Rodea the Sky Solider (3DS, Wii U)

[Finch]

So...I'd say if you kinda miss those days of Megaman Legends, NiGHTS, or Tail Concerto, this might be a worthwhile go at all the money in your bank account? WHO DOESN'T MISS THOSE DAYS EXCEPT HORRIBLE PEOPLE YOU"RE AWFUL YOSHI I HATE YOU

[Finch]

i have a copy for 3DS and a copy for Wii U on the way so this game will sell 3 copies instead of just 1

unless Hero's reviewing it and didn't just find it early like usual. I wish NISA would send stuff to people who ordered it directly from them a week early.

[Frogacuda]

So it's a fun game. But a weird game. A very Good-Bad Game.

Apparently when the Wii version came out, the publisher wanted Yuji Naka and co. to port it to 3DS. Since the original is entirely pointer control based they ended up shoehorning those into an analog-based control scheme. So you get analog movement with a pointer 'deadzone' and other weird things. Also, levels were retooled to be more adventure/platform-ish, where the original was more score attack/arcadey. With this release, The Wii U has a port of the 3DS version, and the original version (on a straight up Wii disc no less) while the 3DS one is just that version, plus an OST.

Personally, I think the Wii U version is the way to go, to see the differences between design approaches, but I wouldn't recommend paying full price for either. Right now it's a curiosity and fun game for me, but an overpaid one.

It reminds me of those 32-bit days where folks were trying all kinds of different designs and control schemes for 3D games. Compared to today's standards, Rodea seems downright backwards, yet keeps being fun too. Its flying mechanic is not so much a traversal thing, than it is a score mechanic. Moving from enemy to enemy, one set of Gravitons ('rings') to the next, keeping these actions chained together as long as possible is more important than using flight as a means to get from A to B. The emphasis on scoring, chaining, etc. is made all the more apparent by a flight meter that is filled by doing all this stuff and depleted by flying around aimlessly. It's pretty fun when it's all working as intended - getting high scores feels similar to doing well in an arcade game on one quarter.

The biggest problem I've noticed is the 3DS port/redesign seemed to assume this arcadeyness wasn't enough, and retooled some stages to be more platformy or adventure-based, without changing the core flight mechanics. So any time you're tasked with finding things, or get curious and try to find all the hidden extras (and there are a lot!), the design falls apart real fast. When focused on scoring, Rodea's controls are unconventional, but fun. When trying to move from one narrow platform to the next, making sure to land between each to fill your flight meter, it's a clunky and frustrating thing.

So...I'd say if you kinda miss those days of Megaman Legends, NiGHTS, or Tail Concerto, this might be a worthwhile go at $20? Otherwise you're not missing out on a whole lot.

Yeah, that sounds like the kind of game I like. I'm a Lost World apologist, I love Billy Hatcher. It's like Finch said, the best games are 7/10 games.

[Hero]

i have a copy for 3DS and a copy for Wii U on the way so this game will sell 3 copies instead of just 1

unless Hero's reviewing it and didn't just find it early like usual. I wish NISA would send stuff to people who ordered it directly from them a week early.

Nah, I bought it. It's been forever since I wrote a review too.

[magnifiedplaid]

Thanks for the impressions Hero. This game looks like it will be right up my alley. I can't wait for my pre-order to get here.

[Hero]

I'm a Lost World apologist

Same here! For its faults, that game still has so much potential! Wished they had kept going with those ideas, than doing Sonic Boom...

I think Rodea has less breadth, by comparison. It knows that it wants to do a few specific things, but do them in an interesting, fun way.

Also: I'm still really early in! It may be that the jank wears off further on, or you get used to it enough to manage it. We'll see!

[Tain]

I'm looking forward to trying this, kinda had to jump in on the Wii U preorder. This and Devil's Third are going to make for a weird time.

[NeoZeedeater]

I'm hoping there will be a demo (the Japanese 3DS version had one). With the current exchange rate, it's too expensive for an impulse buy for me.

[ChaoofNee]

I can't wait for my Wii U copy. Is the only game I have preordered aside from Yakuza 5!

I didn't know about the weird Port history. If anything, it's just given the game more personality to me. These good/bad 7/10 games have been my favorite lately just because of that wholesome weirdness.

[Vasteel]

This was the game I've most looked forward to, but looking at video now makes it seem like it's too dialogue cut-scene-y for my taste. That so?