Wii U eShop Game Reviews
Review SQUIDS Odyssey (Wii U eShop)
Calamari meets kamikaze
Squids Odyssey plays like a mix between Angry Birds, billiards, and a strategy RPG. If that sounds like fun to you, that’s because it is. A cast of cephalopodic heroes embarks on a quest to save their underwater world from a corrupting black ooze the best way they know how: by launching their soft, squishy little bodies...
Review Adventures of Lolo (Wii U eShop / NES)
YOLO, Lolo
HAL Laboratory's 1989 puzzler Adventures of Lolo falls into the same category as titles like Mach Rider and Clu Clu Land: C-list NES classics that are often overlooked today but provide an arcade-like fun experience for those searching out Nintendo's "deep cuts" from the '80s. Adventures of Lolo is probably best remembered these days as...
Review Color Zen (Wii U eShop)
Passes with flying colours
If you enjoyed Abyss earlier this month and you're thirsting for another relaxing, atmospheric Wii U eShop title with a smooth electronic soundtrack, Color Zen is exactly what you're looking for. It's a puzzle game with no time limit or scoring system: you simply match colours and unwind. The iOS/Android success-story has...
Review Scram Kitty and his Buddy on Rails (Wii U eShop)
Off the rails
Announced over a year ago, Scram Kitty and his Buddy on Rails was one of the earliest Wii U download games to be confirmed. Now that it's finally here, has the wait been worth it, or should this game scram? Although you're pretty much immediately thrown into the action, there is a little bit of a story to Scram Kitty. The titular cat,...
Review Mach Rider (Wii U eShop / NES)
Groovy little motorbike
If you were lucky enough to pick up a shiny new NES way back in 1985, you would have had your pick of several future classics from a legendary launch-day lineup. If your idea of a digital good time happened to involve motorcycles, you were particularly spoilt for choice, with Excitebike and Mach Rider representing two-wheeled...
Review Stick It To The Man (Wii U eShop)
Get out of my thoughts and into my Wii U
You're on the run from the law, hunted for a crime you didn't commit and unable to return to your own home for fear of being caught. A road block looms ahead, halting everyone except for an acclaimed opera singer who is performing later that evening. As the sirens echo through darkened streets, you slowly...
We all live in a cyclops submarine
Abyss is perhaps exactly the sort of game the Wii U eShop needs in greater numbers: adventurous little indie titles with strong artistic vision and a focus on core game mechanics. With a budget price tag, you can't afford not to try out Barcelona studio EnjoyUp Games' HD re-release of its attractive 2012 DSiWare...
Review Ava and Avior Save the Earth (Wii U eShop)
Toxic waste
A good educational video game needs to be both enriching and fun for the player. While 2020 Venture's Ava and Avior Save the Earth may sound like a good idea — it attempts to teach children about recycling, composting and getting rid of waste in a "green" way — it fails in almost every regard. With amateurish presentation and...
Review Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Egg-ceptional platforming
When you take into account just how much of a landmark title Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island was when it released back in 1995, it’s absurd to think that it’s only just being re-released on one of Nintendo’s Virtual Console services – well, that is if you exclude the exclusive 3DS release under the guise of the...
Review Child of Light (Wii U eShop)
The brush is as mighty as the sword
Listen, dear readers, and we shall recall our journeys with Child of Light. The darling of Ubisoft Montreal, it has become known as a beautiful sight. Screenshots and videos released to the world have proven its visuals most stunning. Yet when the tale is told and story unfurled, will all its design be as...
Review NES Remix 2 (Wii U eShop)
Electric boogaloo
Shortly before the end of 2013 Nintendo suddenly surprised us — during a Nintendo Direct, it announced and then immediately released NES Remix, a very unusual but, we thought, very fun collection of small challenges based on various games from Nintendo's NES catalogue. A few months later and, in a different Nintendo Direct,...
Review My First Songs (Wii U eShop)
Hickory Dickory Don't!
We all had high hopes for My First Songs, with fifteen of the most legendary nursery rhymes of all time finally together in one package. Bangkok-based developer RingZero Game Studio brings us this hotly-anticipated karaoke title just in time for your tax refund shopping spree — alas, My First Songs is not quite a Yankee...
Review Flowerworks HD: Follie's Adventure (Wii U eShop)
A few carnations short of a full bouquet
You're a pint-sized explorer that's crash landed your spaceship on an alien planet dominated by vegetation, where flowers are your greatest ally. No, it's not Pikmin, it's Flowerworks HD: Follie's Adventure. A high-def remake of the well-received 2009 WiiWare title, Flowerworks HD is a floral-themed action...
Review Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate - Deluxe Edition (Wii U eShop)
The broken Bat
For as long as portable games have existed, the trend of developing handheld versions of popular console titles has been present and correct. These games tend to be inferior versions of the originals, taking a substantial hit graphically and often limiting gameplay, depending on what the portable console is capable of. In some cases,...
Review My Exotic Farm (Wii U eShop)
Not a roaring success
Farm management sims are hard to get right; farming is work, after all. Successful farming games either add substantial non-farming elements like Harvest Moon's social elements, or they take the work so seriously that it becomes comically overbearing, à la Farming Simulator. French studio BiP Media's My Exotic Farm ultimately...
Review WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Fun incorporated
Ever since its first foray into the video game market, Nintendo has been known for the incredible amount of creativity it brings to the medium. Innovative ideas – whether they add a pleasing minor touch or groundbreaking gameplay feature – have to some degree been the company’s bread and butter for decades. It’s these...
Review Kirby & The Amazing Mirror (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Kirbytroid
For the most part, not much has changed about the Kirby series — many of its titles are fairly straightforward platformers in which your main ability is to suck up enemies and acquire their powers. It's not until somewhat recently that the development teams started trying different things, and one can certainly make a case saying that...
Review Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Double trouble
Back in 2003, Nintendo had already released two excellent Mario RPGs; Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars and Paper Mario. Rather than immediately making a Paper Mario sequel, the company decided to add a third completely different game to the line-up. While the previous games were developed by Squaresoft and Intelligent...
Review Super Dodge Ball (Wii U eShop / NES)
Utterly ridiculous and sublime
When firing up an NES game in the modern day, no less a silly spin-off sports title from the era, a certain mindset is required. If you're intolerant of sticky animation, that flickering effect that NES games have when there's too much on screen and wonky frame performance, there are plenty of games that are immediate...
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...
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...
