Nintendo just can’t seem to get a solid foothold on its WiiWare catalog. Week after week it’s the same old thing over and over again. This week Hudson tries to make an FPS for the Wii with Water Warfare, a comical first-person shooter that uses water guns to battle and soak opponents. Unfortunately Hudson took a page out of what not to do for an FPS.
Featuring over 40 single player missions for you to get soaked in, Water Warfare offers up a lot of content. In the single player missions you will have a variety of objective and boss battles. If you just want to skirmish you can play against up to seven bots with three difficulty levels. Two players can go at it in split screen or you can play with a total of eight via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. You can play with strangers or just play a good old fashioned rank match on one of the 4 maps made. Team games include Battle Royale where the last person standing wins, Death Match is the standard FPS free-for-all, but should be called Wet Match, first player to 10 knockouts wins. Treasure Chest you have to find the opposing team's chest and bring it back to your base. In assault you capture the flag, which I figured would be called capture the flag. Base you take control of bases and score 100 points to win. Finally in point rally you need to put your gun away and race through checkpoints.
Weapon wise you’re given the standard array of weapons, pistols, shotguns, assault rifles and rocket launchers all filled with lovely H2O. The weapons control ok but feel like squirt guns that have no kick to them. Also perks are scattered throughout the map like a raincoat that makes you temporarily water resistant and a towel to dry yourself off. 
Water Warfare is for the kids, and rightfully so for the system it’s on. But with the 800 point price tag this is way too high a price to pay for mediocre gameplay and visuals. Kids will find it very interesting to play for about an hour, but they will lose interest quickly because to be frank it’s not Halo! It doesn’t have the mass appeal and stamina that is carried over by most FPS’s. It gives you everything that they offer but the package is so weak that mixing in all the added modes seems like filler and this filling is not tasty at all. You’d be better off saving your money and buying your kids a real water gun.
Pros: good for young kids
Cons: visuals, Gameplay, water
GamePro Score: 2.0
The Info: Platform: Wii (WiiWare), Publisher/Developer:Hudson Entertainment, Players: 1-2 (1-8 online), Price: 800 Wii Points
Related Links: Make sure to read PSP and Me: Gaming Love Gone Too Far, XNA Community Game of the Month: Angry Barry  and enter  GPArcade Giveaway: Fallout 3's Point Lookout.

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This week gamers can download nine (9!) new titles. Starting today Nintendo fanboys can pick up three WiiWare games (Water Warfare, Reel Fishing Challenge, Silver Star Reversi), one Virtual Console game (Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa) and one DSiWare game (Sudoku Master). 

On Wednesday Xbox 360 owners get three titles, Worms 2: Armageddon, King of Fighters 98: Ultimate Match, and the last game of the Hasbro Family Game Night Collection, Sorry Sliders (all selling for 800MS Points/$10). On Thursday PS3 owners can pick up The Punisher: No Mercy.

Aren't you proud of me? I didn't even make a PSN joke this week, not even in the title of this post. See, I can grow. 

While a little bit of downloadable love for every console is great, its possible this week could get even better. Battlefield 1943 is due out on XBLA and PSN very soon, and while I've fruitlessly scoured the net trying to get a solid release date, I wouldn't be surprised if it came out this Wednesday and Thursday, bringing this week's total to 10.

Catch me on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/terryterrones

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For DS owners Neves isn’t a new game, it hit about a year ago but unfortunately due to its high price tag didn’t sell well on the casual market. Now thanks to Nintendo’s WiiWare gamers can get this great game at a more basic price. Neves Plus is basically the same as the DS game, players are given a mix of shapes and have to assort them to make some sort of picture, but with tons of new puzzles and an added multiplayer mode, which is always a plus. But does this live up to the greatness of its DS brethren?

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Final Fantasy downloadable goodness strikes again, this time in the form of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. This is not another new title it’s actually a sequel to the ever popular Final Fantasy IV or FFII on the SNES. 

In case you’re unaware, in Final Fantasy IV players take on the role of Cecil, a Dark Knight from the kingdom of Baron, on his journey to save the world from the evil Golbez. Struggling to prevent Golbez from acquiring powerful Crystals, Cecil learns of his heritage and travels through three realms to battle Golbez's minions. His lover, best friend, and other warriors join him for the adventure. Released on the DS not too long ago this is another great FF to add to the list.

Hit the jump to learn more about it.

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Fans of downloadable games get 7 new offerings this week, including a hefty three (3!) WiiWare games.

Starting today Nintendo fanboys can pick up WiiWare titles Drill Sargeant Mindstrong (800 Wii Points), NEVES Plus (600pts), Family Mini Golf (500pts), DSiWare game ArtStyle: BOXLIFE (500 DSi pts), and Sim Earth: The Living Plant (800 Wii Points) on the Virtual Console. 

On Wednesday XBLA gamers can pick up Neo-Geo/Dreamcast fighter Fatal Fury: Garou-Mark of the Wolves and Droplitz, both for 800 MS Points ($10). What do PS3 owners get? You were lucky to be able to download Metal Gear Solid last week, so you should be happy with that, but you guys get Droplitz as well. Congrats.

Hit the jump for the official press releases on this week's downloadable offerings.

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With the success of Bubble Bobble Plus! on WiiWare, Taito thought that they would try their hand in revitalizing another series from way back in the day as well. Now if you are unfamiliar with Rainbow Island, its very similar to Bubble Bobble. While Square may have released the redone WiiWare bundle, Taito did the original arcade shooter with the two lovable dinos, Bub and Bob. They were cursed as human boys into being in those bodies, and after completing the quest in that bubble-blowing arcade adventure they went back to being human boys. This is where Rainbow Islands come into play. The boys have been forced to climb a Technicolor tower while defeating enemies with bright, magic rainbows instead of burping up bouncing bubbles. Taito wants to rejuvenate the series with its new title Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure, but does it live up to its counterpart?

