UnEpic
Overview -
The gaming landscape was once filled with beloved platformers and classic role-playing titles. While would-be million seller games rarely embrace those legacies, the indie scene is an ever-growing proving ground for both throwbacks and experimental titles. Enter 'UnEpic' on the Wii U. With 'UnEpic,' an indie Spanish developer and EnjoyUp Games seeks to channel those days of yore with a mix of hardcore NES-style platforming and role playing elements while refining them with more up to date features, and an unexpected protagonist. Now it's time to see how this promising mix bears out.
Video Review
There isn't much to get excited about regarding the visuals of 'UnEpic'. The 8-bit presentation does an adequate job of making full use of your television. Large areas of the game are displayed and lit up as your character progresses and lights the obligatory torches along his way. However, the game attempts to show you as much of the dungeon on-screen as possible and, as a result, the individual characters and monsters become incredibly small - even on some of the larger televisions available. Still, it was always a treat to encounter the bigger bosses of 'UnEpic'. Although not terribly creative with their design, their size was always affective in making you feel insignificant, knocking your bravery down a peg or two after some of the more mundane creatures that you battle leading up to these encounters.
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Although 'UnEpic' accommodates for off TV play on the Wii U gamepad, this eliminates the option to use the touch screen hot keys, forcing you to navigate the game's menu system. While not terribly difficult to manage, the action in the game does not pause while in the menus, and dangerous situations become even more deadly as you frantically search for that scroll or healing potion. The better way to play 'UnEpic' is on the TV.
Audio Review
Similar to the video quality, 'UnEpic' doesn't go out of its way to impress with the audio. Having said that, I would find it unusual for an older style game like 'UnEpic' to take full advantage of a surround system. It would be an odd blending of old and new gameplay styles and would feel both out of place and unnecessary.
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What I did enjoy was the writing and subsequent voice acting of the main protagonist, Daniel. The game's website describes Daniel as 'a normal guy from recent times: a great videogame player, big sci-fi movie fan, novice player of role playing games, pot-head and overall, horny due to a mysterious lack of success with girls.' Daniel's conversations with the creatures and spirits of 'UnEpic' are consistently spot-on with his personality and provide some great, laugh-out-loud moments. He is a smart-ass through-and-through, and has found a way to take this experience in stride while having a leg-up on survival due to his deep familiarity with sci-fi and fantasy pop culture.
'UnEpic' for the Wii U is a nice distraction, a change of pace between AAA titles. It is a reminder that videogames do not necessarily require huge budgets or cross-continent teams to be both successful and fun to play. Although the game doesn't introduce anything new in terms of game mechanics, it represents a new option for owners of the Wii U who may be struggling to find a reason to turn their consoles on. The utilitarian use of the gamepad elevates 'UnEpic' as a better than average port from the PC and serves as a proper item management tool. It's hard to argue against the $9.99 asking price based on the amount of time you can spend with 'UnEpic', just don't expect the experience to be overly memorable.
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