Gamecyte writes: "I'm hoping I can go this entire review without saying "The twist is," or "But there's a twist!" or "With just a twist of," or any such obvious quip. I'm also hoping my wrist stops aching soon - Magnetica Twist is a fairly addictive little action-puzzler, controlled entirely through small rotations of the Wiimote. After a few hours of play, you can start developing a case of localized Wii-itis. The upside to that, of course, is that Magnetica Twist is the kind of game you'll want to play for hours at a time: accessible, addictive, replayable, and challenging. Granted, it's also a game we've all played a hundred times before in any number of incarnations, but thanks to a tiny handful of additions to the familiar formula, Magnetica Twist is a thoroughly enjoyable little distraction. Also, though it may weigh in at 1000 Wii Points, its modest 85-Memory-Block size makes it a fairly painless addition to your channel lineup."
NintendoLife writes: "We were recently lucky enough to catch up with Etienne and Romain of Yullaby to talk a little bit about their upcoming WiiWare puzzler Magnetis. Etienne Périn is the main 2D/3D artist and lead game designer of Magnetis and Romain Gauthier is the music composer and sound designer of the game. You can find out what they had to say to Nintendo Life in the full interview below."
The Magnetica design is on the shallow side to begin with and when you add wonky motion control to the mix you find yourself with a game that falls far short of the best in the colored object matchin' puzzle genre. Coming from Nintendo this is very disappointing as this is one of the most mediocre products Diehard GameFAN have ever seen them attach their name to as a publisher. Don't support this kind of laziness; keep your Wii points for some of the great 3rd party WiiWare offerings.
The variety of ways Mitchell repackages the core game impresses. Quick Play's a pleasant time-waster, Challenge is an endurance run of increasingly awkward ball streams and Quest offers missions with specific criteria for completion. Enlist three friends and you can tackle a bevy of co-operative and battle scenarios sure to turn the air blue with marble-inspired cursing. Lack of Wi-Fi additions aside, it's the polished Dr. Mario approach to WiiWare all over again – only this time built on a great puzzler.
You'll love:
- Serious aural pleasure
- Cannon-propelled marbles
- Polished puzzle mechanics
You'll hate:
- Lack of Wi-Fi
- Not super deep
- Making the wrong shot
