Arcade and Puzzle Video Games

Lost in Shadow is a single-player platform adventure, with a rich ambiance and an unusual play mechanic, based on light and shade. While the game is set in a three-dimensional world, it is played in the two-dimensional plane of the shadows cast by objects and characters. To solve puzzles, players can adjust the angle of the light source, changing the sizes and shapes of the shadows. Players take the role of a brave young boy -- or rather, the severed shadow of a brave young boy -- who is making his way to the top of a dark tower, on a desperate quest to free the lost souls trapped within and save his own life. The silhouette hero is not held down by gravity, but he cannot move through the shadows of other objects. His fairy companion, a butterfly-winged sylph named Spangle, sheds light and shifts the shadows, to open passages or create walkways over gaps. In addition to the unique platform puzzle challenges, the boy faces assaults by shady monsters that inhabit the tower, and he must battle past them with weapons he finds in his journey. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

Guide a young kiwi across 50 stages in this whimsical game developed by Prope, a company formed by acclaimed designer Yuji Naka. The goal in each stage is simply to reach the level's exit, represented by a podium. Yet in order to scale the various platforms found throughout each level, or to help Ivy avoid hazards such as spikes, pits, and rodents, you will need to use the Wii Remote to "draw" a series of vines at various angles. Since Ivy automatically moves forward, you'll need to interact with the environment to get her to jump, fling her across chasms, and more. The Wii version offers cooperative play, with up to three friends assisting in drawing vines, as well as four-player competitive action in the form of split-screen races. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Tetris Online's festive puzzle game has moved from a digital download to a retail release with Tetris Party Deluxe. Expanding on the modes and features found within the WiiWare's Tetris Party, Tetris Party Deluxe offers more shape-sorting action for up to four players. Six new game types are included, bringing the total number of Tetris variants to 16, from the explosion-making "Bombliss" to the four-player "Vs. Sprint," which has you racing to complete 40 lines. Four previously available modes also offer enhanced elements, such as the ability to create custom "Shadow" puzzles with a built-in edit feature. Multiple control options are supported as well, some of which incorporate the added functionality of the Wii Wheel, Wii Speak, and Wii Balance Board accessories. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Adapted from the Flash-based computer game, Rooms: The Main Building is an adventure puzzle title that has you controlling a tuxedo-clad character in an attempt to find the exits leading out of a mansion's multiple floors. This is primarily accomplished by sliding jumbled tiles to form an unobstructed path. Each new level adds a number of challenges, from ladders and teleporters to detonation charges and water pumps. Also included are graphic adventure sequences in which you must resolve a variety of offbeat predicaments to earn one of four golden puzzle pieces. Advance through four mansions and 80 floors to complete the game. On Wii, Rooms includes split-screen challenges played against a friend. On DS, Rooms includes the ability to create custom stages to share with friends locally or via Wi-Fi Connection. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

In A Boy and His Blob, players take the role of a young hero out to save an entire planet, with the help of an amorphous, alien ally and a pocketful of jellybeans. To help his new friend Blobert, an adventuresome little blob who came to Earth on a desperate mission, the boy has travels to the world of Blobonia, to defeat an evil emperor who has seized the throne. As in the classic 1990 Nintendo Entertainment System original, jellybeans of different flavors allow the blob to transform into different useful items, such as a ladder, a trampoline, a shield, an anvil, a parachute, and even a portable hole. These items allow the boy to make his way through 40 multi-tiered, side-scrolling platform levels, full of both dangers and treasures. More than a dozen flavor-based transformations are available, including all the jellybean types featured in the NES original as well as several new flavors. The Wii remake features hand-drawn characters and backgrounds, giving the game the appearance of an animated feature film. A Boy and His Blob was designed by veteran developer WayForward Technologies, creator of many character-driven games for Game Boy and Nintendo DS, as well as the WiiWare game, Lit. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

Roogoo: Twisted Towers is the Wii edition of SpiderMonk Entertainment's shape-matching puzzle game. In Roogoo, players manipulate discs with holes of different shapes, reminiscent of a toddler's toy, in order to allow objects of different shapes to fall through. The action moves from disc to disc, each of which must be turned to line up the correct hole for the dropping object -- a circle, square, triangle, star, heart, or object of another such shape, that falls from above. The Wii game features dozens of puzzles set in various themed environments. When Roogoo: Twisted Towers is connected to the concurrently released DS version of the game, Roogoo Attack, additional levels are unlocked for play in both games. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

Infinite Interactive, the developer responsible for the puzzle/RPG fusion game Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, aims to spice up another genre with Puzzle Kingdoms. Though superficially a "match-three" puzzle game, Puzzle Kingdoms nevertheless offers a deeper empire-building strategy storyline, in which true victory can only be achieved through properly managing resources, swiftly upgrading fortifications, and cautiously deploying troops into battle. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Electronic Arts and Steven Spielberg team up again for 400 new levels of physics-based block-busting action in this sequel to the 2008 game that was, quite literally, a smashing success. Boom Blox: Bash Party picks up where its predecessor left off, with gamers using their Wii Remote to topple towers and strategically destroy blocks through a variety of themed environments. Bash Party flaunts its physics engine by sending gamers into outer space and deep under the ocean, while new blocks and tools, such as cylinders, paint blocks, the virus ball, and the slingshot, offer players an assortment of new ways to create havoc and destruction. Multiplayer options have expanded as well, with more chances for co-op or head-to-head play, and an all-new team mode. The game includes a series of new characters, each of whom can be thrown, grabbed, and launched just like any other block, and gamers with an Internet connection can head online to download new levels or use the "Create" mode to design and share custom levels of their own. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Professor Heinz Wolff's Gravity is a game of 100 set-'em-up and knock-'em-down puzzles, all based on the laws of physics. Players construct devices from building blocks, levers, conduits, and other parts. True to the title, most puzzles are solved by harnessing the force of gravity, through a rolling ball, a falling block, or other such event. Some puzzles have players creating contraptions of Rube Goldberg-like complexity, although many have more than one solution, and often the simplest works as well as any. The Wii edition of the game also includes 20 "sandbox" levels, for player experimentation, as well as four multiplayer mini-games. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

The sequel to one of the very first tilt-and-roll games for Wii, Marble Saga: Kororinpa brings 150 new puzzle box-style challenges and Wii Balance Board compatibility. As in the original Marble Mania, each game board consists of a 3D pathway, suspended in space. The goal is to guide a rolling marble across the narrow pathway without allowing it to fall off the side. By either tilting the Wii Remote or shifting their weight on the Balance Board, players cause the onscreen game board to tilt correspondingly, which in turn causes the marble to roll downward -- around and through the platform puzzle (or right off the edge and out of play!). The single-player "saga" in the game stars Anthony the Ant, who longs to one day create a path to the glorious golden sunflower, which is an entire ant world away. Players help Anthony toward his dream, one marble-rolling puzzle at a time. The game also offers mini-games and multiplayer races for up to four. Players can create their own levels and share them with friends through the Wii24Connect service. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide