The LoadDown - 07/27/2009

Some really great stuff, and some mediocre stuff. But not a bad week.

WiiWare -- Three titles, including the new TellTale/Lucasarts adventure I've been eagerly anticipating and will surely be writing more about: Tales of Monkey Island: Chapter 1, Launch of the Screaming Narwhal. In addition, there's a fairly substantial platformer titled The Three Musketeers: One for All!, which is inspired by the classic Dumas novel and might be worth a look. There's also HB Arcade Cards, an inexpensive collection of card games that (yet again) cries out for but lacks online play.

Virtual Console -- No nada nunca, of late, it seems. More time for me to work on Phantasy Star II on XBLA, I guess, to satisfy my retro cravings.

DSiWare -- Sudoku Student, an entry/beginner-level Sudoku game with tutorials for the brand-new. Not a bad idea, but Sudoku is readily available in many, many, MANY forms.

XBLA -- last week saw the release of 'Splosion Man, which is really, really great. I'm only 11 levels in, out of 50, but it's a fantastic old-school platformer -- it's all about timing and placing your explosive jumps. The game also has a really nice cartoon sense of humor -- the main character is full of personality, with a lot of variety in his animation, the enemies are similarly fun to watch, and the level designs are inventive, kinetic and challenging. The game design feels very fresh but classic at the same time -- dynamic camera zooming and 2.5D rendering aside, it could have been approximated on the NES.