Rodea The Sky Soldier (Wii U)
One thing I noticed a while back was I had yet to do a review for something on the Wii U, and that was mostly due to the fact that, at the time, everything I had for the console was part of the "it" games. Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Smash Bros, Mario Party, Mario Maker....all things like that. So when I finally got around to picking Rodea and being able to play it, I thought it would be a good first review for the console. I've also got a little surprise along with this review, but I'll get to that at the end. For now, let's talk about the game.
Each area requires you to reach a certain waypoint, which is always marked with a rainbow-colored cone of light. Rodea can run and attack on the ground, but due to his job as a guard, the levels are designed to challenge his flight ability. You'll have to fly up, over, and around numerous obstacles to reach your goal. Unfortunately, Rodea's flight isn't infinite. Once you're in the air, you'll see a fuel meter pop up that will slowly deplete as you stay airborne, and using his boost/attack move will deplete it faster. You'll need to use it, though, because one of the things that will constantly be blocking your path is enemies.
Your enemies come in mechanical form, whether in grounded robots or flying small ships. If the thing you want to attack is on/near the ground you can use Rodea's quick attack. Otherwise, your fights take place in the air too, by aiming your path at an enemy and boosting in the last couple seconds to attack them. If you have a number of enemies in a small location, you can time multiple presses of the attack button to chain a combo together and take them all out together, or you can just float with the attack-rebound and manually aim yourself at the next foe.
Some enemies, as well as the bosses, will take some strategy as they have defenses that can kill you immediately. The bosses in particular will be in closed off arena-like areas, and they'll have an actual health bar appear on the screen (no other enemies do) so you'll be able to tell if your attacks are working.
Outside of flying and dealing with enemies, there isn't a whole lot in your way of playing this game. As I mentioned there are collectibles around but they are purely optional if choose to get them. Not a whole lot of depth in this game, but how much of a challenge does it give along the way?
Flight in this game is a moderate difficulty. You press A once to jump, a second tie to enter pre-flight mode, and a third time whenever you want to start flying towards wherever you have the reticle pointed. It's a simple and easy system, the only annoyance is you can't just fly anywhere. You need to be aimed at something solid (a wall, the ground, an enemy, a collectible, etc.) or else Rodea will just flail endlessly down into the clouds. It's especially annoying dealing with the flight meter. If you have any spare gravitons, these can be used as extra fuel if you happen to run out, but it's definitely not an ideal system
Combat ties in so tightly with the flight that it's hard to give it it's own rating. Everything you do in combat is just like what you do to fly normally, except pressing one different button to attack. Hitting an enemy opens up a chance for combo chains, but it also sends you reeling far away, shocking the camera to an awkward angle. You can switch to different modes while on the ground, like using the machine gun gear in your arm, which utilizes a homing-lock style of ammo, but the combat in air is a much better method between the two (although just like the flight, it's not an ideal system giving you only one button to really attack with).
Lastly, the collectibles would have to be between easy and moderate. There's not an overwhelming amount of them, and as far as the ammo and gravitons go they're blatantly out in the open for you. However the differently ranked medals are where the frustration lies. These things are completely hidden, off your normal path, and on top that the game only progressively loads items in the distance, so unless you're headed straight for the medal you really aren't going to see it. And as far as I know (but I could just not be far enough in the game) there are no in-game maps to reveal their locations.
There's a bit of difficulty from this game, but it all feels like it's difficulty from the game's systems that are at use, instead of a direct challenge IN the game.
Final Verdict??
Remember when I said I had a bit of a surprise with this game? This is it. This review is actually going to take place in three parts. (Technically four). The Wii U version of this game comes packaged with the Wii version as well. And before I ever picked this one up, I always heard that the Wii version was the superior version. But, while writing this review, I also discovered there's a version of Rodea for the 3DS. So what I'm going to do is play a bit of each version, doing a Quick Review for the Wii and 3DS versions, and then a fourth and final comparitive review on all versions. I won't be rushing into the other two versions just yet (avoiding a flood of Rodea posts in quick succession on this blog), but they will be coming up over the next month or two.
For now, what I will say on this Wii U version is it's definitely a lot better than what people have said about it, but I also haven't played the Wii version where I hear some of the systems get a good amount of improvements. Sometime in the next couple of weeks I'll toss in the other two versions, so be on the lookout! The copies of the game that come with a Wii version included are the initial first-prints of this game, and if you can find one at GameStop it'll only cost you $13 for a used copy. And that price for TWO copies of the game is a prett good deal and makes picking it up worth it either way.
I haven't finished this game yet. There are 25 chapters in the campaign, and my plan is to play through at least Chapter 5 or 6 in each version and then I'll plow through whichever version I feel is more comfortable for me to play.
