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78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 72 Critics What's this?

User Score
8.2

Generally favorable reviews- based on 138 Ratings

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  • Summary: Earth is under attack from an invasion of enormous aliens, and the only thing that can protect the planet is a group of unlikely, yet mighty, heroes with special abilities. Unfortunately, the aliens are too powerful for the heroes to fight individually. They must join forces and work together to defeat their common enemy. These uniquely different heroes can morph into powerful weapons to crush the invaders or turn into objects like a giant fist or bridge to interact with and traverse the environments. Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 50 out of 72
  2. Negative: 0 out of 72
  1. Sep 15, 2013
    100
    This is the very definition of a killer-app in regards to the Wii U library, and deserves every ounce of support the gaming community can muster up.
  2. Aug 20, 2013
    90
    The camera does its part in making some sequences a tad bit annoying, but that's just a small irritation in a game where everything else is so absolutely spot on. The whole game world feels like a gigantic box of toys come to life, bustling with charm and lovable characters.
  3. Aug 27, 2013
    85
    The Wonderful 101 is one of those titles that you can't do anything but admire. A true jewel in the Nintendo Wii U lineup.
  4. Aug 18, 2013
    80
    The Wonderful 101 is a bright, bold adventure that occasionally struggles to control its big ambitions.
  5. Aug 19, 2013
    80
    With such a powerful gameplay, a plentiful of heroes and a delightful drop of derision, it's hard to imagine a more wonderful successor to Viewtiful Joe.
  6. 70
    Between unlocking all the characters, getting every collectible and missions to complete, The Wonderful 101 gives more than enough reason for you a reason to dust off your Wii U or simply pick one up a little early to experience it.
  7. An inventive game with plenty of potential and some truly original concepts that somehow failed materialize into something that can be fairly described as entertaining.

See all 72 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 35 out of 38
  2. Negative: 2 out of 38
  1. Sep 15, 2013
    10
    Wonderful 101 is a breath of fresh air for gamers everywhere. It's a fun new concept wrapped up in a beautiful high quality presentation.

    A
    t its core, it's a beat 'em up adventure game. It boils down to learning enemy weaknesses and scoring high hitting combo attacks. You control a group of superheroes who must defend Earth from an outer-space invasion. The controls are innovative and take a little while to learn, and making that effort is rewarded. The controls are tight and become intuitive after investing a little time to learn and practice them. The Wonderful 101 also utilizes many features of Wii U's unique gamepad controller. The music and sound in Wonderful 101 are top notch. It has an over the top attitude and feels like a high quality animation is playing out before you because of the great sound and graphics. Everything about this game is polished and shines quality.

    All in all, this game breaks new ground and deserves a perfect score for taking gamers somewhere unexpected and WONDERFUL!!!
    Expand
  2. Sep 18, 2013
    10
    The Wonderful 101 is a whirlwind of action adventure that doesn't borrow from others. It holds it's own ground of originality that shows what happens when you get companys like Platinum Games and Nintendo on the same side. Don't mistake this to be a Pikmin like game because it is far from it.
    Visuals are top notch in a fluid 60fps stage of a fast paced action world of colorful particle effects and cleverly designed characters. The cartoon feel compliments the color pallet that drives the visuals to a certain degree of saturday morning fun.
    Gameplay, a little tricky at first proves it could be enjoyed by everyone. You have a choice to use the gamepad to execute wonder morphs, right analogue stick, or even the wii U pro controller. Drawing on the gamepad works but forces you to look away from the screen which I would recommend the right analogue for execution but luckily when the move is being preformed the whole world slows down so you can get it right without being pummeled right away. You can play the whole game on the gamepad but who doesn't want to admire this on the big screen.
    The soundtrack is the next best thing, it fits the game PERFECTLY giving you the super hero embrace of empowerment that just compliments each boss battle and scenario. This is no synthesized soundtrack but a full orchestra backing this up. They spared no expensive when it came to the soundtrack which every great game needs.
    Convincing voice acting delivers a good balance of witty humor and cheesy dialogue that reaches not only to the younger audience but with jokes that even adults can appreciate.
    The story isn't necessarily it's strong point but like many action series such as The Thunder birds and The Power Rangers, they all shared a weekly structure they kept you coming back for more that wasn't story driven. The Wonderful 101 even on it's easy mode will kick your butt but after completing it, you can go back for a second round but with enemies shuffled around forcing you to change your strategy.
    The Wonderful 101 shouldn't be ignored because of the child like themes but should be appreciated of what it achieves. All this may sound biased but I truly believe this is a system seller that shows off what the Wii U can do when a developer like Platinum Games builds a game from the ground up. If you were on the fence about The Wonderful 101 an eShop demo is available giving you a taste of things to come.
    Expand
  3. Oct 9, 2013
    10
    The Wonderful 101 brings something incredibly unique to the Wii U. The story is fantastic, the characters are brilliant and the game play is something that has never been done before. The art style feels like a mix of Viewtiful Joe, Zelda Wind Waker and Power Rangers. If you have a Wii U, this is the first game you should play through, as it is an experience that only the Wii U can offer! I cannot recommend enough! Expand
  4. Sep 16, 2013
    10
    This game represents the reason why we play games: to have fun and be challenged!
    You only have to be aware that it might take 1 or 2 hours o
    f gameplay to be immersed in the challenge that awaits you. Enjoy the ride Expand
  5. Sep 18, 2013
    9
    The W101 is a breath of fresh air on the WiiU. For those who are a bit over Mario and are looking for something with the equal amount of charm mixed with over the top action and combat then this is something you definitely want to try.

