It’s hard to believe the original Shantae: Half-Genie Hero released 2 years ago. I happily backed that project on Kickstarter, and it’s been exciting to watch the successive waves of DLC crash upon the shores of several consoles. While it’s true Half-Genie Hero wasn’t able to dethrone Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse for me, it’s still been a blast to see the talented folks at WayForward craft new approaches to everybody’s favorite genie. Now the final DLC has released, Costume Pack, introducing three new ways to play – as Beach Shantae, Ninja Shantae or Officer Shantae. Was this final release three times as fun as Pirate Queen’s Quest and Friends to the End? Or did Half-Genie Hero end with a whimper?

Each of Costume Pack’s adventures plays as more of an arcade mode than a full fledged story mode. There are no HUB areas and minimal plot, instead it’s all about getting from level to level in sequence, crushing bosses and trying to find all the deviously hidden collectables (Dream Squids and Officer Shantae’s escaped convicts). In essence, they play like side stories showing off Shantae’s more whimsical side, which is a nice approach. What sets them apart from each other is how they all play, since each of Costume Pack’s experiences features totally different attack setups. Though there is no new content in terms of the levels and bosses you face, each mode mixes things up pretty dramatically.

Let’s start with my least favorite and work my way up. You would think that playing as Beach Shantae was the best. Adorable genie in a swimsuit? Check. Snazzy glasses? Double check. Attacking with beach balls and tons of funny banter? Triple check. The problem, though, is that Beach Shantae is essentially a time attack mode. The justification for this is that Shantae wants to soak up some rays, but forgot her sunscreen. As such, if she spends too much time out of the water, she’ll develop a nasty burn. One could say life threatening. You will last about twenty seconds before your sun meter gets too hot, and then you’ll rapidly lose health. To prevent this, you need to constantly collect sunscreen bottles sporadically placed throughout the levels. While this is fine in theory, most stages are rather large, so if you aren’t good about keeping track of your sun meter and mapping out the right path forward, you’re gonna be restarting again and again. The result of this design is that I quickly stopped caring about side tasks like collecting all the Dream Squids, and instead rushed through stages as fast as possible. It also meant that some boss fights were a huge hassle. You won’t find sunscreen bottles in boss arenas, other than when you damage them enough. This means that you’ll be racing the clock and forced to act rather recklessly as you battle the many colorful bosses. The one thing in Beach Shantae’s favor is that she can float in bubbles and make crazy strides through levels, with one caveat. If anything touches your bubble, it pops, often hurling the beach bum to her death. All in all, this made my experience with Beach Shantae a rough ride. Thankfully, Ninja Shantae was better.

Ninja vanish!

Unlike Beach Shantae, Ninja Shantae isn’t racing the clock, though she does run rather fast. In fact, of all three of the Costume Pack variants, the Ninja is the most manuverable. She can wall jump, teleport, backdash, hurl shuriken and she swings a nasty katana. I had a lot of fun playing around with her teleportation, using it both for exploration and avoiding foul beasts. Best of all is the plot of this mode, which focuses on Shantae’s harebrained attempts to be an ideal ninja genie. Let’s just say she’s a much better genie than ninja, but it’s all in good fun. While all three modes feature leveling up with gems, you’ll seem some pointed differences in the ninja’s attacks, especially her shuriken attack patterns. Though I will say that, maneuverable as she is, she still has a rough time with some of the bosses, mostly due to there being no healing items in Costume Pack. Nevertheless, a fun mode, but I saved the best for last with Officer Shantae.

That convict looks suspiciously like Rotty…

I will preface this by saying I’m not a huge fan of Mighty Switch Force. As such, I didn’t think I would enjoy playing as Officer Shantae all that much, since it’s based on that particular game. Mostly this was due to the often very tricky puzzle solving involved in Mighty Switch Force, which often ended in my abrupt demise. Thankfully, WayForward implemented features from that game very smartly, making Officer Shantae more action packed than puzzle oriented. The result is the best of the three modes, in my humble opinion. Officer Shantae essentially plays out like the love child of Patricia Wagon and Mega Man, and I couldn’t be happier with it. As you level up your blaster will get progressively more powerful, culminating in massive shockwaves that will hit foes all around you. The only downside to this powerful bionic genie is that she can’t duck, but it’s a small price to pay. Most surprisingly was how well they implemented the 3D blocks from Mighty Switch Force into the levels from Half-Genie Hero. I honestly thought they would be half-assed, but in execution it works really well and lends a lot of strategic thought into how you platform. I enjoyed this mode so much that I even 100%ed it, unlike the other two modes, finding all the escaped convicts in every stage. But perhaps my favorite aspect was that Officer Shantae’s mode features a totally unique soundtrack, of course styled to be similar to Mighty Switch Force.

I will say, racing Wilbur up the tower was a pain every time.

You know how Costume Pack plays, but it wouldn’t be fair to not discuss the aesthetic and auditory design. While they reuse many assets from Half-Genie Hero, that’s not a complaint, since that source material was already gorgeous. The HD art really pops, even on the Wii U. That said, the mannerisms and attack frames for each version of Shantae are really impressive, and each has their own special personality they show off. Musically, I am happy to report that Costume Pack fixes one of my biggest complaints from Friends to the End, and has new musical themes for each version of Shantae. This really spiced things up, and helped lend each playthrough it’s own flavor. Though I mentioned Officer Shantae has its own soundtrack, it merits a special mention how great the jazzy final boss song is for that mode. Altogether, the game is visually and musically delightful.

You’re under arrest, Tinkerbat!

Costume Pack costs $7.99 and I ended up spending about 4 hours with it, which is longer than any of the other DLC adventures (Pirate Queen’s Quest was 3 hours, Friends to the End was 2+). All in all, I feel this was a great sendoff to a game I was happy to crowdfund. Though I didn’t get 100% victory for every mode, it’s pretty good incentive, since the new victory art is pretty phenomenal. I may still feel that Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse is the high point of the series, but Half-Genie Hero has firmly cemented itself as the next runner up. If you love platforming or just like retro, you can’t go wrong with Half-Genie Hero or Costume Pack. I’m happy WayForward is so dedicated to retro inspired games, and can’t wait to play my favorite genie’s next adventure!

You’re too cute to stay mad at, Shantae…

Review Score
Overall

Reviewer backed the game and received the DLC for Wii U version

The post REVIEW: Shantae Half-Genie Hero: Costume Pack appeared first on oprainfall.

Title	Shantae Half-Genie Hero: Friends to the End
Developer	WayForward
Publisher	WayForward, XSEED
Release Date	December 12th, 2017
Genre	Platformer
Platform	PC, PS4, XBox One, Switch, Vita, Wii U
Age Rating	T for Teen – Suggestive Themes, Cartoon Violence
Official Website

Crowdfunding is a tricky proposition. While it’s a heady delight to help bring a beloved game to life, the wait can be killer. Most especially if you backed a game on a dying Nintendo console, the Wii U. I won’t waste a lot of time bitching, but suffice to say that I didn’t get my backer code of Shantae Half-Genie Hero: Friends to the End until at least a weak after all the other consoles. While this did build up my anticipation, it also made my expectations balloon a bit out of control. I enjoyed the most recent DLC, Pirate Queen’s Quest, and even felt it was a bit better than the original Half-Genie Hero. So Friends to the End had a lot of expectations set against it from the get go. The question is, did Bolo, Rotty and Sky manage to surmount them, or did this DLC disappoint?

The basic premise of Friends to the End is that Shantae has gone full Dark Genie, and the trio of besties literally jump inside her noggin to save her. Inside, they find a Nightmare Realm made up of Shantae’s memories. This translates to a level design where you’re playing through the same stages, but with minor tweaks. One of my primary complaints about Half-Genie Hero were the fetch quests, but both Pirate Queen’s Quest and Friends to the End fixed this by streamlining the game into a much more linear experience. While Risky had use of a HUB area and could sail around, Friends to the End has no HUB area, just a series of levels that must be beaten in a set order. Though you can pause and teleport to previously beaten stages, this serves little purpose other than collecting the hidden Dream Squids, which only serve to unlock a different game ending. The upside of this design is that it allows the game to totally focus on the new gameplay mechanics, switching between Bolo, Rotty and Sky to solve puzzles and defeat enemies.

The Nightmare Realm has a distinctive color palette.

In the game’s favor is that they actually have an introductory stage that teaches the mechanics for each character. Each of them has a unique ability. Bolo can grapple (though with wonky swinging physics), Rotty can toss her head and reappear where it lands and Sky can make temporary platforms and hover. I enjoyed how each of them had a specific purpose and opened up different exploration options. They are all important, and only by mixing and matching can you successfully navigate levels. Often I would need to create a platform with Sky and then switch to another character to progress, for example.

As far as combat goes, Sky is weakest with the best range, Bolo is totally in the middle and Rotty is a undead powerhouse with the worst range. I often played Sky so I could hide and toss birds from a safe distance, but when I wanted to crush something, I would go with Bolo or Rotty. They each seemingly inflict a set amount of damage, and even leveling them up by gathering gems doesn’t seem to affect that. I rarely used their specials (other than Rotty’s ability to devour brains to heal my entire party). Since all three share a life meter, though not a magic meter, it behooves you to be tactical about using your limited special talents. Bolo’s special of tossing bouncing projectiles and Sky using a bird shield seemed far less important than healing my entire party, especially given how few and far between magic vials were. Additionally, unlike both Shantae and Risky, the heroes in Friends to the End cannot stockpile any healing items nor can they upgrade their base stats. So my zombie waifu proved integral to the experience.

Who could have guessed a brain eating zombie would be the healer?

As always, WayForward brings their A game with the fantastic art and musical design. While Half-Genie Hero has always had lush art, it’s a real joy to switch between these characters and see how they animate differently. Bolo, Rotty and Sky all look and play entirely different, and have personality to spare. From Rotty’s catty attitude to Sky’s determined leadership to Bolo’s lamebrained loyalty, they all come across as individuals. Musically, the game is still a delight, though much like Pirate Queen’s Quest features no new songs. While I can understand the financial reason not to create new songs for each DLC, I wish that each member of the trio had a musical theme that played while you were controlling them, to keep things fresh and help distinguish this DLC episode from the others.

Fly my pretties, fly!

While the game is fun, and WayForward does a good job of mixing stage hazards up to keep things fresh, I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed with Friends to the End. This is in large part due to the fact that we’re still playing essentially the same levels with the same bosses, despite the new plot and humorous interplay of banter between the trio. Maybe I was spoiled by Shovel Knight, where each DLC is distinct and featured significant new content, but I can’t help but want more. While Friends to the End is enjoyable, it also feels like the most barren of the Shantae DLC. I was able to beat the entire episode in a little over 2 hours, and feel little desire to get 100%. If getting all the Dream Squids unlocked a true final boss or new area, similar to a basic Metroidvania, I would have been much more likely to platinum the game, instead I ended up with only 79%. I appreciate that this is the least expensive of the DLC, sitting pretty at $7.99, but I still wish it was a lot meatier. Hell, it doesn’t even have a truly new final boss, as the one here is a reskin of the foe Risky faced in Pirate Queen’s Quest. The only real new stages are the intro stage and final stage, the latter which feels more like a series of infuriating challenge rooms than a cohesive new area. If you’re a fan of Shantae and have to own all the DLC, then by all means pick Friends to the End up. For everybody else, wait til it’s on sale. Here’s hoping the next Shantae game learns more from Pirate’s Curse and less from Risky’s Revenge.

Review Score
Overall

Review Copy Provided by Publisher

The post REVIEW: Shantae Half-Genie Hero: Friends to the End appeared first on oprainfall.

Note: The author backed Hive Jump for $30

It’s hard crowdfunding games as a Nintendo fan. You wouldn’t think there would be any correlation, but I’ve found a consistent pattern that whenever a game gets crowdfunded for a Nintendo console, those versions of the game always come out last. This could be because Nintendo’s systems are harder to port games to, or it could be because getting NoA’s permission to bring a game to their console is prohibitive, but whatever the reason, there’s always a long wait involved. That means that years after backing a game and watching it come out on all other consoles, I’ll be not so patiently waiting for it to come to my 3DS, Wii U or Switch. Today, that game is Hive Jump. Successfully funded back in 2014, 3 years later Hive Jump has finally found its way to my Wii U. Offering a different version of the game experience catered to Nintendo’s awkward console, was it worth the wait?

While oprainfall did preview Hive Jump on Steam back in April, there are some noteworthy differences in the Wii U build. First let’s get one thing out of the way — there is no online multiplayer in this version of the game. Initially that factor didn’t bother me (more on that later), mostly because I was delighted to see Graphite Lab stick to their promise of bringing Hive Jump to the Wii U. Though there is the concession of local co-op, I personally was unable to try that aspect of the game out. Instead, I focused primarily on the Wii U Campaign mode.

I was only able to beat the Easy side of Campaign, I can’t imagine how difficult the others are…

This single player mode is a mixture of the base Hive Jump experience and a somewhat vague tower defense mechanic. I say it’s vague for the simple reason that there is no tutorial explaining how the tower defense works. There’s one for the combat, which is very helpful, but I was a bit at a loss when I started playing Campaign mode. More than once, while trying to enter a Hive, I accidentally replayed the lengthy opening monologue. I was also totally unaware that I could upgrade my forts to increase their durability against filthy bug assaults and protect them from being infiltrated. I also didn’t realize I was supposed to either spend Goo to initiate a tactical maneuver, such as psychically scanning the Hive strength, or simply end my turn, allowing the Ordovician menace to attack the nearest human outposts. Once that happens, you’re given the option to jump the nearest Hive, which is the meat of the experience.

I like the idea of a Tower Defense, but it’s pretty barebones here.

The basic loop of the Hive Jump experience is pretty fun and addictive. Your goal is to enter a Hive, blast your way through hordes of Ordovician foes, and eventually face off against a giant boss. Some Hives are larger, and feature multiple bosses and many floors. The map will be revealed on the Gamepad as you explore, which is a nice touch for this particular version. While Hives are procedurally generated, there’s only a small handful of variations you’ll encounter. I wish there was more variety, as in Campaign mode I just essentially played the same three to four types of Hives over and over until I got to the Queen (mostly fire, ice and fungus). Though they look different, most hives pretty much play the same, other than offering some gimmick to mix things up, such as giant mushrooms you can bounce off of, or dangerous pools of lava and acid. This might sound pretty basic, but Hive Jump manages to mix things up with the smart upgrade system.

Blast that nest before it spawns more Ordovicians!

Every time you blast a bug to smithereens, they’ll erupt in a shower of yellow Goo. This isn’t just to gross you out — Goo is the key item used to upgrade your weapons! Both before jumping a Hive and during checkpoints between sections, you can spend Goo to unlock and upgrade a wide variety of Rifles, Grenades and Utility items. Though I unlocked a couple of Rifles such as Flamethrowers, I really preferred the starting Pulse Rounds, since they fired quickly and when upgraded could penetrate Ordovician shells with ease. As for Grenades, I quickly became fond of the ones that emitted a poison cloud, doing massive damage to hordes of foes and melting them to slag. The Utility items are quite varied, ranging from explosive teleportation from your Transponder Backpack to a healing Rejuvenation Field. There’s a ton of stuff you can unlock to cater the experience to your preferences, and that’s one of the strongest aspects of the game.

Pick your arsenal!

Hearkening back to movies such as Starship Troopers, in Hive Jump, there is no sole hero. Instead, you control a steady stream of disposable grunts who come equipped with whatever loadout you prefer. While their names will change, they are all essentially faceless avatars, which makes it easier to part with them on such a regular basis. You see, the goal isn’t to protect your character, but to protect their Transponder Backpack. This allows a new grunt to be teleported into the battle, and your job is to protect it. The tricky part is, whenever your character is killed, your Backpack will be defenseless for a few panicky seconds. You can float it around with the joystick, but that’s it. Enemies can and will mercilessly attack it in the hope of extinguishing the human threat. So while the individual humans don’t matter, it’s important not to keep dying foolishly.

