The track will be downloadable through the in-game Just Dance store on December 14^th for 250 Wii Points, exclusively on Wii… sorry Xbox and PS3 owners!

After distinguishing himself in kart and football, Mario will set the Just Dance floor on fire with a fun dance routine showing off some of the most iconic environments and music of the Mario games.  We’ve got the first look at what you can expect from this DLC below:

This new track joins seven other recent DLC additions: Anja’s Baby Don’t Stop Now, Studio Allstars’ Jump, Olé Orquesta’s JamboMambo, The Girly Team’s TwistShakeIt, U Can’t Touch This and Soul Searchin by Groove Century and In the Style of Irene Cara’s Fame, all priced at 250 Wii Points each.

Sounds like the perfect excuse to dust off your Wii if you as us!

You’re travelling through another dimension — a dimension not only of dancing goombas and insatiable pink blobs, but of manipulative, teasing princesses. A journey into a platonic land, where the only boundaries are those that exclude sexuality and violence. That’s a signpost up ahead, your next stop: The Nintendo Zone!

The Nintendo Zone is a place created by men. These men want you to go on an adventure, but they don’t want you to know cold or pain. They want you to experience love, but never act upon it. They would have you smelling the flowers in a blood soaked battlefield, while masses of bodies lie heaped next to you, unnoticed.

The Sheltered Zone

Tranquillity, peace, harmony and serenity are all words that really can’t be used to describe Nintendo games. In fact, the Mushroom Kingdom, Hyrule, Lylat, The Jungle and other habitats of the Nintendo Universe are raging war zones.

So what is the Sheltered Zone and what is its purpose? It’s a place where biology is thrown out of the window and blood does not exist. It’s a place where even enemies smile and dance happily as they try to kill you. It’s a place where the good guys always win, everything is colourful and everything is cute.

The Sheltered Zone is a veil of lies to protect our delicate minds. If you look a little closer you will see that the Nintendo Universe is actually full of slavery, misery, pain, war and corruption. They are just hidden behind a layer of bright colours, soft shapes and fun melodies.

Mario is always trying to save Peach, but to do this, he curb stomps thousands of soldiers, who are just following orders. He could just jump over their heads but instead he chooses to kill them. And on those occasions when he fails, he is sometimes killed with a single touch. He falls into bottomless pits, drowns in underground rivers and is burned alive in lava. But Mario’s comical ‘happy fat plumber’ appearance, the lack of real gore and the forced, grim smiles carried by the faces of goombas as their heads are pounded nonchalantly into the ground are all it takes for the public to turn a blind eye.

In the Zelda games, Link follows a similar pattern of war and death. But this ‘hero’s’ favourite pass time is raiding sacred temples, breaking everything in sight and stealing ancient weapons. He also sneaks into people’s houses, wreaks their pottery, steals their money then proceeds to go outside and ruin their crops. He also has something against chickens. He really doesn’t eat Halal.

Petty theft is also one of the ongoing problems in the Pokemon World. “Trainers” all over the world casually stroll into other people’s homes and read their books, steal their pokeballs and take whatever else they find lying around.

But this pales in comparison to the real issue in the pokemon world: Animal fighting and slavery. It really says something about the amazing work Nintendo do with making things seem friendly and cute, because this one could have caused a media frenzy. In the game, people use animals to fight other wild animals until near death. They are then caught and enslaved too. All of this is considered normal in the world of pokemon. The drivers of this industry are status and money. After every battle, including street fights, the winner takes money as his prize. Yes, gambling is definitely at the root of this deplorable practice. But the whole thing is sugar coated with the image of a loving relationship between man and pokemon.

Get Him Pikachu

The situation is even more complicated by the obvious intelligence of pokemon. They aren’t all simple animals living on instincts, they are intelligent beings. Some can even talk our language! These pokemon are rarely kept in balls but they are still slaves to their human masters, forced to brutally beat down their own kind. Sick.

The Friend Zone

This is possibly the most punishing of all the levels of the Nintendo Safe Zone, and a place where almost every character is doomed to stay. It is the place where any activity from flirting to fornication is completely repressed. Male and female characters are often reduced to staring at each other for long periods of time, feigning admiration, their mind actually working in overtime trying to imagine every possible way they could bend their friend.

The worst thing about the Nintendo friend zone isn’t that Mario, Link and others are being kept hostage in this zone with no hope of liberation. It’s that they are constantly expected to chase around the princesses that they want so badly. They’re stuck in a never ending cycle. Just when they think they are free (1 day from retirement), they are called back into service. They toil through epic adventures, killing droves of enemies, in hopes that their endeavours may pay off.

This is what celibacy does to Hyrulians

Alas, they fight in vain. There is no light at the end of the tunnel. There is no reward but the paper thin friendship of a shallow tease. Sorry guys but you went and ‘put it on a pedestal’ and they will never appreciate you. You aren’t their type. You will never be more than a tool.

One exception that proves the rule is Star Fox. Fox McCloud is implied to be “with” Krystal. One of the endings of Star Fox Command on the DS shows the pair with their child Marcus McCloud on Fox’s shoulders. However there is no romance featured in the game and in fact, before Star Fox Command, Krystal had left Star Fox to join their rivals, Star Wolf.

Even in the relationships that exist in Nintendo games, there is almost no physical contact, whatsoever. They leave that for the hardcore fans imaginations (hence all the metroid/princess fan art and fan fiction). There are a couple more exceptions of lead characters in relationships but I’ll leave that to you to talk about in the comments.

The Nonsensical Zone

Two great adventures happening in the game development world are the pursuit of utter realism and the battle for the most bizarre. Some developers opt to create a world as close to ours as they can (“It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth” – name that quote in the comments).

Nintendo have pretty consistently chosen to go down a different path. That path is littered with strange creatures underfoot, walked by even stranger ones and surrounded by living, breathing environments. Any attempt to render the fantastic Nintendo world in a “realistic” form would only result in a twisted abomination. I shudder at the thought.

The white one is blatantly going to turn evil in Pikmin 3

Let’s look for example at the world of Pikmin, for use of a more abstract example. A tiny man (Olimar) lands his rocket ship on a world (Earth?) inhabited by strange little plant creatures called Pikmin. These cute little freaks of nature quickly trust Olimar and immediately appoint him their leader. They multiply at an alarming rate by feeding an onion spaceship (really?) with various size tablets that fall from large plants. Olimar also throws Pikmin at giant insects and other creatures, which the Pikmin quickly devour like floral army ants.

