Recent Handheld Purchases

[LaBomba]

I thought Advance Wars lacked any kind of strategic depth.

I'm over the "strategy" game where the extent of the tactics is "Build bigger units faster then the other side and you'll win"

[Craig]

There's a lot of times where there's crucial points on the map to control, sometimes due to the geographical surroundings, or sometimes due to factories or airports being there. It's hardly about just about having 'big' units in these settings. That and "bigger" implies that there's one good unit that's better than the rest - discounting the differences between air, sea and land as well as direct and indirect fire.

Though there are certain things that are way off balance, the CO's and their powers especially. And a dual strike - that is, two CO's using their powers in the same turn and having two turns back to back - is ridiculous in terms of how powerful it is. When I get the chance to do multiplayer, it'll certainly be one on one, CO wise.

[jkrade]

Advance Wars is really just a glorified version of Tug-of-War.  Without a mud pit.

Not to say the first one wasn't brilliant.  The third installment just tried too hard to be innovative... or some other elusive quality.  

I recently bought Final Fantasy III for DS.  Then returned it because it was so bland.  I guess it looked pretty enough, but I actually fell asleep several times while playing it at night.  Which, no matter how late I play, shouldn't be happening with any game.  So I traded it in for the new Super Mario Bros.

Which happens to be quite fun, I'm on the final stage I think, but I skipped 3 or four worlds so I'm gonna go back and complete them.

[sim]

i did that as well except when i went back i couldnt bring myself to do the levels because of how poor they were compared to the ones in the last few worlds. still the best platformer on ds tho .

[Craig]

What are people's thoughts on play-asia? I'm thinking of importing Konami Classics Series: Arcade hits (as I can't seem to find any info on the UK release and it seems cheap enough) and whilst I was having a look I saw that Kuru Kururin Paradise is less than eight euros this week! I enjoyed the original, and from what I've heard it's more of the same, and the language isn't really a barrier. Two good pick up and play things, I think which I think I need as whilst I do like advance wars, sometimes it just takes too long to do a mission, especially when you can lose after an hour's worth of play.

[John]

I've ordered from Play-Asia quite a few times, and they've always been great. Quick delivery, great prices etc...

As for Kuruin Paradise, it's well worth picking up - there's much more variety than the original. Kururin Squash for the GameCube is also worth checking out.

[Lindsay]

I got Clubhouse Games a couple of weeks ago, and it's so addictive... but I'm mad at it now because I've been stuck on majong solitaire in hard stamp mode for five days.

[glitch]

I picked up Puzzle League, otherwise known as Planet Puzzle League, for DS. It's pretty fun, with a fair amount to do along with online play. Though, I wonder how long a puzzle game will hold my attention.

[Rensch]

I picked up The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap yesterday. I'm in the second dungeon now. A shame I didn't pick it up earlier, as it is great fun so far, even though it's more of the same classic Zelda gameplay.

[glitch]

I picked up The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap yesterday. I'm in the second dungeon now. A shame I didn't pick it up earlier, as it is great fun so far, even though it's more of the same classic Zelda gameplay.

Really? I thought this game was missed opportunity. I was expecting something completely new, like Link's Awakening. But it was just more of the same, down to the sprites and scenarios. Maybe my expectations were too high.

[Rensch]

I still find it great fun though. The big/small element results in some really fun puzzles.

[glitch]

Pokemon Pearl finally arrived today. So far it's more of the same, but that's slightly disappointing considering the last (and only other) Pokemon game I played was Red.

[n8littlefield]

I've bought a ton of DS games over the past few months - Pheonix Wright 2, Touch Detective, Gunpey, Hotel Dusk and a few others but I can't stop playing Puzzle Quest.  I'll sit down in the evening with full intentions to play one of my newer, story driven, games but yet I never seem to have the heart to remove Puzzle Quest from the DS.  Can't wait to see the Wii version!

[Craig]

The Konami Arcade collection is superb. There's an odd mix of games with some really crap ones, but it's really fun pick up and play style. I oddly can't stop playing Time Pilot, I've never heard of it before I tried it on here. I've had a little play about with the multiplayer, and track and field is as good silly fun as it always was - though the javelin always seems to fall out of my hands of some reason.

[Rensch]

I picked up the first two Wario Land titles for Gameboy. Still lots of fun after all these years.