To aid you in staying alive, there are a variety of random Perks you can unlock each time you assault a Hive. These can be found one of two ways — either in a chest you find while exploring a Hive, or in a special challenge room. The latter is far more common, and often is a sort of platforming challenge you have to successfully navigate. These range from jumping over pools of acid to avoiding deadly ceiling icicles to nimbly leaping around a room full of instant death spikes. Thankfully the challenge rooms don’t include actual enemies, but you need to be careful, as death often lurks in the most surprising corners. Once you beat a challenge room or luck into finding a chest, you’ll get a random Perk, such as reduced knockback, Backpack healing, protection from acid and much more. My only problem with the Perks is that they’re temporary, only lasting in the Hive you discover them, and they are also totally random. Maybe I was just suffering from bad RNG in my runs, but often I would get the same Perk twice in one Hive, and usually it would be one I didn’t really need. I wish there was a way you could have spent Goo to unlock permanent, weaker Perks that you could swap out to further improve the experience.

Open that chest for a handy Perk!

The most terrifying parts of the game aren’t actually the intense boss fights, but instead when the Hive swarms against you. This is often triggered by methodically annihilating Ordovician nests, which stops them from throwing more bugs at you. I often would feel compelled to wipe out any nest in my path, but this can be very dangerous. When a swarm is agitated, things get beyond hectic, as every enemy in the area will come flying at you. It’s a bit frustrating that every foe knows the layout of the procedurally generated map whereas you only discover it as you go. They’ll come at you no matter where you hide, so you either run or wipe them all out until the swarm ends. This is where I learned the disadvantage of your Rifle’s cooldown period. You see, while you do have unlimited ammo with every Rifle, they tend to overheat when you keep firing them. When that happens, you won’t be able to fire a single bullet until they cool down, which only takes seconds, but which feels like an eternity if you’re being attacked. While this was frustrating, I did eventually get better at timing my shots and not overdoing it by jamming down the fire button. Having said that, you’ll often want to do just that when facing a particularly nasty boss.

DIE, CENTIPEDE, DIE!!!

Speaking of bosses, there are a few in Hive Jump, and they are all dangerous, varied and huge. Generally they take up a large chunk of the screen, and will wail on you with a variety of attacks. If that wasn’t enough, each and every boss can and will summon more grunt Ordovicians to fight you. This was a bit frustrating for me, not because these minor foes were too powerful, but because it could be overwhelming, especially since they would teleport in randomly. While I did enjoy most of the bosses, and felt they all offered a distinct challenge, I could have done without the horde of minor foes. That said, of all the bosses, only a couple felt genuinely frustrating. Overall, they were pleasant reminders of games such as Contra.

I truly hated this boss of the Ice Hives…

The control scheme is well optimized in Hive Jump, despite sounding a bit odd. Primary controls are relegated to shoulder buttons, ZL and ZR for jump and fire respectively, while the L and R buttons control your Grenades and Utility (which also has a cooldown period). The right joystick is used to aim your Rifle. I thought I would dislike this setup, but it really works well, especially since the minimap is proudly displayed on the Gamepad screen. Frankly, seeing the Gamepad used so well here makes me wish other developers, indie and AAA alike, would have made more of an effort to support the Wii U console.

Your handy dandy mini map.

On the visual side of things, I really like the pixel art in Hive Jump. It’s punchy and vibrant, and although there’s not a huge variety of environments, they’re all well drawn. My one complaint with regard to the art is the Ordovicians. Don’t get me wrong, they are all delightfully monstrous, but I wish their color palette was a bit more varied. Most are orange and red, only a few varying the color scheme. That made them mostly look a bit samey, despite differences such as size and other factors like wings. The music is simple and keeps you motivated, and each environment sounds a little different. I was a bit surprised by the music going out a couple times when the action got really frantic, and another time the sound of my Rifle firing was totally mute. Which brings me to my next section, the glitches.

Let me preface this by saying the guys at Graphite Lab are all very friendly and went out of their way to accommodate me. Having said that, I did encounter a number of glitches in my experience that I feel obligated to mention. A couple times the game utterly froze, emitting a loud, shrill tone, forcing me to manually turn off my system by holding the power for 10 seconds. Other times, I fell through the floor in an ice Hive, though luckily the game seemed to anticipate that and warped me back to the starting point. I’m not sure if this last one was an actual glitch or not, but a few times when I was attacked by Ordovicians, my Transponder Backpack went flying, and I had to rush to retrieve it. While I have it on good authority the team is working on fixing these glitches, as of the time of this writing, they are still unresolved.

In total, I spent about four hours playing Hive Jump, with most of that spent in Campaign. I also briefly tried out Arcade on easy, which seemed easier than Campaign at first but then the bosses utterly destroyed me. In fact, a boss I had no problems with in Campaign was suddenly a beast in Arcade. While the game is fun solo, I truly feel it was meant to be played with friends. It’s just too easy to get overwhelmed by the hordes of Ordovicians. So if you don’t have a bunch of friends who can crash and play on your couch, the game is much harder than it needs to be. And regarding the glitches, while not the worst thing, the Wii U version of Hive Jump can’t be its best while they persist. That said, for $14.99, Hive Jump is a fun, if flawed, experience. I’m glad I was finally able to play it on the console I backed it on, and I’m happy that Graphite Lab is making such a concerted effort to make the best game they can. I only hope the Wii U build gets patched soon, so Nintendo fans can enjoy it to the fullest.

Review Score
Overall

Review Copy Provided by Developer

The post REVIEW: Hive Jump appeared first on oprainfall.

Let me start by saying I absolutely adore Shantae, and was a fan of Half-Genie Hero. The original HD quest had the trademark pluck and charm the series is known for, along with lush graphics, sweet tunes and fun gameplay. It was a great game, but not one without some problems, which I addressed in my previous review. However, those problems weren’t enough to diminish my anticipation for playing the game as the Pirate Queen herself, Risky Boots! Since I was a backer, I got to play Pirate Queen’s Quest early, and I used that time to carefully weigh this new DLC experience against the original. The question then is how much fun is it being a risque pirate?

Early on you start to suspect Risky is a unreliable narrator, but sadly they don’t capitalize on that.

The story starts almost at the end of Shantae’s quest, with the adorable genie getting conned by Risky and effectively taken out of her way (avoiding spoilers if you haven’t played the original game). That leaves everybody’s favorite purple-haired pirate free to search for components to perfect and weaponize the tool that will grant her ultimate control of the Genie Realm, and through that, control over everything else. But first she has to go and beat up those stupid Barons to get the stuff she needs (you didn’t expect Risky to build it herself, did you?). I will say that I love the new HUB area of Risky’s ship, with her lounging in a bathtub, waited on hand and foot by her Tinkerbat minions. Talking with each of the three Tinkerbats provides a few options: to travel, taking you to the world map; to save your current progress; or to ask for hints if you get lost. One thing that differentiated Risky’s quest from Shantae’s is that Risky can set sail and plunder the levels in whatever order she desires, and better yet, when returning to a stage you can start at any section of it. Having said that, I decided to tackle them in the same order I did as Shantae, just for consistency. While theoretically you can beat them in any order, I think some stages require specific abilities only granted upon beating a level, so I’m not sure you could actually tackle the last stage first, for example. I would have to play through a second or third time to confirm that though, so let’s move on.

Large and in charge!

One of my biggest complaints with the original Half-Genie Hero was the fetch quests. I am happy to report that issue no longer exists. While it’s true that Risky needs to get the 5 components and 15 Crystals, you’re free to find them at your own pace. There are no nosy villagers whose bidding you need to satisfy just to unlock new stages or items. You just jump into a stage, beat the boss, and when you return to your ship, you’ll be rewarded with a new ability, such as the Cannon Jump or Pirate Hat. These might sound familiar to you if you’ve played Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse, and it’s true that many of the same abilities show up here—which makes perfect sense, since Shantae got them from Risky herself. A couple, such as the Grappling Hook and Kraken Orb, are totally new, just to keep you on your toes. As if that wasn’t enough, you can use Dark Magic you find hidden in stages to upgrade all your items, including the abilities themselves. By upgrading the Cannon Jump you’ll be granted additional shots, for example. You can (and should) also use Dark Magic to upgrade your stats, such as your Health meter or Ammo Belt. Overall, I rather appreciated the more open, streamlined nature of Pirate Queen’s Quest.

As far as the art design and music, those are largely unchanged from Half-Genie Hero, which while not a problem, was somewhat disappointing. I understand that this is DLC and not technically a standalone game, but I was hoping that Risky would have a couple new killer tracks to dance to. On the more positive side, Christina Vee’s voice work really makes Risky shine as a character, with snappy and saucy one liners. Also appreciated was how WayForward mixed things up by including some new enemies in the game, as well as older enemies that weren’t present in the original quest. Without going into details, there is also one new boss battle in Pirate Queen’s Quest, and it’s utterly fantastic, even if the rest of the bosses are mostly unchanged (I think they toned down the power of the Giga Mermaid’s attacks in this one).

Gameplay-wise, Risky both plays similarly and quite differently from Shantae. Her sword strikes are fast and furious and she can do a slide move to sneak into narrow spaces. She also starts out equipped with both a Pistol, which fires various types of ammunition, and an endless Tinkerbat horde which she can summon one minion at a time to rush foes. Essentially, the secondary items that Shantae has to buy to use, Risky has equipped from the get go. I also found it funny that, despite being a pirate, Risky doesn’t collect any gold whatsoever. She instead relies on her minions for new abilities and Dark Magic to upgrade her skills. You’ll never have to buy a single item, and beating enemies usually rewards you with the health restoring food you’ll need or additional ammo. While it’s true Risky lacks Shantae’s magical transformations, once you’ve acquired and fully upgraded her own abilities, she’s a veritable killing machine, and you won’t feel like she’s any less powerful than our lovable genie.

Now, as much as I enjoyed Pirate Queen’s Quest (perhaps even more than Half-Genie Hero), there are some areas that it stumbled a bit. While it’s a blast playing as Risky, firing bullets, summoning minions and hunting arcane relics, the game never explains the controls. While that’s fine for the basic attacks that Risky and Shantae have in common, I initially had no idea how to activate any of her abilities. That Tinkerbat horde I mentioned? I didn’t discover how to do that until the 3rd stage in. To be fair, those abilities that are common between this game and Pirate’s Curse have the same controls, but the new ones like the Grappling Hook I had to discover by myself. All the game really needed to do was have a brief intro stage or bring up a control list from the pause menu (I checked, there currently isn’t one).

Another minor complaint I had was the overall lack of story in the DLC. There’s no grand villain set against Risky, and she’s pretty much her own worst enemy the entire game. Risky lacks self awareness, is very self-centered and motivated (to a fault). Which isn’t to say that she’s dumb or ditzy, just in her own world. While that’s fine for helping show her personality, it doesn’t contribute much to the plot. Much as I hated the fetch quests in the first game, I missed conversing with the residents of the game (even if they would be cowering in terror from Risky, that would be something). This was exacerbated by the fact Risky’s Tinkerbats never speak one word the entire game. I’m not sure if that’s because they can’t or choose not to, but it was a bit of a downer. Lastly, while the bosses and levels are just as fun here as they were in Half-Genie Hero, I would have been ecstatic if there was at least one new level in the game. To be fair, many are smartly tweaked to make use of Risky’s unique skills (such as hitting cyclops switches with bullets to provide temporary platforms), and that’s great, but I think the game needed a little something more.

Creepy cyclops switches!

Having said that, I greatly enjoyed my time with Pirate Queen’s Quest. After playing this DLC adventure, I can say with confidence I would love Risky to get her own standalone game, maybe even a prequel that shows how and why she became a pirate queen, as well as where the Tinkerbats came from. Though I had some minor complaints, all in all I feel it fixed the issues the original game had and offered a streamlined and fun experience. I managed to beat it in a little under three hours with 93% item completion. For $9.99, this DLC is a must have for any fans of classic platformers, lovable genies, naughty pirates or who just want to support WayForward. If anything, this just made me hungry for more cartoony adventures in this lush world. Here’s hoping we won’t have to wait too long for the next game in the Shantae series.

Bad girls are the best!

Review Score
Overall

Author Backed the Kickstarter for Half-Genie Hero

The post REVIEW: Shantae Half-Genie Hero: Pirate Queen’s Quest appeared first on oprainfall.

Developer Hucast Games attempted to keep the Dreamcast relevant among hardcore fans by continuing to develop and release games for it long after SEGA stopped officially supporting the console. Ghost Blade was one of the more recent releases back in 2015. Now here we are two years later, and Hucast has decided to bring their game to a wider audience in Ghost Blade HD promising HD graphics, online leaderboards and achievements. While Ghost Blade HD technically does the job, it doesn’t quite stand out too much from the crowd when compared to all the other shooters we have access to today.

Ghost Blade HD tells the story of a 10,000 year old artificial intelligence known as Shira that became corrupt and started terrorizing Mars. The residents of the planet call for the Earth Defense force (NOT THAT ONE) to give them a hand in fighting this entity. The EDF (still not the same thing) sends one of their bravest pilots out to fight the Evil Shira and save the day. That pilot is one of three nameless heroines each with their own unique firepower. She will fight her way across 5 stages and hopefully save the universe!

Being a vertical shoot-em-up, Ghost Blade HD lets you change the orientation of the screen. Vertical shoot-em-ups are typically played in “Tate” mode which usually involves flipping the screen on its side so you can get a better view of the action. What is particularly cool about the Wii U version of Ghost Blade HD is that off-screen play is actually compatible with Tate mode. That means you can rotate the Wii U Gamepad on its side and play the game with a Wii mote or other controller. The game actually plays really well like this despite some small fonts for the score or achievements. Also be sure to keep the Gamepad in place while playing to prevent any disasters mid-gameplay. Sadly this is probably the most exciting thing about Ghost Blade HD. It’s not a bad game per se, but it is just too standard for its own good. Nothing in the levels really stood out to me. The enemy types and backgrounds felt like nothing I have not already seen before in similar games. The art style is fitting for Ghost Blade HD but I can’t help but feel disappointed by how limited the artwork is considering how detailed the main heroines are. It would have been nice to see more original artwork bring more life to the game especially since this is a “HD” re-release.

You will fly through 5 stages filled with your typical “Popcorn” fleets and a big boss at the end, but unfortunately it all blends together too much and ends up being fairly unmemorable. Your ship is equipped with a rapid fire shot that can hit a wide area and a more focused shot that is good when targeting bosses but your ship will move slower when firing. There is a basic scoring system with a multiplier that increases as you defeat enemies quickly and without getting hit. The bosses have very tame patterns considering the kind of game this is. As a result, the difficulty is fairly low making this a good choice if you want a simple game to help introduce you to the genre. To further prove this, I was able to complete the Easy mode on one credit during my first playthrough. The music in the game is good for what it is, lots of nice techno beats but nothing that you will find yourself humming after the fact. There is some replay value in the form of a Hard mode, some achievements, 2-player co op and a score attack mode. The Score attack mode is actually pretty fun as it just throws you into the action and your only goal is to get as high of a score and multiplier as possible by the end of a single level.

All in all, Ghost Blade HD is good enough but there is nothing about it that will make me pick it over games like Mushihimesama, Danmaku Unlimited 2 (or 3), or Caladrius Blaze. All of those games offer what this does and more. Though to be fair, none of the games I just mentioned were released on Wii U so there is not much to really compare Ghost Blade HD to when judged based on that particular console. I guess if you REALLY want to play a shooter on the Wii U without having to track down the now uncommon copies of Castle of Shikigami III or Ultimate Shooting Collection, Ghost Blade HD would be a decent choice for the $9.99 asking price. Just remember that this title is also on PC and PlayStation 4. Both of those platforms are home to far stronger titles in the genre.

