Wii U eShop Game Reviews
Review VS. Excitebike (Wii U eShop / NES)
Enjoyable interlude
It's undoubtedly a good thing when Nintendo starts releasing older titles on the eShop that are otherwise fairly difficult to find or play. But does VS. Excitebike, originally only released on the Famicom Disk System in Japan in 1988, offer enough extra content compared to the original to justify a purchase? As the core of the...
Review Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut (Wii U eShop)
Meet your new companion Q.U.B.E
A gigantic alien cube is hurtling through space on a collision course with Earth - and you've just woken up within it. As your body shakes off the fatigue, distant memories fail to solidify, leaving you in a state of total confusion and amnesia. Alone, save for a crackling voice over the radio, you're tasked with...
Review Gunman Clive HD Collection (Wii U eShop)
An excellent tribute to retro gaming
Early in 2013, the world was graced with Gunman Clive, a short and sweet action platformer that was praised for its simplistic art style and solid mechanics. Almost exactly two years later we received Gunman Clive 2, a sequel that built upon and expanded the original in nearly every way possible. Now, both...
Review Genghis Khan II: Clan of the Gray Wolf (Wii U eShop / SNES)
Who knew that Genghis Khan was so cool, calculating, and complex?
Genghis Khan II: Clan of the Gray Wolf was originally developed by Koei and released for the PC-8801, PC9801, and the MSX in 1992. The following year, Genghis Khan II saw releases for MS-DOS, Sega Genesis, Sega CD, PC Engine CD, NES, and SNES. Five more years later, and the game would...
Review Sin and Punishment (Wii U eShop / N64)
On the rails and off the hip
It's no secret that many Japanese titles never see the light of day overseas. Countless games have been unreleased for fear of lack of public interest and fear of bad. This was the initial reason Sin and Punishment, released in 2000, never surfaced on the Nintendo 64 outside of Japan. The hectic shoot'em up only made...
Review Wario: Master of Disguise (Wii U eShop / DS)
Master of Mediocrity
After WarioWare took off, it seemed like that was all everybody's favourite antihero was up to, save for a Wii instalment of the Wario Land series. In truth, there was also an attempt at a Wario platformer on the DS, though it is quite easy to see why not many seem to remember this outing. Developed by Suzak, the company...
Review ZaciSa: Defense of the Crayon Dimensions! (Wii U eShop)
In space, no-one can hear you strategically position laser cannons
Over 12 months after releasing in NA, developer ZeNfA Productions has re-named, re-tooled and rocket-boosted its tower defense title onto the European eShop. It's been a long flight - with an even longer list of promised improvements to go with it - but has it been enough to breathe...
Review Pixel Slime U (Wii U eShop)
Pixel imperfect
RCMADIAX's latest eShop title, Pixel Slime U, attempts to create a simple, addictive experience by distilling gameplay down to one button and playing around with level design. The good news is that its one-button gameplay is reasonable and can be quite fun at times. The bad news is that, like many of the indie developer's games,...
Review Mortar Melon (Wii U eShop)
Smashing melons isn't nearly as fun as Smashing Pumpkins
The first time a watermelon smashed into a log-cutting industrial saw's menacing jagged edges, there were melon bits everywhere. For the next two hours or so, that carnage only got worse. Red melon juices like blood stuck to its blades, with wasted delicious looking melon slices flying in all...
Colourtastic! Colourrific! Colourawesome!
In the words of the late Satoru Iwata - "Above all, video games are meant to just be one thing: Fun for everyone". Runbow embraces this philosophy and runs away with it. The result is a game that is simple in concept and execution, yet it radiates personality from every shade of its palette. In short, Runbow...
Review Woah Dave! (Wii U eShop)
Woah indeed
Many of the titles released today feel the need to tell a story or develop characters throughout an intricate campaign. Woah Dave! is not one of these games. It is a frantic, arcade-inspired platformer with a dizzying amount of obstacles and a focus on high scores. Players may start out confused, but once they get the hang of the...
Best Robo-Buddies
There's something very pleasing about hitting heavy buttons on a filthy old control panel in Factotum. The rusted controls and green screens give the game this sense that the technology fueling starships doesn't look much different from that which you'd find in your local auto shop. Luckily, repairing a space ship isn't as...
Review The Bridge (Wii U eShop)
Turning the tables with M.C. Escher
The Bridge is a colourless, drab, bleak affair. It's also engaging, addictive and fantastic. If you haven't heard of The Bridge before, don't worry; it's a puzzle-platformer that was quietly released on Steam in 2013, then later ported to Xbox 360 that same year. The game opens on the nameless main character...
Review Wind-up Knight 2 (Wii U eShop)
Finite Jogger
Endless runners are a dime a dozen, but few take the time to flesh out interesting gameplay. Wind-up Knight 2 adds an extra level of polish and platforming to elevate the game above its colleagues, but not without stumbling a little along the way. In WUK 2 you play as a knight who must complete a stage while continually running at...
Review Sanatory Hallways (Wii U eShop)
*Insert creepy-door-closing sound effect
Let's go back to November 2012. The Wii U was finally gracing us with its gorgeous, HD presence and alongside it sat Nintendo Land, a collection of 12 great games that perfectly showed off what the GamePad could do. One of the most loved games from the collection was Luigi's Ghost Mansion, an asymmetric...