Find out after the jump!

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Just when you thought Nintendo got its act together, along comes a title with the name of “Fish ‘em All!”. Yeah, as you might have guessed, WiiWare is back to its old ways with bad to mediocre titles. “Fish ‘em All!” falls under the mediocre category with its simple design, simple game play and…well, if you haven’t gotten the point it’s all very simple. You choose between one of two characters, Jack (the tall one with the beard) or Walter (the short one with the mustache), and then choose whether you're right- or left-handed. From there you basically catch fish with a net doing a very odd motion, which might require a kitchen utensil to help you out a bit.

Final Fantasy can release dozens beyond dozens of titles and they would never get old. This weekly update is no different -- featuring the sequel to Final Fantasy IV with FFIV: The After Years and main chracter Ceodore (son of Cecil & Rosa). Destroy monsters disturbing peace within the Blue Planet. The other WiiWare title worth mentioning is Texas Hold 'Em Tournament, where it's up to you to move from the lousy tables in Nevada to the most prestigious locations in Vegas, baby. Play with up to five friends with Mii capability.
 
For the 360 comes Wolfenstein 3D, mentioned in an early post, which will test your ability to escape the castle and defeat a Nazi regime with B.J. Blazkowicz. Fun stuff is found in the hidden secrets throughout gameplay in this shooter that will more than likely become a classic.
 
Hit the jump for every detail on all three games.
 
Related Links: You can't miss the E3 news and Ian's first experience with it all. Pressers are always worth a look too from E3.

 

ADVENTURE ISLAND The Beginning also hit WiiWare this week. Just like Bubble Bobble, this is a remake of a classic franchise with spruced up visuals and some new content. In Adventure Island you play as Mater Higgins who must traverse through four worlds, each with four levels, to defeat the evil King Quiller, who has kidnapped the love of your life, Tina. It’s a basic sidescroller with tons of weapons at your disposal to dispatch enemies all the way to the goal. But it’s not as simple as just speeding through the levels and moving on. Higgins is, well, fat, so he must eat in order to keep his stamina up. Food is scattered through the level and you must pick it up in order to keep Higgins going.
The game hasn’t strayed far from the original at all, except that you don’t die after one hit like the original, unless you fall in fire. While this isn’t a complaint, it throws off the difficulty found in the original. The same can be said about the boss fights in the game. You will fight the boss eight times and on the final bout, the boss ramps up the difficulty. But don’t worry; you can collect gold melons throughout the game to upgrade your character and weapons to help you on your quest. They also unlock new abilities like a double jump or give your axe that competitive edge. A boss fight could last about 14 seconds, if you’re good enough.  

Throw in an achievement clone system, a small amount of mini-games and multiplayer, and it sounds like you have a perfect title. That would have been true if it wasn’t for the visuals and music. The backgrounds are nice but Higgins has some weird graphical flaws. The three songs that they use are so annoying that you will more than likely hit the mute button and use your own music. Other than those small problems, Adventure Island is definitely worth checking out if you’re a fan of the original.
Pros: Game play is fun and is a great homage to the original
Cons: Music and Higgins’ animation

Sound: 2.5

Control: 3.0

Graphics: 3.0

Fun Factor: 3.0

The Info: Platform: WiiWare, Publisher/Developer: Hudson, Players: 1-2, ESRB: E, Price: $7.99 (800 Wii Points)

Related Links: As always see what hit with the Weekly 360 and Wii downloads. Check out the other WiiWare release Bubble Bobble Plus! and finally enter our GPArcade giveaway: Texas Cheat'Em.

 I think Nintendo heard my rant on very crappy WiiWare titles because this week two very exciting games hit WiiWare. First up on the list is BUBBLE BOBBLE Plus! This remake of the classic franchise sounds like it would just be another mediocre port of the same game you have played a hundred times. Surprisingly enough, it actually has a ton of new features to get new and veteran players back into a classic franchise.

In case you haven’t played Bubble Bobble before, its pretty simple. You move about the screen trapping enemies in bubbles and then popping the bubble to send them flying about the screen. Once defeated, they turn into numerous objects depending upon the stage which you collect points from.
The game features six different game play modes.”Standard” includes all original 100 stages of Bubble Bobble. “Arrange” changes up the game by adding slopes to another set of 100 levels with new music every 20 levels that is a blast to listen to. “Super-Standard” and “Super Arrange” are harder versions of the previous two mentioned. The last two will be DLC items and they are “Expert-1” and “Expert-2” modes, which are the mix of standard and arranged modes with 50 new levels on each. Throw in the fact that all of these can be played with multiple people means that you are certainly getting enough bang for your buck.
Bubble Bobble Plus!, with its great music, tons of content and multiplayer, finally has pulled WiiWare out of the slump it’s been in. With a price tag of only 600 Wii points ($6) you have nothing to lose, this is a smashing good deal!

 Pros: Tons of content, loads of fun!

Cons: Did not come out sooner!

Sound: 4.0

Control: 3.25

Graphics: 3.0

Fun Factor: 4.5

The Info: Platform: WiiWare, Publisher/Developer: Square Enix, Players: 1-2, ESRB: E, Price: $5.99 (600 Wii Pionts)


Related Links: See what else came out in the Weekly 360 and Wii downloads. Check out the review for Adventure Island: The Beginning and answer the GPArcade question of the week.