Review Score
Overall

Review copy provided by publisher

The post REVIEW: Ghost Blade HD appeared first on oprainfall.

The long-awaited game has finally launched, and its success has been unprecedented. Breath of the Wild is now playable on Wii U and Switch. But is it really the masterpiece everyone describes? The game had its fair amount of delays, but after all those years, it seems to have become the game that provided the Switch the initial boost it needed, while embodying the pinnacle of Wii U games. Let us see what the game is worth.

Who is this old man?

Your journey starts in the Shrine of Resurrection, where Link awakes after a sleep of 100 years. A feminine voice calls and you quickly go out of the shrine to discover the wilderness of nature. Those first minutes are enough to sum up the essence of the game. The resurrection of Link is also the resurrection of the Zelda series, as the first thing you will experience while playing is an unprecedented feeling of freedom. Climbing trees, picking apples and setting things on fire are among the numerous possibilities offered to you right from start. This freedom is rather enthralling and is at the extreme opposite of what we could experience in previous Zelda games, where areas were more linear. This freedom also brings new threats, as you have to deal with breakable weapons and shields while facing enemies that can inflict a lot more damage, something that is quite a shock when we have been used to monsters that barely dealt half a heart of damage. You will most likely want to avoid some of them at the beginning, although you could find tricks to weaken them, like bringing different monsters to fight each other, or shooting electric arrows at water.

Stone Talus are among the tallest enemies in the game.

The concept of breakable items left me with mixed feelings. It forces you to constantly switch weapons and look for new ways to fight, which is an interesting idea. But at the same time, having only breakable items makes achieving goals or quests feel less rewarding. This is a very subjective issue, but I consider a permanent upgrade more rewarding than a good but breakable weapon. I felt like I was missing heroic weapons, what you would call “legendary” or “epic” weapons in other games. Since the hero is the chosen one, it made sense for me that he would have more signature items or weapons that would be part of his identity. On the other hand, all those weapons allow different strategies and more diversity while fighting. For example, two-handed weapons allow you to use a rather destructive spinning move that is very effective against most (if not all) enemies, while the spear’s special move is a series of quick jabs that will stab the enemy.

Using the environment to your advantage is also a possibility that makes sense in this huge open world. The world is lively but also threatened by the wrath of Ganon, and you will quickly find out how and why you must once again defeat the most iconic villain of the series. His presence in the world has impacted the environment and even causes, periodically, the resurrection of deceased monsters. It is important to notice that this time a lot of characters are aware of the threat of Ganon, and will be actively involved in your quest. The artistic design of characters is good and is neither too dark neither too cartoonish. I almost have the feeling that Skyward Sword, Twilight Princess and The Wind Waker were mixed to obtain a more balanced and satisfying result here.

Sometimes it is better to run away from a dangerous foe.

Breath of The Wild wants to emphasize freedom and creativity, and this is also true as far as shrines (the new dungeons of this Zelda) are concerned. Shrines are temples where you have to solve riddles in order to activate a monk statue that will reward you with Spirit Orbs. Once you gather four Spirit Orbs, you can pray to a Goddess Statue in order to get more hearts or more stamina. While you can solve those riddles using the different powers provided by your Sheikah Slate, such as Stasis, the remote bomb, or the freezing water rune, Cryonis, you can also resort to unexpected solutions.

For example, if you do not know how to reach the crate needed to activate a push button, you can drop items from your own inventory. If you don’t know how to cross a pit, you may cause a fire to take advantage of the wind generated by the heat and fly. While all those possibilities are exciting and rewarding, they can’t make me forget an element that is gone from this Zelda; the old model of classic dungeons. Divine Beast dungeons are there to replace the old traditional dungeons, but let us be honest, they are nowhere near as complex as dungeons from previous entries. I was never stuck for a long time in a Divine Beast dungeon, and I am usually average at beating dungeons.

Using the magnesis rune on a wheel.

The old puzzle system used in dungeons is probably not compatible with the global philosophy of Breath of The Wild, but I still consider its removal a loss. For some reason, I have the same complaint about the bosses you meet in each dungeon. Somehow, the identity of theses bosses is rather weak, and they don’t retain the charm they often had in previous games. Since the only thing you have to do (generally) is hurt them until they die, there is no specific strategy needed to defeat them. My complaint also targets the design of those bosses. The game is full of interesting monsters like Lynels, Stone Talus and Hinox.

By contrast, it seems the bosses in dungeons lack charisma, and are not as beautiful as other monsters in the game, looking more generic. In the past, beating a boss required you to identify the weakness of the enemy, and use it at your own advantage. In Breath of the Wild, you only need to bring the life of the boss down to zero and killing a boss is not that different from killing a regular foe. I would definitely say that those dungeons are the weakest part of this game. Maybe the developers were so focused on making the open world exciting that they unconsciously neglected the design of these dungeons.

Managing your stamina is essential while climbing.

Another important change in this game is how the economy works. You can no longer cut grass to pick up rupees, and most of the time you’ll get money by selling items. This is a convenience needed in an open world where you are bound to buy many more items than you did in previous games, as you will need different armors to deal with environmental hazards, as well as extreme heat or extreme cold. It is a relief to no longer have a limited purse and be able to collect as much money as you want. In previous Zelda games, I cannot remember how many times I felt frustrated with opening a chest full of rupees when my purse was full. The word freedom is synonymous with money as well, apparently.

Materials and cooked meals can be sold for rupees

The management of vast resources also involves collecting food that will help you to heal or get temporary passive bonuses. Cooking is rather intuitive and allows you to mix up to five ingredients, only requiring you find a cooking pot. Some recipes can provide you an important advantage. Being able to recover all your hearts with a single meal is very useful, and raising your attack or defense temporarily can be very important at the beginning of the game, when your weapons are still average. Food can also allow you to resist the elements. Overall, the cooking system is well made and makes the whole experience more addictive.

Cooking is incredibly fun.

Another new element of gameplay that completely changes the experience of the game is stamina. Managing stamina is very important if you do not want to drown or fall from a cliff. This is why I would recommend getting about five or six stamina upgrades to make your experience more comfortable.The open world is intended to be dangerous, and stamina contributes to the credibility of the experience.

You will want to gather as many Spirit Orbs as you can.

That freedom is also reflected in the amount of side quests provided by the game. Secondary Quests, Shrine Quests, finding Koroks and completing all shrines is time-consuming and you will spend a lot of hours to do all this. It took me some time to get used to the Sensor+, a function that allows you to spot nearby shrines. It was sometimes irritating to wander around trying to figure where the shrine was, with no other hint than the sound of the Sensor+ to guide me. I would not have been against having another way to help me to trace those shrines, for example with an arrow or an Ariane Thread. But then some would say this goes against the philosophy of the game, which is intended to be less handholding than previous episodes.

Unfortunately, the qualities of the game in the gameplay department do not reflect well in the technical realization.  Some graphic effects, like the rain, feel dated, and I experienced performance issues in a few areas of the game, especially areas with snow or when approaching Hyrule Castle. I am aware that the Wii U has some limits, but the game has been developed for so many years that I expected a better optimization. Those issues are far from making the game unplayable, but at times, they can impact the quality of the experience.

I would like to conclude this review on the question of the music in this game. Some players stated that the music was less present than it used to be in previous episodes. I think this is not exactly true. The music is present, but in a different way. The main music is the rhythm of nature and how you flow with it. You will most likely find some subtle references to classic Zelda music while playing, and they are well made, but the main music is the scream of the wind, the regular noise of the rain, the crackling of the fire. This is why music is less present in its traditional form, but this does not make it weaker.

This place will bring back memories.

Breath of the Wild is most likely the most ambitious Zelda game from the last two decades. It is not the flawless masterpiece some would like it to be, but it definitely contributes to the much-needed creativity of high budget video games. You will need a lot of time to complete it, (I would say you will need 30 hours to beat the main story if you rush through the game.) but you will certainly spend many more hours to fully enjoy this vast world.

Review Score
Overall

Review copy purchased by the reviewer.

The post REVIEW: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild appeared first on oprainfall.

Author’s Note: I backed Shantae Half-Genie Hero on Kickstarter for $60

Title	Shantae: Half-Genie Hero
Developer	WayForward
Publisher	WayForward, XSeed
Release Date	December 20th (PS4, Steam), December 27th (Wii U)
Genre	Adventure, Platformer
Platform	Steam, PS4, Wii U
Age Rating	Rating Pending
Official Website

I got into the Shantae series back with the second entry, Risky’s Revenge. I had no idea what to expect, but quickly became a fan of this quirky little series. That appreciation grew even more robust when I tried out Pirate’s Curse, which introduced Metroidvania aspects to the game seamlessly, and seemingly improved upon every clunky aspect from the previous games. Which brings us to Shantae: Half-Genie Hero. This entry is unique, both because it was the first crowdfunded entry in the series, as well as the first HD prequel. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the graphical switch, since it saw the original sprites totally reworked, but the new style grew on me over time. The question is, did Shantae: Half-Genie Hero provide the ultimate Shantae experience? Or did it take a couple of unlikely dance steps backward?

The newest adventure starts with a perplexing dream where Shantae is informed of some nebulous threat to the realms of both man and genie by some talking cloud of light. She wakes up, only to find her nemesis Risky Boots is up to no good again, and the good half genie sets off to stop her! The first level is a docks area beset by hordes of Tinkerbats, and it really does an amazing job of showing off how incredible the series looks in HD. The graphical switch allows the talented artists to show off so much more detail that it reminds me of a beautifully rendered classical cartoon, and I couldn’t be happier. Colors are more vibrant, and every part of the world is just more alive than usual. It’s a real treat for the eyes, as you can see from the first boss screenshot below. Oh, and let me gush for just a second on how amazing the soundtrack in the game is. Every Shantae game has great tunes, but this one really outdoes itself, and though I lack the vocabulary to really express my love of the music, you’re sure to enjoy it immensely.

Whatever you do, don’t call it P.O.O.P.T.O.O.T.!

Stylistically, the gameplay in Half-Genie Hero is a bit of a retro backtrack, for both good and bad. While the last game was a deft Metroidvania, with lots of gradual progression and seamless exploration, this game hearkens back to Risky’s Revenge. What that means, for those unfamiliar, is that Half-Genie Hero is comprised of a linear level structure interspersed with fetch quests to unlock the next area. While that design is okay in theory, it was also the thing that frustrated me the most about both Risky’s Revenge and Half-Genie Hero.

Can you be a wee bit more specific?

When you are forced to find items just to progress, and all you have to guide you are vague, albeit helpful, hints, it can be incredibly frustrating when you are lost and forced to spend a lot of time searching. This happened a couple of times in my playthrough, which lasted about five hours and change, but both times I was wandering for upwards of an hour. The most frustrating incident was when I knew I needed an item in the Mermaid Falls, and that I needed my Mouse transformation to find it. Since the mouse can use tiny holes in the wall to travel to hard-to-reach places, I thought it would be a simple matter of finding one hole and voila. Instead, the giant Mermaid Falls is littered with false starts and secondary paths, and I totally missed the one entrance I needed until I stopped and retraced my steps, carefully looking at each inch of the stage. This was the one time that the HD nature of the game worked against it, since there is so much more real estate they can cram into each area, meaning when you get lost, you get lost for a lot longer. That said, the HD really does shine, as each level is composed of multiple sections, and each level is totally distinct from each other. Ranging from mechanical factories to blazing docks to derelict deserts to even haunted houses and magical carpet races, there is a lot to love for fans of the series.

Transformations are as fun as ever, and much more diverse.

The combat itself is fast and frantic as ever, and you have a ton of side weapons at your disposal, such as fireballs, pike balls, scimitars, bubble shields and much more. All it takes is some hard-earned cash to get it from the hub area of Scuttle Town. I also appreciated that many of the standard enemies don’t go down in one hit, and take repeated hair whips to bring to heel. Also, even though the Metroidvania emphasis is toned down, you can still find artifacts and extra heart containers to help yourself out, including some utterly marvelous new transformations. While you are still able to try standbys like the wall-crawling monkey and hard-hitting elephant, there are new ones like the adorable sea-faring crab, high-flying harpie, creepy spiderwoman and much more. Not all of them are strictly necessary to progressing through the game, and some you will only use once or twice as you play, but it was nice having the wide range of options at your disposal, especially for the later areas of the game. My biggest note here is that I wish you needed more of the transformations to unlock new areas, and that they weren’t just relegated to hunting for items for beating the game with 100% completion. That’s definitely a bit of a missed opportunity, though I’m sure WayForward was a bit overwhelmed by the number fan-inspired transformations that were utilized in the final game.

Just visit Sky and Wrench to get a lift wherever you need to go!

It wouldn’t do the game justice to discuss the combat and not mention the boss battles. While I have always enjoyed the boss fights in Shantae games, I can say without reservation that the bosses in Half-Genie Hero are the best in the entire series. Though there are a couple that were frustrating for various reasons, they were all large, incredibly diverse, well-rendered and challenging fights. There’s not a single one I got through unscathed, and I even had to try a number of times to finally beat the intense Giga Mermaid battle (though that is partially due to me not realizing what her weak spot was). This does bring me to one minor complaint – the game offers the chance to save after you beat each section in a given level. If you save before a boss fight and then die, you are allowed to try your luck again, with one proviso – you are left at one fraction of one heart for your health. Against the Giga Mermaid, that meant that if I got hit by any one of her screen wide attacks, I had to start over from the beginning. Which was especially bad since this was a multi-part battle. Luckily, after the mermaid incident I quickly learned to always go out equipped with tons of recovery items, such as Gator Steaks, Oranges and Elixers. You’ll need all the health you can get, cause these fantastic bosses are really no joke, and fights make you appreciate some of the recurring characters in the Shantae series even more (looking at you, Ammo Baron!).

Meet “Wilbur”. He’s very hungry.

Although no Shantae game is really known for its deep plot, I felt that the plot in Half-Genie Hero was a bit haphazard compared to Pirate’s Curse, at least until the twist at the end of the game. I can’t explain why without going into spoilers, but I just felt it would have helped players to have a bit more backstory to push things forward. That said, I definitely enjoyed my time with Shantae Half-Genie Hero. I managed to beat the game in five and a half hours with 84% completion (though I did manage to get the good ending). There is some replay value for completionists, and there are also art pieces to unlock, Hero-Mode and even playing through the game as Risky Boots herself! Half-Genie Hero mostly made good on all of my vast expectations, though I do hope that the next game in the series is more like Pirate’s Curse. That said, if you’re a fan of Shantae, you can’t go wrong with Half-Genie Hero for $19.99, and I’m very happy to have finally been able to play this gorgeous HD game on my Wii U. Until next time, Tinkerbackers! And keep up the good work, WayForward!

Review Score
Overall

Review Based on Backer Copy

The post REVIEW: Shantae: Half-Genie Hero appeared first on oprainfall.

Author’s Note: Before I begin, I’d like to make a quick note about Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE and the reception it was receiving from fans prior to release. I am aware of the controversy surrounding the censorship in this game. However, I will be reviewing this game without taking the censorship into account, although I do still believe that it is important and deserves to be addressed. As such, I have also written a full editorial on the subject to serve as a companion to this review, to express my feelings and opinions regarding it.

It’s finally here. After Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem was announced during a Nintendo Direct in January 2013, Nintendo and Atlus were quiet about the game until E3 2014, where it was officially revealed in the form it has now, much to the disappointment of fans who were anticipating something more reminiscent of either of the franchises the game now known as Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE was a part of. Even amidst people calling it out as just being another Persona-style game, I was still excited for it. Even as people were crying doom and gloom, and even when we were learning about the changes to the English version, I still stayed hopeful for it. After everything, did it live up to my expectations?

