Wii U eShop Game Reviews
Review 153 Hand Video Poker (Wii U eShop)
147 extra hands don't make it any better
We pity the poor souls who paid their hard earned money on a dud as bad as 6-Hand Video Poker, where soulless presentation and meaningless gameplay combined to make it a nearly worthless product in our eyes. Skunk Software evidently thought that adding dozens of additional hands to the game would somehow...
Review Emojikara: A Clever Emoji Match Game (Wii U eShop)
No Bed is a Lady
Here's a fun fact about the Japanese language - the word "Emoji" combines the Japanese for "picture" and "character". What's more, the word "Chikara" means power. What do you get when you combine the two? Emojikara, the name of a game that is anything but powerful (or clever, as the title would lead you to believe). While the...
Review STEEL LORDS (Wii U eShop)
Steel disappointing
Steel Rivals, released on the Wii U eShop not too long ago by indie developer nuGAME, was by no means a shining example of a quality fighting game experience. The package as a whole had poor production values and was uninspired in terms of its design. Be it the bland characters or broken fighting mechanics, it failed to garner a...
Review Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia (Wii U eShop / DS)
New region, new Pokémon, similar circling action
During the Pokémon Ranger games you spend a lot of time wandering around catching Pokémon. Captures are different from the main series, however, as Poké Balls are ditched in favour of Capture Stylers, requiring you to use the touch screen to draw circles around the Pokémon with your stylus. The...
Review SPLASHY DUCK (Wii U eShop)
Just keep swimmin'
So why did the duck cross the water? In SPLASHY DUCK, it's to grab a bunch of coins before colliding with a whale. So, uh, now you know? SPLASHY DUCK is another addition to the RCMADIAX line of simply designed score attack games. The player guides a duck endlessly swimming a vertical channel in the middle of the screen. When...
Review Slots - Pharaoh's Riches (Wii U eShop)
More like Pharaoh's Rags
There seems to be a dearth of casino-style or gambling games on the Wii U eShop, so Skunk Software has taken it upon itself to try and fill this gap. Unfortunately, there is a glaringly obvious reason why gambling games aren't found all over the eShop: they simply don't work as intended. For its part, Slots - Pharaoh's...
Review Dual Core (Wii U eShop)
What a blast
In a derelict space station on Europa - one of Jupiter's moons - two AIs have activated, unaware of what has happened inside. Over the course of their journey they discover it has been overrun with aliens and rampaging machines. The two AIs have to make their way out of the space station alive and find out about what happened in the...
Review PixelJunk Monsters (Wii U eShop)
No monsters are getting through on our watch
The Forest Defender, Tikiman, is back to protect his children in PixelJunk Monsters for Wii U. Developed by Q-Games and Double Eleven, PixelJunk Monsters is the second game in the PixelJunk series that started on the PlayStation 3. This time around Double Eleven is porting the popular indie game to the...
Review Mario Hoops 3 on 3 (Wii U eShop / DS)
Going for a slam dunk
From his first venture into Karting through to competing in the Olympics, Mario has been spending plenty of time taking part in activities other than Princess saving. In 2007 (European release) Mario and his mates tried their hands at shooting a few hoops on Nintendo DS in Mario Slam Basketball (aka Mario Hoops 3-on-3 in the...
Review B3 Game Expo For Bees (Wii U eShop)
Hot Buzz
There is something so delightfully goofy and left-field about the premise of B3 Game Expo for Bees that it's difficult not to be utterly charmed by it. A bee security guard protecting bee gaming companies in a "convention hive" from a firsties-obsessed robotic bear? That's the type of organized randomness that can make for something...
Review Run Run and Die (Wii U eShop)
As fun as running straight into a brick wall
'Runner' games similar to the likes of Bit.Trip Runner have been a popular choice for quite some time now. Popularised by mobile titles and best enjoyed for their addictive "one more try" gameplay, the genre often strips the medium down to its very basics - just one button to press and a top score to aim...
Review Kick & Fennick (Wii U eShop)
A boy, a bot, and a really big gun
When picking up any platformer for the first time, it's just second nature to check for the jump button. They're so ingrained in the experience, you're likely hearing Mario's sound effect in your head even as you're reading this. Look for a jump button in Kick & Fennick, however, and you're not going to find...
Review Sudoku and Permudoku (Wii U eShop)
Grids meet GamePad
Type "sudoku" into the search engine here at Nintendo Life and you'll discover two things. First, there are a lot of sudoku games out there, from children's starters starring Lola the Panda to those proclaiming to be for elite brains only. Second, of all these games, only this one here, Sudoku & Permudoku, is designed for the...
Review Dragon Fantasy: The Black Tome of Ice (Wii U eShop)
Here be dragons
Last year's Dragon Fantasy: The Volumes of Westeria was a thorough, if unsurprising, callback to the early days of JRPGs. Rather than try to buck tradition and innovate, it instead opted to embrace all the well-trodden tropes that made the genre so popular. Its sequel, Dragon Fantasy: The Black Tome of Ice, is very much the same in...
Review 8Bit Hero (Wii U eShop)
Crawls flat
Retro-style pixelation is a tricky commodity to master. Pull it off well in a game and players can bask in warm, fuzzy nostalgia or (for the young'uns) simply enjoy an artful use of the form. If you don't integrate it well, players might just wonder why the style choice was made in the first place. 8Bit Hero unfortunately leans toward...