The Story
Beginning in a flashback, you take control of Rodea, a humanoid-robot Sky Solider flying with the kingdom Garuda, who is at war with the Naga Empier. In the middle of a battle, Cecilia's (Garuda's princess) ship is shot down. Rodea flies over to Cecilia to protect her, and the Key of Time which Naga's leader, Emperor Geardon seeks. Having no other choice, Cecilia decides to split the key into two pieces, giving one Rodea. He pleads to be allowed to protect her, but she teleports him away to an island, and when he gets there he angrily punches the ground, shattering his right arm and forcing his programming to shut down. 1,000 years later, Rodea is awoken, discovering he now has a heart, and Emperor Geardon is still hunting down the Key of Time. Rodea sets out to learn what has transpired over the past millenia, and to put a final stop to the Naga Empire's war against his home, Garuda.The Controls
One fun thing with the Wii U is that some games are playable entirely through the GamePad, and Rodea is one of them. The controls for the game don't change whether you play it on the Pad or off your TV, and they're pretty simple. Your joysticks control your movement, aiming, and camera placement. The D-pad changes your gears/moves you are able to use (flight mode, machine gun mode, etc), and the shoulders act for auto-aiming abilities. The main button interface is what sees the most action from this game, as this is where your main flight controls are, as well as your attacks.The Gameplay
Rodea is played in the 3rd person perspective, with the majority of the gameplay revolving around his flight controls (SKY solider...get it?). The game itself is fairly linear, with no gigantic sweeping areas to free roam in, however the areas do offer some exploration with some collectibles to find. These range from gravitons, to weapons, ammo, shields, and different ranked medals (gold, silver, bronze). However, none of these are required to be found for you to play the game.Each area requires you to reach a certain waypoint, which is always marked with a rainbow-colored cone of light. Rodea can run and attack on the ground, but due to his job as a guard, the levels are designed to challenge his flight ability. You'll have to fly up, over, and around numerous obstacles to reach your goal. Unfortunately, Rodea's flight isn't infinite. Once you're in the air, you'll see a fuel meter pop up that will slowly deplete as you stay airborne, and using his boost/attack move will deplete it faster. You'll need to use it, though, because one of the things that will constantly be blocking your path is enemies.
Your enemies come in mechanical form, whether in grounded robots or flying small ships. If the thing you want to attack is on/near the ground you can use Rodea's quick attack. Otherwise, your fights take place in the air too, by aiming your path at an enemy and boosting in the last couple seconds to attack them. If you have a number of enemies in a small location, you can time multiple presses of the attack button to chain a combo together and take them all out together, or you can just float with the attack-rebound and manually aim yourself at the next foe.
Some enemies, as well as the bosses, will take some strategy as they have defenses that can kill you immediately. The bosses in particular will be in closed off arena-like areas, and they'll have an actual health bar appear on the screen (no other enemies do) so you'll be able to tell if your attacks are working.
Outside of flying and dealing with enemies, there isn't a whole lot in your way of playing this game. As I mentioned there are collectibles around but they are purely optional if choose to get them. Not a whole lot of depth in this game, but how much of a challenge does it give along the way?
The Challenge (or lack thereof?)
Between your flight, combat, and the collectibles, Rodea will give you a few main areas that may or may not be a challenge.Flight in this game is a moderate difficulty. You press A once to jump, a second tie to enter pre-flight mode, and a third time whenever you want to start flying towards wherever you have the reticle pointed. It's a simple and easy system, the only annoyance is you can't just fly anywhere. You need to be aimed at something solid (a wall, the ground, an enemy, a collectible, etc.) or else Rodea will just flail endlessly down into the clouds. It's especially annoying dealing with the flight meter. If you have any spare gravitons, these can be used as extra fuel if you happen to run out, but it's definitely not an ideal system
Combat ties in so tightly with the flight that it's hard to give it it's own rating. Everything you do in combat is just like what you do to fly normally, except pressing one different button to attack. Hitting an enemy opens up a chance for combo chains, but it also sends you reeling far away, shocking the camera to an awkward angle. You can switch to different modes while on the ground, like using the machine gun gear in your arm, which utilizes a homing-lock style of ammo, but the combat in air is a much better method between the two (although just like the flight, it's not an ideal system giving you only one button to really attack with).
Lastly, the collectibles would have to be between easy and moderate. There's not an overwhelming amount of them, and as far as the ammo and gravitons go they're blatantly out in the open for you. However the differently ranked medals are where the frustration lies. These things are completely hidden, off your normal path, and on top that the game only progressively loads items in the distance, so unless you're headed straight for the medal you really aren't going to see it. And as far as I know (but I could just not be far enough in the game) there are no in-game maps to reveal their locations.
There's a bit of difficulty from this game, but it all feels like it's difficulty from the game's systems that are at use, instead of a direct challenge IN the game.
Final Verdict??
Remember when I said I had a bit of a surprise with this game? This is it. This review is actually going to take place in three parts. (Technically four). The Wii U version of this game comes packaged with the Wii version as well. And before I ever picked this one up, I always heard that the Wii version was the superior version. But, while writing this review, I also discovered there's a version of Rodea for the 3DS. So what I'm going to do is play a bit of each version, doing a Quick Review for the Wii and 3DS versions, and then a fourth and final comparitive review on all versions. I won't be rushing into the other two versions just yet (avoiding a flood of Rodea posts in quick succession on this blog), but they will be coming up over the next month or two.
For now, what I will say on this Wii U version is it's definitely a lot better than what people have said about it, but I also haven't played the Wii version where I hear some of the systems get a good amount of improvements. Sometime in the next couple of weeks I'll toss in the other two versions, so be on the lookout! The copies of the game that come with a Wii version included are the initial first-prints of this game, and if you can find one at GameStop it'll only cost you $13 for a used copy. And that price for TWO copies of the game is a prett good deal and makes picking it up worth it either way.
I haven't finished this game yet. There are 25 chapters in the campaign, and my plan is to play through at least Chapter 5 or 6 in each version and then I'll plow through whichever version I feel is more comfortable for me to play.
