wii u — Page 12

Super Mario 64 (Wii U): COMPLETED!

Posted on 07/04/2015 Written by deKay

Look, there’s not lots to write about this that I’ve not written before. Super Mario 64 is one of the best games ever made, on any system, ever. That’s just a fact, and playing it through again did nothing to dissuade me. Of course, I’m still not sure if Super Mario 64 is better than New Super Mario Bros U, or if it’s the other way round, but I can be sure the two of them are at positions 2 and 3 in The Best Games Ever.

The Wii U Virtual Console version is barely different to the Wii Virtual Console and the N64 original, but the graphics seem a little sharper (probably only because it’s now HDMI rather than any changes Nintendo have made) and of course the buttons have moved on the Wii U Gamepad. I moved A and B to B and Y though, so it’s more like an N64 pad, and didn’t have any issues – it feels just the same as it did before.

One addition is the availability of save states, which was useful as I didn’t need to pause the game for hours if I needed to do something else. Oh, and you can take screenshots now, obviously.

Is it just me, or is the game now significantly easier, though? In particular, on previous playthroughs, I’m sure I struggled on at least one of the Bowser levels and getting 100 coins on Rainbow Ride in the past, but no such issues this time. In fact, I’ve had very few deaths at all, all things considered. Maybe I’m just a lot better than I thought. Yes. That’s bound to be it.

Even after nigh on 20 years, Mario 64 is still gorgeous to look at, listen to (the tunes are probably more memorable that pretty much any Mario game since – or any game since, perhaps) and play. The controls are slick, Mario leaps and flips and dives in a fluid way no other game, not even later Marios, has ever managed. It’s an utter joy from start to finish.

Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham (Wii U): COMPLETED!

Posted on 30/03/2015 Written by deKay

You know pretty much what to expect with a Lego game. You know there’s a series of levels with fixed characters and loads of secrets you can’t get see or access, some sort of hub world with more secrets you can’t see or access, a lot of silliness, and approximately two thirds of the game locked off until you’ve finished the story.

Then it’s back to the earlier levels with new characters and abilities you didn’t have previously to attempt Free Play mode in order to find some of those secrets and unlock even more characters and abilities, mopping up minikits and red and gold bricks along the way. Usually a third run of the game is then necessary too.

Lego Batman 3 doesn’t deviate from these blueprints set out in so many previous Lego titles. It refines them, modifies them, expands on them, but the structure is ultimately the same. You’d think, after playing what must be almost a thousand Lego games, I’d be bored of the formula and seen everything Travellers Tales have to offer, but no – they keep coming up with more addictive and playable titles.

The main improvement over Lego Batman 2 is the massively increased roster of characters. Even in Story Mode, you get to play as most of the Justice League (but not Hawkman – there’s a running joke about him being trapped under the Hall of Justice), a pile of villains, several Lanterns of assorted colours, and more. Once you start unlocking more characters, you realise there are hundreds of them, including Daffy Duck as the Green Loontern, 60s Batman TV series characters, and even Kevin Smith. Travellers Tales have also fixed one of the main complaints with previous Lego Batman titles – cycling through all the various suits for the characters. Now, most of the time, standing where the suit is needed and pressing A will swap you to the correct costume automatically – very useful!

Sadly, the open world of Gotham City is absent, replaced with several small hubs: the Batcave, the Hall of Justice, the Watchtower, some Lantern homeworlds, the Moon, and so on. Although there’s a lot to do, probably as much as in Gotham overall, it’s not as impressive. I realise they couldn’t just stick Gotham in there again, but why not Metropolis or Coast City? The latter especially makes sense given the Green Lantern-focussed story.

Oh yes! The story! At the end of Batman 2, Brainiac was en-route to Earth, and in Batman 3 he nears it and starts turning cities into bottle cities and then shrinks the entire planet. Several of the early levels are then set in these cities which as well as being shrunk, are entirely constructed from Lego (which is borrowed from The Lego Movie The Game of The Lego Movie: Lego The Movie Lego Game). Brainiac has used the combined power of all seven coloured Power Batteries to do this, and it’s up to The Justice League, who, teaming up with DCs Most Wanted Villains (And Cheetah), have to reverse the damage and defeat Brainiac.

