Reviews

WiiWare Game Reviews

Games are expensive, right? For some of us, getting to a place that actually sells game is pretty difficult, too. So what’s our alternative? Well, luckily today’s modern consoles offer a wide range of cheaper games through their own online store system. Today, I’ll be taking a look at a few gems from the Wii’s online shop, WiiWare.

Cave Story

1000 Wii Points ($10)

This game was huge on the internet for a while, and is just that much more impressive because it was all made by one guy. The WiiWare version is very similar to the original, although now it has an option for smooth, cartoon-style graphics as opposed to the retro-looking sprites it originally had. It also comes with an entirely new story mode as well as a boss rush mode and a time attack mode.

For anyone who doesn’t know, Cave Story is a run-and-gun platformer type game with a few roleplaying elements. You play as Quote, who recently found himself stuck in a cave with no idea how he got there or what’s going on. He soon comes across a small village that has been having some trouble with monsters and kidnappings. So, hoping it might lead to some answers, Quote sets out and soon unravels a story much deeper then he first thought.

The game provides you with plenty of different weapons, from pistols to rocket launchers, and neat little gadgets like jetpacks. All of these have upgrades to hunt down so you’ll never get bored of using the same weapon over and over. The platforming is also really well done, providing a challenge but not being too over-the-top.

Cave Story is one of the most amazing indie games to come out in a long time, and definitely worth a look.

5 out of 5.

Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People

1000 Wii Points ($10) per episode (5 episodes in total)

This game might seem a bit expensive, but you don’t have to pay for it all at once. It comes in episodes, each presenting little individual parts of the game, so you can just try the first episode and see if you like it before you buy the rest.

If you’ve been around on the internet for a while, you might remember Homestar Runner, a hilarious little web cartoon that updated every week, whose most popular character was a wrestler by the name of Strong Bad.

Each episode of Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People has its own unique plot, but they all tie together to form one big, hilarious adventure featuring lots of little references to both the web cartoon and videogames in general.

It’s a point-and-click game, meaning there’s a lot of interactivity and neat little things to find as well as a few puzzles to solve. The puzzles aren’t anything amazing, and the humour is a bit hit-or-miss, but if you’re a fan of good storytelling, point-and-click games or the original Homestar Runner web cartoon, I think this is something you need to play at least once.

4 out of 5.

World of Goo

1500 Wii Points ($15)

Here’s something pretty unique. It’s a game based around building, but it has a bit of a twist. World of Goo relies heavily on physics, puzzle solving and ingenuity in order to achieve the goal of each level, whether that's building a tower or a bridge in order to get your goo through a pipe and out the exit.

The story is cute, and a little funny at times, but basically involves the goo being curious about these pipes that are popping up all over their home. They want to find out exactly what the deal is, and so they band together in order to solve the puzzle. World of Goo is great in that each level will have a really obvious way of solving it, but it will also have a few other ways that may not even occur to you the first time.

As you play through, depending on how much of your goo you can get through a level, they will appear in a sandbox mode that allows you to just build whatever you feel like with them. You might decide to build a shape, or just see how high you can get your goo without it toppling over. Unlike the PC version of the game, the Wii version also has a co-op mode for puzzle solving with a friend.

World of Goo might be a little bit simple for some people, but those that are willing to try it will be rewarded with an interesting and sometimes challenging little game.

4 out of 5.

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