Dr. Mario Online Rx (2008)
Developer: Arika/Nintendo
Platform: Nintendo Wii
Purchase Date: 06/11/2008
Am I a winner for spending 1000 Wii Points on this game?
To be honest, I would still have zero Wii Ware game at this point if not for a friend's invitation to play this game with him online. Wii Ware has not presented to me anything that is reasonable exciting. The Dr. Mario brand is really only nostalgic instead of a classic. It's really a mediocre puzzle game at best when compared to recent masterpieces like Lumines and Puzzle Quest and can barely even hold its ground against the likes of Tetris or Columns.
And the point of this Virus Buster mode is... what?
The game is like Columns with the addition of viruses to exterminate. There are a number of different colored ones that needed to be cleared by stacking up falling medicine capsules. It gets tricky trying to line up 4 of the same colored capsules or viruses but that's about it. The game is very limiting and even with the "new" Virus Buster mode - which is the same game only ridiculously zoomed in and wii-mote controlled - Arika/Nintendo didn't make any attempt whatsoever to further improve the rather stale gameplay.
The Japanese are dominating the top-ranking spots.
The graphics are simple. The usage of the player's personal Miis is adorable as always: all developers should try it, it should be a standard in all Wii games. There are several background tunes to choose from but they are all quite repetitive. The real value here is the online play. As rigid as the game is, playing it against other people online is fun. There is an online ranking system to make each battle meaningful. Dr. Mario Online Rx is not a bad game. It's just one of those games that would not have seen the light of day again if not for its association with Nintendo.
RATING: 3 out of 5
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