Look at Nintendo’s major franchises closely and think about the reality of the concepts and characters and you may end up with some strange nightmares.

So, in the future, when you are in the playing your Wii, DS or even 3DS, think about what I’ve written here and scratch past that sugar coating. You’ll see that things are never what they seem in The Nintendo Zone

- Joe Finn

2009 was a great year for games. We had Batman: Arkham Asylum, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Left 4 Dead 2 amongst others, and this year seems to be a continuation of that. It’s incredible to think that already this year we’ve managed to get our hands on Mass Effect 2, God of War 3 and Super Mario Galaxy 2, with games from the Halo, Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed, Fallout and Castlevania series all still to come.

With a constant flow of big titles coming out there’s fierce competition and with that comes fairly big titles losing out on sales and somewhat slipping under the radar. No game this year sums this up more than Alan Wake.

Despite all the time, money, effort and publicity pumped, and is continuing to be pumped into Alan Wake, it’s safe to say the game didn’t sell well…. not at all really. This could be down to a number of things. The fact that the game came out on the exact same day as Red Dead Redemption (which sold TONS by the way) obviously had something to do with it but to place the blame for the game under selling solely on the fact it came out on the same day as another popular game is just being plain delusional. Perhaps people got tired of all the hype and delays over the years that when the game actually came out not as many gamers were interested. Who knows? But you can’t change what has already happened.

Pinning the blame of poor sales solely on Red Dead Redemption is perhaps a little bit ignorant

So Alan Wake sold badly and this has thrown the possibility of a sequel, that the game so richly deserves, into doubt. But whilst the gamers didn’t flock out in their masses to pick up the game, I was one of the very few who actually did and for me Alan Wake will go down as THE most underrated game of 2010. Despite no one buying it and it’s reviews seemingly missing the point, the fact remains that everyone that I personally know that has played it has loved it, and that includes me too. Alan Wake was refreshing, compelling and intelligent, something that games rarely are these days, so when it was announced that, despite it’s sequel being in jeopardy, 2 bits of DLC were being release, I embraced the news with open arms.

With “The Writer” DLC yet to come, Alan Wake’s first piece of downloadable content “The Signal” sports as much attention to detail and polish as the original game itself. Attempting to bridge the gap between the first game and a possible second, The Signal picks up right where the original game finished, this time giving previous Alan Wake players the opportunity to experience the involvement of some of the more mysterious and unknown characters of the original, namely that of diver, Thomas Zane, thickening the plot and adding depth to an already weighty story.

The Signal allows you insight into the role of the mysterious, Thomas Zane

If you were one of the very few that played Alan Wake and enjoyed it, you will undoubtedly enjoy The Signal as essentially it’s just more of the same. The gripping, psychological storytelling that made the original game so compelling is still there, at times coming across a little more harrowing than the original and the same combat mechanics are there.

That’s not to say Remedy haven’t made SOME changes of course. As someone who played the original on normal difficulty, The Signal felt a lot more difficult, a lot more like the full game’s harder difficulties. More enemies attack you at once and in more confined locations too, perhaps the whole sense of the DLC feeling more harrowing is down to the fact that throughout The Signal you are constantly fighting for survival; not only are there more enemies and less places to hide but equipment, such as ammo, seems in short supply adding more focus on rationing and survival. The intention of making The Signal just that little bit harder is then hammered home by the fact that there is an achievement for not dying or restarting from a checkpoint.

Possessed cars, trucks, people, debris, poles, bits of machinery, it's all out to get you and it's everywhere

What, I hear you cry, the DLC contains more achievements? Indeed, achievement whores, it does. In fact The Signal comes with a whole host of new features which is a testament to the effort being put in to the I.P considering Remedy could’ve gotten away with just tacking on some DLC with minimal effort. But no, The Signal reeks quality and attention to detail. There are more achievements to unlock, collectibles to collect, more of the overall Alan Wake story to experience, a new unique end boss to fight, and a brand new world to explore (still set in Bright Falls, but the environment is much harsher and much more dangerous this time around).

Despite the DLC not costing a single penny/dollar/whatever the currency in your country is, (THAT’S RIGHT, IT’S FREE! So long as you kept your downloadable token when you bought the game new, because we all bought the game new right?), it’s also not very short either, giving more bang for your buck (wait, no, that doesn’t work does it?). Whilst being feature packed, The Signal is about as long as your average chapter length in the original game. One play through, neglecting achievements and collectibles, will clock in at around an hour on it’s own, which means that although The Signal is a piece of downloadable content, on it’s own merit, it provides at least 2 -3 hours worth of play to unlock and collect absolutely everything.

Alan himself was even shocked by the notion of The Signal being free

The Signal contains all the trademark features that made the original, full game different and so special, and it all ends so perfectly leading up to The Writer (sadly though, that piece of DLC won’t be free, 300 odd MSP though so still not bad). And as David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” (yes that’s right, SPACE BLOODY ODDITY), plays over the credits, you draw the first breath you’ve taken in an hour, an experience.

Review Round Up

Graphics: 4/5 – Facial animation is still a little bit weak, but the way they’ve changed the environment in conjunction with the progression in story is great. Contains all the polish and attention to detail as the original, full game.

Sound: 4/5 – Space Oddity FTW!

Gameplay: 3.5/5 – The Signal is harder and more harrowing than the full game, but nothing has changed drastically, more of the same. Something a little bit different would’ve been nice though.

Longevity: 4.5/5 – For a piece of DLC, it has a lot of replay value.

Overall: 4.5/5 – Overall The Signal gets 4.5 possessed toasters out of 5.

[starreview tpl=16]

- Kieran Roycroft

Game:

There are many persistent franchises out there, maybe too many; Sonic, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Pokemon and Fifa, to name but a few. Of all the game franchises, Mario has been the most successful in terms of sales and I believe this is because of Nintendo’s ability to evolve and take their work in bold new directions.

I heard your reaction even from here: “NINTENDO!? EVOLVE!? BOLD NEW DIRECTIONS?! WHHAAAAHHH?!”

It’s a bit of a controversial statement to suggest that Nintendo are a progressive developer, with all of the negativity surrounding the Wii, from hardcore gamers. People say that the Wii is so far behind, so how can I possibly defend Nintendo as a progressive developer? Well, that’s a discussion for a different article; this is the Mario Galaxy review, so you’ll have to wait for that one.

Just like Skeggy

Nintendo have taken the main Mario game franchise from an up the screen level by level platformer to a linear 2D side-scroller, to a world map based 2D side-scroller, to leading the way for full 3D platformers (3D environments, not popping out the screen 3D), to one of the most creative games ever made; Mario Galaxy.

