There are not one but two titles featuring Nintendo’s plumbing duo out this week, but there’s no need to go rolling your eyes – they couldn’t be any more different from one another.
Like NES Remix, the Wii U’s Dr. Luigi has seemingly been knocked up on a tight schedule to fill a void on the eShop. We can only speculate as to how long these two were in development, but we’d wager that it wasn’t much longer than three or four months due to their simplicity.
Reviews of the £13.49 download appeared on US sites earlier this month, with most suggesting that developers Akira coped well with the short development cycle.
GameInformer in particular thought it provided a decent dose of nostalgia, giving it an 8/10. They did however find the controls “a bit finicky†for the new Operation L mode in which Luigi is armed with nothing more than L-shaped pills.
As well as both two-player local multi-player and online play, it’s also possible to play the puzzler via the GamePad. A neat touch, we think. We also approve that it features the classic ‘Fever’ music. Just you try getting that tune out of your head.
Also arriving on the Wii U eShop this week is F1 Race Stars: Powered Up Edition. Originally due out months ago, we assume Codemasters have been sitting on it until Wii U sales have improved. Although hardly the freshest racer around, it’s not exactly a bad game either. It’ll set you back £19.99.
Then on Wii U Virtual Console there’s Konami’s The Legend of the Mystical Ninja for £5.49 while Castlevania II Simon’s Quest makes its mark on 3DS VC for £3.59.
As well as hitting retail on Friday, Mario Party: Island Tour will be available on the 3DS eShop at launch, priced at £34.99. Sadly, all signs point to it being a party that’s not worth crashing.
The Metacritic currently stands at a sloppy 58%, including three 4/10 reviews from NowGamer, Destructoid and GameInformer. The Official Nintendo Magazine and GamesMaster magazine panned it too, giving it 60% and 43% respectively.
Over on PSN and XBLA Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD leads the way, priced at £15.99. As well as improved visuals over the PS Vita original, it additionally contains new missions that dive deeper into Aveline’s story. A demo is available now.
Double Dragon makes its way to PSN this week too, via MonkeyPaw Games.
It’s the first of six previous import-only PSone games which the publisher plans to release at a rate of one per week. Here, have a trailer:
Be warned though – this isn’t the side-scrolling Double Dragon that most know and love, but rather the one-on-one brawler that even fans find hard to like.
Next week: Dragon Ball Z Battle of Z (PS3, PS Vita, 360), Dead Rising Collection (360), OlliOlli (PSN), Luicifer Ring (PSN) and probably Rekoil: Liberator (XBLA).