At the time of the announcement, I remember I was a bit confused. Capcom was already releasing two new installments in the Resident Evil franchise within the upcoming two months. Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City was set to release in March on consoles and Resident Evil Revelations was hitting retail in only a few weeks on the Nintendo 3DS. With that announcement and the barrage of hype for Resident Evil 6, Revelations seemed to be cast in a corner, all alone, just begging for attention. It's really too bad. Not only is Revelations one of the best games on the 3DS, it has a meaty single-player campaign (about seven to nine hours) and it's better than the last major release of the franchise, the mediocre Resident Evil 5.

Starring both of the series' original protagonists, Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield, Revelations shifts back and forth between the survival-horror roots of the franchise and the more action-friendly set pieces found in later installments. By combining both of these styles, Revelations finds its own and succeeds in spite of itself (why do you have to be so crazy with your characters Capcom?).

Grab some green herbs, a shotgun and put down that typewriter ribbon (you don't need that anymore silly). Continue after the break to find out why you shouldn't ignore this portable survival-horror entry.

With a toy brand that mixes racing and collectibles, of course it makes sense that DaGeDar would branch out into the videogame world. It would have been almost criminal if they hadn't. DaGeDar includes one-hundred different dags to unlock and over thirty courses to race through. Taking all this into consideration, you might think that DaGeDar has potential to be a fun, silly racer that both kids and adults could enjoy. What could go wrong?

Well, a couple things really hinder DaGeDar from being a worthy contender for your hard earned handheld gaming income. There is one reason in particular that will not go unnoticed by anyone who plays DaGeDar and it deserves to be mentioned right from the start.

Choose your dag, get set and continue after the break to find out what that is.

It has been a long nine months since the Nintendo 3DS was released here in North America. During that time there has been a significant price cut to the fledgling system, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata received a fifty percent pay cut and an anemic amount of titles were released that one could point to as a system-seller.

Two of those titles were remakes of Nintendo classics from over a decade ago (Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and Star Fox 64 3D) and one was a glorified mini-game (Resident Evil Mercenaries 3D). While all of them were pretty to look at, none really legitimized the system's main selling-point: glasses-free 3D.

This week we got our hands on Super Mario 3D Land. While most real-life plumbers must have a rough job, Mario's seems particularly difficult at the moment. Not only must he prove that 3D can be a revolutionary game play addition, he must also give consumers a reason to believe that a Nintendo 3DS would be worth purchasing this Holiday at all. All this while saving the day and delivering another quality game that Mario fans have come to expect.

Did he succeed?

Grab your tanooki suit (maybe some mushrooms too if you're feeling adventurous), head down a warp pipe and find out on the other side.

But those systems are expensive, and require a lot of space in your home. What if there was a portable game, say for the Nintendo DS, that offered you an exercise program? Why, you could take it to the gym and use it there as it tells you what exercises to do on which machines. Throw in some basic nutrition tips with a way to track them, and find a good GBA game for the backup slot so you have something to play while on the bus to the gym, and you’d have a pretty good set-up.

Personal Fitness for Men gives us a small taste of this, but interface issues and a screwy nutrition regiment prevent this from being a particularly helpful portable fitness game.

Read more after the jump.

Those kids really like those vampires nowadays, I hear. I mean, we've been seeing them everywhere, from movies to primetime, and now we’re finally getting them in video games again. There’s only one problem: games about vampires have never been good. Castlevania gets a pass, but if it’s not about Dracula, it’s not any fun. From Vampire Rain to Legacy of Cain, there’s just something about vampires that stink a game up. The same thing can be said for games about witches, such as Bullet Witch and Doki Doki Majo Shinpan. Many games involving pointed hats and broomsticks tend to get bogged down by poor graphics and problematic gameplay.

So, what can be said about this game that inexplicably features both? Witches and Vampires is technically a roleplaying game. It has turn-based combat and fetch quests and leveling up and all the other elements, so sure, I guess it’s a roleplaying game. But it does so many things just plain poorly that you might have a hard time realize that it’s anything but a painful experience.

Find out more after the break.

Mechanic Master 2 is by no means a rip-off, but just a shameless homage to what the first game presented with its brain-teasing puzzles (all of which revolve around an alien invasion). Although, does the game's 100-plus levels and mere three game modes make this title a worthwhile addition, considering its modest $20 price tag? Well, yes and no. Mechanic Master 2, in short, can be described as an ugly, but sometimes enticing bargain.

Hit the jump to see why this Mechanic Master 2 review is kind of short and to the point, much like its cheap price point. Zing!

The seminal series that everyone mentions when they talk about console roleplaying games, Final Fantasy, has been the butt of many jokes for years now; with its gunblades and its Sephiroths and its Tiduses and it’s just such an easy target. But a lot of people who denounce the past 10 years of Final Fantasy will constantly talk about how great Final Fantasy 1-6 was, how the games on the NES and SNES were pinnacles of the series, and it’s all been downhill since.