It was a very bold move when Nintendo took the leap to Mario 64. This kind of move is what allows a franchise to stay alive for as long as Mario; do something really ground breaking, extend the limits of this concept with sequels and then before it becomes stale, come up with a new ground breaking concept. Like Madonna.

Mario Galaxy brought us mind bending gameplay and a universe with very few rules outside of Nintendo’s safe zone. The platforming is so tightly tuned that they can even cope with constantly shifting gravity and level designs that no other game would attempt. Mario Galaxy 2 extends the brave concept to whole new heights and also addresses some of the issues that were found with the first game.

Isn't that thing from Aladdin? The Cave of Wonders!

Levels in Mario Galaxy 2 generally consist of 2 types of planets. Some, you are able to move all the way around (such as a sphere) with no worrying about falling to your doom. Also, there are planets that you climb or move across and have to stay on surfaces, or else fall and be sucked into a black hole of doom with thousands of Mario’s past lives. You get between these planets using special stars, which shoot you to another part of the Galaxy, and the perspective and gravity rules are reset. One minute you may be jumping into orbit around a small planetoid of snow and brick and the next moment you may be side scrolling where your movement is restricted to a 2D plane.

A slight warning though; to some this change in perspective and rules of gravity may induce occasional projectile vomit. Once you get used to it, I’m sure you will be fine, but it’s definitely a stomach churner and will put some people off. It’s like when I used to jump off the highest buildings in Hulk: Ultimate Destruction and I would feel my stomach drop and tell me firmly “Stop It! Fool”. The changing gravity and unique feel of the controls is also difficult for some people to get used to and I have friends who are put off the game instantly because they don’t like how the game feels. But please don’t let that put you off, because if you put a little time in you will most likely learn that this is the peak of accuracy in controls.

"And they say that a hero can save us, I'm not gonna stand here and waaait! I'll hold onto the wings of an eagle. Watch as we all fly awaaaay!"

It’s the continual mix of gameplay that keeps the game fresh and surprising. The variation is taken even further with levels where you may have to ice skate, glide with a bird or use motion control to guide a sphere around planetoids without falling and more. In fact, there are so many different kinds of things to do that it makes almost any other game look like a one trick pony. I was playing Alan Wake recently and I got exceedingly bored by the lack of variation, but I kept questioning myself, thinking maybe I was being too demanding. This is what the game does, why should I ask for more? Mario Galaxy 2 reminds me how a single theme is not enough to make a great game, ideas must be implemented in as many ways as the designers can think of and pushed to the limits of the imagination. If a more serious minded Shigeru Miyamoto had made Alan Wake, it would have been very different.

I love to imagine the design process at Nintendo for this game. I would have loved to be there at the brainstorming meeting where dozens of attendees threw ideas into the pot. Pretty much every one of those ideas got into the game. Somebody said, “Make Mario’s head into a space ship”, so they did. A window cleaner, looking in through an open window shouts “Yoshi eats a blue fruit, gets gas and flies up into the air”, and BANG it’s in the game.

That brings me, not so swiftly, on to Yoshi. He’s a funny little dinosaur with a ferocious appetite and a wicked tongue. Able to swallow up most enemies, jump that little bit higher with a flutter of his legs and run that little bit faster than Mario, he is a great addition to the Galaxy cast. Yoshi also has 3 power-ups; the Dash Pepper, which sends him into a fiery, fast stampede, the gas inducing, blue Blimp Fruit, which sends Yoshi floating into the sky and the yellow Bulb Berry, which irradiates Yoshi making him luminous and revealing hidden surfaces. Yoshi is not under or over used in the game and his presence actually adds a lot.

Prehistoric Lizard takes on Tomorrows War Machine

You can also choose to become Luigi on certain levels, where he will be waiting to tag in at the beginning of a stage. When you complete the “story” you will also be able to change to him between levels. He’s pretty much the same as Mario but he can jump a little higher and he has much less grip on his shoes. It feels a little like he’s always running on ice so he’s a little more difficult to control.

The win button has returned! Like in New Super Mario Bros, after attempting a level and failing (Loser ) too many times, a shadow “Momma” will turn up and offer to do the level for you. I hate it. It reminds me of playing games with my brother. “It’s my turn and I don’t care how many times I die, I don’t need your help!” However, it’s a little ignorant to say the feature shouldn’t be in there as it’s not for people like me; it’s there for the casual gamers and young kids. And you may not think it but it actually really benefits us hardcore gamers, because it allows Nintendo to design a game that isn’t dumbed down, it allows the designers to make the game really hard. And parts of the game will tax even the most experienced Mario gamers.

The repetitiveness of first Mario Galaxy game has pretty much gone completely, with no going back to a modified purple version of the first level. The only place where repetition rears its ugly head is in the Bowser Boss fights. The player is made to kick Bowser’s ass multiple times, of course, and these fights are all exactly the same except a little extension to the formula in the last battle, thankfully. But don’t worry about that because there is so many different things to do and see in this game that it’s a bit of a feeble complaint.

In summary, if you have a Wii, you should have Mario Galaxy and/or Mario Galaxy 2, no matter what kind of a gamer you are. There’s a significant improvement in this sequel, especially in the level variation. There may be one more game out of the Galaxy theme and I look forward to it.

As soon as anyone touches Yoshi, he runs off crying. That's why Mario gets the hero treatment and Yoshi goes back to his egg.

Review Round Up

Graphics: 5/5 – The best on the Wii. It shows how lazy some developers really are. Brilliant design, detailed models and textures, colourful and great lighting make this Mario Galaxy 2 head and shoulders above any other Wii game, graphically.

Sound: 4/5 – A great soundtrack performed by the Mario Galaxy Orchestra. The sounds in Mario are as distinctive and yet as simple as ever. Old school sound effects allow anyone to know you are playing a game without looking.

Gameplay: 5/5 – Mario has platforming down to a tee. There’s so much to do and it’s all ridiculously fun. The difficulty level makes it challenging and rewarding. What else is there to say, it’s Mario.

Longevity: 5/5 – Although it only takes 80 stars to get the princess back, there are 120 stars to get in total and it’s not an easy task. You’ll have to collect all the comet medals to unlock the special comet levels, there’re loads of secret stars and some levels are just good old fashioned hard. You may lose some hair getting those 120 stars.

Overall: 5 Shiny Power Stars out of 5 – One of the best, if not the best game on the Wii. Nintendo have created such a masterpiece that I, again, begin to worry; where do they go next? I can’t imagine a better platformer.

