Plague of Shadows is free DLC content for the game Shovel Knight where you get to play as the character Plague Knight. This free DLC pack comes with the ability to do a challenge mode where you can complete many different challenges for each knight. This will be unlockable when you beat the game once with Shovel Knight and Plague Knight. That isn't everything that came with this great DLC content. If you've beaten the normal game with Shovel Knight you will unlock the ability to play as Plague Knight. The levels and map layout are all still the same but it is very much a different game. You step in the shoes of Plague Knight where you have abilities such as throwing bombs. Just like with Shovel Knight, Plague Knight can also gather special items and customize his attacks. Each bomb has a certain fuse and certain explosive style that you can choose from which is needed to overcome certain obstacles.
Each boss, each level are played differently with Plague Knight.
Plague Knight in a nutshell is very different from Shovel Knight. You can gather potions in order to increase your health, you need to gather coins in order to upgrade the shop and buy new attack items and Plague Knight has to move throw each level very different heavily relying on his exploding jumps. Plague Knight has no shovel to bounce off certain obstacles. Instead if you hold down the jump button and let go he will launch himself straight up or side ways. Plague Knight also has a double jump but doesn't jump as high as Shovel Knight does. Plague Knight even has his own armor sets as well which each have their own unique effects.
The level design is of coarse flawless as ever. There is a bunch of new music scrolls you are able to collect and unlock. Playing as Plague Knight feels completely different and more of a challenge than Shovel Knight. Plague Knight is also as long if not longer than the original game and it is FREE. Plague Knight's story is very unique from Shovel Knight's but both have to do with love overall. Overall Plague Knight is a fantastic addon and is something that most developers need to do with their games. I look forward to the next piece of DLC they release.
Super Mario Maker is exclusive to the Nintendo Wii U. Super Mario Maker allows users to create, download, and play user created levels made by the community. The game starts off with a very minimum amount of items you are able to use to create your levels. The amount of things a person can create is endless. With a recent patch you do not have to wait for the full 9 days to unlock all of the content. The more you create, the more things you will unlock. Or do it the cheap way and spam blocks endlessly until you unlock all the content OR just move the clock forward day by day. Either way everything will eventually be unlocked.
The Creation Screen!
There are four different version of Mario you can create with. First is Super Mario Bros for the NES. There is also Super Mario 3, Super Mario World, and "NEW" Super Mario Bros. U. By default you get Super Mario Bros. and "NEW" Super Mario Bros. U. You acquire the other two by unlocking them. How the creation process works is you select what type of Mario world you would like to create in. From there you slowly start to build your level by using the tools provided on the top of the screen. Everything imaginable is provided for you with some really cool unique twists. For example you can have multiple Bowser's stacked on each other, you can super-size any item or enemy with a mushroom, you can add customer sound effects to anything, you can make bullet bill cannons shoot super stars or springs, the possibilities are endless it seems. At first you are only able to upload 10 creations online for other players to play. In order to unlock more you need other players to "star" your creations. You get 50 stars you will earn a second coin which will allow you to upload 20 levels. So make sure they are quality levels!
You can do anything!
If you are the type of person who would rather play custom creations and not create then there is a mode for you as well. You can start by playing 10 Mario Challenge which are all custom Nintendo made levels. If you beat all of them you will unlock the levels they played at the Nintendo World Champions. Once you complete that you can try the 100-Mario Challenge which provides the player with 100 lives. The player has a choice to either play on easy, normal, or expert. They all give you 100 lives so choose which is best for your skill level. Once the player completes one you are able to unlock 100 random costumes which you can use in the original Super Mario Bros. as pixelated costumes. There is one other mode you can choose from and that is Makers. In this mode you can pick which levels you want to play based on categories such as Up and Coming, Most Starred, and Featured. In here the player will be able to pick levels of interest and try to complete them. You also have the option of downloading the levels for yourself.
So much Unlockables!
Super Mario Maker is great at what it offers and allows you to do. The really only complaint I would make about Mario Maker is the fact that some of the random levels you play should not belong on certain playlists. For example you might be playing on Expert mode and receive an auto level where you don't have to press a single button to complete the lever. Another example might be the over the top levels where everything is a troll or there are tons of enemies stacked upon each other. A lot of annoyances but I believe it will get better once more people play these levels and they get put into their respective skill levels. Overall Super Mario Maker is a ton of fun and is highly recommended to anyone who owns a Nintendo Wii U.
