IGN

• WII
• 5 / 10
• États-Unis

I was pretty quick to dismiss Epyx's Summer Games II when it arrived on the Virtual Console earlier this year, because I felt that, across the board, trying to figure out its varied and frustrating control schemes wasn't worth the time or effort required. California Games is similarly crippled, in that you're just never really going to perfectly translate the experience of these Commodore 64 compilations -- classic though they are -- without the original hardware, joystick and keyboard from an actual C64 system. California Games feels better overall than Summer Games II, thanks to a couple of its events (Flying Disk and Foot Bag) feeling like they haven't been too damaged in the transition to Wii Remote control. But you're still going to end up frustrated with the others, so I can't really recommend spending five dollars to download this whole package. As an artifact of the 8-bit era and a nostalgic look at what the summertime sports compilation concept looked like in the '80s, it's certainly still notable. But, today, we've got Wii Sports Resort filling that same role -- and it has play control that won't leave your on-screen characters face down in the dirt.

• WII
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

The entire gameplay concept, control scheme and feel all come across beautifully, and there's little negativity to level against Pulseman. The game might be a bit on the short side, as it only has seven stages (but each of those seven is fairly long, individually). It might also be a little bit difficult, as it can be a bit too easy to damage Pulseman when you're jumping, running and Voltteccering around the screen -- and he can only take three hits. And then there's always the money factor. Pulseman, since it never had an official cartridge release in America, counts as an Import category game in the Wii Shop -- and so it's 900 Wii Points to purchase, instead of the Genesis standard eight bucks. But all of these complaints are minor at best -- nothing should stop you from downloading Pulseman, especially if you're a fan of Game Freak's later work in the Pokemon series. And even if you're not, it still stands on its own as one of the best games to hit the Virtual Console in a long time.

• X360
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

• WII
• 8.1 / 10
• États-Unis

• PS3
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

Shatter is a delight from beginning to end. The new ideas it brings to the table for this aging genre will make it hard to go back to Arkanoid. A multiplayer mode or something more substantial to do after completing the story would have been nice, but those minor disappointments don't keep this from being a must-play game. Shatter stands right up there with Breakout and Arkanoid as one of (if not the) best brick-breaking games ever made.

• WII
• 8.5 / 10
• États-Unis

Little King’s Story misses the boat in a few key areas for me personally – the largest of which is the lack of IR pointing in a game specifically based around real-time strategy elements – but at the end of the day there’s no denying that this title has serious staying power, an immense amount of charm, and is downright fun despite its faults. Yasuhira Wada of Harvest Moon fame is back with a series that – while still very early – has the makings of being just as big, if not even bigger, than his most well-known franchise. There are a few quirks I don’t personally dig, such as the use of public domain music when the amazingly talented Yoko Shimomura is on the project, and I’ve made my gripes with a Wii-exclusive game not using Wii-exclusive tech, but at the end of the day it comes down to whether or not this is an entertaining game despite any of its faults, and it absolutely is. If you – like I – have been waiting for this game for over two and a half years now, the wait is over, and the final package is one developer Cing should be proud of. This is a game with impressive humor and style, a beautiful design, and a world I can’t wait to play though again and again in a hopefully very successful franchise. On the control front though, more could be done, and Little King’s Story leaves me wanting in ways that are both good and bad. Hopefully this is just the beginning for our newfound king.

• PC
• 7.3 / 10
• États-Unis

• X360
• PSP
• 5.8 / 10
• États-Unis

Unbound Saga isn't a bad game, the dialogue is funny, the story is interesting, and the levels look like they're pulled from comic books. Still, the gameplay isn't all that fun, and the title's definitely not that deep of an experience with its 10 levels that are about 15 minutes or so each. In general, the content here doesn't warrant the $15 price tag. I mean, I wanted to get to the next cutscene to see how the story was set to unfold, but there were plenty of times I didn't feel like playing the game to get there. That's not good. Old school beat'em up fans might be thrilled with the game's adherence to that genre's principles, but everyone else might be a bit let down by the sluggish controls and maddening hit boxes.

• PSP
• 7.7 / 10
• États-Unis

Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! is an extremely quirky, challenging title that has a few frustrating elements that keep it from being a stellar downloadable. But even though there are some things I didn't like about Badman, the unique gameplay, old-school graphics, super-adorable music and numerous anime/TV references make this a good experience. I think a lot of PSP owners will be happy to have this game saved onto their PSP's memory stick.

• X360
• 7.5 / 10
• États-Unis

• PC
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

• PS3
• X360
• 8.3 / 10
• États-Unis

NCAA Football 10 isn't a revolutionary step forward for the franchise. I'm still waiting on the game for this generation of console that makes me want to play it more than Madden. That's still yet to happen. That said, this is a more polished version of last year's game with some solid feature additions. While I'm not gaga over NCAA Football 10, it's definitely a great game and one I'll be playing for at least another month.

• WII
• 7.5 / 10
• États-Unis

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Wheelie Breakers is definitely not for everyone, as it has a steep learning curve and takes a while to get into and wrap your head around. It also may not be for people who aren't already at least partially familiar with the popular card battling brand. But if you're a kart racing fan who's ever wondered what the genre could be like with extra layers of depth and strategy placed overtop the familiar race-to-the-finish-while-throwing-things design concept, Wheelie Breakers is a game you should make yourself familiar with quick. Mario Kart just got complicated.

• PS2
• 7.8 / 10
• États-Unis

If NCAA Football 10 is the last to grace the PlayStation 2, it’ll be a fitting end for the series. You’ll get the new Road to Glory Mode (flaws and all), there’s still a solid Dynasty offering, there’s create-a-school, create-a-sign, functional online play and Mascot Mashup among other activities. There’s no shortage of things to do under the 40 dollar asking price and while other versions on other systems might be prettier, NCAA Football 10 still makes for a fun time on the PS2.

• WII
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

• WII
• 6.5 / 10
• États-Unis

Neko Interactive's previous releases for Wii and WiiWare in the States have all been localizations of the Cocoto series -- you might remember Fishing Master and Platform Jumper from previous Wii Shop updates. Heracles Chariot Racing falls in the same line with those releases, as they too were PS2 retail titles turned WiiWare downloads in America. But Heracles actually ends up having more in common with a third Cocoto -- Cocoto Kart Racer, which got a physical disc release here last summer. Like that game before it, Heracles is a capable, fun little kart racing design that certainly won't compete with Nintendo's Mario Kart series head-to-head, but is definitely worth a look as a budget-priced substitute or supplement to that flagship franchise. For just 800 Wii Points, you might want to give it a glance. It could have you cheering "Heracles! Heracles!" yourself.

• PS3
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

• X360
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis