Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker takes the very enjoyable mini-levels from Super Mario 3D World and spins them out into their own (basically) fully fledged game. The gameplay remains just as fun as the levels from 3D World, and the game manages to create dozens more of these levels without letting its ideas become too stale. The majority of the game is spent hunting gems, stars and hidden objectives by solving your way through levels that primarily rely on an Escher-lite use of perspective to fool you into missing a key element of the level. There's not really any of the never-ending staircase type impossible geometry of Escher, more an "you can't see this mushroom because it's behind a thing" of level design. It's surprisingly satisfying, thanks in no small part to the typically excellent Nintendo level design that teaches you as you play, slowly but surely ramping up the mechanics and difficulty involved. The forced touchpad elements are a little annoying, partly because the game looks fantastic, meaning you're going to want to play it on a nice TV. The biggest downfall here is that there is an odd mix of lack of variety AND insubstantial content. The basic loop of swinging the camera around the level to hunt for little hidden passageways and what have you can become tiresome if the game is played in anything more than short bursts, which will seemingly prolong the lifespan of the game, as it is fairly light on actual content. If you enjoyed the Captain Toad levels in Super Mario 3D World then this is a fantastic expansion of the idea and worth playing if you can find the game for a decent price. Otherwise, it's probably best to pick up 3D World first. That game is fantastic and definitely provides more value for money, and should be considered close to mandatory purchasing for Wii U owners anyway. The charm and creative simplicity of the game is its biggest strength, but is let down by the lack of variety in its limited content. Again though, if you're after more of those levels then you certainly won't be disappointed.