I've been picking up so many cheap Wii games lately that I thought I'd resurrect this thread to use to post my initial impressions of some of them.
A Boy & His Blob - I never played the original, but this remake is fantastic so far. The 2D graphics look really good and the mix of action & puzzles seems just right. Really looking forward to putting more time into this one. If you can find it, I'd say this is a definite must-buy.
Alien Syndrome - A top-down twin-stick shooter. Sorta Diablo with guns? It's not bad, but I think there are HD downloadable versions of it on the PS3 and/or the 360. Well worth what I paid (about $3) but will depend on how big a fan of the genre you are.
Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy - This is an unusual game. Basically it's a build-your-own side-scrolling 'shmup. Pretty in-depth on the creation side, I haven't really scratched the surface there. Plays kinda strangely, you can "grab" enemies you shoot down & then use them as shields? Sorta? Hard to explain. It's definitely unique, I'll pretty much guarantee there's not another game like it, so I'd say that alone deserves it a spot in your Wii collection.
Chicken Little: Ace In Action - This is a Ratchet & Clank clone. That's the easiest & most accurate description I can give. I don't know that it has as many weapons - I'm not entirely sure you get different weapons at all - but the first level I played looked & felt exactly like a R&C level. That's not a bad thing, btw, because this is a well-done clone. It looks as if you'll either still gain abilities as you go or possibly switch off to other characters who have different abilities. You move w/ the nunchuck & aim with the wiimote, which actually works very well - it was apparently made for the PS2 as well, but I don't know if it would be as fun without the motion aiming. Great production values too, except I think Adam West was badly miscast as the main character. I can imagine Patrick Warburton doing his voice & fitting the character much better. But that's a minor quibble. For a whopping $2, you can't go wrong here.
Deadly Creatures - Get this game. It's awesome. You start out playing as a spider and the controls, animation and just "feel" of it is all spot on. An absolute blast, very highly recommended. I'll promise you, this will be another "Gotcha Force" where people realize how good it is too late & therefore cause the price to skyrocket.
Dragon Quest Swords: Very Long Subtitle - Eh. It's DQ, so I definitely wanted it, and as with the rest of these it was pretty cheap. But if you don't have a love of the DQ series, you can probably safely pass on this one. Motion controlled sword fighting that works about as well as you'd expect.
Escape From Bug Island - Whether or not I can recommend this game to you depends on how you answer one question - do you enjoy watching really terrible movies to laugh at them? If so, this game is for you! Some of the absolute worst dialog ever written for a game. Heck, your "guy" friend frequently cocks & aims his shotgun to punctuate random things he says. It's a survival horror game with functional but kinda gimmicky motion controls, but man is it funny.
Ghost Squad - I absolutely love this one. It's a port of an arcade on-rails shooter (Time Crisis without the ducking mechanic) with Sega's patented horribly cheesy settings/dialog/everything else.
It plays great, the aiming is very responsive and levels have branching paths (with more paths that open up the more you play) and there are tons of unlockables. You can blast through it in a 30 min sitting, but it's definitely made to be replayed. Tons of fun - I can only imagine 2-player is that much better.
Marble Saga Kororinpa - A pretty good Marble Madness / Monkeyball type game. Seems like a really good time waster.
Red Steel 2 - I played very little of this so far, but I can say I love the graphic style (very nice cell shading) and the controls seem really responsive.
Samba de Amigo - Disappointingly terrible.
I have & love the Dreamcast original, and it's sad that the almost 15 year old maraca technology they used is much more responsive than what was done with this crappy port. I paid $1 for it, and that was probably too much but I wanted it just to have it because I enjoyed the original so much.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories - From the hour or so I've played so far, this could very well be the best Silent Hill game in years. It's complete focus on exploration (you literally cannot fight at all) is exactly what this series needed, because it puts all the emphasis on exploration. The mind games the game plays with you are very cool as well - I won't spoil them, but just know that what you do in the game is "teaching" the game how you play & will be used against you.