Release Date: January 8th, 2015 (Wii U), September 30th, 2014 (XB1, PS4, PC)
Date Reviewed: January 8th, 2015
Chariot is a puzzle plat-former where the goal is to pull, push and guide a Chariot around each level collection treasure and special items. Each level get increasingly harder and longer with challenges on each level as you complete them. After your first run though a level you unlock additional modes and areas for that same level. After the completion of a level you also acquire gold from all of the treasure you have collected overall. You use this gold to purchase upgrades and new items to make your adventure a little easier but to also over come new obstacles in the later levels. Chariot is a well lengthened game that you can spend hours upon hours on unlocking everything and even just going through each level. Each level is a minimum of 15 minutes or longer if you aren't rushing through it. Collect as much treasure as possible because you will need the gold.
"Papercuts Scare me to Death!"
Chariot is a very pleasing game with lots of humour, and adventures. The big selling point of this game is the cooperative play. Chariot makes it so that if you play with a friend you can overcome even more challenges and get more rewards for your efforts. Chariot is designed for cooperative play. You are obviously able to play solo but it is much more enjoyable with a friend. With cooperative play there are challenges that you and a friend are able to do. If you do these challenges you are able to get diamonds which gives you a lot of gold. It is well worth the frustration sometimes.
Co-op is great in Chariot!
Chariot is a very beautiful game visually with tons of colors, unique art work, beautiful environments and even other NPC's. Each level has it's own unique look and feel to it. The character models and animations are extremely well done and really captures each of the characters personality. Chariot's soundtrack is top notch as well. Again, each zone has their own unique music and sounds which really sets the mood for each zone.
In Conclusion Chariot is a must own indie developed game. What I love most about the Wii U version of the game is obviously the tablet feature where you are able to have one person play on the TV and the other play on the tablet anywhere in the house. The one thing I do wish they would have done is add more features with the tablet for in game. Maybe even something small such as interacting with the environment with your finger. If you are looking for a good sit down cooperative game Chariot is perfect for that.
The latest Super Smash Bros for the 3DS is the 4th entry in the series and a very popular and high demand video game. This version brings another huge roster as well as plenty of new characters to the game. The 3DS version brings a bunch of new modes which really extends the life of the game as we wait for the Wii U version. You have your classic mode where you fight random characters. This version you get to choose which patch you want to go. For example if you choose the red path the entire time it will be harder. Blue is easy and green is normal difficulty. The higher the difficulty the more coins and rewards you will get. Some of these rewards offer coins, new customizable moves, costumes, and trophies. The next mode is All Star mode which has been in the previous games. In order to experience the entire All Star mode you will need to have unlocked every single character. This mode takes you through the years of Nintendo characters like in the previous ones. Multi-man melee makes a return as well but instead of wire frame enemies you face a bunch of Mii characters. Home Run mode is back where you see how far you can hit the sand bag with the home run bat for each character. A new mode added is target blast. In this mode you have 10 seconds to launch a bomb from the platform and blow up as much targets as possible. Sort of like angry birds. You also have trophy rush mode where you are able to get a ton of coins and trophies. You also have a challenge mode. This really isn't a mode it's more like an achievement system where you complete certain challenges and unlock new stages, trophies, costumes and skills. Then you have your typical online mode where you can fight for glory or for fun. For glory is just a battle mode where every map is a final destination mode and no items are allowed. For fun is all default maps and all items are allowed and enabled. The last mode I want to cover is Smash Run. Now Smash Run would be a lot better if it was allowed to be played online but do not think will work well due to the lag. You start smash run in a huge dungeon where you complete objective and kill as much enemies as you can to power up your stats. At the end of the run you fight with 3 others and see who comes out on top. You can be climbing to the top the fastest, have a basic smash battle, or even race to see who wins and who uses their stats wisely.
Tortimer Island!
