Last month, I saw that there was a Humble Bundle for Nintendo’s Wii U and 3DS console/handheld. I’ve bought Humble Bundles before, and sometimes it’s hit and miss, but overall it is usually worth whatever money that you pay (especially since some of it goes to charity). I’ve now managed to play most of the Wii U games and enjoyed most of them, so I thought I’d share some of my thoughts with some quick reviews.

The Fall

The visuals of this game are really striking when you first see it. The game is very dark and creepy with just a flashlight on your character and the limited ambient light to show you the way. The basic premise is that you are a robotic survival suit that contains an injured human inside. Your job is to save the life of the human inside you, and you do that by solving puzzles in your surroundings as you progress through the story.

I managed to have fun with the game, but it wasn’t without some crucial flaws. First, the controls were difficult for me to adapt to when I was going between this and other games. The control scheme involved a lot of control stick movements, with trigger and bumper presses. It worked, but it wasn’t the most comfortable. Secondly, a couple of the puzzles were so cryptic that I had to resort to online walkthroughs to figure them out. When the focus of the game is experiencing the story while solving puzzles, having to resort to outside help breaks that immersion. Finally, I’m not sure I’m crazy about how the story wrapped up. I won’t give any spoilers, but I felt a little let down in the finale. Granted it set itself up for the required sequel, but I’m not 100% sold on continuing.

Olli Olli

I loved playing Tony Hawk games as a kid, so I love trying out new skateboard games. I had high hopes for this one, but suffice it to say the control scheme was far too cumbersome for me, and I gave up on it pretty quick. My youngest son managed to get a bit further with it, but even he found the controls too unintuitive that he eventually gave up.

Stealth Inc 2

I reviewed this one a while ago, and will just point you at that review. Really fun game, and totally worth the bundle price. I managed to finish the main part of the game and can see myself going back to get closer to 100%.

Guacamelee

I’ve only played a little bit of this one, but my son has beaten it. This is a 2D brawler with you getting to star as a Mexican wrestler, saving his village and friends from powers beyond the grave. The art style is top notch, and characters and settings are really well done. My son really enjoyed it, and based on that I would recommend it. Maybe I’ll get back to it soon and see if I can get a bit farther in it.

Steamworld Dig

I loved this game, and because it’s procedurally generated, I could potentially see myself going back to play it again. The basic plot is that you are a steam powered robot in a steam powered western town where your uncle has disappeared. You go on a mining adventure to look for him and along the way you unlock tons of secrets and upgrades to make your excavations faster and more powerful.

When you first start you have a basic pick and you’re mining against dirt. Eventually you can upgrade to a drill as well as a steam powered fist, and each of these elements has upgrades within its tree that gives you incentive to slow down a bit and gather more resources to pay for upgrades. You do need to get comfortable with a lot of skilled jumping, but it’s thankfully all 2D based, so you get the hang of it rather quickly.

I also love the art style in this game. It’s very cartoonish, but it carries through a nice mixing of steampunk meets old west. The characters and settings have a really fun vibe and I really enjoyed all the visuals. I would highly recommend this one, as it’s a lot of fun and once you get the hang of it, the game progresses pretty quickly.

There’s a few reviews of some recent indie games I’ve been playing. I’ll be keeping my eye out for others when I get a chance, but I think my next purchase is probably going to be LEGO Jurassic World!