Of course, it’s not like the gameplay and perspectives of the early Final Fantasy games are dead. Heck, those first six games have been re-released on nearly every handheld console over and over again, to the consternation of the naysayers. Thus the confusion when Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light was announced. “So, another rerelease of the first game? Stop exploiting us!” But it’s actually a brand new game, using a lot of the conceits from the earlier FF games; fantasy only, turn-based combat, ability to change class at set moments, a relatively uncomplicated combat system. Basically exactly what people have been screaming for years now; a gaiden game to rule them all.

So is it any good? Well…it’s good enough. Find out more after the jump.

Zelda games are consistently traditional, and that's okay. Nintendo hasn't really changed much about the series since Zelda II, and that was one of the least-popular games in the franchise. Then they went back to the roots and produced Link to the Past, Link's Awakening (my very first video game), Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Oracle of Ages / Seasons, Wind Waker, Four Swords, Minish Cap, Phantom Hourglass, and Twilight Princess. I figure that we can give them a break for Zelda II.

Nintendo's focus on tradition is why I find it so particularly satisfying that Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is such a departure from the usual flow of Zelda games. It's different, but by no means is it a lesser game – in fact, it's great. The story seems to take a back seat to the stylus-based action and the general excitement of uncovering the new region of Hyrule. To be completely honest with you, I think that it works out pretty well that way. It's not as engaging as Ocarina of Time, but do you really expect that out of a handheld version of any video game franchise?

(Okay, God of War: Chains of Olympus was pretty awesome, even compared to the first God of War...but this is frickin' Zelda. Zelda demands perfection.)

Hit the jump and read our full review to find out just exactly why Spirit Tracks provides the Zelda series with some much-needed steam.

If I were to say I had been casually looking forward to the release of Scribblenauts, I'd be delivering an extremely transparent lie. The premise behind this game led to inordinate amounts of fascination and intrigue, and the time I spent with the game earlier this year simply helped to further my excitement.

But ultimately, that's the problem with high expectations. If you set them too high, disappointment is practically an inevitability.

But before I go all gloom-and-doom, it's important to note that my time with Scribblenauts has been a roller coaster ride of enjoyment. Sure, there have been plenty of low points with the title, but I've also had more fun than I can recall with any other handheld game. Moments of frustration have been quickly replaced by hours of elation, and in the end, the promising premise of the game proved fruitful.

Hit the jump for all the juicy, juicy details.

I think mini-games are to video games as french fries are to cheeseburgers. They often compliment a game's core experience with a delicious, crispy break from the main course. Eventually, the minds behind video games thought that these little distractions could be more than just a break from the game. Nintendo made that clear with their charming WarioWare series, a franchise that gave the limelight to these quick time-wasters. With that franchise, the “mini-game compilation” became popular, particularly on handhelds like the Nintendo DS. With its unique features like stylus and touch screen control, the DS made a lot of mini-games more innovative and interesting than they had ever been before. With that in mind, Atlus – a publisher whose focus is usually centered on delivering strategy and role-playing games to the DS – took a shot at this “compilation genre” with their very own title, called 101-in-1: Explosive Megamix.

Believe it or not, there really are 101 different mini-games to play in this title. Some of them are simply Flash games that were rebuilt with the stylus and touch screen mechanics in mind, and others are more unique and fresh. With that in mind, do these 101 distractions deserve your attention? Has Atlus put together a mix that can outdo Nintendo's four-year-old WarioWare: Touched, or do these mini-games give you 101 reasons not to spend your cash on Explosive Megamix?

At twenty cents per game, is the Megamix really Explosive? Hit the jump to find out.

Say what you will about the Japanese (go ahead, I won’t stop you), but they love their storytelling. They enjoy a big long complicated elaborate plotline that you need a flowchart to trace, and they enjoy putting it in any media they can. And if everyone happens to have ridiculous haircuts, inhuman body shapes, and an unheard of amount of baggage…all the better. LuxPain, an adventure game for the DS from Killaware, follows these proud cultural traditions.

What is doesn’t do is provide us with much in terms of playability or quality, a confusing array of mismanaged localization and confounding believability, which muddies what might have been a fine story. It gets points for originality, but otherwise it ends up being pretty pointless.

More after the jump.

When I first heard of Grand Theft Auto:Chinatown Wars, I really wasn't sure what to think of it. While the developers claimed that Chinatown Wars would possess the same heart and soul of the big console brother that I called 2008's Game of the Year, I wasn't sold on many things. Factors like the return to a top-down perspective, a lack of voice acting, and some of the DS-specific touch screen mechanics kept me from being completely faithful to the idea of a successful transition. How could they manage to cram the essence of such a mature, presentation-focused title onto a DS cartridge?

Even with my doubts, I kept my eye out for the little Chinese brother of Grand Theft Auto IV, checking out videos and screenshots as they emerged on the Internet. I thought that the game looked interesting, and had some good ideas in mind. For example; Rockstar decided to port Liberty City from GTAIV and subtly remodeled it to work on the DS. The game's protagonist, Huang Lee, would have to eliminate police cars in order to escape being busted. He would also have to deal drugs to people throughout the city to earn money. Now that Chinatown Wars has launched, how did Rockstar perform in their delivery of the handheld sandbox game? Does Chinatown Wars capture the violent, sarcastic, and satirical essence of the Grand Theft Auto series?

Hit the jump for the low-down on Rockstar's foul-mouthed DS game.