In his Thursday review, GameSpot’s Tom McShea gave Frontier Developments’ LostWinds a “mediocre” rating of 5.5 of 10.

A surprising evaluation in jarring contrast to the game’s mostly glowing reviews, McShea conceded the game proves “motion controls can fundamentally change how a genre is played,” but due to sloppy controls, a “sleepy presentation and all-too-easy puzzles…LostWinds just isn’t a good enough game to make people take notice.”

Members of the Nintendo Defense Force should be sure to read his entire review before bringing out the guns; he did have some good things to say about LostWinds. But his low score and criticisms do seem to conflict with the prevalent meta-assessment of LostWinds.

It seems we have another controversial GameSpot Wii review. But to those who’ve played the game, are McShea’s criticisms justified?

Frontier’s Lost Winds ultimately represents what Wiiware is all about. Simple games that utilize the Wii’s unique control scheme. It’s what Nintendo wants, and what Wii gamers want. Lost Winds takes all resources available and packs it into one finely built game that should stand as a blueprint for future developers.

(more…)

Defend Your Castle is a WiiWare title based on the Flash game of the same name. Since I just linked you to the original free game, why should you pay 500 Wii Points for the same game? This game was meant for the Wii. The simple point click control for the original game gets even better with the Wii Remote since it really feels like you’re tossing the characters up in the air.

The Wii version of the game also adds an amazing found object art style which creates a sense of sitting in the back of study hall, goofing off with your friends. The difficulty level is extremely well balanced. Playing the game for the first time, you really can go pretty far before it gets too hectic. The new, hilarious powers you gain tend to come along just in time for the increasingly tougher enemies you face. The game plays like a round-based RTS for beginners, but the frenetic pace that builds up will definitely be a challenge for seasoned players.  Another bonus over the web version is that you can play with up to four people co-operatively.

(more…)

“What makes a great Wii game?”

As Nintendo’s motion-controlled monster continues to storm the market, the question remains without a consensus, and developers have struggled in their search for an answer. Several third-parties have attempted to emulate the spirit of games such as Wii Sports, but most seem to be missing the point.

The “Wii spirit” that makes the system’s best titles so extraordinary seems an elusive capture. And while WiiWare’s Pop doesn’t quite reach that level, it embodies the system’s unique qualities and does a surprisingly admirable job of “getting” what Wii is all about.

(more…)

More than two decades of verification have solidified it as truth, but given the absurd quality of recent software, it seems worth reiteration; the best titles on Nintendo’s console have been first-party Nintendo games.

Whether pushing innovation with Wii Sports and Wii Fit or polishing the established with Twilight Princess, Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the Kyoto-based gaming juggernaut has shown an unflinching, relentless attention to detail on its own Wii titles.

Given Nintendo’s impressive Wii track record and the post-DS resurrection of interest in the franchise, the recently released Mario Kart Wii has been one of the most hotly anticipated Wii titles of the year. 2005’s Mario Kart DS reestablished Nintendo’s long-running racer as one of gaming’s premier franchises, so lofty expectations seem a natural application for any new Mario Kart title. Fans will be pleased to know Nintendo has, in most respects, gone above-and-beyond their ivory-coated suppositions for Mario Kart Wii.

But players should be forewarned; Mario Kart Wii often frustrates and disappoints almost as wholeheartedly as it thrills. Veteran kart aficionados, in particular, may be dispirited by Nintendo’s insistence on rewarding the tenderfoots and punishing the skilled.

(more…)

Here are the current top 10 Wii games according to aggregate reviews found on Metacritic. Average scores in parenthesis:

1. Super Mario Galaxy (97)
2. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (96)
3. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, The (95)
4. Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition (91)
5. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (90)
6. Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure (87)
7. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (85)
8. Bully: Scholarship Edition (85)
9. Super Paper Mario (85)
10. No More Heroes (84)

50 percent of the top 10 games are made by Nintendo. Is that fewer or more than you expected?

