3 Big WiiWare Games Of 2009

While many third-party efforts for WiiWare have been lackluster and of little consequence, a good many this next year are looking to be surprisingly promising. Not only do these three games look good considering they are cheaply sold offerings for a game download service, but they may just give big-budget games a run for their money.

The first of this three is a game in development by the makers of De Blob, called Swords and Soldiers. Swords and Soldiers is a competitive strategy game featuring cartoony graphics, and a splitscreen multiplayer mode as well as a singleplayer campaign. As the devs have put it, it is basically a sidescrolling RTS, in which the object is to deploy your troops at just the right moments in order to outwit and defeat your foe. The reason for this is that in Swords and Soldiers, the moment your troops have been created they will automatically move toward the enemy base.

However, there are additional tactical elements. For example, certain sections of the battlefield allow you to set up a fortress and bunker down. There are also different specific paths you can make your men take, potentially opposing or confronting an army your path may cross with. Though you can use all kinds of spells and abilities to aid your troops in battle, what it really comes down to is careful timing and resource management.

The second game I’d like to point out is called Cave Story. Cave Story was originally a free-to-play title for pc. It featured an extended storyline about a race of underground rabbit-like creatures called mimigas, who an evil doctor manipulates by feeding them red herbs that transform them into monsters. The majority of the game took place underground, where you, a robot by the name of Quote, had originally been sent to exterminate the mimigas.

The storyline was deep and intriguing for an indie game, and the action utilized certain roleplaying elements, as you leveled up your weapons with every attack. Now, the developers will be upgrading the graphics and adding at least ten levels to the game. It should be interesting to see what this talented developer comes up with on a larger budget and with more possibilities to enhance the game.

Lastly, there is Muramasa: The Demon Blade, a very highly anticipated game that is being developed by the team that brought you Odin Sphere. Like Odin Sphere, it is a cartoon sidescrolling action RPG. The style is so visually awesome that many people called it one of the best looking games presented at the Tokyo Game Show conference. The watercolored look of the environments is nothing less than gorgeous.

The gameplay combines oldschool beat-em-up action with RPG gameplay as the character leaps from area to area defeating enemies; gaining experience and new weapons and abilities. Players can also stop at certain villages and speak with the townfolk, to complete quests for gold and experience. Such deep and engaging gameplay systems are usually reserved for the big-budget games on store shelves.