    The combat at first can take a while to get used to but over time you get the hang of it. I did have some issues with the controls occasionally as some of the shapes on the gamepad need to be drawn quite accurately for it to 'unite'. The controls aren't perfect but they do work the majority of the time.

    What makes this game stand out is its rich colours and the humour that the characters have. Some of the jokes are aimed more at teenagers/adults than young kids. The story, while over the top and a bit silly, has surprising depth which I was surprised to find. The characters are interesting and there is even a tragic flashback story for one of the main characters.

    Mixed in with incredible combat, this is action that never lets go of you. From the moment you start the game to the incredibly climatic boss finale, you will rarely get a moment's rest. I was not disappointed with this game and for those who have played Platinum Games previous works, you can expect similar play styles to Bayonetta.

    The gamepad is used reasonably well though nothing to make you go 'oh my god that was so clever!'. The game also doesn't explain itself fully to you so there will be times where you might be wondering around trying to work out what to do next but at the same time this is part of the fun of experimentation.

    This is one game that I am very happy to have and glad I have my WiiU for.
    Expand
  6. Sep 15, 2013
    9
    This game has more fun packed in, than the ocean has fish. It's bright coloured cute exterior hides its kickass gameplay. This game alone makes me proud to own a Wii U. Expand
  7. Sep 15, 2013
    2
    When switching weapons in a fast paced action game that requires quick reflexes and split second timing it is vital that the player is able to do so as quickly and efficiently as possible. Traditionally this has been achieved using a normal control pad and a single button press, The Wonderful 101 does things a little differently (much to my annoyance). To change weapons in The Wonderful 101 (an action which will be required thousands of times) the player must look down at the gamepads touchscreen, remove the stylus from it's holster, draw a squiggly line roughly in the shape of the weapon they want to select then quickly press one of the face buttons, put the stylus away and look back up at the TV screen and continue playing. Oh and that's when it works, there will be many times you will mess up and have to do it all again, just to change weapons.

    But the controls are just the beginning of this games problems. Levels are mostly made up of a series of skirmishes involving enemies with health bars that require far too many hits to deplete. With a combat system that has none of depths or nuance of it's big sister Bayonetta you know your in button mashing territory and my god does it feel like hard work.

    Artistically the graphics look nice but the flashy visual effects make it impossible to see where your tiny little men are or sometimes even distinguish them from enemies. The static camera also obstructs your view regularly.

    The pain keeps piling on in the form of an indecipherable leveling up system and when unreliable touch screen controls combine with irritating quick time events the game becomes virtually unplayable.

    On a positive note the voice acting is very good but that counts for little when the game underneath is so horribly broken. Hopefully lessons will be learned here as to not shoehorn touch screen controls into games where it is not necessary or logical to do so.
    Expand

See all 38 User Reviews