The 'Shroom:Issue LXXIX/Critic Corner

Critic Corner

Director's Notes
Hello hello. Goodbye goodbye. I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello.

September Section of the Month
With an incredibly low voter turnout, last month wasn’t a particularly fascinating competition. But a victory is a victory, and I’m just hoping we start getting more votes in future issues, so congrats to for his Entertainment Section, which reviewed a Smash Bros.-themed fan-music video. Well done!

I’m going back to sleep.

NSM's Review Corner
Hey guys, it’s NSM, back this month reviewing games again! Now I really wanted to get a review for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, but I have had very little time to game lately, so I couldn’t. However, expect that review sometime in the future.

So yes, I’ve decided to go with an older game this month, since the new game I wanted to review, can no longer be reviewed. I was going to review Crash Team Racing for you guys, but then I realized. I hadn’t reviewed Nintendo Land yet!

Yes, everyone’s favorite Wii U packaged game. Let’s begin. Now I’m guessing a lot of you know already that Nintendo Land is just a bunch of different games, so this reviews will be structured differently. Instead of reviewing the entire game out of ten, I’ll be reviewing each minigame out of five instead. So yes, no pros or cons at the bottom either. Just the minigames. Alright, I’ll begin with the single player games since they typically are worse…

Yoshi’s Fruit Cart is one game that I think utilizes the gamepad really well. Basically, you play as a Yoshi cart, and there is fruit on the TV screen. However, you must use the gamepad to draw the path the Yoshi cart will follow to eat the fruit by looking at the fabric patterns of the bottom. I really enjoyed this game, and thought it was pretty simple. Really, I have no problems with this game. 4.5/5

Alright, now on to Octopus Dance. Basically, I’m sorry if you’ll ever have to play this game. It’s just awful. While heavily amusing with all the crap happening on in the background, this game simply is a boring rhythm game that pretty much fails. Seriously, don’t play this game. 0/5

Donkey Kong’s Crash Course is amazing at least! It was probably my favorite out of all the single player games. You basically just tilt the gamepad to move through a “crash course” collecting bananas and pushing buttons as you go. It’s really addictive and fun, and you always want to play it again to see if you can get farther than you did last time. 5/5

Takamaru’s Ninja Castle was just meh. You see it and it looks really cool, but it’s just kinda boring when you’re actually playing it. I do think holding it sideways and flicking the gamepad made it feel like you were actually throwing ninja stars though. I give it a 2.5/5

Captain Falcon’s Twister Race is pretty good. You hold it sideways as well (which I’m not sure why, actually). It’s a nice homage to the original F-Zero and plays similar. Now we just need Nintendo to make an ACTUAL F-Zero game. 4/5

Balloon Trip Breeze is awesome! I love the original Balloon Fighter, so I mean, it only improves upon that aspect. You use the stylus to make little breezes that push your balloon fighter forward to pop balloons and avoid obstacles. Pretty fun game, and increasingly difficult too. 4.5/5

Alright, I’ll review the three Co-op games now.

The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest, I thought was pretty fun. Players with the Wii Remotes play as swordsmen, and the player with the gamepad plays as an archer. (which I really enjoyed). The combat it really great, and it’s pretty similar to the Wii Sports Resort swordplay game. Overall, really good, just make sure you have some friends. 4/5

Pikmin Adventure, however, you don’t really need friends. The game is equally great whether you play it alone or co-op. It’s pretty similar to Pikmin, actually just not as strategic and more based on combat. The gameplay player plays as Olimar, and the Wii Remote players play as GIANT Pikmin. Yes. You heard me. Giant Pikmin. 4/5

Metroid Blast is probably my favorite Co-Op game. The player with the gamepad plays as a spaceship and the Wii Remote players plays as Samus. I don’t play much Metroid, but there is just SO much to do in this mode. You will not be disappointed. The boss battles and combat is just great and the motion controls feel natural. 4.5/5

The final three games are the multiplayer games which are no question, the best. I’m just going to say these all get 5/5.

