Digimon Survive is one of the best visual novels to come out so far this year, with plenty of heart and tension to carry you through to the final act. Fans looking for an engaging story with well-written and presented characters that deal with life-and-death situations will enjoy the ride, while players focused on the combat will probably find that the game comes up short. Despite its sluggish, padded start, Digimon Survive is well worth the long wait.
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is the strangest thing you'll play from Nintendo, bringing with it laughs and creativity in abundance. But even with improvements over the 3DS game, it follows a familiar structure that isn't always enthralling or hilarious.Tomodachi fans will certainly be living the dream with this new entry, but I'm not desperate to keep coming back to my island. A little more variety would've been welcome, but the customisation, and the thought of my cat being best friends with DMC's Dante, will have me peep in every so often for a little pick-me-up.
Super Robo Mouse doesn't deliver the goods. There are other challenging, twitchy action titles on the Wii U eShop that provide a stronger presentation and are more fun to play. Save yourself a broken window and lost controller and spend your money on something else.
If Chasing Dead was a more polished product with all its issues ironed out, you might find a decent sci-fi zombie romp underneath all the mess. Perhaps the developer will go back and patch out all the issues one day, but as it stands Chasing Dead is best left on the shelves of the Nintendo eShop. Not recommended.
Olympia Rising is a good platformer, but in such a saturated genre it needs to impress more than in does. The characters, story and visuals contribute to the positives, but more care needed to be taken with controls and hit points to make the game less frustrating. There is much to be enjoyed if you are able to look past the negatives, and if that's the case with you it is a worthy addition to your library.
A grim example of a sequel that doesn't do enough to improve on the flaws of the original, Witch & Hero 2 mirrors far more than it should without bringing anything truly exciting to the table. Controlling two characters at once is an interesting challenge at first, but the game feels so creatively bankrupt that it becomes difficult to remain focused in anything other than small doses. If it really seems like something you'd enjoy then we could perhaps recommend it as a very simple time waster at a low price, but even in that category there are better options to be found on the eShop.
Chronicles of Teddy: Harmony of Exidus is a somewhat satisfying puzzle platforming adventure game. Its puzzles are sometimes smart and the use of music to figure those puzzles out is interesting. The gorgeous retro-inspired pixel art gives the game life, and hints at a wonderful fantasy world that's light on story but big on adventuring. What it's not is a great action game. It falls short of being more highly rated due to a combat system that interrupts the flow of gameplay, and lots of backtracking from dungeon to dungeon can make the game feel slow and tedious in spots. There are also issues with glitches to be mindful of which can truly hinder the enjoyment of the game.Overall this is still worth consideration despite its flaws, even if they deprive this one of its full potential.
Sometimes you want to go on a journey to vast, fantasy worlds, sometimes you want to fight your way through hordes of terrifying enemies and sometimes you want to just sit down with some friends and laugh for hours. Chompy Chomp Chomp Party can only offer you one of these – the latter of course – but it does a great job of it. The addition of one or two more modes would have helped to make this game even better – eventually you will start to feel like you've had enough and move on to doing something else – but there's a lot of fun that can be had in the modes that already exist.Grab some friends, grab some controllers and give this colourful, chompy craziness a try.
The Beggar's Ride is a cool little game to play if you just fancy a few hours of escapism. The shortcomings lay in the execution of some of its puzzles, within the slow pace of the protagonist and its basic platforming aspect. Despite these niggles, it is a solid and clever game with colourful graphics, a charming story and pleasantly challenging game play which will appeal to both experienced and casual gamers. The coins are a good option for anyone looking to play longer, and the narration is a smart touch. Definitely one to enjoy on a rainy afternoon.
We'd almost want to recommend Dreamals on the concept of three adorable, bickering animals alone, but unfortunately the waking world didn't quite live up to expectation. Once the initial burst of cutesy charm wears off it's still a decently satisfying puzzler with a steady difficulty curve that starts off tough and slowly implements new mechanics as you progress. There isn't enough within the story or characters to keep the player interested beyond that however, so make sure you're up for a challenge and want a simple little distraction before diving in.
Blast 'Em Bunnies is not worth your money or your time. The cute exterior can't hide the gameplay problems and ridiculous pricing structure, and the DLC is not worth it. While it's always nice to see a new IP, Nnooo is going to have to go back to the drawing board if it wants this property to succeed in the future. Unfortunately, Blast 'Em Bunnies just doesn't earn a recommendation.
All told, Mutant Mudds Super Challenge is a worthy sequel to its popular predecessor; it's everything fans loved about the original and more. That being said, describing this game as easy could not be any more inaccurate. If you struggled with the original game, or aren't very good at platformers to begin with, you will probably find very little to enjoy in this game. We give Mutant Mudds Super Challenge a very strong recommendation – it's an incredibly well designed and challenging game that stands as one of the best things to come out of Renegade Kid – but it is certainly not for everybody. This is for super players only.
In conclusion, Inside My Radio is a fairly novel, robust rhythmic platformer that's fun for a few hours; you'll soon be moving on to other things. Worth picking up for a Sunday afternoon blast if you fancy something a tiny bit different.
Steel Rivals is a game that tries to fill the gap of fighting games in the Wii U library, but ultimately does very little to do so in a meaningful way. The bland characters, shoddy presentation, and awful gameplay make this one of the worst fighting games we've seen; it's barely playable, but the few positive things that can be said about it are drowned out by the crushing mediocrity of the package as a whole. We would absolutely recommend that you do not buy this game; especially considering the price, just go pick up a Street Fighter game off of the Virtual Console for your fighting game fix.
Star Ghost is an assured eShop debut for Squarehead Studios, and shows that quality breeds quality; the combination of a former Rare and Retro staffer with one of the most iconic video game musicians of all time has resulted in a game which initially seems quite simplistic, but has a surprising level of depth, replayability and charm. While it's true that the core gameplay doesn't possess all that much variety, the stern challenge calls for a level of concentration that is rarely asked for with modern games; merely surviving is tricky enough, but when you add in the allure of improving your score, it's easy to become hopelessly engrossed. Having said that, if the notion of tirelessly striving to improve your own personal best doesn't appeal then you might find your interest in Star Ghost is fleeting - especially as bragging rights are hard to enforce with this title, as an online leaderboard isn't included at launch.Still, this is a minor point in the grand scheme of things, and fans of old-school shooters will lap up the nostalgia - both from the gameplay and the presentation - while those players who weren't around during the 'golden era' should surely appreciate the unique control mechanics which reward perseverance and skill.
Joe's Diner is a bad game with a good premise. What could have been a spooky supernatural thriller is instead a time management game trying to be something more. Bland graphics mixed with poor performance and failed attempts to induce fear make Joe's Diner a game that isn't worth playing. Save your hard-earned cash for a truly spooky Wii U game folks, because this one isn't it.
Mega Man Legacy Collection is a great package with a lot of content and stuff to do - for newcomers it's worth acknowledging that each game is very challenging, and could be too much for someone who isn't used to the steep learningcurve. With that in mind the wealth of extras, the challenge mode and the sheer scope of six games nevertheless make Mega Man Legacy Collection a great option for anyone who's looking for an old-school treat.
