Jett Rocket is a 3D platformer on WiiWare developed by Shin’en, who have previously made shooters on GBA and DS, most recently Nanostray 2. It’s a different direction for them and a new challenge, but they’ve passed with flying colours. Jett Rocket is amazing.
Category: Reviews
So, how was it?
Super Monkey Ball 3D
Super Monkey Ball, the once great franchise that kept gamers up at night perfecting their scores and mastering levels, was dealt a serious blow when Step & Roll came out on the Wii. Gone was the challenge, along with any originality in the level design, and the fans and success were lost with it. The original two games sold over a million copies on the GameCube, praised for their challenging, refined gameplay. Then Banana Blitz made things even more intense with the addition of the jump button and precise Wii motion controls, and sold two million copies.
Step & Roll was next, and Sega decided to change things up. The game was designed to be as easy as possible, in an effort to attract new “casual” players. It completely bombed and didn’t even make a dent in the sales charts. After comparing the reception of these two approaches, you would think Sega would go back to the old, successful approach for Super Monkey Ball 3D. You’d be wrong.
Ridge Racer 3D
Riiiiiiiidge Racer! Despite its loud intrusive in-game commentary, it’s one of the quiet titles of the 3DS launch. Partly because Ridge Racer has been everywhere, but never really been special. The DS launch, the PSP launch, it’s like the creepy guy who hangs around the girls and never says anything. He might have a lot to offer, but it’s not worth wading through sweaty body odor to find out.
The fact that it has no glitches, smooth 3D, and isn’t a Nintendo game doesn’t lend it to the spotlight very well. It’s a low talking point. You can’t troll the system with this game, you can’t blame Nintendo for anything, and you can’t berate any lack of effort on third party developers. Something you’ll never hear: “What, you got a 3DS? Is that the system with Ridge Racer 3D?”. It’s also hard to present it as something new. Ridge Racer 3D is a solid racer that does a lot of things right, provides a lot of content, and is damn fun to play.
Speed Challenge: Jacques Villeneuve’s Racing Vision (GameCube)
What the f**k is this? I asked myself the same question when I saw the game a week ago. Needless to say my curiousity got the best of me and I bought it. Here’s how it turned out.
Continue reading “Speed Challenge: Jacques Villeneuve’s Racing Vision (GameCube)”
GP Classic Racing
What do you get when a team of 8 people make a budget Wii game that simulates racing some of the toughest handling cars in the world from the 60s? Do you believe in miracles?
Final Fantasy 13
Final Fantasy 13 is the latest Final Fantasy adventure from Square Enix – it puts a new twist on the battle system, changes the way you explore the world, and introduces some fresh faces.
9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors (999)
*BOOM*
Grubdog awoke to a loud explosion. The sound buzzed in his ears as he put his hands up to cover them. What was going on? An earthquake? The sound faded, and he looked around to gather his bearings.
Grubdog: “Where the heck am I?”
Hot Wheels Track Attack
Hot Wheels. Hell yeah. The joy of pushing a toy car around isn’t something a videogame can ever capture, but it can come close! Being a licensed game, it’s easy to be skeptical of this. Thankfully, rather than trying to make a quick buck, Firebrand, developers of Trackmania Wii, have put together a great Hot Wheels package here. Track Attack has a good variety of content, with 5 game modes, a track editor and 4 player split screen, there’s some fun to be had.
Speed
Speed is an extremely simple arcade racer for Wii, featuring fast cars and high speed explosions.
A Boy And His Blob
A Boy and His Blob is a slow paced puzzle platformer filled with wonderful environments, some clever ideas, and a lot of love.
Nier
Nier is a hard game to review. On the outside it’s a fairly standard RPG with hack and slash gameplay, but the experience is anything but standard. The game is full of style and the only thing constant is surprise. The story premise features the familiar concept of humans destroying the world with technology. The game is set far in the future where all human advances have vanished and we’re left with the same basic stuff we had in ancient times, with a few evil bad guys in the mix and a deadly disease.
VVVVVV
So there were a bunch of sales on Steam and as usual I was too tentative to buy anything. $5 for 5 indy games? But I already own two and two more of them aren’t Mac compatible! And this fifth game. VVVVVV? Is this the stupidest name ever? A more courageous friend of mine did buy the pack though and a few days ago I played it his place. The next time I could touch my computer I bought this $5 masterpiece.
Trackmania Wii
Trackmania is pure racing. Fast, challenging, and rewarding. The game doesn’t waste any time, throwing track after track at you, hundreds of them. This is what makes the game unique, it lets you experience the thrill of mastering a new track over and over again. The races aren’t against real opponents, you’re racing against set times from ghost cars you can drive right through. The only physical thing you’re racing against in this game is the track. There’s 6 different types of track environments, all full of ridiculous paths, loops and jumps.
Bar Oasis
So as I do I was scrolling through the App Store looking for something new to play. The App Store is insidious in nature, trapping gullible people like myself into impulse purchases. I was browsing the top 25 selling role playing games and this title, Bar Oasis, caught my eye. A game based around working at a cocktail bar with dozens of different cocktail recipes? Original, but I wasn’t sold until I saw the screenshots, focusing on the breasts of the bar’s female clientele and a review from, self described tradie, Aussie123212 who claimed he was unable to put it down.
BIT.TRIP RUNNER
BIT.TRIP RUNNER is a brand new game on WiiWare which has you controlling a black pixelated character through multiple stages. He runs by himself, but you control when he jumps, slides and more, pressing buttons at the right time to avoid obstacles. It’s a very simple concept, but the extremely good presentation and level design make this a very unique experience.
Pietriots 