The fertile ground that is the Nintendo eShop is in full fruition this week, with dozens of new indie releases and an assortment of decent discounts.
Skylanders SuperChargers is due on the Wii U eShop too, but at £44.99 sans figures (obviously) it’s a hard sell even for those with an older portal laying around – the full starter set, which includes a nifty Donkey Kong Skylander/amiibo hybrid plus other bits, is just £8 more in physical form at both GAME and Amazon.
According to the press release, paranormal platformer Extreme Exorcism (£9.99 or £8.49 for those who downloaded the recent preview version) is due out Wednesday – a day earlier than expected. This is presumably to keep it in line with the PS4, Xbox One and PS3 versions which are also out Wednesday. The twist in this 2D pixel-art affair is that every ghost killed comes back to haunt you, mimicking your every move. In this game, you really are your own worst enemy. There are no reviews yet but early previews were encouraging.
Then we have Curve Digital’s turn-based sci-fi adventure Nova-111 (£8.99 until 8th Oct, £11.99 thereafter). If this one rings a bell it’ll be because it launched on PS4 and Xbox One last month, albeit quietly. “Nova-111 is an enjoyable turn-based adventure game that manages to impress with its refreshing controls and charming art style. Though it does have some flaws, such as a lacklustre auto-save feature and a cumbersome amount of abilities, you’ll be hard pressed to find a weirder and more brilliant tribute to the men and women who changed the world through science†said Push Square.
A bunch of other Curve Digital titles are reduced this week, incidentally, including Stealth Inc 2: A Game of Clones (£3.99), Thomas Was Alone (£2.20), Lone Survivor: The Director’s Cut (£2.99), The Swapper (£3.99) and skateboarding sim OlliOlli (£2.49). Price drops are in effect until 8th October.
Getting back to new games, the Wii U also sees the release of The Rivers of Alice: Extended Version (£7.19) – a fantasy adventure with watercolour visuals that went down well on Android systems. We imagine it’s worth a look.
That’s being joined by The Quiet Collection (£2.99), which contains ‘old skool’ style adventure games Quiet, Please!, Quiet Christmas, Vacation Vexation and Candy, Please! Nintendo Life found it to be mildly entertaining, if a little short and lacking in replay value. Apparently the first two games in the collection can be beaten in less than fifteen minutes.
Those who own Rock ‘N Racing Off Road – not to be confused with the stone cold classic Rock ‘n Roll Racing – can pick up the enhanced DX edition for £2.73 this Thursday too. Newcomers however have to cough up £7.19. We aren’t entirely sure what the improvements are as the press release simply mentions things like “amazing jumps†and “loads of skidsâ€. It’s safe to assume the original had these ‘features’ too.
The final Wii U release for this week is Natsume’s 3D shooter Brave Tank Hero (£4.99), also due on 3DS for £4.49. Despite coming from a renown developer – Arc System Works, of Blazblue and Guilty Gear fame – the 3DS version is allegedly mediocre at best while the Wii U iteration is approaching catastrophic. “Even when over-viewing the flaws of the game, there are not enough redeeming qualities to make it a worthwhile experience; there is no replay value, not even local multiplayer†said Nintendo Life in their review of the handheld version.
Thankfully Natsume has redeemed themselves with Gotcha Racing (£4.99) on 3DS. This top-down racer features a novel upgrade system – all add-ons are randomly acquired from capsule toys. Nintendo Life cast their critical eye over this one too, giving it an impressive 8/10. “It distills the most complex elements of sim-style racers down into a simple, enjoyable formula that works on every level†was their final verdict. With no sign of a new Micro Machines game, this could very well suffice until somebody finally picks up that once prestigious license.