- Joe Finn

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These days, playing all the way through a game and being completely let down by a half- hearted end boss and ending is becoming more and more common. What with developers being pressured into producing milkable cash cows rather than good games, what do you expect? Sequels, prequels, downloadable add-ons and expansions; you name it, they are in development and they are all being made at the expense of a damn good ending!

But things weren’t always like this…

Back in the late 80′s – early 90′s (or as I like to call it…”The Golden Age” of computer games) the main emphasis was solely on the end boss. This lead to some truly epic encounters. There wasn’t a need for silly achievements, points or trophies; we had all the motivation we needed. We just had to beat the game. That was enough for gamers because back then games were much harder.

Games felt like an epic journey as you battled your way through, offing tough end-of-level bosses that crossed your path until finally reaching the absolute pinnacle: the end of game boss. Auto-saving checkpoints? Pahaha! Don’t make me laugh! Helpful in-game tutorials? Not a chance: read the f*cking manual! That was the kind of time we lived in and that’s what made games so special. It’s such a shame that this “retro aesthetic” is lacking from games of new. However as long as franchises like the Mega Man franchise continue to exist, it will live on.

No other series personifies the “retro aesthetic” more than the Mega Man franchise. Not only is every Mega Man game extremely tough (FACT!) but they also serve as the perfect reminder of how awesome retro game bosses could be. Take Mega Man 2 for example. The game itself follows the traditional Mega Man formula: Mega Man must defeat an array of robots created by an evil scientist, collecting some of their various traits along the way, before the final showdown with the anonymous scientist himself.

The whole journey you must take as Mega Man is one of epic proportions. Battling your way through the various themed levels (which is no mean feat itself considering how tough some of them can be) and defeating the end of level bosses (such as Bubble Man and Heat Man), builds for a truly epic final battle with Dr Wily. This is just something you don’t see in games anymore.

Haha...his name is Wily....that looks like Willy...which is another word for penis...teehee!

And Dr Wily, whilst anonymous until you actually get the chance to fight him, is utterly memorable. Again, this is something you don’t really see in modern gaming anymore. I mean, when was the last time you fought someone as memorable and as iconic as Bowser, Dr Robotnik or even Mecha Hitler from Wolfenstein 3D? That’s right, it was a while ago. Well, that’s if you can even remember any at all. They just don’t make end of game bosses like they used to.

Quite possibly the boss of all end bosses, Mecha Hitler!

It seems modern day gaming is all about style over substance. So much effort is poured into graphical trickery and what a boss looks like rather than actually making the final fight enjoyable. After all, the perfect end boss should not only look incredible, but also have character, instill emotion, be fun and unique to fight, be difficult but not too difficult and provide perfect closure (I don’t ask for much do I?).

This point is possibly best demonstrated by Epic’s Gears of War 2. Don’t get me wrong, Gears of War 2 is a brilliant and incredible looking game. However it has quite possibly one of the worst end of game bosses I’ve ever had the misfortune of encountering. The Mutated Brumak boss sure does look splendidly grotesque (all in 1080p, HD awesomeness), but it’s also extremely boring, weak and disappointing: a bitter end to a brilliant game. Epic got it so right in Gears of War 1 with General RAMM, it’s just a shame that they couldn’t deliver “the goods” in it’s otherwise improved sequel.

Another trend that I’ve noticed, and this really bugs me, is that quite often than not developers will just ramp up the difficulty right at the end in order to make the end boss seem far more powerful (Killzone f*cking 2). Again, this harks back to retro games, because old games are renowned for being notoriously hard. The difference is that they were extremely tough to play all the way through. They didn’t have a huge difficulty spike right at the end like a lot of modern games do.

Killzone 2's Radec is one hard motherfudger!

A game should have a finely balanced difficulty curve. Because retro games were consistently hard it meant that whilst the games were tough, they were consistently tough. This created a finely balanced, progressive difficulty. It seems developers these days neglect all of this. By just making the last boss extremely hard, all difficulty balance goes out of the window. What you’re left with is a player who gets frustrated, having to try and try again until eventually they just give up.

This all culminates in the player wasting countless hours playing and never sees the end. Where is the logic in that?! At this rate developers won’t even bother with endings. They’ll all start making end bosses that no one could ever beat, that way they wouldn’t have to waste time thinking up a proper ending because no one would ever see it. This may sound crazy but I guarantee in a few years I’ll be proven right.

In fact, creating even a passable end boss is such a fine art that some of the gaming worlds most influential, famous and highly regarded pieces of work are guilty of muffing it all up. Case in point, widely accredited as being one of the best games of all time; Final Fantasy 7. Whilst gamers are more often than not recalling all their favourite moments that made the game so memorable, they often forget how truly awful the last boss actually was. Final Fantasy 7 did the exact polar opposite of what I have just been talking about. Rather than making their last boss crushingly hard, beating Sephiroth was far too easy. Rewarding players with Cloud’s final limit break, even if they hadn’t previously unlocked it, made the battle essentially a one hit kill. Not very clever considering you’ve built up to this epic battle over three bloody discs!

And that’s not all, what about the dedicated players? What about people like me that played the game for hours… and hours… and hours… and hours… and… well, you get the picture. We unlocked every limit break, found every summon, maxed-out levels, collected all the materia and beat every enemy. And for what? I’ll tell you; absolutely nothing.

Even the mightiest fall...

But I’m sad to say that Final Fantasy 7 is only the start. What about gaming’s most iconic character? What about Mario? That’s right, even the Super Mario Bros. franchise is guilty of dropping a stinker from time to time. Proof that retro games also suffered from the curse of rubbish end of game bosses is Super Mario Bros 1.

Whilst Bowser may be memorable, your first encounter with him in Super Mario Bros 1 is extremely brief. Much like Final Fantasy 7, an epic battle is built up as you go from castle to castle in search of Princess Peach, who is being held by Bowser. However, once you come face to face with the monster it becomes far too easy, quite literally a hop, skip and a jump actually. You simply wait for him to walk onto the bridge, jump over him and walk into the axe to chop the bridge down and send Bowser to a fiery death. Talk about underwhelming.

It’s not all doom and gloom though folks. Thankfully there are developers out there who still care about what matters the most; the final encounters. The Zelda series has always had great end bosses. However, at the end of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, we’re shown that modern games can get end of game bosses right sometimes. Ganon represents a truly epic battle built over the entire course of the game that requires some skill to prevail. The difficulty is just right and ends fittingly with a beautiful stab to the head. This is the stuff that dreams are made of.

