It’s hard to start a review about a Zelda game without reflecting on the franchise’s legacy. A staple of the gaming scene since the NES days, while gaming has evolved Zelda has stayed largely the same. Graphics and controls have evolved, but Zelda’s core elements of classic action/adventure gameplay, intricate dungeon design and beautiful story-telling remain.
Spirit Tracks is the fifteenth official Zelda title and the second to be released on the Nintendo DS. As is now tradition, we have a hero, a princess and a world in peril. This time …

The latest addition to the Legend of Zelda series, Spirit Tracks, is almost a month away and though Nintendo had kept most of the game’s secrets under wraps since the playable demo at E3, the news has been coming thick and fast over the last couple of days.
A new trailer last week revealed a whole host of secrets including the origins of the mysterious Phantoms that would help Link on his quest, why our usually green-garbed hero is sporting that natty little train driver’s outfit and, most importantly, the villain …

To say that Mario is pretty versatile for a plumber would be an understatement. Over his two decades of stomping Goombas, ripping Koopas from their shells and bitch-slapping Bowser, the moustachioed maestro has found time for karting, tennis, golf and football (that’s proper football where you use your feet to connect with the ball 90 per cent of the time, my American friends).
But being a hero is what he does best, and alongside consistently impressive platformers Mario has a catalogue of equally entertaining RPGs. After the Square-developed Super Mario RPG …

It’s near-impossible to talk about Nintendo’s new-found success without addressing the massive popularity of their brain training games on DS and the casual gaming audience. While Dr Kawashima remains the name on most people’s lips when they think of the brain-teasing titles on offer, last year a new academic stepped into the picture and brought all manner of mind-muddling puzzles to the more traditional gamer.
Professor Layton’s exploits in the mysterious village of St. Mystere was a clever combination of logic, maths and wordplay puzzles combined with a compelling adventure storyline. …