Review 6-Hand Video Poker (Wii U eShop)
A bad hand
Those of you who are old enough to have been to a casino may have encountered a video poker machine before. Effectively a virtual simulation of the timeless card game, these offer up something a little bit different than the slot machines: a game where planning, luck and a bit of savvy can see the player receiving a decent bit of cash...
Review Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge (Wii U eShop)
Toying around
Beyond simply dropping amiibo into stores and saying "look, Nintendo characters as collectible toys", the big N has also been trying to produce free software to tempt Wii U and 3DS owners to pick up some figures. We've already had amiibo Tap: Nintendo's Greatest Bits, but that was an oddly flawed and arguably rubbish app - thankfully...
Review Color Symphony 2 (Wii U eShop)
I see your true colours..
As its name might suggest, REIMORY's Color Symphony 2's premise is based on the idea of colour, or more accurately "the ambiguity of colour". A platform puzzle game, Color Symphony 2 allows the player to solve various puzzles by shifting colours, affecting the world you are in. Although it brings some really good ideas, the...
Review Escape From Flare Industries (Wii U eShop)
Not up to inspection
There are some best practices that can be followed when manufacturing a puzzle platformer for the masses. A cute character, easy-to-understand controls and a simple objective are often positives, and Escape from Flare Industries does deliver these in its packaging. Unfortunately, the end product suffers from some defects that...
Review Now I know my ABCs (Wii U eShop)
The more you know
Of the three major console platforms of the current generation, none seem to be as family oriented as the Wii U. Nintendo has taken some heat for this, of course, with some enthusiasts claiming that it puts out "kiddie" platforms that no self-respecting gamer would dare to admit spending too much time with. Wherever you may stand...
Review Sweetest Thing (Wii U eShop)
My love throws me like a rubber ball, oh oh oh
JoinDots' Sweetest Thing is a puzzle game in which you strive to rebuild the sugary realm after it has been destroyed by ants. Another mobile game which has made its way to the Wii U shop, this describes itself as a time management game, but fails to be a challenge for any fan of this genre. When you...
Review Lost Reavers (Wii U eShop)
Keeping up with the Indiana Joneses
Nestled away in the busy excitement of a Nintendo Direct last January, Bandai Namco first announced Project Treasure; a 4 player co-op title set to release exclusively for Wii U. With famed Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada and a team of young developers on board, their admirable goal was to create a game that...
Review Tachyon Project (Wii U eShop)
Shoot all of the things
While twin-stick shooters are relatively common on rival download stores, the Wii U eShop isn't blessed with many. Tachyon Project, then, offers to fill a gap with its arena-based stages and frantic gameplay, and it does so in decent style. Presented top-down with a flat perspective, this title is undoubtedly visually...
Review The Deer God (Wii U eShop)
Not very endearing
First impressions can be very important, and The Deer God makes an excellent first impression. It's a shame, then, that it loses momentum so quickly. Let's get that first impression out of the way first, though. The Deer God is an absolutely beautiful game. In it, you play a hunter whose soul has been trapped in a deer after his...
Review REPTILIAN REBELLION (Wii U eShop)
Cold-blooded killers
Imagine you're going about your daily routine and then all of a sudden there is an uprising. Lizard-people have come out of hiding in an attempt to wipe-out humanity once-and-for-all, and now it's up to you to grab your weapon of choice and eradicate every last one of the green shape-shifting pests. Conspiracy theories aside,...
Review Midnight 2 (Wii U eShop)
Another round with a square
It's not easy to mix chill with challenge, and yet the Midnight series somehow manages to do a quite decent job of it. Petite Games has brought the twilight golf-like back for another go, providing another round of stages with next to no changes in the formula. Midnight 2 should feel right at home to those who played its...
Review Mario Party DS (Wii U eShop / DS)
Partying alone
For gamers seeking fun with friends Mario Party has long been a good series to visit. Although multiplayer is preferable for the games, there are occasions where you may play alone whether just for practice or because everyone's avoiding you after you mistook that drinking fountain for a bidet. For Mario Party DS (on Wii U at least)...
Too square to be hip
Have you ever said to yourself, "I would like a game that combines elements of Street Fighter, Space Invaders and Puyo Puyo"? If you have, then you are going to love Blockara. Blockara is a puzzle game first and foremost, but it borrows plenty of successful mechanics from other games. The result of all that borrowing, however,...
Review Queen's Garden (Wii U eShop)
Candy Crush with trowel blades
Queen's Garden takes a leaf from games like Candy Crush and Bejewelled, which is no surprise considering it was initially released for smart devices. It's a good addition to your Wii U if you enjoy match-3 puzzles but lacks in the whole 'garden' side of things, with more customization and depth needed. The difficulty...
Review Super Meat Boy (Wii U eShop)
Although the meat’s been out for a while, it hasn’t spoiled
Super Meat Boy has been around the block. Developed by Team Meat and designed by Edmund McMillen (one of the creators of the original Flash game, Meat Boy, and designer for another well-known indie title, The Binding of Isaac) and Tommy Refenes, this is the latest in the countless ports...
