The Wii U is many things(or maybe not depending on who you ask) but it is certainly not considered a reliable source in the industry for independent games. Despite it having a good number of indie releases, it is only now that people are recognizing its indie exclusives. One of its latest offerings, Armillo, comes from Fuzzy Wuzzy Games. Armillo is an action-mostly, occasional puzzle platformer.

Armillo’s friends are being kidnapped and used a power source for some evil and surprisingly loquacious robotic invader. The majority of the game is played from a 3/4 over-head view. Our hero’s primary mode of transportation is rolling. The spherical levels are fun to move around on and incorporate a good amount of platforming. There are portals within the levels that warp Armillo to a dark version of the environment and force you to find the exit before you die due to the harsh atmosphere(I guess). While in pursuit of a way out you can earn orbs and rescue your buddies just like you can in the regular world. Upon completing a level your friends will blast you off to a moon that offers you a limited time to grab orbs.

Orbs you gather are used as currency and can be traded, in large quantities, in the shop to get more health, more time in dark worlds/moons, some orb locating aids and new abilities. Secret orbs hidden in the levels can be collected to unlock secret levels. These levels are in 2D and have yet another time limit to get the secret orb at the end. However I found them really frustrating. The jumping was very floaty and pulling off the double jump was inconsistent. This was in addition to occasional slowdown. The performance issues are annoying but not showstoppers.

You can play Armillo and really get a sense of what Fuzzy Wuzzy Games was going for and was influenced by. The variety of gameplay styles is surprising. If you own a Wii U I can’t think of any reason not to pick this game up.

Recommendation: Worth a buy

Full Disclosure: The WiiU version of this game was provided to GameEnthus by the publisher.

Genre: platformer

Developer: Fuzzy Wuzzy Games

Publisher: Fuzzy Wuzzy Games

Platforms: WiiU, Steam at some point?

Price: $7.99

http://www.armillogame.com/

http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/s6gxA7nRWkQ7KIFfRkgeiPgshove-iUZ

http://GameEnthus.com

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/gameenthus-podcast-video-games/id286435007?mt=2

Scale:

Worth a buy – paying full price for fans of the series or genre makes sense – often includes a caveat

Worth a buy on sale – not quite full price worthy but close, – often includes a caveat

No – borrow it if you must play it

Please no – Don’t waste any time and/or money on it