Not exactly the crossover people expected.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE (that’s pronounced “Sharp F E”) is a collaboration between Nintendo and Atlus, and a crossover of sorts between the Megami Tensei franchise and the Fire Emblem series. Ultimately it strives to be its own spin-off from MegaTen, and is completely distinct in terms of tone, setting and themes from the rest of the franchise. It borrows some characters, gameplay elements, and story from the Fire Emblem series, as well, while the main gameplay base is mostly inspired by Shin Megami Tensei, while also adding enough new pieces to feel like its own entity.

There’s some really nice animation in the concert sequences.

The gameplay is where Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE shines the brightest. Recent Shin Megami Tensei games (and other spin-offs related to it) have been very good about rewarding players for exploiting enemy weaknesses, and this game is no exception, with the new Session system. Whenever a character hits an enemy weakness or uses a Special Performance, other party members will attack afterwards in sequence, chaining their attacks together depending on the types of Session Skills they have. Initially, only characters in your active party can participate in Sessions, but, as the game goes on, characters gain the ability to participate in them from outside the party, as well. It’s possible to switch characters out of the main party mid-combat, aside from protagonist Itsuki Aoi, even between actions in cases where a party member can act more than once in a round. It lends quite a bit of flexibility to the party, where if your party is poorly suited to a situation, you can hotswitch one of them out for someone more appropriate. The game is set to manually controlling the full party by default, although it is possible to switch to AI control of everyone other than Itsuki if you want to. I never did, so I can’t speak for the quality of the ally AI in combat.

Characters’ signatures appear in front of them while using magic skills.

In keeping with the game’s heavy roots in the modern Japanese entertainment industry, all the in-game music is produced by entertainment giant Avex Group. The songs are composed by Yoshiaki Fujisawa, known for composing music for anime series such as Dimension W, Gate, Yuru Yuri, and most notably Love Live! School Idol Project. There are several vocal numbers, performed by the characters’ voice actors, with each playable character having at least one vocal theme, and some having multiple solos, as well as duets with other characters in the party. The duets have a gameplay aspect with Duo Arts, which have a chance of activating during a Session, dealing extra damage, extending the Session and often aiding the party.

The vocal songs all stand out as some of the best J-pop I’ve ever heard, and they each do a great job of capturing the personality of the characters singing them. Although all the lyrics are in Japanese, as are all the voices, the game includes an English version of the lyrics in the subtitles, which fit the rhythm of the song. It’s a nice touch. The normal background music is generally solid, as well, with some of the standouts being the later-game boss theme and the song played during certain event battles during side stories. I can’t comment on the quality of the voice acting, since I don’t speak Japanese.

3 GB? What kind of voice bank takes up only 3 GB? Audio files are way bigger than that.

More Crossover Goodness on Page 2 ->

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Author’s Note: I backed Mighty No. 9 for $60.

Before I get too far ahead of myself, let me clarify something — I am a giant Mega Man nerd. There is hardly any iteration of the long-running series that I’m not a fan of, and, despite the series’ ups and downs, I have always proudly supported it. Which is why I was so upset when Capcom seemingly decided to stop supporting the Blue Bomber, only releasing remixes like Mega Man Legacy Collection without developing any new titles in what feels like forever. As such, it should be no surprise to anyone that I happily backed Mighty No. 9 a few years ago. I got to actually see the project get unveiled by Keiji Inafune himself at PAX Prime, and I was a true believer from go. That sense of euphoria lasted a good long time — a couple years, in fact — only starting to dim when the updates I kept getting in my inbox started getting composed by a new face — Dina. I’m not sure what it was about her, as I’ve never met the woman, but with her at the helm, my enthusiasm started to wane. That could be a coincidence, maybe I was just getting tired of waiting, but for me that was the point things started to go downhill.

Fast forward later to several delays, speculation about Inafune’s greed, extraneous funding for a television show and many other hiccups, and my enthusiasm was all but gone. However, I am an extremely loyal and optimistic person by nature, and when Comcept said Mighty No. 9 was coming out this June, I was cautiously optimistic. Then I got my long-awaited backer codes, and I was ready to jump out of my seat. Unfortunately, my happy attitude was met with nothing but vitriol and hatred online. To say that the early reviews disliked the game would be a huge understatement, and I started to worry my patience and loyalty was for naught. Thus, I decided to do this review, basing it solely off my own perceptions and experiences with the game, to answer a simple question – is Mighty No. 9 a steaming pile of garbage, or did Beck get a bad rap?

The primary players on Team Beck – Dr. White, Dr. Sanda, and the ever adorable Call.

The story of Mighty No. 9, set in a world that stylistically reminds me of a mix of Mega Man and Astro Boy, revolving around a society where the Mighty Numbers alternate between doing their jobs and fighting for fun in a Battle Colliseum. Cue something going wrong and robots running amok. If this sounds familiar, then there’s a good chance you’ve played a few Mega Man games. While it’s very true that the game borrows many conventions from the entire Mega Man series, most notably the plot of the original games, mechanics from the X series, voice acting from Mega Man 8 and difficulty from the Zero and ZX series, Mighty No. 9 did a good job of playing around with all these elements, as well as turning my expectations on their heads. When you hear about a nefarious doctor who may be behind everything, the notorious Dr. Blackwell, you instantly think you know where the plot is going, and you would also be wrong.

Hi Dr. Wil- … er, I mean, Dr. Blackwell!

One of the things I enjoyed about the story in Mighty No. 9 is how it threw in unexpected twists and turns, relayed by cutscenes between missions. I also appreciated that, unlike most Mega Man games, this one tried hard to give every character a distinct voice. From the compassionate and steadfast Beck to the nervous, kind giant Dr. Sanda to the mild mannered, almost cold Dr. White to the machine-like, yet somehow adorable, Call, everybody is well expressed. This goes double for all the Mighty Numbers themselves, as each and every boss is distinct, and relayed with a unique voice, thanks in large part to the tremendous voice acting in the game. This even translated to how each stage reflected the personality and style of their particular boss! Each and every character sounded very different and had a totally individual tone, which was one of the highlights of the game for me. But no spiritual successor of Mega Man is really about the plot, so let’s move on to the good stuff — the gameplay mechanics!

Speaking of voice acting, I loved the constant banter of Mighty No. 6, AKA Aviator!

The combat in the game is focused largely around one mechanic — AcXelerating, or dashing, right into a weakened enemy. See, every robot in the world of Mighty No. 9 is composed of particles of Xel (think nanobots) and is, thus, somewhat organic in nature. The upside of that is to truly defeat one, you need to damage them until they start glowing, and then AcXelerate into them, using Beck’s unique abilities to absorb them. Depending on the type of enemy, you may also get a temporary color-coded boost, such as shot power or speed, running speed and other nice bonuses. The game is very focused on smart and fast running and gunning, and it most definitely offers players risk and reward. You will get very good at making risky decisions to charge into the fray, and be rewarded for competently doing so with the combo system.

Now, while I have nothing against the combo system, I also wasn’t that enthralled by it. On the surface level, this just helps determine your score at the end of each stage, but Comcept took it a bit further and also utilized it to reward you with this game’s version of an E Tank, called AcXel Recover. Here’s the downside; you never own them as permanent inventory items, so if you manage to play really well and obtain one or two AcXel Recovers, and then you die, you lose them. While I have nothing against utilizing the combos to reward the player, players also shouldn’t be punished for making mistakes. Luckily, that’s a relatively minor gripe in the grand scheme of things.

A truly fun mid boss in a particularly entertaining level.

Now that we’ve gotten the basic mechanics out of the way, let’s get to my favorite topic; the bosses. Every Mighty Number is immaculately designed and visually stands out from the others. From the ghost-like No. 3 to the irritating braggart No. 6 to the calm and deadly No. 8, each of the bosses is a joy. Likewise, each and every boss also presents you with a challenging and dynamic boss fight. Most of these are challenging yet fair, though a couple do err a bit on the mean side. Luckily, if you have the patience to learn their patterns, or better yet, are equipped with their weakness, then you’ll do fine. By far my favorite was the utterly epic boss fight against Mighty No. 7.

Swords vs Gun in my favorite boss fight of the game!

I consider it a high mark in any Mega Man game’s favor when you can beat most every boss with your stock weapon, and that is certainly true of Mighty No. 9. The only exceptions to that rule are Mighty No. 2, which was almost impossible to beat without Number 1’s power, and Mighty No. 6, which was almost impossible for me to beat without a recovery item. All told, I thoroughly enjoyed all the bosses in the game, with one exception; the final boss. I’ll avoid spoilers here, but found it unnecessarily difficult. This was in large part due to not gating sections of that fight with checkpoints, and, as a result, I spent a good three hours of my total 12-hour playtime just crunching through that stage again and again until I managed to scrape by with a victory.

More Mighty Numbers on Page 2 ->

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I could never have imagined that Star Fox Zero would be as good as it is. Its mixed reception, chiefly centered around the control scheme, immediately reminded me of another Wii U must-have that serves as one of my favorite games of this generation: The Wonderful 101. In addition, even before Star Fox Zero, Platinum’s previous experiences in space have included the similarly ambitious and utterly fantastic DS RPG Infinite Space and the extremely cool cover shooter Vanquish. But although Platinum’s involvement in Star Fox Zero is rumored to have been minimal, I can clearly say there are plenty of moments where my favorite developer’s magic touch is not just apparent, but in full force.

Like more than several Wii U games before it, Star Fox Zero takes a similar approach to other Nintendo flagship titles in combining classic series elements with new ways to play. In fact, this sense of innovation has become the biggest part of Star Fox Zero’s polarizing reception. Yet, while the two-screen control scheme is polarizing by itself, and is not the only flaw that Star Fox Zero has, it brings the series’ classic rail shooter combat back into high gear and ends up becoming something more than the sum of its parts. For those willing and able to take the time to learn it, Star Fox Zero is a very engrossing experience that allows you to fly high like never before.

Yes, that is an SNES-era Arwing. More on how you can get it later in the review.

Star Fox Zero might sound familiar — story-wise, it is more or less a reboot of Star Fox 64, and hits most of the same beats. Fox McCloud, our protagonist, leads the new incarnation of the eponymous team Star Fox under the command of General Pepper. His teammates are hotshot avian pilot Falco Lombardi, ace mechanic Slippy Toad, and original Star Fox team member and father figure Peppy Hare. There are enough differences between 64 and Zero for me to say the latter is more than a mere retread, but the main story remains the same: Fox and friends fight off against an army of space pirates in the Lylat System, led by the fearsome Andross. Also, Andross is believed to have played a role in the disappearance of Fox’s father, respected pilot and original Star Fox team leader James McCloud, so Fox certainly has his own personal reasons to take the villain down.

The graphics in Star Fox Zero might look bad by themselves. Don’t be fooled. In game, they are quite lively, and take great advantage of the Wii U hardware. Sure, it’s clear that the series’ jump to HD has been hampered by the emphasis on a dual-screen experience and lack of anti-aliasing, especially when compared to games like Platinum’s very own Bayonetta 2 that are literally dripping with style in their environments, character designs and so on. When one takes into account the fact that two separate viewpoints are being rendered at the same time, though, they work better. And even when factoring in such gripes as lack of detail in some areas, Star Fox Zero is a clear improvement over the likes of Adventures and Assault in terms of its visuals. On top of that, it runs at a very steady 60 frames per second much of the time, with only very occasional slowdown in some tight spots, perfectly matching its namesake’s arcade-y thrills.

Here’s a good representative screen – and in case you didn’t know, Andrew’s name comes from the fact that he is Andross’ nephew.

Unlike many other Wii U games, shockingly, the speakers on the GamePad are utilized heavily in Star Fox Zero. Everything from cutscene dialogue to alerts that enemies are approaching can come through the speakers at any given time, so be sure to turn your GamePad’s speakers up. This takes some getting used to, and would probably make streams of this game awful, but it is all part of the immersive nature of this game. And the music is absolutely nothing short of epic. Platinum vet Hiroshi Yamaguchi, who composed Bayonetta and its sequel, as well as newcomer Yukari Suita, were the lead composers and were supervised by a team including the legendary Koji Kondo and Hajime Wakai, who both composed Star Fox 64. The result is a thrilling blend of old and new, and it’s a pity that there is no soundtrack out for Star Fox Zero at the moment. The retro feel is nailed down in other areas on the sound side, too, but especially the infamous “GOOD LUCK” soundbite at the beginning of each level, and the return of many of the voice actors from Star Fox 64 and its 3D remake, including Mike West (Fox), Lyssa Browne (Slippy), David Frederick White (General Pepper/Pigma/ROB 64), and Ja Green (Leon).

And Falco is still the pompous bird he always is.

Star Fox Zero’s gameplay has a lot of neat intricacies. I am probably in the minority with regard to Star Fox Zero’s incredibly divisive control scheme, but it took me about a half-hour to get the hang of, and it finally grew on me after several stages. The controls have a learning curve, absolutely, but that does not mean Star Fox Zero is unplayable. Far from it. Here’s a good test for any Wii U owners planning on taking the Arwing out for a spin: if you do not care for the motion controls in Splatoon, you will probably not enjoy Star Fox Zero, and you will either love them or hate them. Just like that game, think of Star Fox Zero as a twin-stick shooter, but with the second stick mapped to the GamePad’s gyroscope. There’s a bit more to it than that because of the serious emphasis on a dual-screen viewpoint, though. The TV serves as the overworld, while the GamePad’s screen provides a view from the cockpit. This is meant not to substitute for the overworld, but rather, to fire more precisely. Controls depend on which vehicle you wield, but generally, you move with the left stick, throttle by moving the right stick up, brake by moving the right stick down, shoot with ZR, charge shot by holding ZR, and lock-on with ZL. Sounds like a lot, right? It certainly is, but it all works fairly smoothly. And the co-op in Star Fox Zero is more or less a dream come true, as it takes things to a whole new level. The flying and shooting are separated, with one player using a Wii U Pro Controller, Wii Classic Controller, or Wiimote and Nunchuk to move the vehicle around, and the other using the GamePad to aim and fire. It makes for a great time.

WORDS TO LIVE BY. Just get used to them.

More Barrel Rolls on Page 2! ->

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Gaming has been full of interesting crossovers and new series installments between franchises, but this generation Nintendo has been on the ball. Hyrule Warriors and Pokémon Conquest graced fans of those series (Warriors and Nobunaga’s Ambition, respectively) with new ways to play. Project X Zone and its sequel, both codeveloped by Nintendo’s very own Monolith Soft, placed as many Capcom, Sega, Namco, and (in the sequel’s case) even Nintendo characters as humanly possible into a weird crossover world. This year’s upcoming Atlus-developed Tokyo Mirage Sessions: #FE puts a middle ground between Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei. And of course, Smash Bros. needs no explanation I’m sure, yet even that game, which has a ton of Pokémon reps as is, might not satisfactorily scratch that Pokémon battle itch. Enter Pokkén Tournament.

A game where the Chandelier Pokémon, of all things, is a playable fighter.

The premise of Pokkén Tournament seems fairly straightforward: have a bunch of Pokémon duke it out in a series of fantastical battles that take the tournament-friendly nature of the Tekken series along with it. When compared with other fighting games, though, Pokkén Tournament is more than the sum of its parts. To put it simply, it seems to achieve a middle ground between the easy to learn, hard to master style of Smash and the more technical prowess of its forebear Tekken. Aside from some minor gripes, this is a very fun fighter that will most definitely appeal to the hardcore set with its customization, Pokémaniacs with its ridiculous amount of fan service, and people looking for a good time regardless.

