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WiiWare Roundup Review
Wii Review by Dan Whitehead
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The long-awaited debut of WiiWare finally puts Nintendo in direct competition with Microsoft and Sony in the realm of downloadable original software. They've certainly started strongly, with developers like Frontier and Square both helping to expand our expectations of what a downloadable game can offer. But this latest addition to the Wii arsenal also works to the detriment of the Virtual Console, a service which has long been blighted by arbitrary pricing and often baffling selections. Will Nintendo be able to keep charging 800 Wii Points for less-than-stellar SNES games when just a few hundred points more can purchase something like LostWinds?
Regardless, WiiWare has got off to an eclectic start. Check out our reviews of LostWinds and My Life as a King elsewhere on the site, and read on for our critical appraisal of the rest of the launch line-up...
Star Soldier R
- Developer: Hudson
- Wii Points: 800 Wii Points
- In Real Money: GBP 6 / EUR 8 approx
Given the proliferation of vintage shoot-'em-ups on the Virtual Console, it seems strange to make one a part of the starting line-up for WiiWare. What's even stranger is that Star Soldier R is about as niche as it's possible to get, designed to appeal solely to the score-chasing devotees.
The guts of the game are exactly as you'd expect - you pilot a nifty spaceship up the screen, blowing up swarms of enemies and scooping up as many power-up icons as you can while dodging incoming fire. Where the game distinguishes itself is in its brevity and focus. You choose between a two-minute or five-minute game and try to amass as many points as possible in this tight timeframe. This means that there's only room in the game for two short levels, and a couple of boss fights. There's also a third mode, which seems bizarrely pointless. In this one you advance up a screen crammed with targets and must hammer the fire button as many times as possible. That's it. You're ranked based on how many times per second you could spam the button.
I'm not about to criticise the game for targeting such a narrow niche (though even then it's over-priced for what there is) but the game would be a lot easier to defend if it was a more interesting shoot-'em-up. The level designs are fairly generic, and even within the confines of the small play area there's little potential for variation. Even by the standards of other re-released retro-flavoured score-based blasters such as Rez and Triggerheart Exelica, this is a slender experience.
It's all about shooting faster and better, not discovering clever new routes, so unless you're the sort of person who actively enjoys playing the same small sections over and over, searching for new ways to eke out those extra few points, there's absolutely nothing here to warrant an 800-Point purchase.
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Comments: 1-20 of 20 in total
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JohnnyWashnGo
29/05/08 @ 07:25
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All dull this week, which is good cos I need money to get the new Transformers Animated figures that are out :)
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paul_haine
29/05/08 @ 07:47
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"Will Nintendo be able to keep charging 800 Wii Points for less-than-stellar SNES games"
I think everybody knows the answer to that one. |
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thesombrerokid
29/05/08 @ 08:44
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I've got to say I've never played any star soldier games before but this review has a bought and paid for feel to it (& not by the star soldier dev), toki tori or whatever the hell it's called is a half assed lazy port of a mobile phone game and when i say that i mean they used the same assets! the game play is basic and as with dr mario, they got the wiimote working with the game in a barely passable manner and just rolled with it, I'm really surprised that Nintendo let this stuff onto the service, i think they're scaring away most decent developers by taking a huge cut of the revenue, where toki tori and dr mario are half assed steaming turds star soldier r had at least got the concepts of gameplay and not trying to hack on wiimote controls that don't work with the game and not using the same assets on a EDTV that we used on a 3" QVGA mobile phone
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 29/05/08 @ 10:27
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ryohazuki1983
29/05/08 @ 09:02
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TV Show king isn't that bad, theres only a few games though, answer questions and spin the wheel, maybe they could of added a few more things.
One to get out when family is around. LostWinds is a must-buy, its a bit short but well worth the money.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 29/05/08 @ 10:02
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escapedape
29/05/08 @ 09:28
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Bought Lost Winds and TV Show King last week. Can't complain with either, Lost Winds rules and TV Show King has been great fun with the family. Comparisons with Buzz and Scene It are ever so slightly unfair given the price difference. Compared to Wits and Wagers on XBLA (probably the best comparison in terms of price and format), TV Show King wins hands down.
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"Star Soldier R is a purification of the series, it only contains the Caravan mode ( which a lot of people ( im one ) claim IS the actual game ).
Not knowing what a game is about isnt reason enough to give it a bad review. Either learn what youre reviewing, or dont review it." Corpsicle, you are exactly right, I came on here to say what you pretty much summed up. I'm not sure the west is particularly interested in this niche though. Hands up how many people owned a PC Engine / TG16 over 20 years ago (or still today) and marvelled at what was produced on the console, way ahead of it's time. The demographic this is aimed at is predominantly Japanese OR in the very small western contingent who are likely to own the series on the original console (as I do), so i am confused as to who would buy this. I bet 95% of the casual Wii market would never have seen nor heard of the PC Engine. |
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Toki Tori is an amazing game that's well worth the money. The graphics are really good (I doubt they could have been replicated on the Wii), and some of the levels are new (despite being a remake of the GBC title). The puzzling is clever and the controls work pretty well (although they can sometimes be slightly inaccurate when having to do fast, successive maneuvers). It's one of the best games on the service - I don't know what thesombrerokid is on.
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@corpsicle
One paragraph better than the entire review of Star Soldier. Not ignorant of the PC Engine - but ignorant of the whole caravan sub-sub-genre. For that reason alone it's a must-buy. This is great. http://hudsonentertainment.com/tournamen... |
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Muddtallica
29/05/08 @ 10:56
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JohnnyWashnGo: They're out? At mass retail? Where? You must tell me, man!
(Disclaimer: I am so sad.) |
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"It's not a game that I'd suggest rushing to download, not while games like LostWinds are available, but it's definitely worth picking up eventually."
I found Toki Tori to be much, much more enjoyable than LostWinds, to be honest. LostWinds makes good use of the wiimote, it's fun to navigate the environment with the powers at your disposal, and I don't mind the short completion time. But it feels a bit too tutorial-ish, like they decided to end the game while it was just getting started. I'm not sure I'll be buying the sequel if it doesn't build significantly on this. Whereas Toki Tori is a full-fleshed, rock-hard puzzle game of the very best kind, and I'd definitely pay for a sequel even if it was just more of the same. |
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The review for TV Show King forgets to mention that not only are there plenty of questions (3000 compared to the 1000-or-so you get on Millionaire games) but they're very well ranged in difficulty (which is customisable) so that the whole family can play. Many of the questions are cutely written and will get you thinking too (I liked the one about the capital city of Antarctica, for instance).
I think the wheel adds a fun factor that allows kids to win occasionally, but I think it should only appear two or three times a game - not every round which is a bit tiring if you're playing a 9 round game. For £7, I'm actually amazed how much work they've put into it. 7/10 in my book. |
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escapedape
29/05/08 @ 13:46
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Back to TV Show King (sorry!)...the fact that it has 3000 questions again dwarfs Wits and Wagers, which comes with a paltry 700 and 'convenient' slots for more question packs. £7 really isn't a rip off for a game that all of the family can enjoy...but of course it is pointless in single player really!
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I wasn`t aware of the history of Super Star Soldier R, but after firing it up for the first time I had to force myself to step away from the Wii to get on with other stuff. Perfect stuff for the anal-compulsives among us who've spent a whole day time trialling a single course on Wave Race Blue Storm.
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Comments: 1-20 of 20 in total
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