Pokemon Rumble U - first impressions

Pokemon Rumble U just came out here in Europe, so I bought a copy, on a spur of the moment thing. 

It's a downloadable Wii U action game where you control a little Pokemon figure, to go into an arena with 3 other Pokemon figures on your side, and fight dozens of enemy Pokemon figures. Sometimes enemies turn into coins when they are beaten, sometimes they turn into capsules containing new toys to add to your army.

The new toys are more and more powerful as you progress.

You can theoretically collect all 649 Pokemon in this game.

There's also a feature where you can use special real-life Pokemon figures in the game, using data transferred by NFC. Unlike the ones you win in battle, these can be powered up, and can be taught new moves. You can also take your Pokemon with you to a friend's house, and use it there. I think this is like the Skylanders games, and the upcoming Disney Infinity.

The special edition I got comes with 2 Pokemon gacha figures - one Black or White Kyurem legendary, and one normal Pokemon. I also bought 2 gachas separately. So I have a White Kyurem, Pikachu, Litwick, and Lucario. Kyurem is 10 times more powerful than the others, starting out. It also comes with a fold out poster which I haven't bothered to fold out. It's a very big box for a downloadable game!

Pokemon Rumble U appears to be exclusive to GAME here in the U.K. - the normal edition is £13.49, the special edition is £19.99 and the gacha figures are £3.99 each.

My thoughts so far - 

1. Pokemon Rumble U NFC figures are super cute, they are all low-polygon and adorable.
2. The game looks very pretty
3. It's very repetitive. Each level is a circular arena with hordes of enemies to beat. Not like the 3DS game where there were different terrains to explore.
4. Not much of a story really. I mean, there is one, but it's very shallow.
5. Not sure whether this is a complaint about the game or the Wii U in general - the gamepad's power ran out far too quickly. Perhaps it's all the NFC stuff, maybe it's just that the gamepad battery doesn't last very long anyway.
6. I don't think there's anything to spend your in-game coins on if you aren't playing with NFCs.
7. Using NFC figures gives the game an unnatural progression in terms of balance. Without them, you are limited to using a Pokemon which is at most as powerful as the toughest thing you beat. You'll swap around from level to level, and collecting 'em all will benefit you. With NFC figures, you are limited to whatever power you could buy - which may well be far beyond the toughest thing you've beaten (making the game super easy), and you will probably want to stick with just your NFC Pokemon as you power them up (switching them depending on type), which I think will make collecting less interesting. But I suppose that depends on the player.
8. The game is very sparse on instructions. It doesn't, for example, let you know how to actually use the NFC figures in battle. There's an option in the main menu to scan them in, and power them up, but when you exit out of that and go into the game, looking at your army of Pokemon, the ones you scanned in aren't there. There are no instructions to say how to add them, either. You have to re-scan them on the character select screen in order to choose them.

On one hand I feel like I've barely scratched the surface, because I'm slowly seeing new features as I progress. On the other hand, I feel like I'm already doing the same thing over and over, possibly because the urge to redo levels to "catch 'em all" is great.

There will be passwords for this game published in Official Nintendo Magazine, and on twitter. The first is 87818558 for a Samurott: http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/53425/first-pokemon-rumble-u-password-revealed-unlock-samurott-now/

Groupees doujin bundle

I bought this earlier: http://groupees.com/doujin

It's a bundle of games, including some VNs, arcade shmups, and a 2D fighter made by some ex-SNK devs. Oh and Cherry Tree Comedy Club, which I started once and is seems like a dating sim without the dating. :) The games require $0.50 each, you can pick and choose not to include some of them but must pay at least $1.50. All the bonuses unlocked within the first night of release. So I got ten games plus a soundtrack for $5.

Currently reading Jisei, which is the first of the Jisei murder mysteries. Only started it, but it seems pretty well written.

Dead Rising, insect bites, and feeling bad.

Dead Rising has been making me feel bad since I first played it, which is probably at least 5 years ago, but I still find myself thinking about it. It's a game where you are a photojournalist (Frank West) dropped into a mall full of zombies and you need to find out what happened, survive, and you can rescue people too. Mostly, you pick up whatever you find, and smash your way through hordes of zombies, or drive through them, or whatever. A lot like one of Koei's musou (Dynasty Warriors) games, but featuring zombies, having multiple outcomes, and made by Capcom.

I started playing it, but eventually gave up because it made me feel bad to play it. The zombies in the shopping mall were obviously just normal people until very recently, killing so many of them so easily and gleefully feels bad. The protagonist is an amoral jerk - taking sexy photos of female zombies in low-cut tops before slaughtering them to help level up is the kind of thing he does. No respect for the dead. But the thing which made me feel worst is that I was supposed to be rescuing someone, they ran too close to me while I was wielding a sledgehammer, and... well, they didn't need rescuing anymore.

Meanwhile, my boyfriend - who doesn't normally like musou games - really enjoyed it. He especially liked it when he could get Frank to pick up a bowling ball, and smash a zombie's head with it. The sound.

"I thought you were a nice person!" :(

But the reason I am thinking of the game again? Read after the break. Warning, minor spoilers and a picture of a freaky insect-bitten hand.