After Rare, who had been in charge of the Donkey Kong series for the better part of a decade, was purchased by Microsoft, it’s pretty clear that Nintendo wasn’t really sure what to do with the franchise. There were several rather experimental games, but then there was also Mario vs. Donkey Kong which was rather similar to the Game Boy game Donkey Kong.

What disappoints me is that this game has Donkey Kong adopt a more villainous role, which makes it feel like Nintendo were completely disregarding everything Rare did with the series. In the early Donkey Kong games, Donkey Kong was usually a villain (or, at best, morally ambiguous) while his son, Donkey Kong Jr., was portrayed more positively. When Rare took over, they reinvented Donkey Kong as a hero and explained that he was Donkey Kong Jr. all grown up (while Donkey Kong Sr. had aged and withered to become Cranky Kong) and then had their version of Donkey Kong go on to play the hero in several games… So to have him suddenly acting like the original Donkey Kong all of a sudden seems like a weird story development, as well as being a little disrespectful to Rare’s work.

The story in general is pretty weak for this game: Mario has a new range of toys out called Mini-Marios and, for some unexplained reason (possibly hypnotism) Donkey Kong becomes completely obsessed with them, breaks into a factory and steals a whole bunch of them. Mario then sets out to get them back. I know Nintendo games aren’t known for their great stories, but since when does Mario own a toy-making business and why does Donkey Kong care about them? At least the Mini-Marios are very cute.

So, let’s get to the most important thing: the gameplay! As I mentioned above, it’s quite similar to the Game Boy game Donkey Kong; levels have Donkey Kong running off and going through a door which he locks behind him, so you have to find a key and then bring it to the door to get through (which always requires a degree of puzzle solving). The problem is that it is so like the Game Boy game, that it just comes across as a poor imitation to me. The Game Boy game had unique levels, whereas this one uses generic locations you’d find in any Mario game and while some are quite fun, many are bland. The one unique thing this game does is give you levels where you have to guide Mini-Marios through obstacles and then put them in a box for safety. This sounds like a fun idea, but the problem is that the Mini-Marios just follow you mindlessly, get in your way, react too slowly and often seem to be killed because of their own lack of intelligence, rather than down to anything you control.

On the whole, while I have been quite negative in this review, I wouldn’t say this is a bad game. It’s just very ‘middle of the road’: not terrible, but not in any way exciting. If you were thinking of trying this, but also haven’t tried the Game Boy game Donkey Kong I’d definitely go for that over this.

Rating: 6/10

Buy it here.

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Mario Kart: Super Circuit is the third Mario Kart game and I am quite surprised that it is generally not very highly regarded. Admittedly, it’s not my favourite game in the series, but it’s definitely not the weakest either.

In terms of gameplay and style, it’s kind of like a hybrid between Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64; it has all flat levels, as the the first game did, but tries to imitate the art style of the second game. What’s quite exciting about Super Circuit is that it was developed by Intelligent Systems (who do not usually work on the series) and so it has a somewhat unique feel to it. I think what I probably like the most about this game is that it has a rather unusual selection of tracks with things like Cheese Land (a strange world made of cheese and full of mice), Ribbon Road (a land of giant red ribbons and presents) and Sunset Wilds (which is basically an American desert full of Shy Guys). Very nicely, this game’s version of Rainbow Road even features a reference to Paper Mario!

Beyond all that, as a very nice bonus every track from Super Mario Kart is unlockable! So, you might just decide to play this and forego the original entirely. Although, having said that, the track recreations are a little unfaithful in that they use the background from Super Circuit, rather than the backgrounds they originally had. Nonetheless, their return is still a much appreciated addition. With use of the link cable, you are also able do multiplayer with up to four players using only one copy of the game! Other players use different coloured Yoshis, which is quite cool. I also feel like this game controls quite nicely and the difficulty does get to a pretty high level, but it still feels fair, which I can’t say about every Mario Kart.

I guess it is a shame that it doesn’t add any new characters and since the Super Mario Kart tracks returned, it would have been nice to get Koopa Troopa and Donkey Kong Jr. back as well, but it just has the same selection of characters as Mario Kart 64. With its 2D all-flat tracks, I guess it didn’t stand a chance at being the best Mario Kart, but it’s still very fun and definitely worth a try.