As always, the game is filled with humour. The dialogue is funny, and a lot of the “background action” with other characters doing stuff while you’re supposed to be paying attention to the foreground action is not to be missed. There are loads of nice touches that make you chuckle too, for example the character select screen. Hover over Batman and you can hear him singing “Nanananananananana Batman!”, but do the same over other characters and… “Nanananananananana Plastic Man!” and “Nanananananananana Cheetah!”. Every level also has an Adam West minifigure that needs rescuing, with plenty of cheesy puns and one-liners from him (the actual Adam West providing the voice too) as he awaits your assistance.

The best bit is a bonus level accessed from the trophy room in the Batcave. There’s a Lego set of Bruce Wayne’s manor office from the 60s TV show, complete with bust you punch to reveal batpoles behind – just like in the series. Pop down the poles and you’re suddenly in a Lego episode of Batman from that era, complete with comic book cut scenes and biffs and zonks as you fight. Adam West narrates the short plot, and most of the TV series baddies make an appearance. Even The Joker has badly applied white make-up over the top of a barely hidden moustache – just like Cesar Romaro did, famously because he refused to shave it off for the part. Batman and run around carrying a bomb, as a callback to the film of the series, and naturally, the level ends in a dance number. Of course.

There’s a lot to like in the game, and although it has the usual Lego game bugs (I broke one scripted sequence, and I managed to get stuck behind scenery twice), it’s definitely one of the best of the series. I’ve completed about 30% of it so far, but have barely touched Free Play mode, so I’ll be a while yet!

Another World: 20th Anniversary Edition (Wii U): COMPLETED!

Posted on 10/02/2015 Written by deKay

No, I hadn’t started this already and no, I didn’t return to another previously started game having finished off Shovel Knight. Just shut up, OK? Shut up.

I was rearranging the icons on my Wii U home screen. Like on my 3DS, I have to have them arranged in an OCD friendly manner, where games I’m currently playing or haven’t completed sit on the first screen, and games I have completed or aren’t likely to play any time soon are shifted off to other screens. Since I have more games on the go than a single page of the home screen can contain, after moving Shovel Knight I’d freed up a spot and noticed Another World unloved and unplayed on the wrong screen. So I had to move it. Then played it.

Back in the day, I had Another World for the Amiga. I wanted to like it, but it was far too frustrating. When you died (and I died a lot) you were put back too far, and the single button nature of the Amiga joystick made the controls too fiddly with too many deaths resulting from controller flail. That, and I’d already played Flashback which was better in so many ways.

Still, this updated version promised to do away with two of my issues, with more frequent restart points and two (two!) button controls. It was also technically free, due to free eShop credit, so I bought it. And today I played, and completed it.

No_idea_how_to_beat_this_guy. After doing so, I found a walkthrough video which also completed it. My time was just over two hours. They did it in 23 minutes. Hmm.

If you’ve never heard of the game, then let me sum it up: You’re a man who has a particle accelerator which goes wrong and warps him to an alien world. You take control of him from the moment he arrives, and through running, leaping, shooting (once you get a gun) and generally avoiding nasty traps and alien beings that want to kill you in varied grizzly ways. You’re captured and placed in jail with one of the aliens, who befriends you when you help him escape, and he then assists with your endeavours to get out of the city.

What makes it tricky is that all these deaths are instant, and often unexpected. It’s one of those games where you get a little bit further each time – remembering where rocks fall on your head or aliens with guns appear. There are a few puzzles to solve, none of which are especially taxing although a handful are pretty obtuse. Each time I got stuck I posted on Twitter for help, but usually managed to solve it myself by the time I got a reply. Frequently I’d arrive in a room and think it was utterly impossible to progress, but not know if that was because I was doing it wrong, or had missed something earlier on.

Now I’ve finished it, the replay value is close to zero, although if I did attempt it again I’m quite sure I’d be much closer to the 23 minute completion time the Youtube guy managed.

