Source: infendo.com

I just completed The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap for Game Boy Advance. It was a delight. What’s more, it still amazes me that developers (Capcom, in this case) can create such compelling experiences for a system so short on capabilties like the GBA. That should tell you something about what makes a great game.

For those who played Wind Waker, you’ll feel right at home with the overall presentation of Minish Cap. That said, there are several new play mechanics and goodies for your action/adventure-loving self.

The basic premise of the game is that Zelda has been turned into stone, and it’s up to you to save her along with the Kingdom from the evil Vatti. Simple enough.

What’s so great about Minish Cap, though, is the ability to miniaturize in size with the help of a magical cap, which doubles the areas of exploration in the game. The mini-sized worlds perfectly integrate with their bigger counter parts, and it’s fun to discover a new location that you you’ll be able to revisit later in different form. Fusing collectible coins (called “Kingstones”) with local villagers to unlock new areas is also a good time. There are over 100 hundred “Kingstones” to fuse, so it adds for some nice side-mission action.

Both the graphics and audio are top notch here. Some levels look a little pixelated, but the effect never hurts the look of the game. You’ll even find yourself smiling when seeing certain levels, like when walking down a path covered by Maple leaves. To cap it off, the music is catchy, nostalgic, and completes the presentation rather well.

All things considered, Zelda: Minish Cap is an easy four stars out of four for me, and one of the most enjoyable games I’ve played since Resident Evil 4 on GameCube.

Source: infendo.com

My first run through Gyrostarr was a failure.  I hadn’t read any of the instructions, just hopped in and started to play. “This is trippy,” I thought as a I blasted away at ships and avoided all the obstacles.  Finally, I reached the end of the level and BLAM … crashed into the final gate.  Turns out you need to collect enough energy to make it through, energy I had advoided thinking it would destroy my ship.  Second time through, the concept of the game made sense to me and I was in for a blast.

The game plays like a cross between a traditional SHMUP, a tube shooter, and Tempest.  (No surprise on the Tempest feel, since they helped develop a few versions of that arcade classic for various consoles.)  The standard control scheme is to hold the Wii Remote horizontally using the D-pad to move your ship left and right, up or down fires a grappling hook, the 2 button is your standard weapon, while the 1 button launches bombs.  Control isn’t limited to the Wii Remote.  You can use the Nunchuk, Classic Controller, or even use the tilt sensor in the Wii Remote to steer.  You can even play with two people just using one Wii Remote and one Nunchuk.  This allows you to play up to four players using just two WIi Remotes with Nunchuks.  My favorite control scheme was Wii Remote on its own.

As you fight off the bad guys ahead of you, energy clouds come floating along the track.  Collecting these helps to ensure you won’t meet an immediate demise at the end of each course.  Unfortunately, you can’t just shoot wildly at your opponents since hitting the energy clouds will push them away from you eventually making them impossible to pick up.  Your grappling hook can be used to zip out and collect energy or power-ups, such as fast shots or a triple-shot. After completing each level, you move on to a bonus round that consists of collecting energy while flying through boost gates.  By the end of the level, you’re moving so fast over hills and turns that you might even get motion sickness.

Multiplayer matches are cooperative, so no matter how good or bad your friends are, everyone makes it through the final gate if you have enough energy stored up.  I would’ve liked this to be optional; stealing energy from in front of a rival and watching them crash into the final gate as you sail through would be hilarious.

High Voltage Software has been around for 15 years, developing games such as the Hunter: The Reckoning series and various movie, TV, and sports tie-ins.  It wasn’t until this year that their trailer for The Conduit for Wii came along that they stepped out from behind the various publishers and started to generate some media buzz.  Gyrostarr is the second WiiWare title they have published (after V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack) and it has deservedly garnered a lot of attention, too.

For only 700 Wii Points, this game is a must buy!  Four out of four stars.