Rating: 8.7/10

Buy it here.

Before I played Fire Emblem: Awakening I was pretty fond of the Fire Emblem series and had especially enjoyed Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. After playing Fire Emblem: Awakening I absolutely adore the series, will make every effort to play each and every one of them and now it might just be my second favourite of all Nintendo franchises.

As with all games in the series, this is a strategy game with RPG elements. Unlike most strategy games which give you nameless generic units, the units in Fire Emblem games are specific characters with their own lives and stories, if any of them die, that’s them out of the story and you’re going to feel pretty guilty that your battle plan got somebody killed. To further humanise the units, and to add a further elements of strategy, placing two units together will strengthen their relationship with one another and give each of them stat boosts when they are around each other; by doing this you also unlock special conversations between the characters which give you a deeper insight into all of them. What’s nice is that the strengthening of relationships can lead to marriage and even children. I never expected that matchmaking would turn out to be one of my favourite features in this strategic fantasy game! However, I do wish this allowed you to develop non-heterosexual partnerships, but on the bright side, there is at least one character who appears to be bisexual. Also, knowing how much characters mean to each other means you’ll feel even worse if you let them die.

Be careful when reading about the story of this game, because there are some big plot twists which are best left unspoiled. When reading fan discussions on the game, apparently its ‘impossible’ to go into Fire Emblem: Awakening now without having some of the big surprises spoiled, but I started playing about a year ago, and I managed to play through it all without ever coming across spoilers, so I have to disagree! All I’ll tell you is that you play as a tactician named Robin who is suffering with amnesia. Robin can be either male or female, and you get to customise him or her a fair amount. Robin comes across Prince Chrom and his group of soldiers known as The Shepherds and helps them fight against the undead Risen. From then on a long and clever story unfolds, one which is full of charming, memorable characters, difficult decisions, heartbreak and exciting plot twists.

You can play the game in various levels of difficulty (one of which even removes permanent death, which might be appealing to some) and has a lot of content beside the main story of the game. For one thing, you won’t be able to get 100% without going through the story multiple times as there are various directions which the story can take, which also means that your first playthough is likely to be quite personal. There is also a StreetPass feature where you can battle against the teams of other players, or just buy items from them and you can also fight other players through a local multiplayer mode (sadly not online though). There is a lot of DLC for this game too; you can get several side quests for free, as well as the ability to download and battle or recruit a large number of heroes from past Fire Emblem titles, which is a nice feature for fans. Paid DLC gives you a large range of missions, some comical side-stories, some serious additions to the overall story, so there’s a nice range of additional content.

On the whole, I was very, very pleased with Fire Emblem: Awakening. The gameplay is fun, the characters are well developed, the soundtrack is lovely and the story amazing. This is one of the best 3DS games and, even if you’ve never played Fire Emblem before, you should give this a try!

Rating: 9.6/10

Buy it here.

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Sonic the Hedgehog (or Sonic 06 as it is commonly called) doesn’t exactly have a good reputation. Many would call it terrible. Many would say that it was the worst Sonic game. Some would even go so far as to call it the worst game ever made. However, with these types of situations, I think it’s best to try and not let other people’s thoughts colour your opinions too much. I don’t think it’s terrible (parts of it are, but not on the whole), I don’t think it’s the worst Sonic game and I certainly don’t think it’s the worst game ever made.

A part of what people don’t like about this game is its story. The game centres around Eggman’s kidnapping of Elise, the princess of a fictional location called Soleanna. There are three story paths; one follows Sonic as he directly attempts to stop Eggman and save Princess Elise, another follows Shadow who knows much more about what is going on and the other follows Silver, a mysterious hedgehog from the future. One of the most commonly criticised aspects of the story is that a romance appears to bloom between Sonic and Elise; people hate this because Sonic is an anthropomorphic hedgehog and Elise is a human being. To be honest, this doesn’t bother me because they’re both rational and consenting, so I see no problem in that respect. I do, however, see a problem with Elise receiving little to know actual character development, basically being nothing more than a damsel in distress and seeming to develop feelings for Sonic instantaneously (and vice versa).