In terms of gameplay, it’s not as timeless as I’d have hoped. It’s a bit clunky and rough, with some necessary pixel-perfect jumping and timing being at odds with the imprecise movement, slightly vague three mode shooting (tap to shoot, hold for a shield, hold longer for a shield-breaking blast) and seemingly random collision detection – often enemy laser beams will pass through you, sometimes they will kill you, but there’s no way of knowing which until you’re dead. There’s also the big no-no of several holes you have to fall in on purpose, but with no way of knowing if the fall will kill you until you’ve already committed to the drop. Some of the firefights are literally hit and miss too, and I passed one in particular I’m sure by luck alone.

Still, there is something compelling about it. The urge to finish it was strong, to see your man Lester escape, and when you solve a puzzle or figure out to deal with an alien you can’t help but feel a bit clever. There’s also a bit of a twist at the end when you think you’re about to escape in a spaceship, but, well, I won’t spoil it – let’s just say there’s a bit more game.

Another World is definitely recommended if you can find it cheap, but expect frustrating trial and error gameplay. Thankfully, not as stressful as the 90s version.

Shovel Knight (Wii U): COMPLETED!

Posted on 09/02/2015 Written by deKay

Alright, alright, calm down. I know what I said. I know I was trying to work through my already-started-games backlog before making a start on my bought-but-unplayed backlog. I’m sorry. I have no excuses.

But… what a game to break these plans with. From start to finish, Shovel Knight was a proper joy to play. The fantastically drawn pixel art, the outlandish characters (top of which is the half-trout, half-apple Troupple and his amazing dance routine), the comedy dialogue, a frog who specialises in Shovel Knight themed puns, some of the best platforming in years, varied boss battles and an astoundingly good chiptune soundtrack. No, really. I cannot stress enough how incredible the music is. Especially the Lich Yard level, which is clearly Castlevania-esque.

In fact, I’m struggling to find anything negative to say about the game at all. Everything is borderline perfect. It feels like a modern day SNES game, with all the style games like Super Castlevania IV and Mega Man X provided, but with none of the technical limitations of sprite handling and slowdown.

It took me just over six hours to finish, but because it’s so damn good, that was just two proper game sessions. The game stats show I died 80 times, which would suggest two things: 1) it was hard, and 2) I didn’t notice. In reality, it isn’t that hard at all. No, this isn’t me boasting about how great a game player I am – it’s more because I only recently finished off the much, much harder set of 6 NES Mega Man games.

Several Shovel Knight reviews have complained (or complimented?) the game on its high level of difficulty, but I’m really not seeing it. You don’t have lives, and each death just makes you drop some (recoverable) gold and go back a few screens. Most of the bits I got stuck on, losing a string of lives, were late in the game and entirely my fault anyway – incorrectly weighing up risk and reward, or just not paying attention to have things moved or when baddies appear. Absolutely nothing to get frustrated at, at least, not for more than a few minutes anyway. Even the SuckySuck(TM) Bit at the end (that’s “Boss Rush” to those not in the know) wasn’t as much of an issue as I’ve found with other games. Yes, it’s a bit of a cop-out, but the battles are quick and you get your health refilled after each one anyway, so it only took me two or three tries.

What I haven’t done, however, is collect all of the music sheets hidden around the levels, and I didn’t buy much of the armour from the flying blacksmith guy – mainly because although they all improve your stats in some way, most also come with a debuff side effect I wasn’t prepared to take. As it turns out, they were unnecessary anyway. Will I go back and mop up? Almost certainly. I’ve already started New Game+ after all…

Blok Drop U: completed!

Posted on 04/02/2015 Written by Xexyz

Not the most taxing game, I managed to finish this in about thirty minutes. The idea is that you start with a screen full of blocks and you tap on the grey ones to get rid of them, with the aim of getting the single red block to rest on a stable surface.

Unfortunately the red block is a bit bouncy, so dropping it from such a height probably won't work. Instead, by getting rid of some of the blocks and causing the rest to collapse in an organised manner, you need to get the red block to rest quite gently.

That's the idea, at least. The problem is that it just feels a bit too random as to whether things will happen in the way you expect, which is a fatal flaw in a puzzle game. On some levels I ended up doing the exact same thing a few times and eventually got past the level when the red block happened to bounce in the way I intended. At other times I carried out a very controlled descent and the game still didn't let me complete the level - this is blatantly safe:

Anyway, half an hour later, and it's all complete. i can't see myself going back to it; I'm just glad I got it for roughly 40p.