Check out the comment on the right. Uhh…

There is a bit of a story in the campaign mode. In this Pokémon iteration you join the Ferrum League, where you move up the ranks with your Pokémon. As you rise up, you start having more periodic encounters with the fearsome Shadow Mewtwo, and things end up coming to a head when his psychic influence from a gem called the Synergy Stone puts the entire Ferrum League tournament on hold. Thus, you must stop Shadow Mewtwo from taking over. Pokkén Tournament does not have an especially compelling story, but even so, it does have some pretty interesting components to it.

By the way, they break the gender stereotypes, too – Pikachu Libre here is a she.

At least Bandai Namco strove to make a polished experience with Pokkén Tournament. It’s seriously slick. Frame rate is extremely steady, the character models and effects really capture the series’ essence, and your trainer avatar can even be customized using coins you earn from your fights. While the environments in game are a little lacking in detail, they’re as vibrant as any Pokémon game you can think of. Neat little touches abound in each background, from the Zangoose and Teddiursa sitting on a bench in Tellur Town to Diggersby Land’s array of attractions themed around that wascally wabbit. The music is also great. Lead composer Hiroki Hashimoto has done compositions for Smash 4, but this time was joined by many composers from previous Pokémon and Tekken games. Now, if any game series are known for having plenty of compositions that get you pumped up for a battle, those should be on anyone’s list, and Pokkén has music that fits right into these respective series’ epic legacies.

At the time of this writing, there are 14 Pokémon to choose from in Pokkén Tournament at the beginning, with 2 more that get unlocked after special conditions are met. Sure, that’s a pretty small number for a fighting game on a system with, you know, that other crossover fighter with a roster over 4 times that size, but they really did go for quality over quantity here. Four different types are at your disposal. Standard Pokémon, which include Pikachu, Suicune, Blaziken, Lucario, and Braixen, are good all around fighters. Charizard, Garchomp, Machamp, and Chandelure are Power types, which use sheer strength. Gengar and Gardevoir are Technique types, which place most of their focus on special attacks. Finally, Speed types, including Weavile, Sceptile, and Pikachu Libre, are fast and furious. There’s something for everyone from just about every generation.

Legendaries, too.

In addition, you choose two pairs of Support Pokémon, which serve different assistance functions in battle, and you unlock more of them as you go. Some, like Fennekin, help assist you in attacking while others, like Jirachi, increase your luck. My favorite in the bunch, Umbreon, will actually sap the Synergy Gauge of your opponent and prevent them from critical hits. It is important to note, though, that the pairs of Support Pokémon are set, so those wanting to have Cubone and Frogadier at the same time, for example, are out of luck.

Pokkén Tournament relies on a combat system that centers around a deceptively simple phase change mechanic. In Field Phase you move your Pokémon around in the arena freely – compare to the Dreamcast classic Power Stone. Conversely, when one of the dueling Pokémon lands a combo, a big hit, or a Synergy Burst (more on those later), the game changes to Duel Phase, which plays similarly to Tekken; the plane becomes 2D, the combat becomes close quarters, and it changes back to Field Phase afterward. The switch between phases really does keep you on your toes, and even though you might be able to simply mash buttons like a lunatic early on in the Tournament campaign, you will have to change up your strategy as necessary.

On a side note, the trainer customization system is incredible.

The controls are fairly straightforward, regardless of which controller you use – and there are no less than five: the GamePad, the Wii U Pro Controller, the Wiimote and Nunchuk setup, the Wiimote and Classic Controller setup, and the Hori Pokkén Pro Controller. And if that is not enough, you can even map whatever controls you want to each button. But generally speaking, X is a strong attack, Y is a weak attack, A is a special move, B is jump, L summons your Support Pokémon when your Support Gauge is full, R is guard, Y+B is a grab attack, and X+A is a counter attack. When your Synergy Gauge is full, hit L+R to give your Pokémon the upper hand with a Synergy Burst (the effects differ for each one, but all of them are good), then hit L+R again to use your special Synergy Burst attack. Simple to learn seems to be the series’ mantra, of course. 

Here it is in action.

Speaking of which, Pokkén Tournament adds one other neat intricacy to its combat system. While its parent series has the infamous “grass beats water, water beats fire, fire beats grass” type triangle, that does not apply here. Instead, the attack triangle in Pokkén Tournament is as follows: Normal attacks (that is, your X’s, Y’s and A’s) beat grab attacks (Y+B), grab attacks beat counter attacks, and counter attacks beat normal attacks. If a stronger attack type lands, you land a critical hit. Sure, all of this, as well as the controls and phase switching, might sound simple, but putting it in practice is so much fun.

Here’s a nifty little explanation from the tutorial.

The only nitpicks I have with Pokkén Tournament are fairly minor and don’t detract at all from my opinion of it as a fantastic breed of fighting game that has been sorely lacking on the Wii U. I don’t quite know if I can fully disagree with the “lack of content” claim, but I also have absolutely no qualms in saying that quality over quantity was the mantra spoken here. While the multiplayer interface where one player plays on the TV and the other plays on the GamePad to account for the third person viewpoint is a little wacky, the framerate dip on the GamePad is nowhere near as bad as expected; unlike other games with similar interfaces like Hyrule Warriors. Some of the arenas are a little small in size, especially if you use a big Pokémon like Machamp or Charizard. Your advisor Nia’s commentary gets annoying fast, but you can turn it off. And finally, the campaign’s length is fairly short, although it is on the long side for a fighting game. I managed to complete it in just under 12 hours.

On the other hand, Nia DOES give some good advice from time to time. You know, you can lose money for rage quitting here.

What makes Pokkén Tournament so darned enjoyable, though, is how unique it really is, especially on a system that has what some might consider to be THE fighting game that bridges the gap between casual and hardcore. Pokkén Tournament does quite the same, with gameplay simple enough for casual fighting game fans to learn, yet deep enough to satisfy that Pokémon battle itch, and can be enjoyed by Pokémaniacs and Tekken fans alike. Fight on.

Review Score
Overall

Review copy acquired by reviewer

The post REVIEW: Pokkén Tournament appeared first on oprainfall.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD gives new life to the legend along with a few new goodies. As the Twilight covers all of Hyrule, you are a young man named Link, the only one who can save those in danger and return peace to the stricken world. Things start to go wrong in your home village of Ordon, as the darkness consumes the world. Soon you partner up with the mysterious Midna before embarking on an epic journey to save not one world, but two. Do you have what it takes to save the day?

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was originally developed for the Gamecube, but also launched on the Wii thanks to Nintendo porting it to the (at the time) new system. In the Wii version, Link was changed to be right handed to make the game play better for most players, and so they also mirrored the game world. The Wii waggle wasn’t the best control scheme, but it worked. On the other hand, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD was built using the Gamecube version as the base. The textures have all been replaced with beautiful new HD textures that make the game look so much better than the original. The characters all feel more life-like in this version as well.

Your home, Ordon Village.

The screenshot above shows Link standing in his home, Ordon Village. I must point out right away that this screenshot does not look as good as the game itself. This is largely because of the fact that Miiverse saves screenshots in JPEG format, giving them a slightly muddy look. I got a little bit larger screenshot by going to the Wii U web browser app and going to imgur.com to upload the screenshot. It still looks muddy but at least you can click on it to see a little bit larger version this way. So no, the game does not look muddy like that when you’re actually playing it, thankfully!

The new HD textures in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD are very detailed and quite nice to look at.  This helps the world come alive more than in the original, and the characters and enemies feel more alive as well. This game is not some lazy port, as the developers have done a great job. They’ve actually added a few things as well. Firstly, the developers added 50 Miiverse stamps in this version of the game, which are hidden all throughout the land of Hyrule. If you can find the first 49, you will be rewarded with a special reward stamp. They also added some amiibo support, a Hero Mode, and a new item. We’ll get to that in a minute, though.

Wolf Link strolling through the Faren Woods.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is famous for Wolf Link. You first get the wolf form early in the game, but won’t be able to change forms at will until a bit later in the game after you’ve pushed back The Twilight from Hyrule. In this form, you can press X to use your senses, which allows you to see things you couldn’t normally see and follow scent trails. Wolf Link can also run faster than Link’s human form, and Midna can help him jump over dangerous gaps that he wouldn’t be able to cross alone.

The controls are very nice. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD adds some of the same improvements that we saw in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, like being able to quickly swap items via the touch screen on your Wii U Gamepad. The Gamepad screen has two tabs that let you switch between the items screen and the mini map. The game also shows the mini map on the TV screen sometimes. You can play the game using the Wii U Gamepad, or the Wii U Pro Controller.

Hyrule Field’s Kakariko Gorge

Another interesting change in this version of the game is the fact that the sizes of the various wallets have been changed. The first wallet now holds 500 rupees, the second 1,000 rupees, and the third 2,000 rupees. There is also a new fourth wallet, called the Colossal Wallet. It can hold a whopping 9,999 rupees, but to get it you must beat the new Cave of Shadows. The Cave of Shadows starts out with rooms looking identical to the Cave of Ordeals in the desert, but you soon start seeing rooms themed after different areas of the game. These new wallet sizes make the Magic Armor a bit less pointless in this version of the game, but still kinda pointless.

The Cave of Shadows is accessed by scanning the Wolf Link amiibo on the menu screen where you can check your stats (like how many Poes you’ve gotten, or the golden bugs, and more). The first time you play the Cave of Shadows, there are only 5 floors. After you leave, the first time you open the menu screen again, a message appears saying a new wolf challenge has been unlocked. Scan the Wolf Link amiibo again to return to the Cave of Shadows. This time, an additional 15 floors are waiting for you, so 20 in total. After you beat that, one final wolf challenge will unlock, adding another large set of floors on to the end of the Cave of Shadows. The Colossal Wallet is not the only surprise waiting for you at the end of the Cave of Shadows…

Epona, your trusty steed.

Epona, your trusty steed is ready for action, and was part of one of the cooler new mechanics in the original game. You can battle while on horseback, slashing foes mounted on boars. Epona acts as a form of fast transportation, but not the only one. You eventually gain the ability to warp around to certain points on the world map, too. As the fields of Hyrule are quite large, this is important. Epona can also jump over small fences and charge through monsters foolish enough to stand in her way.

The developers have also added a new item into The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD called the Poe’s Lantern. Once you’ve collected a total of 20 Poe’s Souls, return to Giovani in Castle Town, and he’ll give you this new item. It is very helpful in finding all of the Poes, as it lights up if there is a Poe somewhere in the area you are currently in. When it is lit up, it casts an eerie whitish-blue glow on the surrounding environment. The Poe’s Lantern looks just like the lanterns that the Poes are always holding.

Continue Into Twilight on Page 2 ->

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Mutant Mudds always leaves me wanting more, and I mean that in the best possible way. The talented folks at Renegade Kid have done an admirable job of crafting a series that, much like Mario, Mega Man or even Pokémon, continues to build upon our expectations in new and exciting ways. First they did this by introducing the Ghost Levels as a freebie, and now they have done so with Mutant Mudds Super Challenge. The best way to describe it is as the Lost Levels of Mutant Mudds. It’s not exactly a sequel, since there are scant new features. It’s more of a super difficult remix of the first game, with gameplay catered to hardcore expectations. After beating the original Mutant Mudds, I found myself wanting that steeper challenge, and Super Challenge certainly delivers. But the real question is, was Super Challenge better than the original?

This is what an easy level looks like…

Though not a true sequel per se, Super Challenge does pick up right where the original left off. That mysterious Mudd debris, or the Muddteorite as I call it, has crash landed, and it’s up to Max to put an end to the Mudd invasion. You start out making your way closer, fending off Mudds, when suddenly Max is zapped by the Muddteorite and thrown into the distance. The area you land is the new HUB area, and from there you can tackle any of the 4 starting worlds, each comprised of 3 levels and 1 Ghost level, in whatever order you prefer, finally making your way back. However, I strongly encourage you to play worlds in the proper order, because the difficulty starts high and only ramps up the farther you go. I would compare the difficulty of the very first level of Super Challenge to that of the final level of Mutant Mudds. That’s a slight exaggeration, but not by much. The levels are all large, complex, full of well placed traps and plenty of instant death spikes. Super Challenge does NOT hold your hand, and I venture you’ll have a handful of deaths by the end of the very first stage.

Blasted Muddteorite…

Speaking of deaths, there’s a handy new death counter, and you’ll make vigorous use of it. By the end of the first world, I had racked up 64 deaths, and it only got harder from there. You’ll thank your lucky stars every time you reach a Check Point, since it saves your progress and refills your health. Super Challenge is very much an old school hard retro platformer, and I love that about it. While Mutant Mudds was a lot of fun, it felt like it hesitated in truly challenging the player, and I was able to blast through it in short order. That is certainly not the case in Super Challenge, which took me about 7 and a half hours to beat completely. But before I get ahead of myself, let me explain why I enjoyed this harder game so much.

You will quickly learn to hate the Pork Plop enemies…

As I mentioned above, the original game was trying very hard to cater to everyone. The end result of this was that it didn’t really ramp up until the very end of the game, and only the final stage proved a significant challenge. Super Challenge, by contrast, has very on point level design and brilliantly cruel enemy placement, so that every level really pushes the player to do their best. A apt example of this is how many enemies will be placed squarely on a platform with no edge, meaning you’ll have to hover to them and blast them to smithereens in mere seconds or fall to your demise. Another great example of the new difficulty is the fact that all of Max’s powerups are unlocked from the beginning, though you’ll still need to go to the shop to switch them out. You might feel that this makes the game too easy, but really you’ll need all the help you can get just to have a chance of surviving. Many levels are nearly impossible to traverse if you don’t have the right upgrade, such as the extended hover, super shot or vertical booster. More importantly, each of the Secret stages is gated, and you will only be able to access them if you’re properly equipped.

Choose wisely!

While true that there aren’t many new features in the game, they make such creative use of the existing enemies and traps that you will hardly even notice. I would be remiss, however, if I didn’t mention the new features. First are destructible blocks. These can be shot to reveal sprites and enemies, and often you’ll need to blow them up in short order to avoid getting KOed by the myriad traps strewn through each level. Second up are hidden alcoves. These are sections of walls that have hidden sprites and other goodies, and often require Max to make a leap of faith over pools of lava or wreathes of spikes to get to them. They are indicated by little windows, but it’s easy to miss them in all the chaos. The alcoves may sound basic, but they truly provide a large fraction of the replay value in the game, since you need to 100% each level in a world, finding every last sprite and CD, to unlock the boss battle. Yes, I said boss battle. Super Challenge FINALLY introduces Muddy bosses to the mix, and I couldn’t be happier with the result.

The Ghost Boss. Max ain’t afraid of no ghost!

Each boss in Super Challenge is a distinct threat, and none of them behaves the same way. I went into the first fight against Super Sacky, a giant form of the most basic enemy, thinking it would be no problem. About 30 deaths later, I realized that the boss fights in Super Challenge are potentially even harder than the levels themselves, and that is saying a lot. The only thing the bosses have in common is they each have 3 sickly green hearts, and you’ll need to unearth them to deal damage, fighting through progressively harder attack waves. While I do feel the bosses are a bit front loaded, and found the first two to be some of the hardest, none of them is easy, and all require careful strategy and lightning fast reflexes. My favorite by far was the Papa Pork Plop, who can’t be hurt by Max, and requires you to trick his minion into hurting him. Best of all, the sheer variety of bosses really finally brings home the whole “mutant” aspect of Mutant Mudds.

One thing that really stood out to me in Super Challenge was the art design. While this is still obviously a Mutant Mudds game, it’s somehow prettier than the original. Maybe that was due to the sheer volume of activity happening on screen, or maybe it’s because each stage is huge and well realized. Or it could just be because I played this game on the big screen for Wii U. Either way, the game was old school bliss. One thing I appreciated was how unique the new areas look, such as the Temple found late in the game, full of exotic hieroglyphics and ominous purple hues. Also of note were how cool the Secret stages still look, hued to resemble classics such as the original Game Boy and Virtual Boy. The boss design is also fantastic, as each is distinct, full of personality and menace. My only real complaint is that there weren’t any new enemies besides the bosses, but that’s a minor nitpick. Another area where the game shines exceptionally bright is in the sound design.