Super Smash Bros. also has a fantastic soundtrack with a lot of returning tracks as well as brand new ones. A lot of the new ones are remixes like Dr. Wiley's Castle which is just great. The entire game runs at 60FPS with some pretty nice visuals which is very impressive for the Nintendo 3DS. However the animations for each of the assist trophies are at 30FPS which is completely fine. The Nintendo 3DS can only handle so much. Since the 3DS is much smaller than a TV each character as a dark border around them to see them much easier which can also be customized to make it thicker or thinner. Another cool feature is you can use your Mii characters as fighters and completely customize their abilities, stats and their costumes. There are three different types of fighting styles that the Mii's can use. They vary from swordfighter, fist fighter and gun fighter. You can even unlock badges and equipment to improve your Mii's stats so if you want to stack speed or power you can. Only thing is you cannot use these stats or customization options when you are fighting other players online. On top of that you are able use different skills for current characters which again you can use online against other players but is a great addition to the game to try the different abilities and combos.
Little Mac makes and Appearance.
Overall in Super Smash Bros. 3DS there are a ton of features that will keep you occupied for hours on end. Tons of modes, options, unlockables, customization and decent online multiplayer. Super Smash Bros. is a must own game for all Nintendo fans and current fans of the series. This makes me even more excited to purchase the Wii U version which is set to release on November 21, 2014. The Wii U version will offer even mor modes and options apart from the 3DS, will have the same characters, different levels, and much higher visual quality. Great work Nintendo.
Hyrule Warriors for the Nintendo Wii U is created by the company who made the Dynasty Warriors series. Hyrule Warriors is not part of the Legend of Zelda storyline, it is its own separate entry. Hyrule Warriors is almost exactly like Dynasty Warriors with the main difference being that it takes place in the Zelda universe where you can play with a wide variety of characters such as Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, Agitha, and even Princess Ruto of the Zora's. With Hyrule Warriors there is a lot of different modes to play on such as your Legend Mode which is the story mode. There is also Free Mode where you can play as any character on any mission you've completed on Legend Mode. There is an Adventure Mode which seems to be the favorite, including mine. In Adventure Mode you play on a classic map from Zelda 1. There are 128 different tiles to unlock and explore from the original Zelda game. In each tile there is an objective to complete to unlock additional rewards, weapons, and even characters. Adventure Mode is pretty unique, challenging and very fun. With Adventure Mode you may have to do some grinding with certain characters to increase their level, get better weapons and giving them more abilities to take down some of the challenges. You also need to play Adventure Mode in order to unlock the final four characters in the game. The rest of the Characters can be earned playing Legend Mode. The final mode to play is called Challenge Mode which is to take on difficult challenges.
Fast paced action, hundreds of enemies.
Hyrule Warriors also offers co-op where one player plays on the television and the other plays on the Wii U tablet. Co-op mode is very fun but has some flaws due to the Wii U's limitations. In order to allow co-op on the Wii U they had to lower the resolution for the player who is on the television. It looks like a Wii game and the frame rate is lowered with noticeable choppiness. This does not make the co-op mode any less fun but people who are all about "DEM GRAPHICS" probably will be turned off by the visuals. You can play any mode with another player. There is however no online co-op which I think is a good idea because you will be experiencing a lot of lag with all of the action that is going on the screen at all times.
The visuals of the game overall are very nice and runs at 60FPS on single player. The in game cinematics look fantastic, the huge environments, and the visual effects are all great as well. Most of the soundtrack is from previous Zelda games in the series. Some of the soundtrack are new and you can tell it feels like they belong in the Dynasty Warriors universe but it does get your adrenaline pumping when fighting bosses or even large crowds of enemies. The story is nothing new and overall not that great but I can see why. It would be very hard to create a fascinating story with what they had. You travel through different time points in the Zelda universe. You travel through Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, and also Skyward Sword. They will be adding a lot of new content every month up until February so get the season pass if you want to experience more. On average to complete all mission in the game you're looking at about 50+ hours to get it all completed. There is a lot to do and this game can be played for hours and hours, heck you don't even notice the time passing while you are playing it half the time.
King Dodongo is back!!
