Eurogamer Wonderful 101 review:

The Wonderful 101 has issues, especially with the gamepad, but it's also a beautifully engineered, original idea that looks gorgeous in motion. It's gigantic, too, with my first campaign run clocking in at 15 hours. Beyond that lie Hard difficulty, a long series of Wonderful Missions dedicated to the combat system, and such a depth of unlocks that I've barely scratched the surface.

The Wonderful 101 makes you feel nostalgia, not so much for the TV shows or games it references as for memories of waking up at 7am on the weekends to watch shows and spending the rest of the day acting out the heroics. That's why the occasional intrusion of an adult tone is so discordant. This is a love letter to childhood innocence, to that age where truth and justice and awesome costumes seem almost real, as well as the coolest things in the world. In that light, picking at it seems churlish, because The Wonderful 101 doesn't make you feel like a hero; it makes you feel like hundreds.

Now to choose........... this or Splinter Cell. Any ideas guys?

Videogamer W101 review said:

It’s almost like a Platinum’s (and by extension Clover’s) greatest hits. It has the style of Viewtiful Joe, the shape drawing mechanic of Okami and the cheeky sense of fun and humour that was so prevalent in Bayonetta. It’s a blast, and sometimes so bombastic it makes Bayonetta look like Dear Esther. It’s the result of the best game developers in the world being given free-rein to do what they want.

However, with free rein occasionally comes over-indulgence, and it does feel like it could have done with a bit of editing. It’s a big game, and there are moments where you wish it was more concise. Bosses often come back from the brink just when you thought you’d finally killed them, which can grate. It’s been done to make the whole thing feel more grandiose, but it becomes wearying. Fights can also feel very drawn out at times. You can’t pick this up for a quick go; you’re in this for the long haul.

That said it’s hellishly addictive. The sense of fun is palpable throughout, the characters are mostly pretty likeable, and surprisingly the plot’s fairly absorbing. It helps that it’s been pretty sharply written too, full of excellently corny jokes and one liners.

It’s almost as good as Kamiya’s twitter feed. Almost.

The lowest rated 3/10 Wonderful 101 review:

To select a power, you must first draw the shape corresponding to the weapon desired using either the right analog stick or the GamePad screen. It’s almost like drawing symbols on parchment with some form of celestial brush, but that sounds like a mad idea.

In the heat of battle, these commands are often infuriating. Activating the sword is easy as it is simply a straight line, but the hammer requires a straight line with a circle at the end, which the game often interprets as either the circle command for the hand or a wavy line which calls upon the whip. This wouldn’t be so frustrating if the combat wasn’t also as punishing as Bayonetta. Enemies which are immune to all but a specific attack will happily deplete your health bar without remorse as you fiddle around with shapes.

This isn’t Okami, where drawn commands simply assisted in battle. This is a matter of your literal attack button becoming void without the correct shape being formed. Additionally, unlike the adventures of Amaterasu, The Wonderful 101 only slows the pace of battle as you draw, as pausing it seems is too much of an advantage.

Worse still, the dodge and block commands are optional purchases from the leveling up system found in between missions. I am not overstating things when I say that these moves are vital to playing the game. A huge variety of enemies would force players to use immeasurable continues before being defeated unless countered with a well timed block. Imagine Bayonetta without dodge or Viewtiful Joe without slow motion and you have a picture of how ridiculous it is that these moves are not handed over as part of your standard arsenal.

Unfortunately, Wonderful 101 is broken at an even more basic level. Platinum Games has committed a sin I never would have expected from them: one of player feedback.

For starters, the view in the game is unforgivably crowded. From the overbearing HUD to the camera distance, it is incredibly easy to lose sight of what is going on. I have been struck by enemies lost in the commotion, devastated by high powered attacks from off the screen, and left simply confused as to where I am. Due to the premise of the game and the style of combat chosen, Wonderful 101 somehow manages to have a camera that is simultaneously both too far away and too close.

From the demo the block move is essential but it sounds like you just upgrade to it. Not seeing the problem long term. It sounds like this guy needs to play the game on the easiest setting. The only problem I had with the game demo is using unite hand when you were short on heroes. I beat the demo on all difficulty settings and its a pushover on the easiest but still enjoyable. Organised chaos but unabashadly fun.

edgecrusher said:

Agreed....beautiful too. Some of the scenes look so good it makes you feel THERE.

