With 23 upcoming eShop indie games announced, Nintendo is making a big push to bring quality independent software to Wii U and 3DS in 2014. Last week, Associate Editor Marty Sliva and I played seven indie titles at a preview event, and we walked away fairly impressed. We carefully explored the lonely corridors of episodic first-person shooter Moon Chronicles, and fought to the death in a clever multiplayer mode from 1,001 Spikes.
Up until now we’ve seen a few indie hits like SteamWorld Dig and Mutant Mudds on the eShop. But these memorable games felt few and far between compared to the steady stream of independent games on PC, PSN, and Xbox Live Arcade. Nintendo appears conscious of the divide between its indie offering and its competitors, so we're seeing more effort to secure a stronger lineup of independent games -- and the quality has come a long way since the days of DSi and WiiWare.
Here’s a quick roundup of four independent games that impressed us at the event.
Treasurenauts presents players with a deceptively simple goal: Collect as much treasure as you can while you survive trap-riddled stages. But there’s a lot more nuance to this 2D action platfomer than expected. For example, each of the three weapons changed the way we approached each level. The gun provided us with the safety of shooting enemies distance, but we had to get dangerously close to enemies, and risk getting hit, in order to use the sword. Bombs, on the other hand, required smart placement and timing otherwise a treasure run ended in disaster. And if an enemy hits you, you lose 20% of your treasure immediately, as the rest spills out onto the floor like colorful, sparkling candy.
The new curse level we saw stayed on our minds long after the event ended. In this creepy stage, the colors would slowly wash out and the music would slow down over time, but developer Renegade told us this presentation change was designed as a warning sign. As the colors slowly melted away, big ghosts would appear and instantly kick us out of a stage the second they made contact. Activating a blue gem in the center of the stage was the only way to repel the ghostly invaders.
Treasurenauts is slated for a May 2014 release.
Indie Publisher Nicalis walked us through the hectic multiplayer mode of 1,001 Spikes, a mode one on-site rep jokingly referenced as great for "frienemies." In this mode, a golden vase sits somewhere in a spike-filled stage. When a player picks it up, they get rewarded with coins and gain a small fortune as they carry the golden object around. The goal is hang onto the vase and acquire more coins than your three other competitors by the end of the round. However, there is one booby trap: Holding the vase for long enough causes it to explode and kill your character instantly.
Staying alive with three other pursuers was difficult, but ultimately exhilarating -- especially with dozens of random traps quickly springing all over the place. Each character avatar used unique abilities that leaned on video nostalgia: One avatar looked like Mario and used his hammer from the original Donkey Kong, another character took inspiration from Castlevania’s Simon Belmont.
1,001 Spikes is expected to release in Q1 2014.
Developer Renegade Kid announced the remake of Moon as an episodic downloadable game or 3DS a few weeks ago on IGN. Running at a smooth 60 framers-per-second, this remake is one of the first FPS games available for Nintendo’s popular handheld.
Moon Chronicles takes inspiration from atmospheric first-person games like Metroid Prime, so expect quiet corridors and a sinking feeling that something deadly could be around the next corner. I fought floating robot drones and used a handy moon rover to enter small spaces and open locked doors. Overall this remake looks sharp, but my only concern is that the presentation (specifically the communication between characters) felt a little dated. With the beefed up technology of the 3DS, we hope to see Renegade Kid boost this critical element and make the first 3DS FPS a memorable one.
Episode one of Moon Chronicles is scheduled to release in March 2014.
Created using the Unity engine, Wooden Sen'SeY is an action platformer set in an exotic version of Japan. The player assumes the role of Goro, as he collects small vials of sake and fights off enemies. I played through several levels, and even piloted a submarine through narrow chasms under the sea. While the platforming could be a little more precise, the smart use of the Goro’s twin axes as a traversal tool made the game challenging. Using motion control or a single button press, I could fling Goro’s axes into the ground and jump higher distance. This allowed me to reach platforms and discover hidden pathways.
Wooden Sen'Sey is slated for release in February 2014.
Developer Brian Provinciano's retro-influenced open-world action game introduces dozens of tweaks, fixes, and additions that elevate it as the definitive version. A celebration of pop culture from the ‘80s and ‘90s, Retro City Rampage DX blends an 8-bit Grand Theft Auto with zany references to some of your favorite movies and video games. Look forward to our full review of the 3DS version in the near future.
Retro City Rampage is out today on the eShop.
Jose Otero is an Associate Editor at IGN and host of Nintendo Voice Chat. To read more of his thoughts on Nintendo, you can follow him on twitter.
Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com
Comments :
0 commentaires to “IGN's Nintendo Indie Game Roundup”
Enregistrer un commentaire