Thursday, September 02, 2010

No question about it ...

... the recently released Wii version of Prope's Ivy the Kiwi? is a nice little platformer.

What's to like about it? There are the title's graphics, for starters, which have a sepia-toned, watercolor-ish sheen to them. And then there are its controls, which are surprisingly tight considering you don't directly control your character.



What's not to like? You remember those sepia-toned graphics I mentioned a second ago? Well, I would have preferred it if the folks at Prope had left them mostly monochromatic (as they were in the Japanese release, above). The colors that have been added to the North American version are distracting, not to mention garish, if you ask me. Oh, and speaking of distracting: The game's background music, while suitably charming, is a bit boisterous compared to its sound effects.

Given the good and bad, I'd say Ivy the Kiwi? is a keeper--although it would be more of an impulse keeper (if such a thing exists) if it were, say, $10 cheaper. (It currently retails for $29.99 in my neck of the woods.)

Buy: Ivy the Kiwi? (Japanese) or Ivy the Kiwi? (North American)

4 comments:

Viewtiful_Justin said...

Yeah...I played the DS demo, and I wasn't impressed. I was actually kind of let down.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Oh, I haven't tried the DS demo -- what didn't you like about it? I read earlier today that some have had problems with the controls being imprecise -- was that (one of) the problems? I find the Wii controls to be pretty great considering...

Viewtiful_Justin said...

Yeah...it was sort of a wonky setup. And the whole "3 vines and then the last one goes away" setup isn't my favorite...

Bryan Ochalla said...

Hmmm, as soon as I fix my WiFi I'm going to have to try the DS demo. I just spent another 30 minutes with the Wii version, BTW, and I'm still really enjoying it. It still may not interest you, though, since it features the same "3 vines and then the last one goes away" setup...