Gotta get those sweet tunes!

Troupe Grammage has truly outdone himself with the musical score in Super Challenge. While you will find classic returning tunes, the new music is incredible. I mentioned earlier that you will have to unlock CDs to access the bosses, but what I failed to mention is CDs can also be played at any time from the music box in the HUB area. It’s hard to put into words, but the music is much more expressive of the individual worlds. The frigid Tundra glints with ice, the blazing Foundry is replete with a vibrant beat and the Temple evokes mystery and death. Honestly, this is one of the few games I would consider buying the soundtrack for, as it is a great example of retro done right.

PLAY that funky music!

In the end result, I was incredibly pleased with Mutant Mudds Super Challenge. It’s bigger than the original (sans the addition of free Ghost Levels update), introduces great boss fights, and is enough of a challenge to satisfy this old school gamer. There’s also some hidden goodies to find to add to replay value, as well as trying to beat the game with less deaths. One minor quibble I have is that the game is so linear, and once you beat the final world, you won’t unlock any bonus worlds. But considering there are 20 regular stages, 20 secret stages and 5 boss fights, you can’t really complain about length. My biggest complaint is that I just want MORE Mutant Mudds goodness right this second, but I guess I can patiently wait for the sequel hinted at upon beating the game. For $9.99 this is a steal, especially when you consider it’s cross buy and allows for a further loyalty bonus discount. It’s not for everybody, but fans of the series will be very pleased. This game has actually eclipsed the original Mutant Mudds for me. And for anybody who is curious, my final death tally was 279. Maybe you’ll do better once you get your mitts on Mutant Mudds Super Challenge!

Review Score
Overall

Review Copy Provided by Publisher

The post REVIEW: Mutant Mudds Super Challenge appeared first on oprainfall.

Adventure games aren’t terribly common anymore, at least compared to other genres. That’s just how it is. So when they do come along, it’s good to pay attention to them. Today, we’re going to look at Whispering Willows, a horror adventure game with ghosts everywhere.

Elena’s father is missing, and she tracks him to the Willows Mansion. Upon arriving, she encounters Flying Hawk, one of her Native American predecessors. He teaches her to tap into her shamanic powers and project her spirit away from her body, then asks her to help him find his own body so that he can rest in peace. So Elena’s true journey begins.

This spirit projection is the main mechanic of the game. Basically, the spirit form can pass through tiny holes in the walls, floor and ceiling of each room in the indoor areas. You can then possess objects such as switches to flip them, or items that you can then bring back to your body to pick up. However, there is a limit on how far you can go from your body, and only your physical form can do certain things, like opening doors.

The spirit can also see other ghosts, the people that originally lived in the mansion. Between these and the large collection of hidden notes scattered around the house and grounds, you can get a detailed sense of what appears to be a sort of slavery-centered household, where whites abuse Native Americans and have them do their dirty work for them. You’ll learn especially more and more about the head of the household and the horrible things he did that lead to this mansion being full of restless spirits.

While a few of the ghosts are there just to add to this narrative, most of them do it while giving you hints on the puzzles you’ll encounter or even being the ones to help you progress. A fair number of them want you to either fetch them an item or investigate something for them, and I would say about half of the things you do in the game are of this nature. The rest of the time, of course, you’ll be exploring, looking for ways to the next area, picking up items, and, on a rare occasion, solving an actual puzzle.

For the most part, though, the puzzles in Whispering Willows are pretty easy, and finding your way around is the tough part. Honestly, this game would definitely do better with a map–even on the Wii U version, the Gamepad is dedicated to simply reading the notes and diary entries you find, which I think is a bit of a waste. There is one area which is meant to be a maze of moving between different screens, but that ended up being more annoying than fun anyway.

It’s the loading screen, it’s the loading screen, I can’t believe this game has so many loading screens

Getting a little lost would not be so bad, except that whenever you switch to a different screen, a loading screen comes up. Load times are generally around 10-15 seconds, but when you’re exploring a vast mansion full of long hallways that lead to small rooms, or even just going a long way from point A to point B, these loading times can add up and get extremely annoying. It’s not quite at Tales of the Abyss levels, but it did frustrate me nonetheless.

I assume that the amount of load time is due to the graphics. As you can see from the screenshots, Whispering Willows has a very strong art direction, and it shows in great detail as you play. The lighting and mood are just fantastic. However, certain cut scenes are just a tiny bit underwhelming in comparison, if you ask me. Even then, they’re still pretty good.

It’s pretty decent in the sound department. I couldn’t complain about the music, as it served the purpose of the overall creepy atmosphere quite well. While cut scenes aren’t voiced, a few actions do cause Elena to make some basic grunting sounds, much like in the Zelda series, and those are fine. It didn’t really knock my socks off, though.

Between the main storyline and all the pieces of extra backstory you can pick up through the notes, I would say that the story is the strong point of Whispering Willows, aside from the graphics. It does have the gameplay issues with loading screens and such, though. The game’s length is another drawback: I was done with it in a mere 3 hours. At that point, it might be a bit hard to justify spending the $9.99 USD for it on most of the many different consoles it’s on. However, for the next week, it’ll be part of Steam’s Lunar New Year Sale, so you could get that version for only $2.99. That, at least, seems like a pretty good deal to me.

Review Score
Overall

This review is based on the WiiU version of the game. Review copy supplied by the publisher.

The post REVIEW: Whispering Willows appeared first on oprainfall.

I’m not sure if I find it awesome or groan-worthy to literally send a game into space, but at least I can tell you what I think of the game itself, Nova-111. It’s a game that looks like a space shooter, but in reality, it’s… well, it’s complicated.

For one thing, the game is turn-based–sort of. Your ship can move one space each turn, and most enemies will move or attack right after that. However, there are some enemies and other objects that act in real time. Usually, these actions start to trigger after you’ve attacked, which you can do simply by smashing into your target. An enemy might multiply or explode after a couple of seconds, forcing you to act quickly. As the game goes on, turns continue to be important, but when it comes to combat situations there’s not much stopping to think.

In addition to movement and waiting to pass a turn, there are a few gadgets available to you. First is the gel bomb, which stuns enemies around you but requires you to collect gel pieces to use. Most of your other options use the resource of “Science,” which regenerates over the course of several turns. These include a laser for busting enemies and tough rocks at a range, a short-range teleport to get you past certain objects, and a stopwatch that stops all other actions, turn-based and real-time alike.

Sound messy? It can be, but often the enemies are only on screen for a few chaotic seconds. The truth is, most of this game’s content and play time is actually in puzzles. With switches, pushable boxes, locked hatches, sliding spaces, and strong wind, there’s a lot to be said for the thinking you have to do to get through this game. A lot of the more elaborate puzzles involve invincible patrol robots that move in predictable–but changeable–patterns. They can hit switches, smash through rocks and more if you just show them the way. It’s even more crazy when you realize this is all mixed into levels that are otherwise procedurally generated. That sort of makes me wonder how they do it.

Each level has a handful of maps, capped off by portals that take you onward. While you can just push your way through, there are lots of stranded scientists to rescue, secret alcoves to find, and hidden “treasures.” By picking up four treasures, you can upgrade your ship’s health. That said, the other extras don’t seem to have much benefit beyond the pursuit of full completion. In addition, there are two leaderboards on each level: shortest time and fewest turns to complete. The rankings are usually completely different, which shows that the dual focus on turns and real time actually matters more than you might think.

It’s a good thing that these extra objectives are there, and that your companion, Dr. Science, often has witty commentary on the situation. With these things combined, you can forget that the main objectives end up being really easy, that the game is so short (I estimate 4 hours, generously), and that there isn’t a coherent story. Dr. Science will tell you that he and the other scientists were stranded by a mysterious accident, and you’ll spend much of the game investigating their lab and the tear in time caused by it. Yet, when the final boss is “revealed” at the end, it isn’t so much a twist as a shot out of left field, and the accident’s true nature goes unexplained.

Still, for a game that’s trying so hard to be so many things at once, Nova-111 is not half-bad at most of them. The mixed combat in both turns and real time really does have a unique feel: every decision is important, but made under pressure. And although the puzzles are not anything mindbending, they do make interesting use of the mechanics at least.

Graphically, this game is beautiful in its simplicity. Each block and background object has a unique handpainted feel to it, with the player and enemies standing out with a slightly more cartoony style. The play between the foreground and background objects always looks amazing, although on occasion, it can be unclear which one a block is, causing you to run into a solid roadblock that you didn’t see. The game’s music, meanwhile, is a pleasant techy sound that urges you to take your time even when things are chaotic.

Nova-111 is far from being as simple as it looks, but I kind of like it that way. Unlike the vast majority of games that play with such varied systems, it isn’t really overstretching its boundaries. I didn’t have any ridiculously fun moments, and again, the story is a letdown, but at the core, there’s just some plain old solid game design going on here, which seems oddly hard to come by these days. I can’t speak for the level editor that’s about to come out, since that’s still in the future, but the game as it stands is quite good. You can grab it on practically any console for $14.99 USD.

Review Score
Overall

Review copy supplied by the publisher.

The post REVIEW: Nova-111 appeared first on oprainfall.

It’s hard to be an American fan of Fatal Frame, even before the long-awaited Western release of Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water. I bought a copy of the Japan-exclusive fourth installment when I visited the country, and got an external hard drive for my Wii U to accommodate the latest installment of the series. But even so, such efforts are usually worthwhile – I enjoy the Fatal Frame series a lot because of its different approach to the survival horror genre. In contrast to, say, Resident Evil‘s action-oriented gameplay and Silent Hill‘s reliance on atmosphere and psychological terror, Fatal Frame is far less predictable in its scare tactics. While Fatal Frame has elements of the two series often compared to it, it really brings out the fear by its combination of atmospheric scares, supernatural elements, and the central mechanic that gives the series its name – a camera that quells unruly ghosts.

Despite this, there hasn’t been a Fatal Frame released in North America in quite a while, just after Koei Tecmo, its developer, signed a deal with Nintendo to release the series’ future installments on the company’s consoles. As one would expect, sadly, the aforementioned Wii-exclusive Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse never made it outside of Japan thanks to some game-breaking bugs, and Americans were denied the Wii remake of the series’ best installment (in this guy’s opinion, anyway), Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly, for apparently no reason whatsoever. Now, Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water has finally arrived, the first Fatal Frame installment to get a release here in almost a decade…albeit as an eShop-only release in North America. Fatal Frame fans in this continent just can’t catch a break, can they?

Neither can this maiden fair…here she is, the eponymous Maiden of Black Water herself, Ouse Kurosawa. Not one to mess with.

It’s a shame that Nintendo went digital-only in North America with this one, as Fatal Frame has come back with a vengeance, and both new and old fans will be pleased. Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water has a compelling story, memorable scary moments, and an innovative control scheme that makes fantastic use of the GamePad’s functionality. While Maiden of Black Water has an overall simplicity to it that makes it a great series introduction for newcomers, the compelling story even by the series’ standards, a laundry list of additions, and incredible attention to the most minute details will give Fatal Frame veterans plenty to love.

And plenty to get scared by, too. This scene in particular, near the beginning of the game, starts things off with a bang – and earns this game a well-deserved M.

Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water marks the Fatal Frame series’ jump to HD, and it looks beautiful much of the time. In keeping with this installment’s motif of water, the water effects are truly fantastic, and the lighting, character models, and environments all look excellent too. It’s no secret that the infamous Dead or Alive Soft Engine was used for this game’s development, especially with the buxom character models, but there’s also no denying that series’ level of detail lends itself well to Fatal Frame. This stands despite some occasional jagged edges and very minor dips in framerate. Indeed, for a game with some truly ugly ghosts, the beauty of Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is evident. This game puts painstaking details in its environments, from inns and shrines to lakes and rivers, and everything in between.

Seriously. This rivals Bayonetta 2 as one of the most graphically stunning games to ever hit the Wii U. Look at those water effects. Marvel at the detail.

The music and sound, too, are simply perfect, with one glaring exception. Like other games in the series, Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water plays some neat tricks with sound. For example, screams are usually heard before ghosts come out, and there is a distinct sense of minimalism in the soundtrack that amplifies the scare factor immensely and adds to the atmosphere. In addition, the voice acting is great – in the original Japanese, that is. The English dub in Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is flat and dull. While this is true for most of the other games in the Fatal Frame series, there’s little energy from the cast, and even the weirdly and creepily pitched ghost voices are blunted in impact by the rather emotionless English voice acting. The Japanese, which is available as an option, is the way to go here. (You can switch by going to Main Menu, then Options, then Display & Sound, and then Audio & Language.)

The story is where most games in the Fatal Frame series truly shine, and Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is no exception. This time around, the supernatural happenings occur on Mt. Hikami, which contains a forest where people go to commit suicide. In the game, you play as three characters with interconnected stories – as in the other games, two are female, and one is male. Yuri is a girl with some hidden talents: she can find out the history of an item simply by touching it, and she can also see ghosts. After her mentor and rescuer, Hisoka, disappears after trying to find a girl lost on the mountain, Yuri uncovers some of the goings-on at Hikami. Ren, one of Hisoka’s friends, is an author writing a book on spirit photography, and he assists Yuri in her investigation. Miu, who initially helps Yuri and Ren in their quest to find out the meaning of the strange events on Mt. Hikami, harbors a rather strange secret. No spoilers, but she ends up linking Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water to the other games in the series. In all, the story is incredibly well-written and twisty, and I would say it’s in the series’ upper echelon because of its treatment of a very difficult theme – in this case, suicide – with an equal amount of reservation and disturbing scares.

Let’s just say these girls aren’t here to play in the forest. And a quick note – Mt. Hikami is based on the Aokigahara forest, located on the northwest base of Mt. Fuji in Japan, which is also a well-known suicide spot. Considering the Fatal Frame series’ obsession with Japanese mythology, this is no accident.

More Scares on Page 2 ->

The post REVIEW: Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water appeared first on oprainfall.

Rodea: the Sky Soldier is not your typical release, but rather the unfortunate byproduct of development hell. Here is the story: the game was originally meant to be a Wii game directed by Yuji Naka. Yes THAT  Yuji Naka, who worked on the Sonic the Hedgehog and Nights into Dreams series. Both of those games are popular and even some of his lesser known ones like Billy Hatcher or Ivy the Kiwi? have their fans. The product was meant to be a joint project with Kadokawa games who was working on a 3DS version of Rodea to be released alongside Naka and his team’s version. Kadokawa was to publish both titles. While Naka’s Wii version was nearing completion, development on the 3DS version lagged behind. As a result, both games were delayed then cancelled. It would not be until last year that it was announced that the project was back into development and that there would be a Wii U version. What I did not realize, however, is that they simply ported over the 3DS version to the Wii U. I’m not sure if that was the best decision….

There are two empires – Garuda, an empire in the sky and Naga, a terrestrial empire using the power of crystals to fuel their technology. The two kingdoms clashed and an invasion was launched to get the Key of Time held by Princess Cecilia of the Naga Empire. Rodea, one of her bodyguards, is entrusted with half of the Key of Time. He is then sent 1000 years into the future. As a result of the time travel, he lost his memories and purpose as a guardian. Rodea would eventually be found Ion, who agrees to help him, and the two set out on an adventure to explore the land and find out more about Rodea’s past. You will travel across 25 levels and four main zones. These levels are HUGE and can take quite a while to explore. There are plenty of hidden items and enemies for you to fight in them. The music is also really good and catchy, much like some of Naka’s previous works. The songs sound like they would have fit in any old school SEGA game.

