Splatoon
Played on: Wii U
Genre: Third-person shooter, 3D platformer
Developer / Publisher: Nintendo
I
have something to confess: I'm not big on online multiplayer. The lack
of face-to-face interaction generally means I simply don't have as much
fun as when I gather friends on my living room to play, for example,
extended sessions of Super Smash Bros. What I am big on, however, is
great gameplay, and in that regard Splatoon made me a believer.
Thirty-five hours in, I'm utterly enthralled by its endless stream of
addictive three-minute ink-shooting matches, and I'm convinced this new
franchise is going to be a massive player in the Nintendo IP roster
going forward.
Don't Starve: Giant Edition
Played on: Wii U
Genre: Action-adventure, sandbox, survival
Developer: Klei Entertainment
Originally
released for PC two years ago (and, subsequently, for the Playstation 4
and Vita), Don't Starve is a gem of a game that stands as one of the
most unique titles in the Wii U e-Shop. From the get-go, it drops the
player into a Tim Burton-esque fantasy wilderness filled with resources,
animals, monsters, and what seems like an endless string of open-ended
gameplay possibilities. Your goal is to find a way survive, one day at a
time, and perhaps some day build your very own one-man empire to rule
these lands. Before that, though you'll die. A lot.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D
Played on: 3DS
Genre: Action-adventure
Developer: Grezzo / Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
If
you ask any seasoned Zelda veteran to name the most unique entry in the
series, Majora's Mask is likely to be their choice. The original
Nintendo 64 version followed in the footsteps of Ocarina of Time, which
was a pioneer of 3D exploration and is to this day considered one of the
most important games of all time. This makes Nintendo's decision to go
fresh here even bolder, and the resulting title will, at many times,
make you wish more developers followed this philosophy more often.
Donkey Kong 64
Played on: Wii U (Virtual Console)
Originally available on: Nintendo 64
Genre: 3D platformer, collect-a-thon
Developer: Rare
Publisher: Nintendo
The
epic adventures of the Kong family were Nintendo's last trump card for
the 16-bit generation. As such, it was pretty obvious they would
eventually get a 64-bit outing. Rather than rest on its laurels, though,
developer Rare decided to take the series into a bold new direction,
and the result is probably the most hardcore 3D collect-a-thon game
there ever was. Given that collecting stuff in video games is a passion
first instilled in me by the Donkey Kong Country series on the SNES, the
prospect of an open-world, 3D, fully explorable DK Isle with
collectibles galore sounds like heaven. A few significant flaws aside,
that's exactly what it felt like throughout my adventure.
Elliot Quest
Played on: Wii U (e-Shop)
Genre: 2D platformer, open-world adventure
Developer: Ansimuz Games
Publisher: PlayEveryWare
Recently, I decided to give another try to Zelda II: Adventure of Link, the NES game which took the beloved series in an interesting new direction. Sadly, I realized there was a small detail I had forgotten since I played it as a kid: the game is frustratingly, unfairly difficult, even with the advent of save states. I still love its structure, however, so I was quite pleased by the announcement of Elliot Quest, a game directly inspired by Link's second 8-bit outing. After playing it for much longer than I anticipated (over 20 hours), I was left pleasantly surprised by the sheer quality of its design.
