Reviews

Wii U eShop Game Reviews

  • Review Advance Wars (Wii U eShop / GBA)

    War has never been so much fun

    Mention Advance Wars to a seasoned gamer and they're almost guaranteed to have heard of it. One of the earliest major Game Boy Advance titles, it's now also one of the earliest titles from the handheld on the Wii U Virtual Console, giving veterans another chance to pick it up and newcomers an ideal opportunity to see...

  • Review Super Mario Kart (Wii U eShop / SNES)

    A timely boost for a classic

    With a PAL release a mere nine months after the April 1992 launch of the UK SNES, during a 16-bit era where show-boating superior technology and exceptional console power was at the forefront of Nintendo’s objectives, Super Mario Kart remained humble in exhibiting its technical prowess. European gamers had been...

  • Review Pure Chess (Wii U eShop)

    This is a review you should check, mate

    When Pure Chess was first announced for the Wii U and 3DS, it created a considerable buzz for a game that's based on a relatively niche, high-brow hobby. However, there was good reason for this; developer VooFoo Studios and its publisher Ripstone were not only determined to deliver a graphically rich...

  • Review Volleyball (Wii U eShop / NES)

    Flat ball

    What’s your favourite major sport? If you answered “volleyball,” there’s a good chance that you’re among a minority of sports fans. That’s not to say that volleyball is a lesser game than the titanic football – European or American, your choice – or any other major sport, but it does make one wonder why Nintendo would...

  • Review Ice Hockey (Wii U eShop / NES)

    Not that cool any more

    Nintendo released a number of sports titles in the NES era, a reflection of a simpler time when having a fancy home console was enough of a novelty that a game simply called Ice Hockey would seem like an awesome prospect. You like Ice Hockey? You've got Nintendo? Get Ice Hockey, which is Ice Hockey on your Nintendo! That...

  • Review Renegade (Wii U eShop / NES)

    GET LOST, PUNK!

    What's the expiration date for nostalgia? Is there a certain amount of time that has to pass before we start looking fondly back at the old, often inferior, games of our youth? It's undeniable that some games have aged gracefully and are still just as good today as they were at their initial launch, but that's far from a steadfast...

  • Review Dr. Mario (Wii U eShop / NES)

    One play a day...

    It feels as if Dr. Mario has been a near constant presence — in some form — over recent years, but the oddity is that the Wii U Virtual Console release of the NES version is the début for that iteration over the most recent system generations. We've had fresh DSiWare and WiiWare releases, with the latter perhaps halting a...

  • Review Evofish (Wii U eShop)

    A fish out of water

    The core premise of Evofish is based ever so loosely on the fundamentals of nature and evolutionary science. As a fish in the ocean, you must snack on fish smaller than you are while also avoiding larger predators looking to eat you. Doing so successfully will enable you to grow in size and “evolve” into a species that’s...

  • Review BLOK DROP U (Wii U eShop)

    In Soviet Russia...

    Developed by the one-man team at RCMADIAX, BLOK DROP U represents the first eShop release to emerge from the Nintendo Web Framework platform, an HTML5-based approach that aims to deliver browser-bite-sized indie experiences direct to your GamePad. True to that concept, BLOK DROP U is a simple physics-based puzzler with a fun and...

  • Review NES Open Tournament Golf (Wii U eShop / NES)

    Par for the course

    If there's one specific niche of which there is no longer any shortage, it's sports titles featuring Mario. The iconic plumber's unlikely prowess at just about any athletic challenge is now extensively and frequently documented, with the likes of Mario Tennis and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games gracing home consoles on a...

  • Review Super C (Wii U eShop / NES)

    Junco Partners

    Konami's massively popular Contra became synonymous with side-scrolling shoot-'em-up action when it was released for the NES in 1988 — so much so that when the sequel hit Nintendo's home console in 1990, Konami felt confident that a single, stylized 'C' would be enough to evoke the series' name in the hearts and minds of loyal fans...

  • Review My Farm (Wii U eShop)

    Bad harvest

    The idea of packing up, escaping the crowded, polluted confines of the city and setting up a farm out in the sticks is something that has often been romanticised in various media. The thought of kicking back and raising some chickens in the peace and quiet of the countryside sounds nothing short of blissful to some people. The reality,...

  • Review Ninja Gaiden (Wii U eShop / NES)

    Original Gaiden

    With a hit-list of sequels and spin-offs spanning more than two decades and its latest iteration — Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge — even slicing out a spot in the Wii U's launch lineup, Ninja Gaiden's reputation precedes it. An East-meets-West action platformer with an Japanese aesthetic and an American action-hero heart, this is...

  • Review Percy's Predicament (Wii U eShop)

    Keep rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin'

    Games like Marble Madness and the Super Monkey Ball series have had their share of devoted followers throughout the years, but they exist in a genre that isn’t exactly bursting at the seams with new entries. To those unfamiliar, these are games where the player controls a ball through a series of narrow...

  • Review Mighty Bomb Jack (Wii U eShop / NES)

    Pyramid schemes

    Bomb Jack, released in 1984, was one of Tecmo's early hits, a single-screen arcade game that had players rushing to diffuse bright red bombs planted at major tourist attractions around the globe. By the time its sequel rolled around in 1987, the Super Mario Bros.-induced side-scrolling craze had taken hold of the gaming world, and...