So we got a new series by a man who has more than proven himself capable of coming up with great ideas. What is wrong? Unfortunately, a lot. To start, this game was ported from the 3DS which means that the visuals need to be touched, in order for it to look remotely presentable on a big screen. In order to make the game “Look better” on the Wii U, they added a weird filter to give it kind of a notebook sketch look. I am not really sure if this makes it look much better. Otherwise, the graphics will do what they can. The character portraits however look great! The artwork was nicely done and each character has a number of fun animations. These animations are accompanied by decent voice acting and some genuinely humorous banter among the characters. This is ruined, however, by the abysmal lip syncing. Lip syncing is a tricky thing to do in general when you localize a game, but this one took it to a whole other level. There was a cut-scene where it got so bad, that the spoken dialogue did not match the character portrait or the subtitles. I looked that cut-scene up online and in the video I saw it looked alright, so there is a chance that it was a glitch I happened to encounter in my copy, but the fact that it can happen at all to that extent is not a good thing. Even worse, this lack of polish leaks over to the actual gameplay.

So Rodea’s main method of movement, other than by walking around with one of the analogue sticks, is flying. Sounds simple enough, but the problem is HOW you fly. Pressing the A button will make him jump really high, then you press it again to get the recticle to appear. From here, you have to use the other analog stick to point to your target, then press the button or wait for him to go. This dual stick setup is a lot clunkier than it should be, but it is manageable. My problem is actually with the pathfinding of the flight. Whenever you point to a location to initiate the flight, a line is shown so you can see where exactly Rodea will fly to. For some reason, this does not always pick the most optimal path, in fact it tends to shoot Rodea downward. You don’t know how many times I have gotten stuck and wasted my flight gauge, because Rodea decided to fly into a wall, even though there was plenty of room for him to reach his destination and clear the obstacle. Also, he jumps way too high. It can be really tricky to jump on platforms, as you really need to calculate his arc before each jump. Rodea can also fly really quickly over a path of collectable diamonds, similar to Sonic’s light dash. Unfortunately, you need to be really specific with this as I found it worked less than it should have. Also I hate to be that person complaining about this, but the framerate is not very good. There is a lot of slowdown and stutter which really breaks any kind of flow the game would have otherwise had. The only thing in this game with a consistent framerate are the menu screens!

See this yellow line? This is Rodea’s flight path and sometimes it will lead you right into a wall….

The fifth level of each zone is a boss battle. These kind of remind me of Shadow of the Colossus, as you fight them by flying around their bodies and attacking one of several cores or weak points on their bodies. However due to the controls and camera, this can be more frustrating than engaging. Speaking of camera, Rodea has two types, one where you use the analog stick and another where you use the R/L buttons similar to Nights into Dreams and Sonic Team games, you know like the old ones from the 90s and early 2000s. It is also disappointing that unlike many of the levels, the boss fights are over too quickly. Some of the normal levels took me up to 20 minutes to complete only to defeat the boss in under 2 minutes. The levels do have hidden coins for you to find which can be redeemed to unlock alternate outfits and modes, which is nice. You can also find items to upgrade your character which is highly recommended as this helps the gameplay. Improvements include longer flight, stronger attacks, and wall grappling abilities. The levels also have a lot of voice acting. The NPCs really like chirping in to comment on what’s going on. At first it’s cute and charming but after hearing Ion ask you why you are not flying every time you take a few steps, it gets annoying.

This works in a similar fashion to sonic’s Light Dash, but not as fluid.

Rodea the Sky Soldier was bundled with a version of the cancelled Wii game, if you bought it in stores. This Wii version is said to not only run better, but play better. It is a shame that this was not the version being advertised. Instead it is the one being relegated to a mere bonus. Heck it is not even available on the eShop! There is NO excuse for this. As for the Wii U game, Rodea is a 10-15 hour trek that is very much a diamond in the rough. It wants to be a good game and at times does shine, but technical issues and just plain lack of polish prevent it from truly reaching the heights it should have. This is a good example of how an otherwise great concept can be ruined due to development hell. If you can find this game, get it for the Wii version. That is the way the game was meant to be played originally and from the footage I have seen, is the much better version. In fact, I actually want to track that version down and see if it really is an improvement. While there is some fun to be had with Rodea, $60 may be a bit too much. Watch some footage online or even the trailer below and if you like what you see, go to your local game retailer and give it a shot.

Review Score
Overall

Review copy provided by publisher.

The post REVIEW: Rodea the Sky Soldier appeared first on oprainfall.

Devil’s Third had me both hyped and worried. Hyped enough to put it on my Top 5 Most Anticipated Games list last year, but worried enough that it would be terrible thanks to its overly long development cycle, among other things. I think we’ve all heard of previous failures like Duke Nukem Forever and Daikatana, and if one just glances at the Metascore for Devil’s Third, it might be easy to lump it in alongside those. Yet, it is hyperbole to call this the worst game Nintendo has ever published. Even though Devil’s Third has had a troubled development history, it takes its scars in stride and puts out a decent and fun mix of melee combat and gunplay, and the single-player campaign is actually pretty good, while the multiplayer is insane in the best way possible.

The campaign opens with a drum solo by Ivan here. If you’ve seen the film Whiplash, think of those pesky game critics as Fletcher spouting all that hate.

First, a little insight on the history of Devil’s Third. Poised as the big debut of Valhalla Game Studios, a developer formed by cult gaming figure Tomonobu Itagaki after he left Team Ninja, this action shooter hybrid was first revealed back in 2010 and originally going to be published by THQ for the PS3 and 360. Then, shortly before THQ pulled the plug, the company sold the rights to the IP back to Valhalla themselves. Expecting a scenario similar to that of the truly excellent M-rated Wii U exclusive Bayonetta 2, Valhalla forged a pact with Nintendo to release it on the Wii U. And some interesting footnotes came about from the long history of Devil’s Third with Nintendo reassessing its quality in different areas of the world. Japan got it on Amazon only, Europe only got it in English and French, and North America got it over three months later after radio silence… a week after, oh, another Wii U exclusive that wasn’t anticipated at all. Really. But now, Devil’s Third has hit American Wii Us, and we all know it’s supposed to be terrible, right? No, actually!

Surprised? I thought you would be. After all, the downright vitriolic critical reception has tarnished the reputation of Devil’s Third to the point where NoA seemingly sent it out without rhyme or reason, but to place it in the same camp as the likes of the nigh unplayable Daikatana and the massively underwhelming Duke Nukem Forever is folly. If Devil’s Third came out during the time where Call of Duty‘s reign was its biggest (admit it – despite Black Ops III‘s sales figures, one cannot help but notice that series has far less influence than it did when the series’ critical and commercial high point, Modern Warfare 2, was released), it would have been at least decently received. As it stands in the gaming landscape now, though, Devil’s Third has some ideas fantastic enough to make it worth at least a rental for genre fans, but will be forever relegated to cult status. I might be playing devil’s advocate, but still, Devil’s Third is the kind of game that screams innovation at any cost, and that is something to be admired.

It also screams, “Hey, look at these pretty ladies!” Well, on occasion, anyway. Here’s Jane Doe.

I’m not saying that Devil’s Third is a looker, though. It switched engines several times during development, and settled on Unreal Engine. The graphics are pretty low quality, and echo an early PS3 or 360 title (in its defense, it actually did fit that category early on in development). There are some neat visual details in many of the stages, but the generic FPS level locales are all here: the office building, the airport, the open field, the hospital, the bunker, the traditional Japanese fortress…wait, that would be the Ninja Gaiden side of things, right? Either way, most of the environments don’t look particularly pretty, with the exception of the Japanese fortress and the hospital, and the character models are somewhat lacking, as are the bloodspray effects. Coming off of, say, the gorgeously gory Bayonetta 2, Devil’s Third does not seem to push the Wii U’s limits much. It will make you think it does in another way, though – the frame rate is fairly janky, and it dips in the worst possible places at times. It seems like Valhalla Game Studios put more graphical work in their absolutely fantastic opening logo than some moments of Devil’s Third, as far as graphics go.

The story of Devil’s Third is pretty insane, with so many ridiculous tropes used at once that it feels like a B-grade version of the already B-grade storytelling of your average Goichi Suda game. Granted, this isn’t a game to play for the story, but its sheer ridiculousness is pure, unadulterated cheese, and the cutscenes will have you rolling more often than not. Basically, war breaks out on Earth. Ivan, the main protagonist, is a prisoner who is detained for taking part in terrorist attacks put on by a group called SOD (the School of Urban Development), but is allowed to break out in order to stop SOD from unleashing a deadly virus onto the human race, and then destroying satellites with missiles to make it so all satellite technology has been wiped out, a scenario in line with a hypothesis called the Kessler Syndrome. The story, while strange and probably generic, is pretty good, but it’s nonetheless easy to turn your brain off for it.

And I’m not saying it’s all bad. This castle is one of the cooler levels.

The music consists of fairly generic Call of Duty-level orchestral fanfares, which still hypes me up on occasion, and the sound effects are rather basic. Even so, there are some lovely pieces of work in both areas, including the end credits theme “Bleed Out (C4’s Theme),” sung by Erin Reagan, which could hold its own alongside any other theme song in the Wii U library. Sadly, many of the songs lack the earworm quality that good video game music is known for. On the other hand, the voice acting is actually pretty decent, especially since some of the voice actors know what’s up as far as the convoluted story is concerned. And most of the voice actors here are Hollywood actors, on top of that! They’re not, say, Kevin Spacey, but some of the biggest names include Yorgo Constantine (Live Free or Die Hard) as Ivan, Rachel Bilson (The OC) as C4, Hemky Madera (Weeds) as Big Mouse, Tim Thomerson (Trancers) as Caraway, and Andrea Savo (The Walking Dead) as Jane Doe.

So, Devil’s Third may not be the prettiest or most polished experience on the Wii U (never mind any other console), but the gameplay is pretty good most of the time. Indeed, contrary to most opinions, I thought the single-player campaign of Devil’s Third was not half bad. Devil’s Third, gameplay-wise, is a hybrid of three genres in one: the melee combat echoes two genres Itagaki is known for, hack ‘n’ slashes and beat ’em ups, while the shooting segments are like a poor man’s cover shooter. Yet, all of these elements fit together in a strange and almost indescribable way. There are plenty of nitpicks to make with each of this game’s sections, but once I got the hang of the quirks, I actually had some good fun with it.

See this, right here? This is fun!

Contrary to most critical opinion, I thought the controls in Devil’s Third were actually pretty decent. Note that Itagaki’s advice on his Facebook page recommending players use a Pro Controller should absolutely be heeded. It feels far more natural than the GamePad, which doesn’t add anything to the controls besides some added weight and far worse battery life. And off-TV play only adds to the struggling framerate. While the layout is simple, and there are several others to choose from that prioritize different combat styles (one, called Ninja, is mostly similar to the controls for Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, for example), switching between melee combat and shooting is occasionally tricky control-wise. Still, once I got used to it, I couldn’t help but get a kick out of the seamless transition between melee and shooting. All it takes is a press of the D-pad to switch to your guns, and a press of the Y button to switch to your fists or weapon. No “press the right stick in to use your knife” here – melee combat and shooting action are pretty much mixed together here.

The melee is very much like Ninja Gaiden, with Y being a medium attack, X being a strong attack, and B being your jump. One neat little attack uses the ZL button, as well, which locks onto an enemy, and you can use the X button to throw your melee weapon at him, usually resulting in a one-hit kill. The melee weapon throw is not only seriously awesome, but also seriously useful, especially when you encounter enemies with riot shields. In addition, the lock-on feature is put to good use elsewhere. If you press Y while locking on, you can do a strong and stealthy melee attack. Using X while locking on leads to some interesting finishing blows that are environment-dependent — Ivan can force a grenade down some guy’s throat or bash a dude’s head in with a sledgehammer, and the sheer outrageousness of it all works well. And there’s also a little bit of Ninja Gaiden-lite wall-running and jumping to be found, too.

It would have been nice if the melee combat was deeper than just a few special moves and weapons at your disposal, but I’m not complaining when Ivan can channel his inner Ryu Hayabusa and cut a dude in half with a katana, and can activate his special status, called Enbaku, to kill baddies in slow motion. And even though the melee weapons all control the same way, there is nonetheless some good variety to the ones you can find: there are powerful ones like sledgehammers and pipes, sharp ones like knives and tomahawks, and even a machete. While the melee is a little basic, it’s nonetheless fast and fun, and one part of the game that really gets things right.

Enbaku makes Ivan’s tattoos glow. It’s actually pretty cool.

The shooting segments are numerous, and the game expects you to use basic mechanics like dodging, guarding and sliding to get far, no matter what combat you use. “Wait, sliding?” you might ask, to which I reply, “I’m sure we’ve all played Vanquish here, right?” Actually, Devil’s Third is a lot like Vanquish in some areas, with Ivan’s sliding move and cigarette smoking behind cover both borrowed from that game’s similarly cool Sam Gideon. Anyway, Devil’s Third has aiming similar to that of other third-person shooters, with the ZL button giving you a closer aim and the ZR button making you fire. It works rather well most of the time, and spamming the ZL button after each successive kill will make you automatically aim at each subsequent enemy – a very useful feature. So, too, is Ivan’s ability to automatically find cover.

The shooting also benefits from some nice quirks that add melee elements to the mix. Besides the aforementioned sliding and dodging, the combat makes certain that you think carefully before making a move — for example, if you hold a grenade for too long, it blows up in your face, so plan accordingly. Ammo boxes are scattered throughout each level if you run out, but you have to hold A in order to pick up more, so there is a certain risk vs. reward quality in deciding whether to shoot or fight hand-to-hand. In addition, there are some fantastic places where the shooter side of Devil’s Third really shines through, which include a dogfight from the back of a war plane, setting up a bunch of charges on a nuclear missile to disarm it, and a driving section through snow-covered ground that really amps up the tension. Even though the driving itself is a little wonky, Itagaki and company make it known with the music and quick and consistent aiming that, oh yeah, YOU ARE DRIVING A BIG TANK. And it’s fun. It’s the little moments like these where Devil’s Third really shines.

Another one of the major problems with Devil’s Third is the inconsistency with the aiming. For a shooter, one should expect better, and those used to the smoothness of a typical FPS’ dual analog aiming, or even Splatoon‘s superb gyroscope aiming scheme, will be disappointed. Yet, this is no Bullet Witch — the aiming is not completely broken. There are weapons for every kind of shooter: SMGs and RPGs abound, and some of the former even have attachments like flamethrowers and grenade launchers that really add to the craziness. And even with the occasionally slipshod aiming, there is a sense of joy to be had when unloading a clip from Ivan’s AK-12 onto some goons infected with the Chimera virus, for example, or looking for camouflaged androids and picking them off.

But then again, I like the melee stuff more, too.

The enemies are of the usual Ninja Gaiden and military shooter variety — grunts, grunts that are “like ninjas” (in the words of one of your comrades), zombielike creatures infected with the fearsome Chimera virus, androids wearing camouflage, robotic suits with Gatling guns, axes, and chainsaws, and bats, to name a few. The sheer variety of enemies you can kill is a huge plus, that is for certain. But, in typical Itagaki fashion, the game front-loads you with enemies that are extremely powerful, and using the guard and dodge functions does become extremely necessary. It really does infuriate me that you can’t use your melee weapon to block gunfire, though. Also, the AI is occasionally inconsistent, and the attacks are imbalanced at times, as well, but at least the enemies are well-placed throughout each stage.

NINJAS. WITH GUNS. Only in an Itagaki game.