Wind Waker's showdown with Ganon is nothing short of brilliant.

It’s just unfortunate that quite often, these are nothing more than dreams. What we actually have to play is more like a nightmare.

- Kieran Roycroft

Hello and welcome to the third edition of Thoroughly Underrated Games You Probably Should Play; a series of articles in which we attempt to transform you mindless drones into cultured, well informed gamers by introducing you to some under-appreciated gaming goodness. This time we bring to you a lovely little tower defence game (they are mostly rubbish but stick with this, this one is really good!) for the Nintendo DS. Take it away Crofterz.

Welcome to Ninjatown, a bright, vibrant, funny and criminally underrated game in the vastly huge DS catalogue. You may well accuse T.U.G.Y.P.S.P of being a series of childish and cutesy game reviews, but this is mainly due to the fact that games such as these are often overlooked because of their graphical style. Thus, they go unnoticed. Ninjatown is a prime example of this kind of ignorance. That, and I’m an absolute sucker for anything charming. God I’m such a big girl.

I don’t want to get all iRate on your asses but it’s this pig headed ignorance that really gets my goat. I once recall telling a friend about Viva Piñata (another excellent, cutesy game on the Xbox 360) and as I was explaining why the game was so great, he stopped me mid sentence and completely dismissed the idea of playing “a kids game”. So angry was I due to his utter closed mindedness that I then proceeded to garrotte him with his own shoelaces… well, at least I did in my imagination.

“What’s so special about Ninjatown”, I hear you cry? Well, I’m not entirely sure. Let’s be straight here; as a tower defence game, Ninjatown does nothing new. It doesn’t have any unique or brand new gameplay mechanics or do anything fantastically different from any other tower defence game, but what sets it apart from others in the genre is that this is a tower defence game done right.

I wish I'd written this caption

I’ll be frank. I hate tower defence games. Until Ninjatown, I had never played a tower defence game that I’d actually liked. They all seemed to be like RTS games (Real Time Strategy games) minus all the fun, skill and size. And whilst Ninjatown certainly doesn’t have the size or scale of an RTS, it is the first tower defence game I’ve played that is genuinely fun.

Whilst most in the genre seem to test your strategic skill and thus get too hard way too quickly, Ninjatown is far more relaxed, casual and focused on being fun. The difficulty curve isn’t particularly steep. However, that’s not to say the game is too easy. It does get hard, especially on the later levels, but the curve is so finely balanced that you never feel unprepared and don’t really notice the change in difficulty.

What makes this game so great is character. Everything from the brilliantly oddball cartoon graphics to the genuinely brilliant, humorous cut scenes in between levels. Ninjatown works on so many levels that not only can children have fun with it, but adults will also find this game an absolute joy.

You wouldn’t be wrong to presume with a name like Ninjatown, the game itself centres around a town of ninjas because… well, it does (I know, awesome right?!). What’s more, it’s under attack! The evil Mr. Demon and his hordes of evil, devil, monster, creature things are attempting to wreak havoc. As the ol’ Master Ninja, you are the only one who can protect the town… with the aid of various different ninja inspired, tower defence units of course.

There are Consultant Ninjas who inform you of your best plan of defence, Anti-Ninjas who aren’t as fast as regular ninja units but are far stronger and Sniper Ninjas, to name but a few of the different unit types at your disposal. Each ninja type is used to combat the many different enemy types. Ninja and Anti-Ninja units are capable of tackling the Wee Devil and slightly stronger Chubby Devil ground units whilst the Sniper Ninjas take out any aerial threat from the Winged Devils. Ninja huts are used to make your units stronger on the battlefield, it’s all pretty standard tower defence stuff.

The range of different unit and enemy types really add personality.

Ninjatown does however bring something a little bit new to the table. By completing levels not only do you unlock new ninja units and enemies but also ninja powers, which can be unleashed once the power meter is full (it builds up with every enemy you kill). My personal favourite is called “Get Off My Lawn!!!” which blows enemies off the screen by blowing into the DS’s mic. You may well look like an absolute idiot whilst doing this but you can only commend the developers for trying to put a few unique gameplay ideas into the formula.

As a platform, the Nintendo DS is absolutely perfect for tower defence games. The touch screen gives you an intuitive way to assemble, organise and strategically plan defence with just a touch of the screen. Thankfully Ninjatown uses the touch controls, so the controls are absolutely spot on and allow deployment and organisation of ninja units very quickly.

Sound is equally as expertly employed. Quirky and fun with an oriental twist is a winning mix. I would liked to have heard some funny sounds in the cut-scenes, such as the random waffling sounds of character dialogue in Henry Hatsworth and The Puzzling Adventure (the subject of T.U.G.Y.P.S.P episode 1, viewable here: http://rt.nu/dfjvc6) but that is only a minor gripe.

So there you have it, finally a good tower defence game… Such things are as rare as gold dust. Now, as your master I command you to go out and buy it! Go forth minions and I’ll see you next time for episode 4 of Thoroughly Underrated Games You Probably Should Play

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Game: New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Format: Wii
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher:Nintendo

It’s been 3 years now since New Super Mario Bros was released on the DS. Finally it has a sequel, but this time it’s returned on the Wii. And it’s returned with vengeance, horrible, horrible vengeance. Mario has never been so damn cruel and Joefeesh will tell you why…

I’m no expert when it comes to first person shooters, I’m not a massive fighting game fan and I couldn’t control a simulation racer to save my life, they just feel like I’m driving a milk float with my Nana looking over my shoulder, scowling (I love you Nan). I do, however, pride myself on being pretty damn good at platformers. Mario platformers especially. I loved the DS New Super Mario Bros and got through that without a problem. It was beautiful on the little DS screen, the controls were precise and it was addictive as hell. I played that thing through multiple times and my son still plays it. The newest installment on Wii seems to lack in most of the areas the DS game excelled in. Which is strange, considering that it’s pretty much a straight copy. It’s not an impressive looking title, to say the least, the controls aren’t as accurate using the suddenly, seemingly, stupidly shaped Wii remote and the difficulty level makes me want to tear my Wii apart to get to the disc so I can jump on it’s head! Don’t get me wrong, I got through the game, but I didn’t enjoy it. OK, maybe I did. My little boy on the other hand hasn’t got a chance in hell of getting through this game unassisted. By what I’ve read about the game elsewhere, opinion is a 90:10 split saying it’s too hard. The 10% are most likely the people who can beat a Mario game in 7 minutes.

