WiiWare Reviews - Page 10

Undead a go-go

Dracula: Undead Awakening is a nice example of how to port an iPhone game to the Wii properly: make sure the graphics are up to scratch and Wii-ify the controls. If you're unaware of the iPhone original, it's like a horror film version of Williams' arcade classics Robotron: 2084 or Smash TV, or the more recent Geometry Wars: players control a character attempting to fend off..

A pit stop on the road to hell

The family that just can’t get enough of each other is back in their eighth outing on WiiWare. By now, Aksys has had plenty of time to figure out what works and what doesn’t in this series of games. And it was becoming pretty obvious that if these games have a fault (and they’re all pretty flawless) it’s that the cast of characters was just too small. With the..

When there's no more water in the well, the dead will walk the Earth

You know what they say: if you can’t beat ‘em, take what they did and put a fresh coat of paint on it. In this case it’s Gevo Entertainment taking on Wii Sports Resort’s sword-fighting modes with a mythical Chinese folklore twist. This is by no means a bad thing...

Home improvements needed

Mouse House is the latest game to make the jump from iPhone to WiiWare. Not all of these transitions are very successful, but Mouse House is a basic enough puzzle game that it survives the leap intact and without bringing any shame upon developers Plaid World Studios. Unfortunately, in the competitive WiiWare marketplace, it's lacking in features that make it as compelling..

“Sustained!”

This second game in the Phoenix Wright series brings more of the same intriguing puzzle solving game play mixed with addictive storytelling that made the first game a runaway success when it was released. And like the first game, Phoenix’s second outing is one of the best experiences to be had on a handheld. But as we pointed out...

Who would have thought stacking could be so much fun?

Shin'en, probably best known for their Nanostray shooters on the Nintendo DS, decided to toss their hat in the increasingly crowded ring of WiiWare puzzlers. Instead of rehashing another dumbed-down clone of an existing idea, however, they've instead taken the basic idea of stacking and built one...

Shockin' awful

Here at Nintendo Life we pride ourselves on reviewing every downloadable game and application released for the Wii and DSi. As a reviewer this may mean reviewing games in genres you might not regularly play, and there's also the risk of playing a bad game; sometimes a really bad game. WarMen Tactics is one of the latter, a game that...

Teddy bear Christmas comes early

WiiWare has seen a surprising number of mini-game collections come its way, probably due to the simple nature of the genre and the greater likelihood of standing out as part of a weekly download release than on a store shelf crowded with such titles. Hubert the Bear: Winter Games makes a decent addition to the genre as a party game experience that will likely be..

A blast from the past gets a makeover

Over the years, Sunsoft's NES Blaster Master release has become a favourite among fans of the console. Not only has it gone on to become a true cult classic for the system, it's also been called one of the most innovative gameplay experiences of the 8-bit era. Now Sunsoft is back and after having recently...

Floats like a lead bloon

Balloons have a proud history on game consoles, stretching all the way back to Circus Atari on the venerable Atari VCS and Nintendo's Joust clone Balloon Fight. There's just something about popping balloons that tickles a part of our inner children it seems and it's an activity that generally translates well to video games. Enter Bloons — which you may already have..

When the bugs come tumbling down

Originally released on the PC, the first and second Tumblebugs games were relatively well received. However the series failed to attain the mass popular appeal of similar games such as Zuma and Luxor as well as others. Tumblebugs is not even the first in this genre on WiiWare: that distinction goes to Magnetica...

Tethered to a television is not the way to play

Just like sudoku, crossword puzzles, word searches, and other public-domain fare as WiiWare, Digital Leisure's 5-in-1 Solitaire will have you tied down in front of a television after having plunked down your Nintendo Points for games available for free on the internet or, worse yet, that came pre-installed on your computer. You can easily bust out..

Another episodic adventure comes to an end.

It took a surprisingly long time, but the fifth and final chapter of Guybrush's latest adventure has finally hit WiiWare. Every previous chapter has been building up towards this supposedly epic conclusion, so was the long wait worth it? Considering this is the fifth and final part, spoilers for the series abound in this review. If you think back to the..

A little bit here and a little bit there...

With as many puzzle games as there are in Nintendo's WiiWare shop it's impressive that companies are still developing more. Even more impressive is how many of them are fun and original, and Unconditional's bittos+ is definitely one to add to the "good" pile. At first glance you might think it's just a garden-variety Tetris clone, largely..

Flawed by fuzziness

It took Ateam Inc. almost a year to bring their last WiiWare offering to the west after its initial Japanese release, but their next reached our shores within a matter of months. "Aha! I Found It!" Hidden Object Game brings with it the promise of good old-fashioned 'find the hidden object' family fun for up to four players. You'll spend your time here helping aliens to..

A beautiful piece of art or a worthless doodle?

Games involving drawing seem to be incredibly popular nowadays. With the DS's touch screen and Wii Remote's pointer both allowing rather precise drawing, it's pretty obvious to see why. Although it's a bit late to the party, Max & the Magic Marker keeps things pretty basic: it's a fairly straightforward platformer in which you can draw objects to..

All aboard, kids!

Back in 2008, indie developer Grubby Games created a collection of cute, quirky mini-games for the PC designed to amuse as well as stimulate your brain. It went on to be chosen as a 2008 PAX 10 winner, and though it did not capture the Audience Choice Award as well, it obviously turned enough heads for an eventual console release to be considered. Teaming up with fellow indie..

Weird doesn't even begin to describe it

Someone has stolen your stash of muscle-pumping creatine! Quick, assemble the burliest speedo-clad men, women and polar bears in town, chase the thief through walls and bury them under a pile of men! Dash, pose, flex! Muscle March is the kind of game that doesn't really need a review because everything you could possibly need to know to make a purchasing..

Hey, you got your MotionPlus in my WiiWare

Everyone with a playful heart has thrown their hands into light and tried to make a shadow figure on the wall at some point in their lives, but few stick around for more than a couple of tries, let alone ever consider paying for the opportunity. Deep Fried Entertainment asks both of players with ShadowPlay, and those who baulk at the idea might miss out on..