It's been since the N64 days that we got an installment of the Dr. Mario series; now we can download the newest addition via WiiWare for 1,000 Wii Points, and better yet, only 93 blocks of memory, a lot under the average WiiWare, title so we don't have to worry about maxing further out! Some people’s expectations aren't so high though; most gave the previous installment, Dr. Mario 64, rather lukewarm reviews. Does Rx make up for the last game or is it a signal that the series is doomed to mediocrity?
Gameplay: 8/10
This game has the same Tetris feel
as most puzzle games. There are multiple Viruses in a jar, and Dr. Mario
has to destroy them by crushing them under Megavitamins of the same color.
There are the same elements in previous Dr. Mario games, like chain reactions,
up to 20 difficulty levels, and selectable speed, but this game is pretty
much divided into 2 similar games. The first one is Dr. Mario, the one
we all know about. But now there's also another mode called Virus Buster,
a game in Brain Age 2 adapted to this game. The two have the same basic
idea, but mildly different gameplay. While Dr. Mario's gameplay is similar
to that of Dr. Mario 64's and played with the sideways Wiimote or the GameCube
controller, Virus Buster is played while pointing the Wiimote at the screen.
When you point at a Megavitamin, you press A to hold on to it and drag
it down to stack it on top of Viruses. This may not seem like much of a
change, but one thing I liked was that you have more control of where half-vitamins
land. Have you ever had one of those experiences where you use a Megavitamin
to clear a Virus, but then the other side of that vitamin lands on top
of a differently-colored Virus, delaying your success? In Virus Buster,
when those pieces are falling, you can grab on to them and guide them somewhere
else. This can be used just to prevent it from falling on a wrong Virus,
or if you’re lucky it can cause a chain reaction. This can prevent some
of those inconvenient accidents from stacking up. Additionally, as opposed
to Dr. Mario's competitive 2-player mode, Virus Buster is cooperative;
this can be good or bad depending on your partner. Now aside from that,
why do you think they call it Dr. Mario Online Rx? Well, because it has
Wi-Fi. With this you can play online against another player, and the rating
system from Mario Kart Wii is adapted to this game as well. The connection
is usually quite good and it's almost lag-free, but I really don't use
the Wi-Fi option that much. I dunno, I just seem to do much worse when
I'm playing Dr. Mario competitively. But that's just me. Something that
kind of let me down is that only Dr. Mario is playable online, not Virus
Buster. Virus Buster, in my opinion, tends to put less pressure on you
and perhaps you could be able to relax and focus more if it was online
as well. Another main problem with the game, in offline terms, is the lack
of innovations on the Dr. Mario part of the game. Sure, it's not easy to
add innovations to puzzle games, but... yeah. At least Virus Buster is
just as good.
Graphics: 7/10
Most of the graphics in this game are
2D, pretty unusual for a Wii game. Pretty much the only things that are
3D are Dr. Mario, Miis, and the Viruses. It's a pretty solid design, and
it's quite good for 2D. The 3D models are polished and look great. But
it really wouldn't hurt to make the Megavitamins and Viruses 3D in the
bottle during gameplay, in order to make the main gameplay mechanic that
you'll be focusing on most of the time more realistic. 3D or not, the graphics
definitely aren't the best for the Wii, but are good enough.
Music and Sound Effects: 7/10
Lots of returning tunes here. Of course,
it's got the Fever and Chill themes we all know; what would a Dr. Mario
game be without them? There are also 2 more lesser-known themes from 64:
Cough and Sneeze. Each of them have kind of a different feel to them; Fever
is pretty simple and just makes it feel Dr. Marioish. Chill is slower and
somewhat darker, kind of like you're fighting a serious disease. Cough
is very relaxed and doesn't make you feel like you're being rushed at all.
Sneeze is kind of a techno-theme with a fast-paced feel. All of these songs
are exclusive to the Dr. Mario mode, and you can choose which one you want
to listen to while you play the game. But it's pretty unoriginal, I mean,
there are no new themes or even old remixed themes; I was hoping for at
least 2 new tracks. Technically I did get them in Virus Buster, but I was
expecting it to have its own set of 4 as well. It has fairly decent remixes
of the Fever and Chill themes, but nothing much, and it lacks variety.
The tracks in the game are good, but it's just too unoriginal. I'm pretty
sure basically the only new track in the game besides the Virus Buster
themes is the title screen.
Controls: 9.2/10
There aren't many controls you have
to memorize here, and most of them are pretty obvious. Control Stick moves
the Megavitamins around, and A flips them different directions. Incredibly
simple, yes, but that's just Dr. Mario. Virus Buster, as I said before,
has the Wiimote pointed at the screen. Usually when we hold the Wiimote
like that, our hands tend to get a little shaky. On a few occasions, this
has caused me to misplace a Megavitamin every once in a while. Back to
Dr. Mario, most of us have GameCube controllers but I can safely assume
that at least one tourist doesn't. That's where the sideways Wiimote comes
in. It's pretty similar, but it just feels a bit weird to hold that way.
And no analog stick? No thanks. Fortunately, the lack of players who will
be affected by that doesn't have much of a toll on the score.
Replayability: 8.3/10
Puzzle games tend to have good replay
factor, mostly due to the fact that their addictiveness always makes you
come back on those peaceful, boring, sunny days. Plus, there are 20 difficulty
levels that you can start on in both versions of the game. You can go beyond
20 as well, I'm not sure how far beyond, however. The higher the difficulty,
the more points you can get. And as I mentioned before, there's always
Wi-Fi so you can take on the world, even if I'm not so fond of it myself.
It has lots of replay potential, but in some cases they really just might
be classified as time killers. It's probably not going to be one of those
games you impatiently wait to replay when at school, and then when you
finally get home you go on and play for hours. It's more of something to
do when you're bored.
Fun Factor!: 8.4/10
Classic line-up-4-objects-of-the-same-color
setup, it doesn't seem to get old fast. It's always addicting finding ways
to get massive chain reactions or making clever moves to impress yourself.
The problem that I see in it, however, is that moving gradually up the
difficulty levels in the game tends to get kind of repetitive. And the
game hasn't changed much since the past Dr. Marios, and nostalgia doesn't
save it from being a bit unsatisfying in some cases. If you get bored of
single-player, you can always go to multiplayer, which is especially good
in Virus Buster. (That is, unless you have a partner who blames you for
everything that goes wrong. Make sure your buddy doesn't hate you! ;D)
Overall: 83/100
I've never been much of a fan of puzzle
games, but Dr. Mario Online Rx is one of my favorites in the genre. Sure,
there are better titles to spend your Wii Points on, especially Paper Mario
and Super Mario 64. But if you've already got a collection of good games,
Dr. Mario it is. I myself would classify it as the best WiiWare title yet,
and I suppose a lot of others would agree seeing as it's the most popular
'Ware download at the time. I'd recommend this title unless you plain dislike
puzzle games, but don't expect too many innovations apart from Virus Buster.
Plus, how could we resist, just 93 blocks of memory in the Wii's frustratingly
tight memory storage, and you get a good game in exchange! =3
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