But the story’s not the thing people dislike most about this game; it’s the gameplay. There are nine playable characters: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Rouge, Omega, Silver, Blaze and Amy. While it is nice that you get to play as so many different people, it’s also a shame that each and every one of them has a huge flaw in how they play. Sonic, for example, regularly has these Mach Speed segments where he runs so fast that he can’t stop and touching any obstacle will cause you harm. The Mach Speed sections are dreadful and I’d probably go so far as to call them the worst things in the game because it is incredibly difficult to control him at these times and they always come at the end of a level. Imagine you’ve spent twenty minutes getting through a tough level; it could all turn out to have been a waste of time within a few seconds when you are unfairly killed during a Mach Speed section. That’s the worst of it, but there are so many more issues; Tails’s only means of attack is throwing these weird ring bombs (and the camera goes strange every time you use them), Knuckles can climb on walls, but can actually get stuck to them, Silver can only attack using an awkward telekinesis method… That’s not to mention that controls never feel quite right, everything feels a bit slow and on certain levels it’s not even clear where you need to go.

Despite everything I just mentioned though, I still had a fairly good time with it. Sure, the story was just kind of bad, but I felt like that, had this game not been rushed through development (and it so obviously was, at one point a voice actor misreads a line, and the character speaks both takes!) it could actually have been quite fun. Certain parts (of certain levels) were actually quite fun and all of the levels at least looked very pretty (though speaking of looks, they gave Eggman a new, weird design). The game’s soundtrack is also exceptional and, in my opinion, the best I’ve heard from a Sonic game. I mean, I don’t want to go too far, Sonic 06 isn’t exactly good and at times it can be extremely frustrating, but it does have its qualities and I am glad I played it… Maybe don’t try it as your first Sonic game though.

Rating: 6/10

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Super Mario Galaxy was a very well received game (I liked it a lot too) and since the developers had a lot of ideas for the game which they didn’t have time to implement, they decided to put them all together with some new things here and there and release it as the sequel; Super Mario Galaxy 2.

Story-wise, this game is a bit of a disappointment compared to what came before it. I loved Super Mario Galaxy because it introduced us to Rosalina and she had a very interesting backstory. At its heart, the story was essentially another “Bowser has kidnapped Princess Peach, go and save her” affair, but Rosalina, and the tone of the game in general, gave a refreshingly unique, sombre feel to it. Super Mario Galaxy 2, meanwhile, barely uses Rosalina at all but is otherwise just the story of Super Mario Galaxy again, which is a shame.

Gameplay-wise, things are quite similar to last time. Each of the game’s levels takes place in space as Mario explores small planetoids in his quest to find Power Stars, which he needs to find Princess Peach. Levels are often very creative, and gravity is regularly used in interesting and exciting ways. Movement feels very smooth and sometimes you’ll be running and jumping through a level in 3D, only to be seamlessly moved into an area of 2D gameplay. Everywhere you go looks stunning and the game’s bizarre scenery, such as a cube of water floating in mid-air, is very nice. The game has a very bright and happy design, which is quite a contrast to the rather visually dark feel of the last one.

Probably the best new feature that this sequel brings along with it is Yoshi. Yoshi appears in several of the games levels and is fully rideable. I always found myself excited when I started a level and saw a Yoshi egg in the distance. Riding Yoshi makes you able to move more quickly and he also retains his classic, comedic ability to eat enemies by catching them with his long tongue. On top of that, Yoshi has gained some new abilities in this game, for example there is something called a Dash Pepper, which seems to be a very spicy kind of pepper and when Yoshi eats it he runs forward at an unstoppable speed, making for some fun challenges. Luigi is also playable fairly regularly, and I like that, since I prefer Luigi over Mario.

On the whole, it did feel a bit like I was just playing Super Mario Galaxy again just with some new level ideas and without certain things that I liked about the first game. Super Mario Galaxy 2, however, is by no means bad; there’s one area, which I won’t say too much about, but it’s called the Slimy Spring Galaxy and the combination of gameplay, visual design and soundtrack made for an absolutely sublime experience and this game is full of special little moments like that (though Slimy Spring is my favourite). Perhaps you’ll play this sequel and think it’s slightly better than the first game, and in some ways, I guess it is, but for me it felt like the original was slightly better. Nonetheless, this is a game that shouldn’t be missed!

Rating: 9/10

Buy it here.