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Izuna 2: Hands-on with an Unemployed Ninja

If you enjoyed Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (or at least thought you might), then there's good news: the sequel is just as charming, just as engaging, and perhaps even a little more fun than the original. The sequel has a lot of new things, including a second baby step toward making Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns a hair easier on your sanity and frustration levels.

That's right -- while Izuna's games definitely fall under the roguelike label, they're a fingernail easier than the traditional dungeon crawler. That doesn't make them any easier to me, but the hardest of the hardcore may scoff at Izuna's differences, while the rest of us can actually attempt the game without "accidentally" dropping the DS or anything. What's different? In both Izuna 2 and its predecessor, when you die (and will you ever die), you keep your levels. In keeping with the roguelike tradition, you lose everything else, but it's not absolutely everything in a square-one sort of way. Izuna 2 adds something else on top of that: the tag team system. And that's where things get a little sticky.

Gallery: Izuna 2

Continue reading Izuna 2: Hands-on with an Unemployed Ninja

Trauma Center: Hands on the Knife 2


Good news for Trauma Center fans -- if you liked the first game, it stands to reason that you'll enjoy Under the Knife 2. All the slicing, stitching, and ass-kicking potential of the first is here, and with more options lifted from the Wii version. But if you didn't like Trauma Center the first time around, the Easy mode may not be enough to tempt you into this one.

Of course, if you didn't like Trauma Center, you're probably more interested in spending your time kicking puppies, or otherwise engaged in some horrific habit. Honestly, the pain of (repeated, egregious) failure aside, it remains one of the best and most intense experiences on the handheld. Can a sequel hope to measure up? We spent a little time with the upcoming title in an effort to find out.

Continue reading Trauma Center: Hands on the Knife 2

Glimpse 1.5 of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days


Remember those scans that allowed us a peek into the depths of the recently-announced Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days? Now they've been screenitized (new word; you read it here first) for your viewing pleasure, and there's a preview video for you as well after the jump. Actually, calling it a preview might be going a bit far, since you'll miss it if you blink, but hey, it's better than being beaten up and left for dead on the side of the road. The best part? The video is also poor quality. Never let it be said that DS Fanboy doesn't deliver!

The tiny video can be found after the jump, along with the other shots.

Continue reading Glimpse 1.5 of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

IGN goes hands-on with Contra 4, cries


Greg Miller of IGN got a little extra facetime with our beloved Contra 4 at Comic-Con ... which was probably not a good idea, because Contra is all about face-beatings. While it seems the controls are smooth and easy to pick up, all other forms of ease end the moment you step into the big blue man pants. This is hostile territory, and everyone wants a slice of your ass. Just thinking about it makes us cry with joy. We do so love a good beating!

But did Miller enjoy the game? It seems so, though he spends most of his preview writhing in pain over the punishing brutality of Contra 4. If you ask us, that just means everything is as it should be, and we continue our campaign of impatience as we wait for this one to hit shelves.

Gallery: Contra 4 DS

Gyakuten Saiban 4 gets the French preview treatment

We've been up to our elbows in Ace Attorney-related stuff lately, and if you know us at all, you know that makes us extraordinarily happy. With Trials and Tribulations headed our way soon (or the Japanese DS release of Gyakuten Saiban 3 even sooner), we're focused heavily on the next installment in the series, Gyakuten Saiban 4 -- the one without the man himself, Phoenix Wright, taking the lead as the title lawyer.

A lot of longtime fans are a little concerned about the tone of the series with this switch, but the folks at Jeux France assure us that while we may be faced with a new character (with brand new abilities!), the game is business as usual. In fact, it may even be better than usual; the preview intimates that the cases are more interesting and sport even better production than those in the earlier games, and we can't object to that.

Gallery: Gyakuten Saiban 4

Spotlight on Luminous Arc

GameSpot recently spent some quality time with Luminous Arc, the strategy RPG Atlus is bringing to the US in August, and things are looking good. Of course, all we really need to know is that Luminous Arc offers online battles -- a feature missing in other popular DS strategy games -- and even if it were low quality, we'd probably be lining up to give it a go. Character, story, gameplay? That's just gravy. Give us our WiFi battles!

Luckily for us, Luminous Arc seems to have it all: an interesting story, both new and familiar SRPG mechanics, and a choice between stylus-based controls and traditional controls. The only issue the folks at GameSpot could find to really pick on -- in this early preview, at least -- is that players can't rotate the camera, which can occasionally lead to some targeting issues. The build available to them didn't seem to have finished voice acting, either, which we assume means that the game will in fact be dubbed. But let's not be picky here. Because it's Atlus, the localization will be effective, and we'll get right into managing everyone's relationships. We're just glad to hear that we'll probably have fun while doing so.

Gallery: Luminous Arc

Pokemon Diamond and Pearl cheat sheet

With all the dashing, rangering, and mystery-dungeoning that Pokémon have been doing on the DS lately, who has time to keep up with the series nowadays? What's the deal with Diamond and Pearl? Are there new villains? Do we have to use friend codes? And why are these new versions named after an old Prince song?

1UP has compiled ten need-to-know facts about Pokémon Diamond/Pearl, saving you the trouble of having to pore through dozens of previews for answers to your Bulbasaur questions. With the release date being just a few weeks away (4/22), having something like this for quick reference really comes in handy. Print out a copy, keep it in your wallet, and impress all the girls at school with your cursory knowledge of upcoming Pokémon games!

Rocket Slime trailer oozes onto the web


A new trailer is up for Rocket Slime Adventures. This trailer demonstrates a lot of the gameplay in the title, as well as some of the game's cutscenes. What we're referring to as the "huge frickin' battlestations" have some inspired names, such as the gigantic tree dubbed Chrono Twigger. Overall, it's a fun video and may be seen embedded into the post, after the break.

Continue reading Rocket Slime trailer oozes onto the web

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