Those who have been spoiled by Platinum Games’ oeuvre, myself included, will probably consider most of the bosses in Devil’s Third to be laughable. There are bullet sponges and cheap tacticians aplenty, and a lot of times, the boss fights are hampered by the fact that other mooks are released in the area attacking you, as well. Regardless, even though the sense of frustration is high, there is a major sense of satisfaction gained from picking off about 50 guys before getting to Big Mouse. Indeed, the boss fights become far more epic in scale when they’re one-on-one, and three in particular come closest to the competition: Grundla Saha, Jane Doe, and the final boss, all of whom bring on a level of controller-busting challenge sorely missing from a few of the enemies. Grundla Saha and the final boss are pretty much melee-only affairs, making every move count that much more, while Jane’s mix of attacks makes pulling off the game’s two types of combat extremely necessary. These boss fights may not be Platinum level, but they come so damned close you can taste it.

Here’s Grundla Saha, taking a knife to Ivan’s throat.

In all, despite the nitpicks, Devil’s Third puts on an entertaining little show with its campaign, even though it took me about 10 hours to beat in all. There is a scoring system similar to Ninja Gaiden and its ilk, but the scores are not shown after every level — you have to look at each stage individually. But still, beating your scores is certainly possible, and adds to the campaign’s replay value. Also, each of the nine stages has six trophies hidden throughout, and you can look at the ones you’ve collected in Ivan’s pad. There are also three difficulty modes to play with: Easy, Standard, and Hardcore, and if you’ve played an Itagaki game before, you know just how “hardcore” Hardcore can get.

The campaign is better than most may make it out to be, but the multiplayer is what really shines. It actually echoes its cooler, more family-friendly, and more polished Wii U brother Splatoon in some respects, but ups the craziness. A lot. There’s an entire mode dedicated to shooting chickens, photorealistic cat head armor, melee kills that would also be at home in Ninja Gaiden, bombs that explode into rainbows, and battles that give the likes of Team Fortress 2 and Tribes Ascend a run for their money. The mixture of shooting and melee action becomes even more apparent, as you can use the very same moves that Ivan dispatches goons with in the campaign to pick off your own foes, like the slide move, and you don’t take any fall damage, so it’s easy to jump behind a dude and slice him in half with a katana, too! Alas, the fantastic multiplayer is weighed down by the inability to play with anyone outside North America, as well as the shoehorned-in “Golden Eggs” F2P scheme, but the fact that the multiplayer is as good as it is makes it that much more disappointing that this game will remain no more than a cult favorite.

And your clans are like family. Or so Itagaki says.

The scars of Devil’s Third and its convoluted development history are evident, but, ultimately, with Devil’s Third, Itagaki has given a giant middle finger to conventional AAA game design. And it should be mentioned that, for what it’s worth, none of the flaws in Devil’s Third are truly game breaking. The frame rate dips and uneven AI are a little annoying, but neither really interfere with the sheer sense of fun. While just a little more time would have helped it a lot, it’s very over hated, and far from the trainwreck other critics have made it out to be. Measured against the meter stick of most games like it, the faults are apparent, and yet, I can’t help but notice one thing. For all its faults, Devil’s Third plays well, has some pretty great ideas, and ends up being a game weighed down by a bad rap. I can clearly say that I had a lot of fun with it, and it isn’t trying to be anything more than a crazy action experience. Some might say the faults of Devil’s Third, and there are quite a few of them, are too inexplicable for its genre to be so minor, but I think they’re making mountains out of molehills here. This is strictly a no-frills action game, and that’s what makes it enjoyable.

Like Attacker, just one of many multiplayer modes for you to choose from. He went all in – it’s no wonder a free-to-play PC version is in the works.

Sure, each genre that Devil’s Third mixes has a better example in the Wii U library — multiplayer shooter fans should play Splatoon, hack ‘n’ slash fans have the very best example of the genre this generation with Bayonetta 2, and The Wonderful 101 will more than satisfy beat ’em up fans. Would I rank Devil’s Third alongside those in the Wii U library? Nope. Would I still call it a testament to Itagaki’s fierce desire to try new things, and Nintendo’s willingness to resurrect a game that may be extremely unpolished, but is nonetheless very compelling in its weirdness and fun? Absolutely. And, finally, would I call it Devil’s Turd? Nah. This one’s not for everyone, but it’s still a keeper in my eyes. Here’s hoping those willing to check it out can find a physical copy, though.

Review Score
Overall

Review copy acquired by reviewer

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Shovel Knight is probably one of the most successful examples of a Kickstarter game. It gave us not only one of the best platformers of all time, but, with stretch goals, we were also promised three pieces of character DLC. Well, we recently got that DLC in the form of Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows. It features Plague Knight, one of the game’s bosses and a member of the Order of No Quarter. So, does Plague of Shadows make you want to catch the plague, or should this game have stayed in the shadows?

Rather than a new campaign in the traditional sense (with new levels and such) Plague Knight’s campaign features the same levels as Shovel Knight, simply played from a different perspective, and with some small changes. Despite this, the levels manage to feel almost completely different, due to Plague Knight’s wildly different control scheme. While Shovel Knight tended to control rather straightforwardly, Plague Knight is an entirely different beast. Mainly in how he attacks and how he moves.

Same levels, same map screen; there’s a lot familiar about this expansion.

Where Shovel Knight primarily focused on melee attacks with his shovel, Plague Knight mostly uses alchemical bombs. His bombs are made up of three components: a casing, a fuse, and powder. Each changes how the bomb behaves. The casing changes how it travels; its arc and direction. The fuse changes how long until it detonates. And the powder changes the explosion’s effect, such as sending out cascading flames or traveling along walls. This adds a great deal of versatility to Plague Knight’s arsenal, but it does add a bit of tedious micromanagement. To change bomb parts, you have to pause the game and switch them out from the menu. On the Wii U, you can use the GamePad without having to pause it, but that’s kind of impractical in the middle of gameplay. You don’t have to change bomb parts; it’s never required, but it can make some enemies and obstacles easier.

The other main difference is that, rather than having one single long jump, Plague Knight has two short jumps. Of course, even with a double jump, Plague Knight still can’t jump as high or as far as Shovel Knight. So, how does he compensate? Bomb jumps! By holding the button after throwing a bomb, Plague Knight can charge up to do a bomb jump, in which he creates an explosion at his feet, rocketing him forward.

Plague Knight likes bombs, is what I’m saying. Also, why don’t they call him Bomb Knight, or Science Knight? Those names would make more sense.

This adds a new dimension to gameplay. Combined with his two short double jumps, the bomb jump can go farther and higher than Shovel Knight’s unassisted jump. This lets you soar over gaps that would give Shovel Knight trouble. At the same time, though, it’s hard to control, and you can easily send yourself flying on some of the more technical platforming sections. Learning when and how to properly use Plague Knight’s jump is a big part of the game’s challenge and fun.

Aside from just having a unique jump, Plague Knight also has another mechanic that differentiates him from Shovel Knight. Rather than having Relics, Plague Knight uses Arcana. They work somewhat similarly; they’re unique powers that can be used in exchange for a small bit of magic. They give you powers like creating a small temporary platform, throwing a smoke bomb that makes you invulnerable while inside it, or giving a boost to your jump. The main difference between Shovel and Plague Knight in this regard, though, is that Plague Knight has a much shorter magic meter, but his refills. This means that you can’t spam your magic powers like you can as Shovel Knight, but you can use them over time without having to worry about running out of magic mid-level, or mid-boss fight, and having to refill. Also, because of these changes, Shovel Knight’s Relic stages were completely redesigned to better suit Plague Knight’s Arcana.

But, really, who would want rubbish like this? Maybe someone crazy enough to think that they could use a shovel as a weapon. Heh.

Another funny detail is that you don’t actually collect the Arcana themselves. Instead, you find Shovel Knight’s Relics hidden in new areas in the levels. From there you go to the secret areas that you go to in Shovel Knight’s story, and trade the relics to Chester (that guy who always pops out of the chests) for the Arcana, implying that Chester actually got them from Plague Knight, rather than finding them himself.

Like I said earlier, the levels are largely unchanged from Shovel Knight’s story. A few changes were made to make sure none of them are unbeatable as Plague Knight, and new sections were added that you can only get to using his unique abilities, but they’re otherwise untouched. Since Shovel Knight’s levels are some of the best platforming levels ever made, that’s not a bad thing. Playing them as Plague Knight is as fun and challenging as ever and even feels fresh now with his new playstyle.

On the other hand, since the way Plague Knight moves is so different from how Shovel Knight does, it does lead to an oddly-shaped difficulty curve sometimes. Some of Shovel Knight’s challenges, like traversing large gaps, become almost trivial for Plague Knight’s bomb jump. On the other hand, some obstacles, like navigating small platforms or avoiding spikes, become an exercise in frustration with Plague Knight’s more erratic controls. This leads to the difficulty jumping around on some levels as some challenges, which would become progressively more difficult for Shovel Knight, have wildly differing difficulties for Plague Knight. It’s a minor complaint, but it is noticeable.

Moving on, though, let’s talk about the story. Like the games that inspired it, Plague Knight’s story is fairly threadbare. It exists largely as an excuse to drive the gameplay. Plague Knight’s story starts off in much the same way Shovel Knight’s does. The evil Order of No Quarter, led by the Enchantress, has taken over the valley, installing each member of the order as a level boss. But, although he’s a member of the Order, Plague Knight has his own goals in mind. Plague Knight intends to create the (vaguely defined) Ultimate Potion.

To do that, he needs to collect multiple essences, possessed, conveniently enough, by the other members of the Order of No Quarter. Thus, Plague Knight finds just the excuse he needs to traverse all of their levels one-by-one and beat the snot out of them to get their essence. Although the story does tread some familiar ground, there are some surprisingly touching moments and even a few twists. And, like with the original, the game manages to present a number of compelling and memorable characters.

Stealing Tinker Knight’s essence

Of course, they aren’t all the same. Without spoiling anything, let me just say that there are some new boss fights, as well. Each manages to be different and challenging and really take advantage of Plague Knight’s unique abilities. There’s also several points in the game where you’ll you’ll be forced to face off with hordes of guards, which provides both an interesting and fun challenge, while at the same time making you feel like a total badass.

Like the levels and bosses, the music is also largely the same this time around. There are few new themes, but it’s mostly the same. Again, not that that’s a bad thing. Shovel Knight had some impressively catchy tunes. The new music that was added is equally impressive, if not more so. Likewise, the art assets are also almost entirely reused from the first game. Some characters, like Mona, Percy (an incredibly minor NPC from the original game) and Plague Knight himself, all got new sprites to match their expanded roles in the expansion. Aside from that, though, ever other sprite or background is entirely the same.

Like the original, Plague of Shadows has achievements known as Feats. Some are the same as the last game (finish the game, find all the collectibles) while others are a bit more Plague Knight specific (beating a boss using only bomb jumps, stay in the air for 10 seconds without landing). I’ve never been a big achievement person, so I didn’t find them particularly interesting. But if you’re into collecting achievements, you should find something there to keep you busy.

Ultimately, I’d say Plague of Shadows is a pretty good game, which I was able to finish in just about nine hours. If you enjoyed the original, it’s definitely worth your time to give this one a try. Especially for the price (free). The levels are fun and gameplay keeps things fresh, even if the stages are largely the same. 

Review Score
Overall

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I’m not sure what it is about Good-Feel and fabric, but it’s a medium that seems to work remarkably well for them. That was certainly illustrated in their previous outing, Kirby’s Epic Yarn, another beautiful game that was docked points for being incredibly easy. Thus when I heard they were going to give Yoshi a similar facelift, repurposing everything from Yoshi’s Island with a new yarn-based mechanic, I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, I knew it meant Yoshi’s Woolly World would be the most aesthetically pleasing Yoshi game yet, but I worried it would be another dumbed-down sequel in a series notorious for mediocre sequels. Granted, I’ve personally enjoyed things about all of the Yoshi’s Island sequels, but in the 20 years since the original, none of them have come close to capturing the glory of the SNES original. At best, they were feeble imitations with new gimmicks, and that’s if I’m being kind. With that in mind, did Yoshi’s Woolly World end up another unsatisfying sequel, or did it do the impossible and establish itself as the best new Yoshi game?

Kamek is such a jerk.

First, let’s get something out of the way. Much as I loved Yoshi’s Island, it wasn’t a game known for plot. Such is something Woolly World has in common with it. The basic premise is Kamek, being the jerk he is, flies to Craft Island, turns almost all the Yoshis into Wonder Wool for some unspecified reason, and rushes away. Luckily, two Yoshis escape his magical assault, and chase after him to rescue their purloined friends. That’s pretty much all you get, and really all the incentive you need. For anybody who has played previous Yoshi’s Island games, the mechanics should be instantly familiar, and even if that’s not the case, there are multiple controller options at your disposal. Despite the yarn mechanic, you still flutter jump, ground pound, eat enemies, turn them into eggs, or in this case yarn balls, and fling them for a variety of purposes. The big change is, since everything is made of fabric and buttons, you can reconstruct and unravel things. For example, you’ll encounter frames that, when hit with a yarn ball, turn into platforms. You will also find bows of yarn that you can unravel with Yoshi’s tongue, revealing hidden areas and opening up exploration options. Some stages will ripple up and down, or entire sections will even stitch themselves into existence, which looks utterly remarkable. If you keep your eyes peeled, you’ll even find sections of levels you can push against to reveal hidden nooks and crannies.

What’s cool about Woolly World is how it takes old elements from Yoshi’s Island and mixes them up in new and surprising ways. For example, if you hit an enemy with a yarn ball, they won’t be destroyed, but instead will be tied up with yarn. Remember those items called Chomp Rocks? In this game, not only do you find Chomp Rocks to roll around, but you find an enemy called a Frame Chomp. These will hop towards you, trying to devour Yoshi, but a well placed yarn ball knits them into a docile Chomp Rock. If you need to take them up some stairs, you can unravel them again, getting a yarn ball in the bargain. You will also find Boos that you can hit with rebounding yarn balls to turn into a balloon. By far my new twist is the Woollet Bill. These are white Bullet Bills that leave a trail of yarn you can walk on in their wake. Once again, Good-Feel shows how truly creative they can be in Woolly World.

Woolly World also apes Yoshi’s Island in the way levels are set up. Each world is composed of 8 courses, and in each course you can find 5 Flowers, 5 Wonder Wool and 20 Stamp Patches, which are uncovered by collecting all the beads in a stage. However, finding all the items in a stage and beating it with full health is not an easy feat. Case in point, I didn’t find all the items in the very first course in the game, despite doing my best to be thorough. You’ll need to look for visual clues to hidden areas as well as hover about to find invisible question balloons. This is further complicated by the transformation sections in many stages, which has Yoshi turn into both new and old forms and rush through, collecting beads, Wonder Wool and other goodies in a short timeframe. You can collect a limited number of clocks to grant you more time, but ultimately your skill is what matters.

There were very few courses that I 100%ed on my first attempt, and I’m very happy for that replay value. I was also drawn to collect all the Wonder Wool, since finding it all in a stage will knit together one of your bewitched Yoshi allies, opening them up as a color-swap. Though they do range in visual quality, they’re a nice change of pace from the pure Yoshi color-swaps. If you want even more varieties, you can use your non-Yoshi amiibo to grant some really cool skins. By far the best is the Mega Man Yoshi, in my humble opinion.

Upon beating a stage, you’ll hop through a wreath of Flowers and beads, and if you hit it right, you’ll get to try out a bonus level. Here you can rush around in a very brief timeframe to get more beads, which is the currency you use to try out the Badges. Badges can do everything from let you play the whole level with Poochy to starting with a Watermelon, but being a purist I didn’t use any. However, Badges as well as Mellow Mode exist to cater to the new gamer, another nice touch that didn’t water down my experience. You can even use either the Yoshi or Yarn Yoshi amiibo to get a second Yoshi who follows you around and can be eaten to fling as a giant yarn ball.

Better move fast to get all those bonus fruit!

More Yarn Goodness on Page 2 ->

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