Lost Winds

Developer: Frontier
Publisher: Frontier
Release Date: May 12, 2008
System: Wii
ESRB Rating: E
Official Web site

In a nutshell: You are the wind beneath my 2-D platformer.

0:00 A independently-developed 2-D platformer that uses the Wii remote? What's not to be excited about?

0:01 A little, towheaded boy in a brown and red outfit sleeps at the foot of a large tree. Gentle flute music and twittering birds play in the background, with the title hovering about mid-screen.

0:02 "Try waving the Wind cursor over Toku to wake him up." I do, and he does. The wind rustles the leaves and bushes in the background, as well. WHOOSH!

0:03 Some great, vibrant animation as Toku runs left and right and climbs up waist-high cliffs. The environments are lush 3-D, but the controls are decidedly 2-D -- left and right and up and down.

0:04 A land-bridge crumbles as Toku steps onto it, and he falls into a sparkling cave. Still loving the lilting flute music.

0:05 Toku auto-jumps when he comes to an edge. I'm usually not a fan of the auto-jump -- seems a little skill-less to me. But what do I know?

Read the full review at Crispy Gamer

Defend Your Castle

Developer: XGen Studios
Publisher: XGen Studios
Release Date: May 12, 2008
System: Wii (WiiWare, reviewed), PC
ESRB Rating: E
Official Web site

In a nutshell: Defend Your $5 Cost on WiiWare

0:00 I played the freeware PC version of this game for about five minutes and it seemed worth a try as a $5 download on the new WiiWare download service. Plus I think the Wii remote controls will help things.

0:01 Right to the title screen -- no cut scenes, no story, nothing! Thank goodness! A bunch of stick figures with white heads running by in the background, and by a bunch I mean hundreds. I start a new game, normal difficulty.

0:02 "Round 1: Defend Your Castle" I guess that's all the instructions I'm getting. The background and clouds look like they're made of construction paper -- you can even see the blue strings holding up the clouds. It's like a 3rd grade diorama. The health bar is labeled "hElth" in black crayon. LOL.

0:03 Stick figure guys run at the gray castle. Pick 'em up with A, fling 'em in the air, and watch 'em splat. The "euuugh" sound effect and some birds chirping are the only things punctuating the eerie silence.

0:04 I'm getting ten-second hang times when I fling these guys way off the top of the screen! The SPLAT is all the more satisfying when you totally forgot about throwing the guy.

Read the full review at Crispy Gamer