Wolf of the Battlefield: MERCS

Developer: Capcom

Publisher: Sega

Original Release: Sega Genesis, 1991

Virtual Console Release: Feb. 9, 2009

Price: 800 Wii Points ($8)


Recommendation: Fry It

Games like MERCS make you realize just how far even the simple action game has come in the past few decades. The phalanxes of brain-dead, look-alike enemies and incredibly predictable bosses are only the first indications you're playing a horribly dated game. The muddy graphics and controls that only let you shoot in the same direction you're facing feel similarly archaic in today's world of HD graphics and dual-stick shooters.

Besides the lo-fi graphics, this early Genesis release also suffers compared to the arcade game on which it's based, thanks to the removal of any sort of two-player mode. It's replaced instead with an "original" mode that adds light role-playing elements like item-buying, stat development and multiple playable characters to some interesting new level designs (with the same old enemies, of course). It's enough to add some longevity to the proceedings, but the punishing, made-for-the-arcades difficulty will have most players hitting a wall of frustration and/or boredom after just a few plays. Overall, I couldn't get over the feeling that I'd rather be playing Metal Slug or any of a number of more recent, more polished action-shooters.

LIT

Developer: WayForward Technologies

Publisher: WayForward Technologies

WiiWare Release: Feb. 9, 2009

Price: 800 Wii Points ($8)


Recommendation: Try It

At its core, LIT is a pretty basic guess-and-check, find-a-path-to-the-exit puzzler. What sets it apart is the motif -- a darkened school overrun by skittering black horrors revealed by the sweep of your flashlight. Stepping into the darkness means getting dragged down to your doom, so you have to be resourceful in creating lit paths using everything from lamps, television sets and motion sensors to flares and broken windows.

The game's excellent dynamic lighting and understated piano music set an incredibly creepy mood, one that's broken only by the cheesy bits of story delivered via random phone calls from a missing friend. The puzzle design is top-notch, too, making clever use of the few set pieces to provide a challenging, but not frustrating, experience (for the most part).

The only real problem here is the finicky controls, which make it much too easy to ruin whole minutes of careful setup by accidentally stepping into the inky blackness surrounding you. This problem gets especially bad in the later levels, where the game forces a rushed pace that makes an errant step all the more likely. It's not enough to fully detract from the excellent puzzle and art design, but it's just enough to keep the game from being an unqualified recommendation.


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Life Force

Developer: Konami

Publisher: Konami

Original Release: NES, 1988

Virtual Console Release: Feb. 16, 2009

Price: 500 Wii Points ($5)


Recommendation: Fry It

Thank god for the Konami Code. Without it, players that aren't already shoot-'em-up experts probably won't get past the second punishing level of this pseudo-sequel to Gradius. With it, and the 30 lives it grants, it's a breeze to quickly sweep through the game's six stages, mercifully continuing from the same point whenever you die.

The main problem here, as in all Gradius games, is that your underpowered ship is at the mercy of some incredibly tough enemy patterns whenever you come back from a death, making it extremely hard to build up the power-ups that make the game really fun. Still, Life Force sets itself apart with two-player simultaneous play, vertical-scrolling levels, a good variety of interesting enemies and some graphical effects that surprisingly still hold up today. Of course, the obligatory NES-era flickering and slowdown detract a lot from this coolness, as do the unimaginative and surprisingly easy level-ending bosses. If you aren't a shmup-collecting completist, you should probably stick with Gradius II: Gofer no Yabou, which is also available on the Virtual Console for just a few dollars more.

Evasive Space

Developer: High Voltage Software

Publisher: Akinai Games

WiiWare Release: Feb. 16, 2009


Price: 1,000 Wii Points ($10)

Recommendation: Fry It

A space shooter where you don't actually shoot anything: It's an interesting premise, made more interesting by an unorthodox control scheme -- using the Wii Remote pointer to guide your tiny ship through some narrow, maze-like 2-D corridors under a tight time limit.

But the premise isn't enough to prop the game up in the light of poor execution. The pointer controls, while interesting in theory, are nearly unusable in practice, making it much too tough to perform the quick turns necessary for the game's tight corridors. Worse, the game is pretty unforgiving about bumping the corridor walls, stalling your engines for a few precious seconds every time you even graze a barrier. Even more frustrating, the game is littered with near-useless energy power-ups, while the vitally useful time power-ups are few and far between.

These frustrations are mitigated a bit in the levels set in open space, where the low gravity and relative lack of obstacles make it easier to just enjoy the thrill of flight. Overall, though, Evasive Space is yet another excellent idea hampered by bad design.