In Animal Crossing: Sweet Day, players play against the guards by collecting candy on the ground or in trees. If the guards catch them three times, they win. If the other players collect enough candy, they win. The guards are tricky to play as at first (since you play with both of them using the two analog sticks separately) but you get the hang of it after playing a while. The other players have and even better job. They must collect candy by picking it up off the ground or getting them out of trees with one switch for one person, two switches for two people, or three switches for three people. However, if you have to much candy you slow down, making you an easy target for the guards, forcing you to “drop the load” as my friends and I would say, losing some of your candy. Sweet Day is really fun, and is great with friends.

In Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, the gamepad player plays as a ghost (who the tv players can’t see on the tv, and can only tell if the ghost is near through vibrations) Basically if the ghost gets you, you die and have to be revived with flashlight power. If the ghosts get all of the players before the time is out, they win, and if the players deplenish the ghost’s energy, they win. By collecting more batteries, your flashlight can get stronger allowing you to do more damage. Getting the really powerful battery though gives you a burst of light which is always great for reviving people. Overall, it’s an awesome game.

The last game is Mario Chase, which is easily the best game. It’s just tag! The gamepad player runs and the other players have to chase them. If the gamepad player doesn’t get caught in time, they win, and if the players catch them before time is up they win. It requires a lot of communication so you know where to go. Shouting out the name of the colored section really helped a lot when playing. It’s also important to make sure the gamepad player doesn’t get the invincibility star when it appears in the center. While it seems like a simple concept, Mario Chase is really one of the only few Nintendo Land games that has kept us still playing it.

Got an idea for a game I should review? PM me, NSM, on the forums!

Should Have Been
Welcome one, welcome all. You may remember me. I used to write Should Have Been. I still write Should Have Been, though that's the part you probably have trouble remembering. My poor time management and large amounts of other work that give me about four hours of free time every night (about half of that taken up with some homework I've procrastinated until the night before it's due in) have led me to neglect this section in recent months, but nonetheless I stand before you today a changed man. Well, not really, I just hit my head on something and now I've gone mad enough to do something productive. Please seek immediate medical attention for me.

As you probably can't remember, in Should Have Used This Joke Earlier in the Section Been, we look at a game and nitpick at it relentlessly see what I thought should have been in it, and then for some odd reason at a few beta elements too, because that definitely ties in with the last part. I was going to write you something last month - I started a section about Nintendo Land, as I had just acquired a Wii U, but I managed to lose all the progress I made on that. Nonetheless, second time lucky. Today I'll be asking what should have been in Nintendo Land.

it came with the wii u, okay?

What should have been in this game?
(Please note that I've only experienced this game in single-player, as I have no friends I Have No Other Jokes Than Strikethrough And I Must Scream I have neglected to play this game with anyone else at the moment)

Despite any small words you may have read above, Nintendo Land's a fine game. It turned out to be better than I expected, and I've found myself wasting hours with it in the past. However, I just think there's something missing that would make it a great game. I'm not sure what it is, but, nonetheless, it just doesn't feel fantastic. Also, sometimes I think the game tries too hard to impress, but I guess it's meant to show off the Wii U's capabilites, so there's that. I have some other complaints but it's best if I leave them for later so I actually have something to talk about. Nonetheless, let's go:

Firstly, I think all of the attractions should be avaliable to play in single-player. The Competetive Attractions (Mario Chase, Luigi's Ghost Mansion and Animal Crossing: Sweet Day) can only be played with two players, or if you try desperately and probably fail miserably to use both the Gamepad and the Wii remote at the same time, which I certainly haven't tried myself because I'm not that sad. Nope. Not at all. Either way, I understand that these games need at least two players to even function, but I think you should have been able to play these games with computer players as well as human players. Same goes for the Team Attractions (The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest, Pikmin Adventure and Metroid Blast), because, although they do work in single-player, it's much better experiencing a Team Attraction as part of a...uh, what's the word?...oh, a group.

