Alien Crush Returns

[UglyJoe]

http://kotaku.com/5075026/heres-what-alien-crush-returns-looks-like

Anyone play this yet?  I'm really more of a Dragon's Fury / Devil's Crush guy, but this looks too awesome to pass up.

[Flash1087]

I was a MASSIVE Alien Crush fan back in the day, and truth be told I'll probably wind up buying this ASAP.

[Jedi Master Baiter]

I like pinball.

[UglyJoe]

Ba-bump!

So I finally got around to buying this.  It's worth 800 Wii points, I think. 

The graphics are very good for a Wii game -- spectacular for a WiiWare game.  The boards could use some more complexity, but they're still fun. 

Controls are great.  You use the z-button on the nunchuck for the left flippers and the b-button on the wiimote for the right flippers.  Since they're both trigger buttons, it feels right.  Tilting is done by shaking the wiimote to the left or right.  I really love how well it works.  Subtle shakes guide your ball gently to the left or to the right. 

Boss fights are...interesting.  They're not frustratingly hard (hello Sonic Spinball ), but it can take a while to figure out exactly what you're supposed to be doing.  Once you figure out the boss's weakpoint, it's fun to try and tilt the machine to keep the ball from bouncing away from it.

The music is...forgettable, I guess.  I can't remember any of it and I was just playing it 20 minutes ago.  It doesn't live up to the awesome soundtracks of the previous Crush games, but it's not reach-for-the-mute-button awful.

If you're a fan of the Crush series or just like digital pinball in general, I recommend it.