Hello there, and a weekly welcome to the penultimate installment of this series for which I played every game made available on the DSiWare service and, once I weeded out the shovelware, I have divided the remainder into four categories:
Hidden Gems: Games you've probably never heard of that are utterly brilliant
Well Known & Wonderful: Still gems, still potentially brilliant, but perhaps not quite so 'hidden'
Honourable Mentions: Those games that are good, but lack the real spark required to fit into one of the top two categories
Also Rans: Not bad enough to be completely ignored, but probably not quite good enough to warrant higher status
Two caveats: Firstly, I don't enjoy RPGs. Like, at all. So you won't see any of those at any point. And secondly it's very hard to define 'Hidden Gem' on DSiWare, as the service itself was never hugely popular, so please excuse a potential few miss-categorisations along the way!
Thanks to the annoying way my games were organised there's a couple of games here that should have appeared earlier but were mis-assigned thanks to having a 'The' at the start of their name.
Trust me, this annoys me more that it does you!
Anyway, thanks to that confusion there's 11 games to get through. Lets go!
Hidden Gems
At this point you may see that "G.G. Series" epithet above and roll your eyes - and who could blame you. So many of the efforts released under this banner are low effort knock-off or waste decent ideas with shoddy execution, Thankfully, however, this is not true of the really quite brilliant "Hidden Ninja Kagemaru".
In this lovely looking single screen platformer you control the eponymous Kagemaru as he attempts to recover any number of scrolls from around an area in which plenty of enemy guards will be on patrol.
To aid our hero on this quest, he comes armed with a small selection of tools of the trade. There are caltrops to trip up the foes, a bomb to distract them, a temporary awareness of the enemies cone of vision and, my favourite of all, a roll of camoflage wallpaper that Kagemaru unrolls in from of himself.
Audio visuals match the Japanese style, with the graphics in particular bringing a lot of personality to proceedings.
Hidden Ninja Kagemaru is a lovely little game, often challenging but always fun. It does what the G.G Series does at it's best; taking a simple concept and executing it very well.
This is a game that originated on the sister 'WiiWare' platform as one third of the excellent Maboshi's Three Shape Arcade. Even if you're familiar with the vanilla version it's worth another luck in this standalone version as not only is there an extra level of visual polish, put a few new gameplay tweas are added too.
For the uninitiated, Trailblaze at first appears to be a play on that venerable old phone game 'Snake'. You control maneuver a small craft around a play area with it's tail extending behind you.
You'll probably be glad to hear, however that this is pretty much where the similarities end.
The game is played in book orientating and there is a hazard line at what becomes the bottom of the screen, should. The rest of the screen is filled with various blocks and obstacles that you must incinerate by bringing your burning tail into contact with them. if you, your tail, or an unburnt block hit's the hazard line: Game Over.
So far, so simple.
Necessary complexity is added in a couple of ways, but primarily through the neat touch of having the Hazard line only advance when the player moves. Through this device, you become acutely aware that pressing ever upwards is not always the best course of action.
There also power-ups. These are loaded by collecting the letter tiles that make up their name from around the play area and then fired, in a slightly cumbersome choice considering the screen orientation, with the 'A' button.
Balancing the need to move ever forward with the knowledge that this will bring the hazard line into play turns out to be a rather compelling risk/reward that really brings to life what is, at first glance at least, a very basic concept.
Addictiveness is a quality that's hard to measure, but Trailblaze has it in spades and, as a result, this unassuming action puzzler turns out to be one of the hardest to put down games on DSiWare.
I'm going to step right up and declare that this is probably the 'biggest' feeling game on the platform. Strong words, you may well say, but with a fully realised 3D engine, multiple craft types (and multiple craft types of those craft types) huge levels, and unlockables galore, I genuinely feel like this feel more like a game released on a cartridge than anything else on DSiWare.
We're in rough Star Fox territory here, with air, sea, and land levels and a huge variety of mission objectives to meet. Despite Thorium Wars seeming to be almost overburdened with content and variety it handles the quality over quantity balance brilliantly.
Yes, some of the endlessly re-spawning enemies are an annoyance, and yes, the (thankfully optional) touch screen controls are attrocious, but everything else in this action extravaganza is brilliantly realised and incredibly easy to recommend.
Honourable Mentions
Some DS games, like the aforementioned Trailblaze, mix things up by adopting a vertical orientation, the games released under the 'Topsy Turvy Life' banner take this a step further by having you hold the console upside-down.
A simple Galaga style vertical shooter at first glance, The Turvys Strike Back continues its 'flipped' theme by having the player control the baddies by drawing attack patterns and tapping to fire on the touch screen.
In all honesty it's this clever concept alone that has won the game it's relatively lofty position but there's additionally a single console versus mode that elevates the experience further.
Enlist a friend to grab hold of the other side of the console and they play in the more conventional role of the brave lone pilot battling the other players hand-directed endless waves of enemies.
As modern games become increasingly homogenised into a few hyper-popular genres, games like The Turvy's Strike Back; that rare example of something genuinely new and unique, should be applauded for what it tries, rather than criticised for the few elements it doesn't get quite right.
Turvy Drops
The other game in the 'Topsy Turvy Life' franchise is, sadly, not quite so succesful.
This time we're in Tetris territory, but with the console upside-down the player draws shapes onto the touchscreen to drop down and complete rows below.
And that, sadly, is that. It's still an interesting concept, but there's not enough variation or excitement to merit more than a quick curiosity play.
Also Rans
Tetris can never be anything but decent. It's a game that's in the gaming genes of so many people that it would be disingenuous to suggest that any version of it won't bring some enjoyment.
Sadly, as the 'Live' epithet suggests, this version was built around online play and, as my game won't even launch, I assume it's delisting in March 2013 effectively killed it outright.
The Last Knight (G.G. Series)
Elevated from total obscurity by a decent concept; Bullet hell meets top down dungeon crawler, unfortunately the good idea is ruined by pretty poor execution that includes about the worst miss-match of combat style with enemy attack patterns I've ever seen in a game.
Throw Out (G.G. Series)
It's not often a G.G. Series game disappoints - they're usually either obviously bad or surprisingly good. Unfortunately, Throw Out seems promising early doors as an ode to Speedball with tight controls and neat spritework - but this is soon ruined by dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks opposition AI that ensures no fun or challenge is to be had.
Uno
I mean... it's Uno. Down hear in the 'Also Rans' thanks to a apucity of single player content and the death of any chance of an online match.
And also because there was nothing else to write about for 'U'.
Vector (G.G. Series)
Nice idea this one. Shapes fall from the top of the screen with a number in the centre and you have to inflict damage of the correct value to match the differential between the number of side and the displayed integer. For example, if a square falls with a '3' in it you have to inflict '1' damage to destroy it. A pentagon with a '2' would need '3' damage... etc. etc.
As with a fair few G.G. Series games the neat premise is far too quickly let down by a lack of challenge and complexity.
Vertex (G.G. Series)
Blocks fall with arrows on them that must be chained up to destroy. After that, see above...
No really, it provides the same kind of neat premise and then suffers all the same issues as Vector. Shame.
Until next time.
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