WiiWare releases of recent weeks have been, to say the least, underwhelming. Gravitronix, unfortunately, is not the exception.
While the concept of spherical Pong with various shaped projectiles flying around the screen between anywhere from 2-8 players is only mildly entertaining in itself, the controls make every effort to make the gameplay as unenjoyable as possible.
Word Searcher is yet another attempt on Nintendo’s WiiWare platform to capture the so-called casual gaming audience, but falls flat on its face. A common trend I am noticing with WiiWare games is developers making games that would be better suited for a mobile platform such as the iPhone, DSiWare or even PlayStation Minis.
Finding words on a console game means nothing more than sitting in front of the screen while trying not to submit to sleep-inducing gameplay and remain conscious enough to make sense of the letters on the screen. I think I actually felt my heart rate slow and my breaths become slower as I continued trying to find breakfast-themed words while listening to the repetitive elevator music that plays continuously in the background.
It took a few long play sessions before I was able to warm up to DRiiFT Mania. The top-down perspective racer pays homage to the arcade classic Off Road, but attempts to modernize it slightly with cell-shading and the ability to allow up to eight players locally.
The fixed camera, full-screen track so popularly used in Off Road was completely necessary at the time, but feels a bit unecessary today. Don’t get me wrong, I do have a fondness for retro gaming, but in this style of game it just feels limiting. I would compare it to a JRPG that still tries to throw random enemy encounters your way. Yes, the game may still be fun, but should 1989’s technological limitations be a part of this brand-new experience?
Spaceball: Revolution is a sci-fi-themed puzzle game released for WiiWare. Players use their Wii Remote to aim at a grid and fire spaceballs to light up the squares within it. On the upper-left corner of the screen, you will see another grid with lit squares that make up a shape you must match while avoiding obstacles that block the path of your flying balls. There is a timer running while you are trying to complete the shapes, so think fast.
Between rounds, you are put in an intergalactic shooting range in which you fire your balls at futuristic clay pigeon-ish things that fly by really fast as your spaceballs inch along towards them, so timing your shot is important here. This minigame serves as a nice way of changing up the action in Spaceball: Revolution, but it’s not enough to keep me sitting for long.
You, Me, and the Cubes is a puzzler that almost doesn't feel like WiiWare. Something about it, maybe it’s the relaxing vibe, maybe it’s the soothing music, feels almost like the type of game I would find on PSN. Think along the lines of Pixeljunk Eden or Echochrome (Hit the link for a review of that game, which Terry did waaaay back in the day. Cause, you know, he's ancient and all.) in atmosphere.
The game presents you with a cube floating in a black empty space. You must place little human-like creatures, called Fallos, on the cube in pairs while maintaining even weight distribution throughout. The game will tell you how many Fallows you have to place and give you some sort of criteria (i.e. Six Fallows with at least one Fallow per cube). It's quite easy at first, but each level becomes progressively harder as a cube is added to the structure. By the end of the level, you have a cluster of up to six cubes and anywhere upwards of 20 Fallows.
In our very first GPA Question of the Week, gamers revealed that they felt that the best price point for arcade titles is $10. But what about other downloadable content? Music, movies, new levels for arcade and disc games, themes, gamer pics, avatar clothing and plenty of other items are available for download on just about every console. But what should they cost?
Starting today, GPArcade will be asking a series of questions (of the week) to help the gaming industry determine what they should be charging for DLC. Up first? Downloadable music for Rock Band and Guitar Hero.
Personally I love the consistency with which new Rock Band and Guitar Hero songs are released, but I think the content is overpriced. I'm paying twice as much for a RB and GH song than I am for the exact same music on iTunes, which I can listen to anywhere. Of course, despite my objections, a silly thing like money will not stop me from buying every Beatles: Rock Band song that comes out, I'm too big of a Beatles fan not to. Damn you MTV/Harmonix for taking something I love and using it to empty my pocket!