Overall Hyrule Warriors is a fantastic entry into the Zelda series. They took a very different approach to Zelda and it is very nice to get away from their basic formula and go all out killing hundreds upon thousands of enemies all at once. There is so much to do in the game and it is really fun to be able to unlock a lot of different weapons for each character, unlocking new abilities, combos, etc.... There is so much to this game and is a fantastic addition to the Wii U family. If you like Zelda, and Dynasty Warriors then I highly recommend this game to add to your collection.
Shovel Knight takes another whack at the classic plat forming genre. The style for Shovel Knight takes place in the NES era. With classic 8 bit graphics and 8 bit sounds/music. It has a mixture between Megaman, Castlevania, and Mario. It mixes these three great games together to make its own step into the classic plat forming series. The game plays just like you would expect it if you've ever played an NES plat forming game before. Feels exactly like the three games I mention above. Shovel Knight feels like a fresh entry overall. The basic principle of the game is going through different levels; beat each knight to advance forward and save the Shield Knight from the evil Enchantress. You are a knight that wields a shovel as his weapon of choice. You attack with your shovel and perform certain tasks to venture through each level with this mighty shovel. From downward thrusts so you can bounce on objects and enemies to swooping your shovel to deal with enemies, the shovel has many uses. Each boss knight has its own special attack and abilities. Just like in Megaman you need to find out what their patterns are to defeat them. Some of these bosses are not the easiest.
Ahhhh Classic.
In Shovel Knight you can even upgrade your shovel to perform new attacks. Shovel Knight can also purchase new armor that has different effects to the player. Just like in Mario you are on an over world map and you are able to choose any level, any time. Sometime on the world map there are random events as in mini boss battles, and treasure to grab by using certain items. If you are the type of person that needs to collect everything than you can even collect music notes. Return these music notes to the bard in town and he will buy them off of you for 500 gold a piece. When you give the bard these music notes he will add them to your collection so you can go back and speak with him at any time and listen to the music you have unlocked. Shovel Knight provides an excellent difficulty level as well just like in the classic plat formers. It starts off moderately easy and then picks right up and ups the difficulty level. Some levels make you want to pull your hair out but in the end are very rewarding when you finally beat it.
Graphics/Visuals:
Shovel Knight is an 8 bit plat forming adventure. It takes place during the NES generation of plat form gaming. The visuals and style of artwork is outstanding. Very colourful game, great looking backgrounds, fantastic looking enemies, great animations and NPC’s. All in all it is a very nice looking 8 bit game and a fantastic edition to the NES plat forming series.
Epic Boss Battles!
Soundtrack/Music:
Wow. Shovel Knight has one of the most amazing soundtracks I have even heard in the 8 bit era. Each and every song is unique, different, and makes your ears sing. You can tell they put their heart and soul into this game, into the music. The music is so good that it’s making me unlock and find all of the music notes hidden in the game. I often find myself going back to the main town just to listen to the music I have unlocked. Each boss, each level, and zone has its own unique soundtrack and every single one of them is a breath of fresh air. You can even get the entire soundtrack on download; it is very well worth it. Some people even got this game just because of the amazing soundtrack.
Epic Soundtrack!
Final Thoughts:
Shovel Knight is a breath of fresh air to the 8 bit plat forming series. It feels very familiar yet very new. With a mixture of the greatest plat forming NES games with a hint of its own style, Shovel Knight is a fantastic addition. Beautiful music, addicting and challenging game play, and beautiful art work, Shovel Knight is a must purchase. In fact I purchased it for all three platforms! My recommendation is to buy it on the 3DS or the Wii U just because you can quickly switch between all of them items with just a tap of your finger. The PC version provided no quick select tool.
I’ve been a big fan of the entire Mario Kart series
since the very first one on the SNES. I have played and owned all of
them at some point. I even enjoyed Mario Kart: Double Dash immensely for
the Nintendo Gamecube. I just recently bought
a Wii U to add to my collection and decided to buy the Mario Kart 8
Deluxe Edition. I to this day love my new Wii U and the games I have for
it. Enjoy the review!
Gameplay:
Mario Kart 8 (MK8) is a breath of fresh air to the
series. The very first Mario Kart game to be HD on the big screen! MK8
plays like any other Mario Kart game. There is a great new mechanic in
MK8 that adds a “WOW” factor to the races.
