Uncritical to the point that it can occasionally come across as a self parody:

'"Juke" comes from the African word for...'

'Drums are crucial to African music.'

It's not all wrong, but it's not all right either and simply repeats a lot of common myths.

Pretty graphics, relaxing gameplay, innovative design, irritating music.

The sixties life of Patsy from Ab-Fab.

Egoism.

The Wii U version should be the definitive one but this has all the DLC content available.

Double-dipping.

Good evolution of previous iterations: some smart new games that work specific muscles, such as luge and trampoline; good use of the gamepad and inclusion of dual wiimote controls for activities such as boxing.

S&M Dirty Harry

Perfect review (not mine) here: [Link removed - login to see]

This is not a difficult game - easy to beat in a day for anyone over the age of twelve. It has so much charm though; it's the most delightful, adorable game since Kirby's console debut (Kirby's Adventure - NES). I had a dumb smile on my face the whole playthrough, caused in part by an extreme level of localisation which meant that outside of the main game, in the storytelling sections, I felt like I was watching a cartoon from my childhood - King Rollo, say, or Mr. Ben (edit: apparently I'm not the only one that felt this way - [Link removed - login to see].

Good Feel proved with Wario Land: Shake It! that they can do excellent 2D platformer level design and lush visuals and they borrow the collectables-as-replay-value mechanism directly from that title here (three treasures per level). Additional replay value can also be had though: a rather tame "design a room" interface is obviously aimed squarely at younger children but the mechanism is adapted to unlock a total of thirty challenge stages (speed trials, etc.); most impressively, fourteen extra levels (two per area) can be unlocked by beating the area bosses with a high score. In short, this game shows not only that Wario Land: Shake It! wasn't a one off but that Kirby may be the perfect IP for them to be entrusted with as a second party developer.

This game doesn't have an instant emotional hook the way that, say, Majora's Mask does but I grew to love the characters and care for the story a little more towards the end. I mentioned that title deliberately - on release it seemed that every review compared this game to Zelda so it's best to get that out of the way. It does owe a debt to Zelda but then doesn't every action RPG? It's like mentioning Mario when reviewing a platformer; utterly facile.

This game adds considerably to the action RPG experience offered by any Zelda game I've played with improved gameplay mechanics - actual platforming stages (not an auto-jump in sight!) and more fully developed action sequences that wouldn't be completely out of place in a Platinum title. I love those two genres so that might go some way to explaining why I enjoyed this so much. The other improvement it makes over Zelda is the ability to fully upgrade and customise your character - with weapons, abilities and attributes.

In the end the only thing that impeded my enjoyment were regular freezes (I played the Wii U version, I'm guessing THQ would have patched this if they hadn't gone bust) and some very dodgy camera angles which meant sometimes not being able to see the enemy in an action sequence.

Despite not being entirely sensical or fulfilling (whenever was a computer game either of those things?) the story is satisfactory and although an obvious homage is paid to Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films in terms of setting and scope the voice acting is darkly humorous. Death, in particular, frequently uttered the sardonic comments I had just hurled mockingly at the computer game. That made me like him a lot more!

Once completed, the game offers you a chance to play again in "New Game+" mode, with extra new items and increased difficulty. Right now, the only thing stopping me diving straight into that is my backlog. I know I will get to it though and I sincerely hope that, however unlikely it may be, somebody buys the IP and develops the franchise in a way that builds on this legacy (a Wii U port of the first title would be nice too!).

This game is basically a throw back to the eighties in terms of gameplay and story: a solitary ninja seeks to save the world from a shadowy, evil international organisation which seeks to destroy the world; ten levels make for what could be a pretty short game but brutal difficulty means that it could (and should) take most players much, much longer than that.
Replay value is provided by the ability to play each of the levels over again with two different characters, whilst an online portal attracts those who really can't get enough ninja action to ever satisfy their sad needs.
The game controls smoothly and although the graphics aren't ground-breaking they are on a par with most HD titles in 2012. In short then, it's fun and challenging in a straightforward, no need to think, kind of way.