The Wonderful 101 (7.4) IGN

IGN Italy gave it a 9.5

Mama Mia.

A lot of reviews are mentioning control problems in general terms but I've yet to read more of them to see exactly why, I found the demo was pretty much solid control wise.

I have been playing:

GRAND THEFT AUTO 4 PC:

Game is still fun as hell to play.

METAL GEAR RISING PS3:

This game is a lot better than I expected for some reason. It feels tighter than Bayonetta (who isn't) and plays like a Ninja Gaiden game set in the Metal Gear universe. The production values are much better than they were in early demos too...its very nice.

DARKSIDERS 2 Wii U:

This game is really fun so far...I am liking it more than the 1st game, which I also liked. The whole loot system is much better here...you actually get excited about picking items up. What's nice too, is that the controls are actually almost identical to Metal Gear Rising, so its easy playing both at the same time.

gamingeek said:

I loved the game but see it as a huge missed opportunity in many ways. On its own terms it failed to show ambition in some ways. The story was bare bones, there was no quest system and it failed to be expansive. It could have been like a tighter Oblivion type game with those awesome controls.

As a sequel to Red Steel 1 it was a total curve ball, it took a mainstream Yakuza, explosive shoot em up and turned it into a cel-shaded sci fi western? And it released far too late to capitalise on the goodwill from the first game. I would take Red Steel 1 with a solid frame rate and RS2 controls anytime over RS2. I just wish Ubisoft would do it. Thankfully Goldeneye 007 came along and finally delivered a great Wii U FPS.

That said, RS2 is still a great game in its own right. Just needs a bit more story, more diversity in environments and a bit more ambition.

It's an Ubisoft game, and a sequel to a not so very good game.  What did you expect?  Not every game requires the scope of games like Xenoblade Chronicles.

edgecrusher said:

So last night, my front tire collapsed as I was taking a corner and I had to have my car towed to the mechanic. Either the ball joint or axel gave out and my car just came to a dead stop. Fun.

What pisses me off is that I've known about this issue for over a year. My car has been making more and more thumping/ squeaking sounds in that time, and I have brought it in to be fixed 4 fucking times with some excuse each time like "oh it just needs to be greased up" or "we didn't have time to get to the front end but it should be fine".

Then my fucking wheel falls off. Luckily I wasn't hurt and wasn't going fast, but fuck man. Assholes should be cutting me a deal on this one.

SupremeAC said:

It's an Ubisoft game, and a sequel to a not so very good game.  What did you expect?  Not every game requires the scope of games like Xenoblade Chronicles.

gamingeek said:

Well you can't play the games you own on Dolphin, you have to download ROMS of the games online. You might as well sell your Wii collection then.

Is that you Reggie?

gamingeek said:

SteelAttack said:

Is that you Reggie?

Reggie would answer you naked.

My body is not ready.

I bet he's hung like a horny burro.

gamingeek said:

edgecrusher said:

So last night, my front tire collapsed as I was taking a corner and I had to have my car towed to the mechanic. Either the ball joint or axel gave out and my car just came to a dead stop. Fun.

What pisses me off is that I've known about this issue for over a year. My car has been making more and more thumping/ squeaking sounds in that time, and I have brought it in to be fixed 4 fucking times with some excuse each time like "oh it just needs to be greased up" or "we didn't have time to get to the front end but it should be fine".

Then my fucking wheel falls off. Luckily I wasn't hurt and wasn't going fast, but fuck man. Assholes should be cutting me a deal on this one.

That's scary. Why not change mechanics?

I've gone to 2 different shops...its like all the shops around here take on so much work that they can't do the job right. Fucking annoying. This time, they have no choice. I really need to just get a new car as mine has reached the point where its still in good shape but has constant small issues. I'm just not ready to go back to monthly payments and jacked up car insurance.

Oops! If you Google The Bureau: Xcom Declassified as of 5:50PM EST, you'll notice a "dead" link to the Destructoid Review. Looks like someone jumped the gun on the embargo...

Bad news, if you were even remotely interested: It's a 4.5 out of 10.