What with it being summer and all, the GBA announcements are coming just about as slow as the releases (ie very), but don't worry, things should soon perk up come September. Now, after her well recieved Gameboy color outings, Lara Croft's new GBA adventure is being highly anticipated. Rumoured to have been in development for a long time, the game has only just been revealed. To be released this November, the game strangely enough has nothing to do with either Eidos Interactive or core Design, it will instead be published and developed by Ubi Soft. Interestingly, the game will dump the side-scrolling design of its handheld predecessors and become a top-down title offering more exploration. The basic block-puzzle, gap jumping baddie shooting gameplay should remain intact though.

Even bigger news than that, however, is that Squaresoft has unveiled their GBA line-up, which include a more-than-expected four games. The first, and the one we all knew was going to happen, is a port of popular Psx FF spin-off Final Fantasy Tactics. After that comes an adventure game based on the Chocobo characters (bird-like creatures from final fantasy). Both are due out in Japan by the end of the year. Coming next spring in Japan are the two titles that we should be most looking forward to. Firstly, a Secret of Mana game will be released, it is unknown whether is will be a port of the SNES original or a totally new game (Either would be welcome with me). And finally, the highly anticipated Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicle, a totally original RPG which will link up with a (supposedly) simultaneously released GameCube Final Fantasy title. No release dates have been set for any of the games in the US, let alone Europe.

In other news a sequel to the GBA top-down platformer Lego Bionicle is to be released. It is looking pretty much the same as the last game and is being developed by Argonaut, ready for release this November. I played the original Lego Bionicle and, while I found it to have some frustrating flaws, thought it was reasonably fun. If Argonaut can add some more variety and fix the disastrous jump function it may be onto a winner. Two licenses recently announced have been Backyard wrestling which has been acquired by Eidos, and Worms which has gone to Activision. It is unlikely that we'll see the (dodgy sounding) wrestling title as Eidos haven't really taken to the GBA yet, but we already know that two Worms games are in development. One is a handheld version of the puzzler worms Blast (Which has recieved mixed reviews on the PS2 and GameCube), the other a more traditional Worms title (Which has been promised for ages now) which I believe is called Worms world party. Now that Ubi soft has lost the rights to the franchise, it is unknown what the status of these titles is. But Activision has announced that it will be publishing Team 17's Worms 3 on all major platforms as well as another unannounced Worms title. No specific formats have been announced, but I'll be coughing up blood if we don't see a GBA version.

THIS WEEK'S NEW RELEASES

Just one release on the old (well, one year old) GBA this week.

Zoocube: A puzzler that has been given mostly average reviews all over but is strangely liked by Edge magazine (On the GameCube anyway). It involves rotating a cube and attaching animal heads (Well, supposedly, there are no actual animal heads in the GBA version) to three sides of it, trying to match the heads. A bit like Tetris then. IGNPocket says "The overall design could have a few more gameplay modes beyond the three singleplayer and two multiplayer options, it could have incorporated the whole Zoo idea better in the GBA version, and it could have explained all the bonuses a lot more clearly. But what's here is good fun that you've never played before." and scores it a respectable 7.8.

THIS WEEK'S TOP 5: Puzzle games

Really, puzzlers work better on a handheld than they do on any other system, and after little over a year, the genre is really thriving on the GBA. There are even some top quality games that just couldn't fit in the top 5. But these are the ones you are most encouraged to check out.

1. Kuru Kuru Kururin
2. Denki Blocks
3. Super Bust-A-Move
4. Chu-Chu Rocket
5. Columns Crown