Not every level is hard and actually most can be completed a lot easier if you forget collecting anything and simply run blindly, jumping on reaction to every freaky, little, brown mushroom and happy turtle you come across. What is it with those turtles anyway? They freak me out. They look at you with a blankly smiling face as they kill you with the tips of their fingers.

Making it look easy. Too Easy.

Before I get jumped on and bitch-slapped by every Nintendo fanboy, I’ll say that there is a lot to like about the game. Some will like the simple retro look and some will love the return to 2D Mario on the console. Many people including the very casual gaming crowd in general didn’t really ever warm to 3D Mario games. A lot of people will love the classic Mario gameplay of jumping on heads, collecting coins and getting around using the old style Mario overworld with the addition of mini levels every now and then, when you run into an enemy on the map. It is still a 2D Mario game and we all know what that means. There’s no denying there’s a great formula that remains in tact. The classic gameplay is there, although I do feel that the Wii remote d-pad isn’t as nice as the Nintendo DS d-pad. Also shaking the wii remote to do a spin jump seems utterly pointless and ice is a tad too slippy, making Winter levels very challenging. Other than that, Mario is still the king of platforming when it comes to control and fun gameplay. New powers available include a helicopter suit and penguin suit. The helicopter suit allows you to shake the Wii remote to be propelled up into the air and then float slowly down. This makes things a lot easier because when you fall down a gap, shaking the Wii remote propels you back up into the air and if you find yourself flying up into blocks, don’t worry because you’ll smash straight through them and continue upward instead of being rebounded downwards. The flying concept has been done before in Mario games but this feels different and is a good safety net. The penguin suit allows you to shoot ice just like the ice flower but as a penguin you can also slide along the ground to smash blocks and enemies and it’s pretty much a necessity on ice levels as you can walk on ice without slipping.

New item: The helicopter hat

The look of the game is going to play a major factor in game sales. My wife took one look and squealed with excitement. That is the reaction that many more casual gamers and lovers of the old series will have. Kids will see the game and straight away see their favourite game on the Nintendo DS. There’s an attachment people seem to make (including me) to the charming simple design of Mario and the Mushroom Kingdom in which he resides. Nintendo didn’t seem to feel the need to update the design far from the DS game. I would have preferred more detailed characters and backgrounds to test the Wii’s capabilities but I respect that a lot of the audience for this game don’t really care as long as it runs smoothly, carries the Mario style and has some little touches to make them smile. These boxes are all ticked. One of the things I love most is that the flowers and enemies react to the music. At certain points in the song the little turtles stop and do a little dance for two beats and the flowers bop along too. It’s totally insignificant, yet it makes me smile every time I notice. The backgrounds are very simple renders of mushroom kingdom peaks and dreary walls. Not really what I’d expect for a game that’s not doing much graphically in the foreground and after the super rich world of Mario Galaxy this doesn’t excite me one bit.

There’s not many people who wouldn’t recognize the main Mario tunes. New Super Mario Bros Wii goes the old school/new school route with all new mixes of the classic tunes along with new music in the same new age 8-bit style. It works really well for the game. There was no need for the full orchestra of Galaxy. Characters, collecting coins and bouncing off mushrooms heads all make exactly the kinds of noises you’d expect and they are as satisfying as always. The one sound I hate is the shrill ringing of the box that appears at the start of a level you’ve died on too many times.

When you die x number of times (when I tried it was 7), on the same level a green exclamation mark box will appear. Upon hitting it the game will ask if you would like to enter Super Guide Mode, where Luigi will play the level through until you ask to exit the mode. At this point you take over Luigi and carry on the level. This is there for those frustrating times when you just can’t do a level. For me it was a spit in my face when I was doing badly and I shouted abuse at the box before running swiftly away from it and straight into an oncoming missile only to be tormented by the box again. For some this is a great way to be able to progress through a game that gets too hard in certain levels. Some people, especially kids want to be allowed to experience a full game and why shouldn’t they be allowed too. Not everyone is as gifted or have as much time as the gamers who think the press button to win method is stupid. If you don’t like the box, don’t use it, it’s not there for you. The achievement of completing the game without using the box is something only those who don’t do it will experience.

Yoshi kicks ass. I wish you could keep him between levels though

This edition of Mario has a multiplayer mode where up to 4 people can play together cooperatively to try to finish the game or in a competitive mode where they compete to try to get the most coins and mess with each other. This is a great addition in theory and is undoubtedly a lot of fun. Playing alongside others makes the whole thing seem a lot funnier when you die falling down a hole because you were concentrating on shouting at the wife for wanting to pick up every last coin. You might think that cooperative multiplayer would make the game easier. In some situations it does help. For example one person can help the rest of the party get past a difficult part. As long as there is one person left playing, everyone else can press the A button to pop inside a bubble and float around completely safe until they decide to come out or the remaining player touches the bubble. This is great for getting the kids past sections where highly precise acrobatics are necessary. Sadly, though, playing alongside others in the new multiplayer mode, seems to punish for having more than one character on screen as the action becomes more hard to follow and bouncing off each others heads causes more horrible deaths in the depths of the mushroom kingdoms bottomless pits than it does good. I do however like that the option is there and, as I said, it is unmistakebly fun. Also, it’s jump in/jump out play so there’s a lot of flexibility to just sit down and start playing even if someone is in the middle of a level. There is no online multiplayer which is sorely missed as this is a game that so many people will have that it surely would have been used. Nintendo again fail to properly support online play.

I like the fact that Nintendo have brought a 2D Mario back to the home console. I think there is still a place for it, but the place for it could have been WiiWare as with a little scaling down this could have been WiiWare’s crowning piece. Of course it’s just not good business, and I fully accept that it was always going to be a disc based game as WiiWare just isn’t a big enough platform for this title to sell from. In all the game is well worth getting for Mario fans and families but I couldn’t help feeling disappointed that Nintendo didn’t try to be innovative or fresh to justify that “New” in the title.

Review Round Up

GRAPHICS – 3/5 Just like the Mario you remember on the DS, up scaled and with new levels. Some nice effects and charming, as Mario always is but I expected much better artwork for the backgrounds.

SOUND – 4/5 No new tunes really grabbed me but the mixes of classic music really sound great and fit the game perfectly. Sound effects are satisfyingly true to the franchise.

GAMEPLAY – 3/5 Nintendo sets the bar for platforming. Sadly they’ve not surpassed their own bar on this one. Difficulty will hurt the kids and suck some of the fun out but the classic structure and gameplay are still there and compared with other Wii titles this is still in the big leagues in gameplay terms.