So what do you think? What do you feel would be the best price point for downloadable Rock Band and Guitar Hero songs? Let your voice be heard by answering our poll. Don't like our choices? Write your own in the comments section of this post. Have a question you'd like to have asked as the question of the week? Email it to me at tterrones@gamepro.com.
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Gameloft returns with another poker offering on WiiWare. Some of you may remember my run-in with the less-than-enjoyable Sexy Poker a few weeks ago. Looks like Gameloft has wandered away from the “sexy” part, and decided to just focus on the real game with Texas Hold’Em Poker.
I will first come clean with the admission that my knowledge of poker is about as vast as my knowledge of nanotechnology. That doesn’t mean that I can’t enjoy a videogame based on poker to be at the very least playable. In fact, I may even be able to say that the small bit I do know about Texas hold’em was learned through sessions of playing WiiWare poker games for review.
This time around, Gameloft has done more to remain true to the game. Players sit around a table with five others and play their cards just as they would in a real game of Texas hold’em.
FACT: The Rubik's Cube is completely impossible to solve. Ignore those videos on YouTube and hearsay from people who claim to know a guy who can do it while drunk. Despite my inability to make the Cube look like anything but a handful of square Skittles, the brand has lived long and prospered enough to get a new WiiWare game series called Rubik's Puzzle Galaxy.
Every entry in the Rubik's saga will be somehow inspired by the ever-famous Rubik's Cube, with the first entry--named RUSH--being a challenging puzzle game that has you leading colored blocks around a course until they land in the identically colored holes. You don't control these blocks directly, and instead must manipulate the conveyor belts and contraptions that adorn each arena to get those pieces home. The gameplay looks like a mix of Intelligence Qube and Chu Chu Rocket, with a striking visual design that evokes the aesthetics of the eternally popular Cube. Speaking of which, the classic Rubik's Cube will also be in the game as a bonus, allowing you to fail at solving it in an all new and exciting way.
Rubik's Puzzle Galaxy: RUSH hits WiiWare sometime in the next few weeks. Check out the trailer above for a look at the game in action, or slam dunk the break for the full press release.
I went into Mart Racer with zero expectations for a game that would be even mildly entertaining. The developer and publisher was Joju Games, a group I have never heard of. And the premise was something to the effect of, “shop really fast!” I expected an experience that was somewhere in the realm of fun of real grocery shopping, only with the luxury of not having to get up off my lazy butt and drive to the store.
Well, my lazy butt couldn’t have been happier to be plopped down on that couch, because I actually enjoyed Mart Racer – a lot. It brought me back to the days of watching Supermarket Sweep and Shop 'til You Drop back-to-back on Lifetime, whose marketing catchphrase at the time was, "Television for Women." It was something I enjoyed, but tried to keep a secret back then.
World War II was kind of a big deal, and video game companies will never let you forget that. Wii owners are set to receive their history lesson soon enough, with the awesomely named Legendo Entertainment announcing a trio of downloadable episodes for WiiWare set during the Worldest of Wars...two.
The Pearl Harbor Trilogy is set to kick off with the first episode, Red Sun Rising, which will arrive sometime during winter 2009. The games are focusing on air-based combat, with authentic planes like the P-40 Warhawk being sent into battle against the diabolical Japanese forces. The developers are attempting to deliver intense dogfighting action that is unlike anything else on WiiWare, with the trilogy itself being a "re-interpretation" of the 2007 PC title Attack on Pearl Harbor. While that game's 64 average on Metacritic isn't overloading me with confidence, the ambitious nature of this project leaves me with some hope.
With scenarios taken from actual conflicts--including Wake Island, the Battle of Midway and least surprisingly of all: Pearl Harbor--World War II buffs will finally be able to justify that Wii purchase once Red Sun Rising hits the intertubes. While the jump likes you, and even calls itself your friend, I suggest that you hit it for the full press release of The Pearl Harbor Trilogy.