The new mechanic is anti-gravity. With this mechanic you can basically
race in any direction! You drive upside down, around in loops, etc… This
adds new dynamic to the Mario Kart. With this new mechanic they can
create new and refreshing courses to future
Mario Kart games. Even with Mario Kart 8, these courses are really
enjoyable. MK8 also offers some new items to use against other racers.
One of these new items is the boomerang. Using this item allows you to,
you guessed it, throw a boomerang ahead or behind
you and it comes right back to you. You can throw the boomerang up to 3
times in front of you or behind you. When you throw it, the boomerang
will go ahead and then circle back to you allowing you to throw it
again. Very handy item if you have the accuracy
to use it like the green shell. Another new item added to the game is
the “8” item. When you use this you will get 8 items that circle around
you. Some of these items include a star, a bomb omb, a banana and a
green shell. Whichever item is in front of you
circling, you will use that item first.
Anti Gravity is the new Mechanic.
Coins make their way back into MK8 as well. These
coins will help you unlock new karts, wheels, and parasails. There are a
lot to unlock with these coins so make sure you collect them. You can
collect up to 10 per race. Drift boosting also
makes a return to MK8 but it is much easier to do this time around.
Simply press and hold the right of left trigger to drift and continue to
hold it to get a boost when you let go of it. There are also many
different characters that you can unlock in MK8.
Unlocking characters is extremely easy. By completing courses and
earning cups you will always unlock a random character. Some of these
characters include Rosalina, Toadette, and all of the Koopa Kids. The
Wii U tablet can be used as a controller or can be
used as a secondary screen which displays the race track and all of the
racers. The same modes are back as well including Grand Prix, Versus,
Time Trials, and Battle. All of these can be played online while Time
Trials gives you uploaded ghost data to race
against.
Online racing in MK8 is fantastic. The Wii version
had a lot of lag issues while racing online. MK8 puts you up against 11
other people per race and I have not experienced any lagging or hiccups
in my connection while racing. If you need
something to do besides earning trophies in Grand Prix then give the
online modes a try. It is great if you are racing competitively or just
for fun. You start off with 1000 points and depending how well you do
you will earn a certain amount of points. But
if you’re coming in 10th, 11th, or 12th
all of the time then you will slowly start to lose points. It’s a good
system especially if you are very good at the game. What I mean by that
is Nintendo tries to promote “just have
fun” feel online instead of “you have 18 losses and 2 wins, you suck”.
This way people don’t really care and race to have fun. At the time of
this review my score is at 1600.
Awesome character Roster.
Overall reaction for MK8 has been very positive for
me. I am still having a lot of fun with the game just by racing online
and with communities I know and enjoy playing with. I am very happy that
you are able to join communities to play
with your friends, live streamers, youtubers, etc… MK8 is very fun,
beautiful, fast paced and cheerful as it always has been. This is a
great edition to the series and probably one of the best since Mario
Kart: 64.
Graphics/Visuals:
MK8 is the first Mario Kart game to enter the HD
market with Wii U being able to do so now. The characters look so good;
all of them have received a major HD upgrade. The character animations
are very good as well. The biggest thing you
will notice when playing MK8 are the environments of the courses. I
have caught myself multiple times not paying attention to the races
themselves because I was just amazed by the environment. They are very
colorful, detailed and look outstanding. The visual
effects are extremely well done and the game runs incredibly smooth. No
lag, no frame drops, just smooth gameplay all the way through.
Soundtrack/Music:
The second you load up MK8 the music starts up. The
menu music is fast paced and sounds great. Gets your adrenaline going.
The menu music has a nice rock feeling to it with small sections with an
electric guitar. Compared to MK7, the music
in MK8 is much much better. The new courses are no remixed versions of
older tracks. All music in the new tracks is brand new editions to the
series. The music in the older tracks from previous games are the same
obviously but sound so much better and updated
to today’s standards.
Menu music is sooooooooooo good.
Final Thoughts:
MK8 is a breath of fresh air. Yes it remains to be
basically the same as the previous games but the game has been amped up
to HD quality with a brand new anti-gravity mechanic that adds a lot to
the game itself. With the amazing quality,
to great online play MK8 is definitely a breath of fresh air. You will
enjoy this game immensely with endless game play. I highly recommend
this game to everyone.
* Cody's Twitter-
