Wunderling (NSW, PC) Review

Let's cap off the week with some much needed levity with a look at an enjoyable auto-runner with a twist. It's Wunderling from Retroid Interactive, and here is the SPC review.

Small Wunder

Last Friday, I took a look at a game starring a minion that was a satire of the RPG genre with my review of Underhero. This week, I'm taking on a look at Retroid Interactive's Wunderling, which puts its own spin on 2D platformers, particularly a specific one featuring a popular portly plumber. With lovely pixel art, cool tunes, and an addicting "one more try" approach to its design, Wunderling is a delightful auto-runner with a unique take on the genre.

Wunderling starts you out as playing as the Mario-like hero (though one that's quite a bit more of a braggart) Carrot Man, and playing through a Super Mario Bros. 1-1-styled platforming level, stomping on Goomba-like enemies along the way. Upon smashing the final enemy and landing on the flagpole, our supposed hero sashays away with another victory under his hat, or in this case, leafy top. From there, a witchy sorceress arrives to revive one of her fallen underlings and tasks it with pursuing Carrot Man, hoping to siphon his supply of lives in the process.

However, that's easier said than done because like any Goomba-like underling in a 2D platformer, our vegetable minion marches forward and cannot stop or turn around until it collides with a wall. Wunderling's true gameplay then reveals itself as an auto-runner with you controlling the underling's jumps and other abilities that unlock throughout the progression of the game.

Discovering how to get around each stage successfully gives Wunderling
a puzzle/platforming-type feel.

New abilities include the power to temporarily dash to launch yourself across wide chasms, the power to fly, and a wall jump ability. These abilities unlock at a steady pace, one per world, and they give you just enough time to become acquainted with all of their tricks and mechanic nuances before a new one gets introduced. Thus, there's plenty of time to experiment, and not just for the player but also for the level designers to craft some inventive courses for you to get the most out of each ability. Worlds are fifteen levels in length, so they don't linger or overstay their welcome.

It takes a few seconds for your boost ability to recharge, so use it wisely.

Your controllable minion moves on his own and only changes direction when bumping into a solid structure, but it also can't just linger and loiter around in one place for a lengthy amount of time. You have a health bar, indicated by a small heart symbol that slowly depletes and reveals itself when the underling hasn't collected a flower bud in a while. Only through collecting an abundance of flower buds does the underling's health return to normal. If it depletes completely, the underling dies and the level is failed. Many levels have it where you don't want to immediately collect every accessible flower bud, as you'll often have to do some backtracking. Therefore, leaving behind some flower buds to pick up and collect on the way back can be the difference between having enough health to finish the level and a shortened life expectancy.

These yellow buds serve not only as collectibles but also as a means to keep your minion alive.

Flower buds, which turn into flowers when collected, are but one of the main collectibles in Wunderling. Each level houses a secret treasure chest that when collected and brought to the goal successfully unlocks a new costume piece for your minion. The amount of costume pieces and combinations are immense, and they're enjoyable to collect for numerous reasons. For one, they're generally hidden well and require you to take on different approaches to levels than you normally would. A basic run through a level is simple enough, but when you aim to collect everything possible in a level, including the treasure and--in some level's cases--song-unlocking cassette tapes, runs become more complicated and require smart strategies to successfully complete.

There is a lot of trial and error in Wunderling, and this is most apparent when searching high and low for treasure chests and other secrets, such as warp portals leading to one of three extra levels in each world. Many are hidden behind fake walls, which for this type of game leads to a copious amount of deaths as you practically have to guess most times which walls are real and which walls are hiding something behind them. Generally this isn't a huge problem as levels are usually short enough that deaths don't make you repeat too much work, and the ones that are lengthy have checkpoints in them.

Take flight with the wing power-up, and carefully soar to success.

Levels in Wunderling have a great amount of unique gimmicks and mechanics to them, obviously helped by the abilities our minion receives, but also because of the mechanisms in place. There are locked gates requiring specially colored keys to unlock, doors that open and shut when buttons are pressed, boost pads that speed up our unlikely underling hero, lava and ice floors that prevent the ability to jump, Donkey Kong Country barrel cannon-style launchers that blast the minion across levels, and hazards like spikes to avoid. Much like each new ability added to the underling's arsenal of moves, each gimmick and gameplay mechanism is introduced slowly and steadily as to not overstay its welcome nor bore the player by seeing it repeatedly without much alteration.