Review Onimusha Tactics (Wii U eShop / GBA)
The Oni put the feud in feudal Japan
Onimusha Tactics was originally released 12 years ago, in 2003, for the Game Boy Advance. Developed and produced by Capcom, the same company that made the Onimusha series on the PS2, Tactics's gameplay and individual story deviates from the originals but retains a similar plot (involving the Onimusha and battling...
Review BADLAND: Game of the Year Edition (Wii U eShop)
They're watching you!
In a dark forest, scarred by alien machinery and steeped in an unnatural silence, a strange, hairy creature bobs awkwardly across the foreground. Without really knowing what to do the player tries out a few buttons, and quickly discovers a way to keep the little furball in the air. After a few tumbles and unfortunate accidents,...
Review Kung Fu FIGHT! (Wii U eShop)
Hop and Chop
The world has seen its fair share of endless runners in the last few years. The genre has grown in popularity and moved from phones to home consoles and dedicated gaming devices almost overnight. Run, jump, dodge, slide, attack - Kung Fu FIGHT! follows the formula of the many endless runners that came before it. One doesn't have to be...
Review Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians (Wii U eShop)
Boots ‘n cats ‘n boots ‘n bugs…
You are Beatbuddy: a cute little blue fella who is tasked with travelling through the six, beautifully hand drawn worlds of Symphonia to do… something. The basic idea is to save Symphonia from the evil Prince Maestro, ruler of this world, who is planning to steal the planet's music all for himself. You're...
Review Endless Golf (Wii U eShop)
Golf a while. Golf... FOREVER!
The title Endless Golf pretty much explains the entire game. If you've ever found that eighteen holes just wasn't enough for you, then the constant rolling green hills of Endless Golf will call to you, promising a game that will never, ever end. By generating a new hole every time you sink a ball, the game's 2D golfing...
Review Dragon Fantasy: The Volumes of Westeria (Wii U eShop)
A good, old fashioned JRPG
Take a look at just about any digital storefront and you'll see that many Indies are focusing on creating JRPGs that harken back to the classics of the 8-bit or 16-bit eras. While it's nice to see how a new generation of developers have been inspired by the games they played as kids, the problem is that many of these...
Review Tiny Galaxy (Wii U eShop)
A dizzying experience
Tiny Galaxy is an action platformer that takes the original concept of a platformer and turns it on its head. You play as a nondescript blue square, Orion, as you race through the "tiny galaxy", jumping from planet to planet to try and retrieve your stolen headphones. With a unique gameplay approach that blends the 2D...
Review DK: Jungle Climber (Wii U eShop / DS)
Aping the King of Swing
What do you get when you throw away an established series' playbook and try for something new? You get DK: Jungle Climber. Unlike previous entries in the venerable Donkey Kong franchise, DK: Jungle Climber takes a fresh look at the series by focusing on swinging and timing more than precise platforming. The problem? It gets...
Review Canvaleon (Wii U eShop)
Karma karma karma karma karma Canvaleon
Take a peek at some recent Wii U releases and you may see a painterly pattern forming. That's right; what with Art Academy: Atelier and Splatoon splashing some colour onto Nintendo's home console this year, it's almost like an artistic renaissance is upon us - just with more squids. On the surface, Canvaleon...
Review Astral Breakers (Wii U eShop)
Puzzling Over the Stars
Ever since the stars aligned and humans discovered the fun of matching coloured objects, we've been trying to invent new ways to make puzzle games based on this simple premise. Puzzle Fighter and Bust-a-Move are just some of the diversions we've come up with. Astral Breakers joins the fray and brings with it a little bit of...
Review Mario Tennis (Wii U eShop / N64)
Love All
Some people would say Mario Tennis is worthy of praise solely for the fact it introduces the glorious specimen known as Waluigi into the Nintendo World. These people are right, but you can't write a full review out of that. In all seriousness, Mario Tennis marks a highlight in Nintendo's adaptation of the sport into a fun, casual style...
Review Dare Up Adrenaline (Wii U eShop)
Don't you dare...
Dare Up Adrenaline is a game that doesn't have much going for it. The idea of a Pilotwings-style experience with high-flying stunts and tricks is certainly an appealing concept, but this title fails to deliver on every front. The main gameplay hook of Dare Up is controlling a wingsuit-wearing daredevil through the skies. The idea...
Review The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (Wii U eShop)
Gross. Gripping. Great.
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth has been a long time coming on Wii U, but it was worth the wait. With excellent enemy and boss variety along with a seemingly endless supply of pickups and items to help Isaac escape his mom's horrifying basement, the game constantly surprises players with something new. The only thing you'll see...
Review Xeodrifter (Wii U eShop)
Muddvania
Renegade Kid has shown Nintendo a lot of support in the form of nicely crafted downloadable titles for the 3DS, including its the retro-styled Mutant Mudds and Metroid-esque adventure Xeodrifter. Like Mutant Mudds, Xeodrifter has made its way to the Wii U eShop, and like Mutant Mudds, Xeodrifter is a very good game - if you don't mind...
Livin' large
"Fat City" is the colloquial name for a well-to-do section of New Orleans, and became the primary inspiration for the idiom "being in fat city," a phrase that unsurprisingly means to be doing well. Fat City is now also the name of an action-puzzler on the Wii U eShop by Heavy Iron Studios (which has a record for work-for-hire Disney...
