So I know it’s been a while since the last game review and I apologise to all our fans out there for the incompetence’s of my fellow gamers Shinigami and Hans moleman, as they were pwned by essays and lab experiments due to a lack of 1337 time management skillz. Fortunately I’m not such a n00b and I’m able to bring you Kororinpa, a game that no matter how hax0r your 1337 CS 1.6 skillz are or how good you can bullet spam people in COD4, chances are this game will give your fellow non-gaming real-life friends (if you have any—people on your Steam/Xbox Live/PSN don’t count sorry) an opportunity to win. Sure, putting your optimistic but ultimately n00b friends into one of your traditional holiday LAN party servers just to watch their gaming ambitions shatter in front of them is lol-canoe erupting—in the end as true gamers, we should take up a challenge, and expand our gaming skillz beyond that of the standard RTS and FPS games.
The game I challenge all you 1337 hax0rs to take on is Kororinpa. It’s a quirky marble game for the Wii out of Japan. I originally obtained this game during my intrepid journeys overseas but it is obtainable in New Zealand. If it is not in the shops, try online, its on mighyape.co.nz (I’m sure all you internet warriors get games online anyway, shopping ‘brick and mortar’ styles is soooo 1999).
The main objective of the game is simple. All you do have to do is tilt and maneuver the maze course, using your Wii controller so the marble can successfully roll and overcome any obstacles in its way to reach the finishing line. So simple, yet with the pressure of having to do it as quickly as possible, while at the same time being as patient and delicate as possible, combines for one hair-pulling experience. Hence why it’s such a mind-fuck. You concentrate so hard you break a bit of a sweat, gently tilting the Wii-mote left and right. Three quarters through the map, you start to feel the pressure building as time ticks on. A sudden lapse in concentration, you tilt too far to the left. You scramble to save the marble from falling off the edge. But it’s too late. As you restart, your n00b mate who doesn’t even know how to uninstall software celebrates completing the map. Your heart sinks. Your gaming life flashes before you. You’re officially, dear I say, a fucking n00b.
While maintaining such simplicity, anybody can pick it up but at the same time it is enough of a unique challenge that no matter how much of a seasoned gamer you are, it is hard to dominate because it is so easy to get frustrated. When you become frustrated it’s fair game. No matter how 1337, no one is immune, and it WILL to affect your ability. This game really rewards players who are able to be gentle and be not so abrasive and ruthless. Some may say not the ‘one-speed-jones’ way (don’t know what I’m talking about? Tune in to the VBC 88.3 and streaming live on the interwebz 4-7pm Mondays. You might win something (maybe a hug, maybe a game).
Its downfall is that it is only really enjoyable in multiplayer mode. as with most Wii games. It does get repetitive once completed, it’s really hard to ping it on any other faults. There is a variety of maps—the further you go through the game, the more outrageous the obstacles and maps get—that has a touch of that quirky Japanese sense of innocent humor. It even has levels made entirely of cakes! It’s a charming game that brings back memories where having fun was the main objective. Although it went under the radar when it was released, it’s definitely worth a geez when other social games like Rock Band start to tire.