Use these colored keys to unlock their associated blocks, or else meet a spike-filled fate!

Wunderling is a stellar auto-runner with beautiful pixel art and a catchy soundtrack. The only stumbling point I see with potential purchasers is its $15 asking price, something I perceive as higher than the usual asking price for a game of its genre. That said, if you enjoy games with humor, levels that push you to master them and fully explore their secrets, and are intrigued by its novel approach to the auto runner genre of platformer, then Wunderling certainly earns a recommendation from me. March on, minion. March on.

[SPC Says: B]

A code was provided by the developer for the purpose of this review.

PictoParty (Wii U eShop) Review

We're halfway through the month of November and there is no first review for the month in sight! ...Until now. No worries, dear friends, SuperPhillip Central has a wide amount of games we're covering from now until the end of the month, so have no fear!

Our first review of the month is a Wii U eShop game that released a couple of weeks ago. If you know Pictionary, then you probably know what PictoParty is all about. Nonetheless, does this game draw a good conclusion or not? Find out with my review!

Be quick to the draw.

Pictionary is an old board game that gives a player a word to draw while the others quickly try to guess it. It's decades' old, and it never fails to bring a good time if you have the friends and family members for it. The Wii U even had an unofficial version of Pictionary with its Sketch mini-game from Game & Wario. Funnily enough, despite the more comprehensive and complicated modes in Game & Wario, the Stortzum household spent more time playing Sketch than anything else in the collection.

It's about time that a developer takes a concept immensely suited for the Wii U GamePad like Pictionary and make a digital version of it. Enter PictoParty by Retroid Interactive, a studio mainly comprised of two individuals. While you need at least two people to play, which may be a roadblock for some less socially oriented, PictoParty shines as a great party game for Wii U system owners.

If you've played Pictionary before, then the concept of PictoParty is simple enough. The GamePad player serves as the drawer, given a set time limit to draw objects and activities for the player viewing the television screen to guess. The better you draw, the more likely it is that the other players will correctly guess the item you're trying to draw.

Obviously this is a drawing of someone throwing a baby across the room.
...Oh. It's someone being tickled? Riiiiight!

Obviously you're not just drawing random things. You get a word on the Wii U GamePad screen that you attempt to draw. If a correct guess is given by the TV viewers, then you tap the "Correct" button. If you get stuck or cannot figure out how to draw the word given, you can tap "Pass". However, tapping Pass can give you a time penalty. This penalty can be set at the beginning of a round, as well as how long a given round is, what in-game dictionaries like Food or Activities words will be pulled from, and if players can utilize color in their drawings.

As stated, you can add and remove any dictionary (or category) of words you'd like to make games as easier or as harder as you'd like. Obviously having a game full of only one dictionary, Animals, is much easier than having a game full of every dictionary within PictoParty. Additionally, some words used in the game are a little bit obtuse. For instance, I don't even think Bob Ross (RIP) could come up with how to accurately draw an "inflatable boat" or "savanna" for players to quickly guess.

The addition of colors makes otherwise tough items to draw
much easier for both the drawer and the guesser(s).

You're not just limited to PictoParty's dictionaries, either. You can opt to create your own dictionaries full of any words you'd like. You can even bring your (im)mature sensibilities to the table and have a game full of dirty words. Just remember not to invite the kiddies to these games!

PictoParty is indeed an entertaining game, and it is one that even had my mom enjoying it, constantly saying "let's do just ONE more round". After about four more rounds, we were finally done that evening. However, at the same time, if you already own a copy of Pictionary, you pretty much own a physical version of PictoParty. It's just with Retroid Interactive's game you don't have to fumble with pencils, pens, cards, paper, and the like. It's all streamlined with PictoParty. Still, if you're looking for a more modern version of Pictionary, then PictoParty is an absolute joy for family members and friends to spend a riveting evening around the TV and Wii U GamePad for.

[SPC Says: B-]

Review copy provided by Retroid Interactive.