A little bit of everything all rolled into one.
Look, kids! Here are three games that are wholly and completely different from one another. In one corner, a brooding superhero clad in some kind battle armor. In the other corner, a game where you type objects to make them come to life! And in the third corner (this is a hexagon), there's a Wii Play kind of game featuring, yes, that is skeeball. So get ready to be excited, because this is one grab bag o' games worth talking about!
Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition
Developer: Rocksteady Studios
Players: 1
Off-TV Play: Sort of
What is it?: It's that celebrated Batman game that came out in 2011. This sequel to the similarly praised Batman: Arkham Asylum has the Dark Knight investigating Akham City, basically a walled-off section of Gotham where all the criminals have been rounded up by a mysterious Dr. Hugo Strange. So it's like Monster Island, but with Two-Face and Penguin. While Batman is interrogating Mr. Freeze, players will also take control of Catwoman as she tries to make her own way in Arkham City. The Wii U version includes all the DLC released on the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, but also includes some interesting combat enhancements and GamePad features.
GamePad Use: You'll be able to select your items on the GamePad as well as see a persistent map of where you are. You can control certain Baterangs with the tilt functionality, set off explosives, and mess around in Detective Mode with the GamePad.
Staff Approval Rating: 30% (14th)
Scribblenauts Unlimited
Developer: 5th Cell
Players: 1-5
Off-TV Play: Yes
What is it?: Scribblenauts has always been a bit of a hit-or-miss series. Players use the Power of Creativity to think up insane things to create by typing them onto a virtual keyboard and they appears—as if by magic—on screen. You could type in "Triceratops" and "Cthulhu," for example, and watch them fight. That's probably the most fun part of the game, but the other half involves taking on missions as the main character, Maxwell, who use must use the power of typing to help people solve their problems. Maybe this guy over here needs to find an orange celery stick (though it's rarely that simple). The game will feature drop-in/drop-out multiplayer for friends with Wii Remotes, who can manipulate the objects onscreen. There will also be hints for players stuck on any particular task.
GamePad Use: You can play the game on the TV or the GamePad. The game itself is displayed on the TV and the GamePad, but only the GamePad brings up the keyboard. When playing with the GamePad by its lonesome, the experience will be familiar to fans of the two DS games.
Staff Approval Rating: 53% (5th)
Game Party Champions
Developer: Phosphor Games
Players: 1-5
Off-TV Play: It's not clear
What is it?: It's the latest game from a series nobody likes (Game Party on Wii). It seems to be an attempt to replicate the success of Wii Sports/Party/Resort but those Metacritic scores tell me they've fallen short. This newest iteration, which includes such classic Chuck E. Cheese games as skee ball, hoop shoot, air hockey, and ping pong, includes a multiplayer mode in which other players "grief" (according to the press release) the main, GamePad-holding player, while they attempt to become the Game Party Champion. I might hold out to read the reviews on this one, folks.
Staff Approval Rating: 0% (23rd)