LONGEVITY – 3/5 It shouldn’t take more than 5-6 hours to get to the end but those missing golden coins on each level will call you back for more and you might want to have a separate playthrough with the kids or friends. There’s replay value there too.

OVERALL – 3/5 I do recommend the game as I have no doubt you will have fun and kids will have to play it under the playground law. I just didn’t find it as fun and balanced as I had hoped and we should expect more on the Wii, post Mario Galaxy.

[starreview tpl=16]

Joefeesh Plays Mario Galaxy

After going all 3D in Mario 64 there was no way te next game was going to be in 2D, but where could Mario go next? Sunshine put the hearty Italian on a tropical island with a water jetpack. Strange move and, although it reviewed extremely high, it did not do anything groundbreaking and many disliked the basic water squirting gameplay.

But where Sunshine didn’t shine Galaxy beamed. The setting is a strange galaxy where star systems are made up of a mixture of small planets, tiny planetoids and asteroid fields. The real innovation is in the gravity based gameplay. Run and jump on a small enough planet and you may orbit it several times or even fly off. Sometimes head spinning and always fun. The 3D platforming is totally refined, you won’t find better.

Space, the final frontier for Mario?

Even on an HDTV the amazing visuals hold up here. There’s a certain softness and sheen that makes you want to pick up and eat everything in the game. Level design is absolute genius, surprising me even down to the last few levels.

As far as I’m concerned this is one of the greatest games ever made.

Mightyles Plays No More Heroes

Meet Travis Touchdown, Pro Wrestling enthusiast and professional Hitman. Armed with a light sabre like sword, Travis sets out to become the number one Hitman in town. In order to achieve his goal he must take down all of the higher ranking assassins in Santa Destroy, California. Of course you cannot just walk up to these people and demand a duel, it is far more complicated than that. With your trusty motorcycle you ride around town performing jobs in order to earn money and enough experience to proceed. Missions involve collecting coconuts, cleaning up garbage around Santa Destroy, and killing a certain number of opponents as quickly as possible. To say that this game is bizarre is an understatement.

Travis Touchdown, a legend already

For a game that is so narratively focused, the story is peculiar and in some parts baffling. Fortunately it is a great deal of fun to play. Between missions you can drive around the city of Santa Destroy looking for missions, and visit shops to buy upgrades. The only real downside to this is that the city itself is mostly barren, so exploring the city offers little reward. The missions themselves are fairly linear and usually only require you to kill all of the enemies and progress through the level, before you must face the boss characters. The fighting controls are mainly controlled through swiping with the remote, although you can perform wrestling moves on enemies by pressing button combinations. It is a quirky and charismatic game, full of memorable characters, and fun game play elements, creating a well rounded package of peculiarity.

Joefeesh Plays Okami

There is a debate out there that’s been going on for a long time; are games a form of art? Okami is a working argument that they are. The visual style is beautiful and although not much has changed in terms of graphics from the PS2 to the Wii (there is now widescreen) the art style is what makes the game so pretty, not the technical prowess. It’s hard to understand until you see the game in motion, and see for yourself how the world moves and feels like a living painting.

Beautiful

The game is set in a world with Gods, mythical creatures and spirits. The monster Orochi is out to turn the world into a wasteland filled with monsters. You take control of Amaterasu, the Sun God, embodied as a white wolf, using the 13 celestial brush techniques to save the world. The brush techniques are a series of symbols that can be drawn on screen using the wii-mote pointer, with varied results in combat and interacting with the environment to solve puzzles or get over obstacles.

One thing to note about Okami is the length. If you like to complete games then you have a marathon on your hands here with over 40hrs of gameplay, easily.

Mightyles Plays House of the Dead: Overkill

It seems that the Nintendo Wii is the new home for light gun games with this generation of consoles. Sega in particular have released a selection of their old arcade light gun games on the Wii, including The House of the Dead 2 and 3 Collection. Their follow up game, House Of The Dead Overkill, is a game that has been made specifically for the the Wii. The style of the game has been dramatically overhauled, moving to a graphical style similar to a 70s exploitation movie, and a world populated with quirky over the top characters. There is a film grain filter over the graphics, and the script is pure trashy B movie material, with numerous hilarious moments. In short, it is fantastic.

EAT BULLETS VILE UNDEAD BEAST!!

In the tradition of House of the Dead games you can play through the whole game either in single player or in two player co-op. As well as the story mode there are a number of zombie killing mini games, as well as a director’s cut mode that is unlocked upon completion of the game. There are a number of bonus materials to unlock, including character designs, music, videos. You can also purchase and upgrade weapons to use in the single player modes, with the amount of cash that you earn being linked to your performance on each level. While the single player can take roughly five hours to complete, all of these collectables can provide incentive for replaying the single player, as you strive to unlock more bonus content.

Joefeesh Plays Metroid Prime Trilogy

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was released on the Wii in 2007 and is the finale to one of the most renowned and critically acclaimed series in games. The first 2 games appeared on the Gamecube rebooting the Metroid franchise in 3D with great success. In this pack is all 3 games in the series, presenting a great value package for the price of a normal full game release. The first two games are also upgraded with the finely controlled pointer shooting from the most recent in the series.

Set phazors to kick ass

A first person shooter at first glance, Metroid Prime’s gameplay is heavily rooted in exploration. The story is not the typical space marine fest. In the ruins of a dead alien species, you must use phazon, a substance that is poisoning your body to enter a hyper mode and become powerful enough to stop Dark Samus before the poison takes your life. This game is not for the action junkie but for those looking to experience an adventure.

With gorgeous art design the worlds are rich and full of culture and everything runs at a super slick framerate so the action is smooth and the chugs.

Joefeesh Plays De Blob

One of the most fun games on the Wii, De Blob is a unique game that mixes painting with platforming. I use the phrase art style again because this is what games on the Wii, have to do well to look good most of the time. The Wii doesn’t do HD graphics and hasn’t got much processing power but games like De Blob look great because of their style.

Colour the world

De Blob is a living ball of paint that has taken up arms in the Resistance against the evil I.N.K.T corporation, who have drained all the colour out of Chroma City. Throwing yourself at buildings instantly paints them whatever colour you are currently. Smash pots of paint to change your colour and find all the patterns to give the city even more style as you paint it back into a vibrant, fun loving metropolis.

The things I love most about De Blob are the music that reacts dynamically to how colourful you’ve made the city and the funny video skits that you unlock as you progress and do well in the game. My 5yr old son loved to flick through the videos, and artwork which he found hilarious (so do I).

