Tag: first impressions

Nintendo recently announced their “elite status” rewards for Club Nintendo members. Gold members can choose a calendar or one of several downloadable games, while platinum members can choose a 3-poster set, a Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask CD soundtrack, or any of the gold rewards. I really would have loved that Majora’s Mask soundtrack, but I was only a gold member this year (mainly due to Pikmin 3 being delayed). I had no interest in the calendar, so I ended up choosing from the downloadable games available. A lot of the games were games I already owned in one form or another, so I ultimately went with Wario Ware: D.I.Y. Showcase for Wii.

If you’re not familiar with Wario Ware games, they’re essentially a collection of mini-games…or micro-games. Each mini-game only lasts a few seconds, but you’re bombarded with many of them, one right after the other. The original Wario Ware, Inc.: Mega Microgames is my favorite Game Boy Advance (GBA) game.

But in addition to the included mini-games, Wario Ware: D.I.Y. Showcase works with the DS version, called Wario Ware D.I.Y.; the DS game lets you create your own mini-games, save them, and upload them. So if you’ve created mini-games on the DS, you can play them on the Wii “Showcase” game. Unfortunately, this D.I.Y. Showcase doesn’t have a mini-game editor itself. Nintendo, of course, wants people to buy both versions of the game. But the good news is that D.I.Y. Showcase can download mini-games that other players have created. But for now, I’m mainly sticking with the built-in games.

As usual in Wario Ware, the goals of the mini-games are wacky and varied. You may have to grab pieces of pizza, toss bombs, drive a car, place candles on a birthday cake, spear a falling leaf, shoot finger rockets up the nostrils of a nose-shaped ship, figure out which cat ate a fish, break out of an egg shell, or sneak up on an octopus.

There are also some mini-games that include segments based on classic Nintendo games. You may have to shoot the ducks from Duck Hunt, blast Donkey Kong’s barrels before they bowl over Mario, shoot Koopa Troopa with a shell in a Mario Kart race, dodge a punch in a scene from Punch-Out, and so on.

From what I’ve played so far, the game is fun and enjoyable. It doesn’t seem as addictive as the original Game Boy Advance game though, but it’s still too early for me to give a final verdict. I’ll be playing more of this in the coming weeks, and you can expect a review of the game in the not-too-distant future. Here is a gameplay video of the “Wario Man” stage, which features mini-games that include Wario himself, in one form or another:

I decided to give Tank! Tank! Tank! a try try try. It was originally a Wii U launch game, but they recently converted it into a “free” game. And by free game, I mean a skimpy demo that wants to charge you money for DLC for practically everything. But first, I had to download it. You need to have 2,121 MB (over 2 GB) free in order to download it, which is ridiculous when you consider how little content the demo actually has. I had to delete both of my Rayman demos and Wii Street U to make room for it. Once you start the game up and enter your name and choose your icon, you are presented with an option of playing story mission or multiplayer.

I chose story mission. After choosing a support character and watching a short video, you are taken to a screen where you choose your mission. Only one is listed, so naturally I chose that one. I clicked the mission, but nothing happened. Do I need to pick a different tank or something? I scroll through the list of tanks, and only one is available. I re-select it, yet I still can’t start the mission. At this point, I’m wondering if I’m overlooking something really obvious so I look up a video on Youtube, only to see someone else confused by it as well. The story mode is not available in the demo. So why isn’t that clearly stated when you try to start it up? Wow, what a waste of time that was.

The other mode is the multiplayer mode, and that does have three modes you can try: Monster battle, free-for-all, and team versus. In monster battle, everyone teams up to destroy a common enemy. It may be 100 big spiders or one gigantic monster. The action is okay, but there’s nothing particularly captivating about it. And it has this annoying habit of popping up huge notices, telling you a teammate has been killed or showing the monster’s health level. I can understand why it would want to display that information, but must it be in a gigantic window smack-dab in the middle of the screen? It blocks your view and it makes no sense to put it there when there’s all sorts of free space in the corners.

As for the other two modes, they’re your standard deathmatch battles (but in tanks, of course). Free-for-all is every man for himself and team versus is a team battle. I was just playing against computer opponents, but I could see how this could be fun if you had three other friends to join in the action. And that is probably the ideal crowd for Tank! Tank! Tank! If you often have a group of friends over to play multi-player games, you might want to give this game a try. But if you primarily stick to single-player games like I do, this isn’t even worth the free download.

Today I tried out a demo of a 3DS game, Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion. As Mickey, you journey into the Castle of Illusion, where the evil witch Mizrabel has seemingly trapped Minnie Mouse and others. The game is a side-scrolling 2D platformer, but with a twist. Mickey uses his magic paintbrush to help him out at various points. Using the stylus and the bottom screen, certain objects can be added to the main (top) screen by tracing their outlines on the bottom screen. Similarly, certain objects can be removed from the main screen by erasing their shapes on the bottom screen. For example, if a gap is too large for Mickey to jump across, you can switch focus to the bottom screen, where there may be an outline of a bridge. Trace it, and it will appear on the top screen.

Many Disney characters make cameos: Scrooge McDuck, Rapunzel, the Beast from Beauty and the Beast, Tinkerbell, and Peter Pan all make appearances in the demo. Each character that you rescue waits in a separate room of a fortress (where they’re safe from Mizrabel) until you complete your journey. But between levels, there are sidequests you can use to help them out further by retrieving an item for them or upgrading their rooms. For example, Rapunzel needs a comb for her long hair; you can get one from the Beast. And Scrooge is missing his “Number One Dime;” you can find it in a treasure chest in one of the levels.

The drawing aspect of the game is gimmicky and seems to be used far too often. The focus should be on the platforming, not tracing shapes. But having said that, the game is still moderately fun. Based on the demo, I wouldn’t recommend buying the game at full price, but it would make a good choice if you ever see it in the bargain bin for $10 or so.