Kyotokei

A solid spiritual sequel to the GameCube great it's copying, and at just five bucks anyone who enjoyed that older polarity shifter should seriously consider downloading this new one.

The brutal difficulty level makes it an acquired taste and it may seem unfairly tough. But Ikaruga fans might find it short when they defeat the final fifth level within an hour. Still, for just 500 Points, this is a good option.

Despite these flaws, gamers should embrace being given a WiiWare title of such substance. An enjoyable, hectic, and fast-paced title, Kyotokei should give gamers hope that Nintendo hasn't thrown in the towel on their digital download service just yet.

Kyotokei wears its influences brazenly, and though it attempts to differentiate itself in a few ways, the best part of the game is still that which it directly borrows from Ikaruga.

If you're a Wii owner looking to spend five bucks you could certainly do worse. There's some fun to be had here, but by no means does Kyotokei join the ranks of essential WiiWare titles.

Kyotokei lacks everything a shooter should have: rhythm, pace, destruction. Avoidable, as the Virtual Console if packed of games of similar genre and higher quality.

A lazy, ugly, soulless, cheeky and cheap rip-off. But just about competent with it. [Nov 2011, p.77]