The various Infendo staffers are each tackling a portion of the Super Smash Bros. Brawl review, so keep an eye out for that in the near future. In the meantime I thought I’d celebrate and review Brawl in my own slightly silly way: with a few haikus. What better way to balance out the chaotic button mashing of this fine title than with a handful of soothing, thought provoking 5-7-5 bits of prose? (more…)

Matt Casamassina reviewed Brawl for ABC World News.  Watch the review, or don’t … you know the game is great!  The big story here is that ABC World News showed a video game review.  That’s not a very typical occurrence (if ever).  This game is going to be absolutely huge!

The Pittsburgh Tribune critiques the $30 mini-game in shallow but promising fashion.

For a title that’s essentially a collection of party games, developer Nunchuck Games obviously put an emphasis on quality graphics… Despite the supremely aggravating control glitches in Katana and sensei’s repetitive intros — Ninja Reflex offers a lot of kicks.

Game available March 4 on Wii, published by EA.

As a kid, I had a book of brainteasers that I thoroughly enjoyed. MindTrap, Choose Your Own Adventure, and classic LucasArts adventure games were all consumed with great gusto. The announcement of a game like Professor Layton and the Curious Village piqued my interest to a staggering level. Sure, Mario Galaxy was coming soon, but what I really wanted was Layton. I was afraid I might be setting myself up for disappointment; I have a history of getting too excited for a game or movie and then being underwhelmed by the actual product. Despite my fear, this game delivers to each of my hopes and then surpasses them.

(more…)

For all the complaining I do about other people’s Wii reviews these days, I decided to approach my latest with as open a mind as possible. Hardcore fanman thoughts? Subdued. Pre-existing movie license game criticisms? Shelved. My anathema to PS2 port graphics? NyQuil’d into submission for the time being.

That said, with The Spiderwick Chronicles, which is loosely based upon the fantastical events from the movie and book series of the same name, all that preparation still didn’t help. This was a shame, really, because in my opinion the framework was in place to show other developers how to properly make a movie license game on the Wii. As far as I could tell, that framework was wasted. Again. (more…)

It was almost an out of place April Fool’s joke. Shortly after its Xbox 360 and PS3 release, a few sites indicated a February 2008 release for Assassin’s Creed on DS. I admit, it made me laugh (sort of like Halo DS). And then the rumor wouldn’t go away. Finally, the actual game came out and I had to play it for myself.

Having never played Assassin’s Creed on either PS3 or 360, I knew very little about the story. What I did know was that it was graphically handsome and looked like a fun action movie you could play on your console. The DS version attempts something similar, wrapping it up as a prequel to its high def big brother.

(more…)

Next Generation continues its love affair with line graphs and analytics today with a “review” of why Wii games — which sell sell yet review poorly — are such an enigma.

Maybe Wii games have lower review scores because we, as an industry, still don’t know what makes a good Wii game.

This isn’t proof mind you – we probably won’t know for a long time, if ever, why Wii games rate so much below par – but a failure to understand the platform and its potential is one possibility. Even if you dismiss that explanation, the fundamental question still remains: Why have games for the Wii, darling console of the media and the public for well over a year, reviewed so poorly and sold so well?

That first line hits it on the head as far as I’m concerned. The “standard” used by reviews today from which all reviews are compared for context isn’t “is this a good game,” it’s “how does this game compare to the games we’ve given great review scores to over the past 10 years?” Unfortunately, that’s the very essence of an echo chamber. FAIL.

The “games media” today is the result of 10+ years of grooming, free trips, perks and payoffs. Old habits, I’ve heard, die hard.

Within the context of the gaming realm, Scurge: Hive is old news.

Released in late Oct. 2006 by independent publisher SouthPeak Interactive, Scurge: Hive was met with mixed critical reception, no publicity and extremely modest sales figures. So why revisit this obscure, unrecognized game more than 15 months after it hit store shelves?

Quite simply, because it rocks.

(more…)

By Canaroo

Okay. Wow. That title is amazingly long. That aside, I decided to write this little review because after a mad search of the internets (yes, all two of them), I was unable to find a single solid review of this game. Which, sadly, I wish I had because I would have read it and understood — quite plainly — that no one should even come within 50 feet of this game unless you enjoy tossing money away. Which, of course, I do.

With that said, on to the review. (more…)