Fointy Pinger / WiiWare Special

The WiiWare channel sort of passed me by when it finally became available here in the UK, I'll admit. But even just dipping briefly into the range of its original and quick-fix software reveals its potential. Whilst the over-priced Virtual Console is gradually stagnating, the WiiWare channel is something of a mini revelation to me.

So, I'll try and keep this updated over time, but meanwhile if you have any mini-thoughts on good (or bad) WiiWare titles you'd played, email me and I'll post them all in here.

Game: Onslaught (1,000 Points) - By Tetsuo

Onslaught is a curious thing in that it's a Japanese-developed FPS, but it's been released in here in Europe and the US first. I do like Hudson: Star Soldier is always welcome around my way, and of course hours have been sunk into all those Super Bomberman games for the Super Nintendo too. But after a bit of a creative slump in recent times with the likes of several awful Bomberman and Mario Party games for the GameCube, Hudson are now going through something of a renaissance with the Wii. We've had the brilliant Kororinpa and Wing Island, and now they're establishing themselves as one of the most dedicated companies to the WiiWare channel cause.

This is like some sort of mix between a 90's arcade lightgun game, Halo and forgotten N64 turd Armorines. And it's a delight. Onslaught's floaty controls make a mockery of the horrible mess of Red Steel's, and the small selection of weapons give the player just about enough firepower to blast away at the hoards of Starship Troopers-inspired aliens. The emphasis is on pure, concentrated shooty blasty fun-fun, you see, and the addition of combination bonus points and a close-range electro-whip thing hint at the Japanese influence. There's even a few bosses to take care of too.

It ain't perfect: swinging around is sometimes disorientating when you're cornered, and the single player campaign won't take you long to finish. But when you consider the online co-operative mode (now there's a surprise) and ranking tables to get into afterwards, this is still good value for money, even though 1,000 points is a tad pricey. Aces.

Six out of ten