Reviews of Splatoon – the Wii U biggest release of the year of the year so far – aren’t due to go live until later this week, but early word has it that it’s up there with Mario Kart 8 as one of the system’s finest. We’ll post a round-up as soon as reviews surface.
Those who downloaded the Splatoon Global Testfire demo can get the digital version for £31.49 instead of £34.99. The physical release is cheaper still, however, currently available to pre-order for around £25. Why so cheap? Although there is a single-player campaign, it’s primarily a multi-player experience. Some content won’t be available at launch either. Worry not – post-launch content will be free and is due this summer.
The Wii U eShop also sees the release of High Strangeness (£8.99) this week. It’s a top-down pixel art adventure likened to Secret of Mana and Zelda III. The idea is to swap between 8-bit and 16-bit visual styles to solve puzzles and progress. It was met with a positive reception when it launched on Steam earlier this month, although shortness does appear to be an issue.
Speaking of strangeness, this week’s Virtual Console offerings are a little offbeat. Ninja brawler Flying Warriors (£3.49) was never released in Europe and is a combination of two Famicom games – Hiryu no Ken II: Dragon no Tsubasa and Hiryu no Ken III: 5 Nin no Ryuu Senshi. Developers Culture Brain simply took ideas and elements out of those two games and fused them together. Thankfully they managed to avoid turning it becoming a broken and disjointed experience – it ended up being pretty decent. Then there’s Little Ninja Brothers (£3.49), a colourful two-player RPG from 1991. This also stemmed from the collective minds at Culture Brain.
Over on 3DS there’s Fossil Fighters: Frontier (£34.99), launching just before the Jurassic World hype commences. It’s Pokemon with dinosaurs, pretty much – drive around exotic lands, dig up fossils and turn them into living, monster battling, creatures. This time round there’s local and online multiplayer for up to six players. The first Fossil Fighters game didn’t exactly set the world alight. We have a feeling this’ll perform a little better.
This week’s discounts this week come courtesy of Cypronia and are in effect until 25th June. The following are reduced on Wii U: Angry Bunnies: Colossal Carrot Crusade (£2.69), Cake Ninja 3: The Legend Continues (£3.33), Color Zen (Wii U/3DS – £2.24), Color Zen Kids (Wii U/3DS -£2.24), My Style Studio: Hair Salon (Wii U/3DS – £3.35) and My Style Studio: Notebook (Wii U/3DS – £2.15). On 3DS only meanwhile there’s Angry Bunnies (£2.69), Bubble Pop World (£3.35) and Fishdom H2O: Hidden Odyssey (£3.35).
The discounts don’t end there – BLOK DROP U, BLOK DROP X TWISTED FUSION and TABLETOP GALLERY on Wii U are all set for a hefty price cut come Thursday while the magnificent SteamWorld Dig on 3DS gets a permanent drop to £6.99.