Mightyles Plays Super Smash Bros Brawl

To describe Super Smash Brothers Brawl in one word is challenging. If I were forced to do so, I would likely choose the word Hectic. Make no mistake, despite the bright colourful graphics and loveable cast of Nintendo characters, this is not a game for children. Not down to any concerns over content, but simply because this game is hard. This is the third game in the series now, and for the most part the specifics of gameplay have remained unchanged since the Nintendo 64 original. Four players stand on a level and hit each other until their damage reaches such a high level that each subsequent blow sends them flying further in to the air. The aim in this game is not to remove any arbitrary health metre, it is simply to knock your opponents off of the level, and try not to get knocked off yourself. The action is frantic and fast paced, with numerous Nintendo specific weapons, such as Pokeballs and fire flowers, falling out of the sky ready to be used by the players.

You touched Kirby's cake? DIE!!

While the core gameplay is much the same, new additions to this game include the single player Subspace Emissary mode, which mainly resembles more of a platform game than a combat game. You are tasked with leading specific characters through levels, avoiding hazards and enemies, and making it to safety. You can also collect character trophies, and pieces of music. A level creation mode has been added, which features a ton of customisation. You can share your creations online, and download the creations of others. New characters include Sonic the Hedgehog and Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid. Did I also mention that there is an online multiplayer mode? Unfortunately you need to exchange friend codes with someone in order to play them online, which can make the online mode a little bit too much of a chore to actually enjoy at first. While it is not a game for everyone – many may be put off by the sheer craziness of the game – it is difficult not to recommend.

Joefeesh Plays Excite Truck

As one of the launch titles on Wii Excite Truck remains the best racing game on the console. Massively underrated at release, Excite Truck is undoubtedly one of the most exciting arcade racers there is.

The controls take some time to get used to, partly because they are very sensitive and partly because the trucks you are driving are going so mind blisteringly fast that onlookers to the game tend to become totally disorientated, wondering how the player is managing to follow what’s going on.

Fly you fools!

The feeling of speed however is one of the games strongest points and is something that is lacking in a lot of today’s racers. I just can’t play a racing game after Excite Truck that makes me feel like I’m going 30mph when the clock is showing 90mph. It’s just so boring. Which is something nobody can call this game. Flying off massive jumps, sometimes even mountains is commonplace, smashing into other trucks is expected and driving through special markers will make the whole land deform and all of this will gain you extra points in your attempt to “S-grade” every course.

Also Excite Truck is about the only game on Wii that integrates music from your SD card into the game. And it does it well, fading out so you can just hear the wind as you fly off a massive jump to add a great feeling of height. Try listening to the Israel Kamakawiwo’ole version of Over the Rainbow while racing in Fiji in the rain and you’ll see why your own music is a must.

Mightyles Plays Madworld

Ultra stylish Sin City like graphics in which the only colour you can see comes when you brutalise one of your enemies, filling the screen with their crimson life blood. And the blood, oh the oodles of blood, and excessive violence are all in the name of sport. Madworld is a blood sport simulator that is entirely slapstick in tone. There’s something utterly hilarious about taking a stop sign from the side of a road and ramming it in to the head of an enemy you had previous trapped by sticking him in a dumpster. Did I mention that this dumpster was also on fire?

He should have read the sign

To get down to the specifics, Madworld is an arena based combat game in which you must score a certain number of points to progress to the end of the level. Each level has a unique boss who you must defeat to rise up in the ranks of the competition. Sure you can murder everyone you see with your massive chainsaw arm, but the real way to get points is to be more imaginative in your killing. The ideal combo usually involves trapping your enemy by sticking a tyre on him, impaling him with some sort of sharp implement, and then dragging him over to some environmental hazard, usually involving spikes, and waving the remote around like crazy as you splatter him in to a fine pulp. It sounds easy, but the later levels become increasingly difficult, with enemies that can kill you with one hit, and more complicated motion controls. While it is not a very long game, and can get a little tedious if you play it for prolonged periods of time, Madworld is a fun, arcadey, gory, yet humorous game that will satisfy your inner child no ends.

Joefeesh Plays Scarface: The World is Yours

If you want something along the lines of GTA on your Wii then you want either The Godfather or Scarface. Leading on straight from the film, you get to play out what would happen if Tony Montana had survived. You will act out his revenge and rise back to power.

You filthy cock-a-roach!

There’s a lot of fun to have here, with great pointer controls to aim, that feel really great. The guns are varied enough and satisfying and the violence is bloody. If you think there is no violence and swearing on the Wii, you are wrong. Although the gameplay is fun the missions and drug runs can get pretty repetitive but this doesn’t spoil the game.

The voice acting is great, Tony Montana just is Tony Montana. I couldn’t get enough of him calling people filthy cockroaches while blowing their heads off. Classic Tony. Great game.

Mightyles Plays Resident Evil 4

Surely taking one of the best games from the PS2/Xbox/Gamecube generation, porting it over to the Nintendo Wii, and tacking on motion controls sounds like an exercise in futility, never mind the fact that it sounds like a rubbish gaming experience. Colour us surprised then when we discovered that the Wii version of Resident Evil 4 may very well be the best version of this game to date. The aforementioned motion controls are intuitive and make perfect sense; moving your character with the Wii nunchuck, and using the remote itself to aim your reticule feels perfectly natural, in fact it feels more than natural, it feels like the way the game was supposed to have been played from the start. You take control of Leon S Kennedy, the protagonist from Resident Evil 2, on a mission in some vague part of Europe to rescue the President’s daughter Ashley from a weirdo druid cult. What starts out as a simple search and rescue mission soon descends in to a frantic fight for your own life against a sea of monsters and hideously deformed cult members.

Just a little closer...

Sure the game still suffers from some of the criticism levied at the game when it was originally released, namely that it is a little too long (there is a whole section of the game that takes place inside of a castle that the game could have probably done without) but that does not change the fact that Resident Evil 4 is one of the greatest action games in recent years. Perhaps it is a little damning of the Wii to say that one of their greatest games is in fact a Gamecube game, but that would be doing Resident Evil 4 a disservice. It really is that good.

And There’s More…

The above games are just a selection of the games out there. Here’s some of the other games that we didn’t write about but are definitely worth playing:

• World of Goo
• Wii Sports Resort
• Mario Strikers Charged
• Boom Blox 1 & 2
• Lost Winds 1 & 2
• Super Paper Mario
• The Legen of Zelda: Twilight Princess
• Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles
• Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars
• Murumasa: The Demon Blade (not out in UK YET)