hits shelves worldwide, Nintendo UK invited Nintendo Life to a special preview event...
January2011
First Impressions Kid Icarus: Uprising
Our Big N hearts go Pit-ter patter
As its sequel itself is keen to point out in a tongue-in-cheek manner, it's been 24 years since Pit flapped his wings up, up and away in his nail-biting platform debut Kid Icarus. The NES original cribbed the best bits of franchises like Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda and Metroid and crafted an ambitious,...
First Impressions PilotWings Resort
PilotWings returns after a billion years
Another long-abandoned fan-favorite series, PilotWings debuted on SNES but hasn't seen the flight of day since the N64 launched way back in the mid-90's with the lovely PilotWings 64. But despite the series' rarity, the third installment, PilotWings Resort, which we were able to go hands-on with in Amsterdam...
First Impressions Ridge Racer 3D
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidge Raceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer
Namco's Ridge Racer series has been around the block a few times on Nintendo platforms, starting out with Ridge Racer 64 all the way up to Ridge Racer DS with a pit stop on Gamecube in between. Now the franchise is drifting on over to 3DS with the appropriately named Ridge...
First Impressions Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D
The franchise's first 3DS outing is familiar territory for fans
Of the two games in the horror series slated for 3DS, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D is at first blush the least interesting. Where Resident Evil: Revelations looks to be taking the atmosphere back to the series’ spooky roots, Mercenaries is a complete embracement of the...
January2010
One call you might want to take.
For those of you who love a good scare or just enjoy a playful romp through the latest survival horror title, Hudson's got just the game for you. In fact, they were even kind enough to send us over a preview build of their upcoming horror release Calling to check out and we have to say, this is easily one of the...
First Impressions Super Meat Boy - Part 2
We take the latest build for a spin.
As the agonizing wait continues for Team Meat's upcoming WiiWare release Super Meat Boy, we can't help but turn into a bunch of giddy schoolgirls each time we're fortunate enough to get our hands on a new preview build of the game. We had only just begun to wipe the grin off of our faces since the last preview...
November2009
Impressions Max & the Magic Marker
We take the unique WiiWare title for a spin.
The kind folks over at Press Play were nice enough to send over a preview build of their upcoming WiiWare puzzle platformer Max & the Magic Marker for us to try out. Now that we've spent several hours playing through the game's 15 levels, we'll give you an idea of what you can expect from this rather...
July2009
We put the upcoming WiiWare puzzler through its paces!
The guys over at Yullaby were kind enough to send over a preview build of their upcoming WiiWare puzzler Magnetis for us to try out. I got to spend a few hours with the game today and I have to say, it's really surprised me. Now I expected it to be a good puzzler, but the game has a very unique...
April2009
News Conduit Multiplayer Reveal Falls Victim to Server Issues
Sega's private press event doesn't go quite to plan.
The multiplayer component of Sega's highly anticipated Wii-exclusive FPS The Conduit was set to finally be revealed to the press several hours ago at a private event. Unfortunately, things didn't go as smoothly as intended, with Nintendo's own servers going down just minutes before the demo began...
March2009
Taking the Nintendo Channel's new demo for a whirl!
Nintendo has really unloaded on us today. With a storage solution for the Wii, the announcement of a new Zelda for the DS, and all the other news, it's possible that one might miss one little news item. You may or may not have known that in North America, Nintendo added Rhythm Heaven to its list...
January2008
News Sim City DS 2 Revealed In Famitsu
Long-running Japanese publication has the scoop on this interesting update of the classic city building franchise
The latest issue of Japanese videogame magazine Famistu carries an interesting news story regarding the next instalment of the Sim City franchise. Dubbed Sim City DS 2, the game appears to be heavily tailored towards younger gamers with...
October2007
News Medal Of Honor: Heroes 2 Gets Early Praise
IGN's Matt C has declared that Heroes 2 "officially beats the pants off Metroid Prime 3 in the FPS control department" - strong words!
"On another note, I just want to put it out there: Medal of Honor Heroes 2 officially beats the pants off Metroid Prime 3 in the FPS control department. This is the new Wii benchmark, period. Not even close...
August2007
NGamer rush into pole position with one of the first previews of the game with a handful of screengrabs to boot.
"When it came to the thing actually being revealed - in precisely 30 seconds of mouthwatering footage - we were cheering on the edge of our chairs just like you, gawping at the promising new tracks and classic old ones just like you...