One of my main complaints in the game would be that you aren't able to save your progress during any (or most, at least) of the Attractions. Sometimes I find myself losing just as I'm starting to really enjoy an Attraction, and, when I want to play again, I hate how I have to restart from the first hurdle. It'd be great if you could save and then come back later, or have somewhere to continue from if you do get a game over. The fact that you can't just makes every game seem too temporary, in my opinion. You'll always get coins for at least participating, but there's not really much progress to make in the games themselves, and I'm pretty sure that's what everybody really cares about. I mean, some of the games seem like really fun and innovative applications, such as Yoshi's Fruit Cart, for example, but I hardly ever get past a certain level and just keep playing the same parts again and again, and it starts to feel less enjoyable.

I lightly touched upon this earlier in the section, but, again, I'd like to make the point that I think the game just tries too hard sometimes. I mean, for example, the large amount of Miis walking around the theme park is an interesting touch and I get that they're trying to show the capability of the Wii U, but don't they already do that with the similarly large amount of Miis walking around the menu? It's nice, but, honestly, it feels like they're trying too hard. Also, I don't like how, sometimes, particularly in Octopus Dance and Captain Falcon's Twister Race and maybe somewhere else(?), the game shows a view of your face from the Gamepad's camera. I really can't see any point to that. Does anybody even want their face to be shown on the screen - especially while they're concentrating really hard on something? I mean, it just seems pointless to me.

The controls for the Attractions are fine, mostly. There's only one I have trouble with: Donkey Kong's Crash Course. I don't know if it's just me, but the controls for that seem horrendous to me. They're way too sensitive, in my opinion.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any beta elements for this game, so I guess that's all from me. You can still suggest a game for me to cover by sending me a PM on the Super Mario Boards. See you around.

Smash Time
Hey guys, its NSM, welcome to Smash Time! I’m already writing this section rather late, so this month I’ll just be running through the characters only. Please, send me a PM if you have any ideas for future issues. Anyway, since the last issue Toon Link and Sonic were announced.

When Toon Link was announced I just wanted to cry. I was really hoping for a Masked Link or something! But no we get a clone instead. I would be fine if they changed his moveset up a bit, but everything we’ve seen looks exactly the same! It’s just frustrating, considering the face Sakurai already mentioned the roster size might not be as big this time AND the fact he said he didn’t want much clone characters. I’ll be willing to forgive Nintendo if they add Ghirahim, but if we don’t get a new Zelda rep and Toon Link is here, I’ll be pretty devastated. I just really hope I’m not the only Toon Link hater out there… I mean, I get that Nintendo wants to advertise Wind Waker HD (which btw, is a great game), but I don’t think that means a clone character should be rushed in just for that. I’d rather have had them reveal Zelda and reveal a new moveseted Toon Link later. But whatevs, I’m done ranting.

Sonic’s reveal is pretty awesome though. I mean, now we have Mario, Link, Sonic, and Mega Man in a game together which is just amazing. I’m happy for Sonic fans, even though I never really played as him since I didn’t care for his moveset (which also seems quite unchanged). I wish they would have made him a bit slower since the speed really bothered me in Brawl. But it seems all of his same moves are back (which is like what, all of those little spin things?), I mean, I’m just saying there is plenty of potential to change his moveset up a bit instead of just bringing out characters to advertise their games.

Speaking of advertising, POKEMON! What the heck we don’t even get a reveal for the giant, worldwide release of Pokemon X and Y? I would have loved to see some character there. But I suppose their waiting on bigger reveals for E3 and stuff. I’ve never played Pokemon (but I’ll admit, the 3D makes it look a lot better), but it shocked me that we didn’t even get anything that day.

Well, that’s all for now then guys, talk to you all next month!