Metareview: Dementium: The Ward (DS)

Dementium: The Ward surprised the hell out of us at Gamecock's E3 retreat at the Hotel California. The survival-horror game brought the genre to the Nintendo DS in an incredibly smooth package. We actually almost missed our next appointment at E3 because the game just grabbed us with an unexpected level of design, unexpected from a survival-horror FPS on a handheld. But did it hold reviewers' attention beyond that initial shock of Renegade Kid's technical proficiency?

• GamesRadar (80/100): "The DS isn't supposed to do FPS horror right? Those were our initial thoughts too, as you start out in a dark room with a layer of black fog. But as soon as you snag a flashlight (which is immediately), Dementium proves its worth by displaying vast areas, numerous enemies and lengthy corridors with disturbing zeal and no loss in framerate."

• IGN (80/100): "It's pretty amazing that, for a system that's been out for three years now, there have been very few first-person shooters made for it. The Nintendo DS is a prime (no pun intended) system for the genre, what with its touch screen that can easily mimic the precise movement of mouse controls. Dementium: The Ward fills that void nicely - it's appropriately gory (it is a shooter, after all) but also adds an element of mystery to the whole thing. Some design issues do get in the way a tiny bit, but not so much that you'll hate on the game...and unless you've got the expectations of a PC shooter fan, it's hard to not be impressed with what Renegade Kid managed to pull off on the Nintendo DS hardware."

• Game Daily (80/100): "Dementium doesn't do anything we haven't seen before, such as playing a piano to reveal a secret, acquiring special colored keycards to open doors and shot gunning monsters. Yet at the same time, the experience feels new, since there's almost nothing like it on the platform, save for the aged Resident Evil Deadly Silence. So shut off the lights, put on a pair of headphones and get lost in this demented adventure. It's without question one of the DS' most under hyped games, and also one of its best."