  • Review Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (Wii U eShop / NES)

    Super Masochist Bros.

    Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels is the famously difficult, Japan-only sequel to the titular plumber's breakout NES hit, expanding on the original formula with deviously challenging level design and obstacles. Western audiences were instead given the comparatively easy 'Super Mario USA' (a re-skinned translation of Nintendo's...

  • Review Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (Wii U eShop / NES)

    Should've put a stake in it

    With 1987's Castlevania on the NES, Konami created a classic. The vampire hunting action game was a whip-roaring success, kicking off one of gaming's most iconic series and introducing a generation of gamers to the adventures of Simon Belmont, the joy of whip-based combat, and the explosive properties of holy water. The...

  • Review F1 Race Stars: Powered Up Edition (Wii U eShop)

    This Formula isn't quite the One

    The kart racing genre has never been particularly short of options. While Nintendo may have created the most enduring franchise in the form of Mario Kart, others such as Sony and Sega have produced high-profile efforts, with Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed being a recent and excellent example. The fantasy of...

  • Review Cocoto Magic Circus 2 (Wii U eShop / Wii U)

    Look ma', I shot that lizard!

    Nintendo, the pillar of family friendly gaming, once made a good amount of money by selling kids plastic guns. OK, it was a Zapper, but the point stands; we may bemoan some mature, modern shooters for the violence they promote, but more fantastical and cuddly violence has always been part of the gaming landscape. Cocoto...

  • Review Unepic (Wii U eShop)

    Not ungood

    So you know how it goes: you’re playing a tabletop RPG with your friends. They poke fun at you because you, the Modern Gamer, want to try something that tends to work on a screen but doesn’t jive with the “realism” of high fantasy. Whatever. You excuse yourself to 'observe nature', but the lights go out and suddenly you’re not...

  • Review CastleStorm (Wii U eShop)

    Always in another castle

    Zen Studios, known mostly for its pinball titles, has created a promising new IP in CastleStorm, a tower defence / real-time strategy game with easy-to-learn, difficult-to-master gameplay and a tongue-in-cheek story filled with humour and personality. Playing a bit like a hybrid of Swords & Soldiers and Angry Birds, it's...

  • Review Dr. Luigi (Wii U eShop)

    Just what the doctor ordered?

    Nintendo ends the Year of Luigi with Dr. Luigi, a puzzler that feels more like a green, L-shaped re-skin of the Dr. Mario series than a true sequel, due to its identical gameplay, much of the same music, and simplistic visuals. Fortunately, Luigi proves to be just as good a doctor as his more experienced brother, and...

  • Review Super Mario Bros. 3 (Wii U eShop / NES)

    A truly super Mario game

    Super Mario Bros. 3’s recent arrival on the Wii U eShop seemed like a conspicuously low-key affair compared to the considerable hype that surrounded its hugely anticipated original release back the early nineties. However, that doesn't mean that the lack of booming fanfare should be interpreted as a cause for concern; over...

  • Review Knytt Underground (Wii U eShop)

    An abstract adventure

    Knytt Underground is unlike anything else on the Wii U eShop; it's the work of Nicklas Nygren (better known as Nifflas), a developer that's produced some intriguing download titles on PC — including this game's predecessors — as well as the critically acclaimed NightSky. The fact this game stands apart from its eShop...

  • Review Super Punch-Out!! (Wii U eShop / SNES)

    Brain over brawn

    Whereas Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream is consistently considered to be one of the best games on the NES, console sequel Super Punch-Out!! seldom appears in the top 10 when recalling the best games on the SNES. Did the puzzle-fight formula not hold up as well for the second time around at home, or was 16-bit competition just that...

  • Review Wii Sports Club: Golf (Wii U eShop)

    Definitely under par (that's a good thing)

    It seems slightly odd that, nearly two-and-a-half years after it made an appearance in the big reveal of Wii U at E3 2011, we now finally get to play Wii Sports Club: Golf. Perhaps unlike its contemporaries to date — Bowling and Tennis — this is the first of the new download-only series that feels like...

  • Review Castlevania (Wii U eShop / NES)

    Just like Dracula, it keeps coming back to life...

    Konami, admittedly following the lead of others such as Nintendo and Capcom, sure likes to remind us it was making awesome games way back in the 1980s. "Hey", it says, "remember how great Castlevania was on the NES?" We sure do, Konami and, oh look, now we can buy it again on the Wii U! It's one of...

  • Review Double Dragon (Wii U eShop / NES)

    Solo komodo

    Double Dragon is notable for a whole host of reasons, among them that the NES version bears one of history's most misleading game titles by being a solo adventure with nary a dragon in sight. It also opens with an iconic, if anachronistic, bang — or, more specifically, a pow. A gangster brute socks a woman in the gut and carries her...

  • Review NES Remix (Wii U eShop)

    Mixing it up

    During what is likely to be the final Nintendo Direct of 2013, there were a few surprise game announcements. One of these was a bit more surprising than the rest, because it was available immediately after its announcement — NES Remix. At first glance, NES Remix might just seem like a collection of NES games, but in truth it's more...

  • Review RUSH (Wii U eShop)

    No need to block this one

    The Wii U eShop is gradually building its library, but for the large part has been populated by relatively substantial games that cost a decent amount of change; while that's absolutely fine, this is a platform also suitable for inexpensive experiences either quick-fire or simple in nature. RUSH, like its Two Tribes...