Welcome to VC Weekly, N-Europe’s guide to the wonderful world of Nintendo’s download service. Written by Sam C Gittins

Two relatively obscure releases this time with a SNES and a NES title of varying qualities. Anyway enough from me and on with the games!
 
Available for download this week we have...     

Uncharted Waters: New Horizons
Crash 'n the Boys Street Challenge

Price: GB £5.49, EU €7.99
Publisher: Tecmo Koei
Developer: Koei
Released: 1994
System: SNES

If you're a fan of strategy games then you'll no doubt be familiar with the developer Koei who have had several notable hits within the genre, this sequel to the original Uncharted Waters is a rather unique title in itself which manages to pick up where the first game left off and then take the whole experience to entirely different, distant lands in terms of gameplay as you set off on a voyage that you won't likely forget in a hurry. While it might hide behind an RPG exterior this is merely a facade as this is quite possibly one of the deepest strategy games that you are ever likely to experience; from the very start there is choice as you get to pick your main character from a selection of six, each of whom have their own story meaning that this is something that you will quite possibly return to multiple times.

Upon selecting your character you will then gain a main objective which will more than likely involve sailing the seas, so with that in mind you then set about purchasing various supplies which are needed in order to keep your crew fed and alive, plus this also ensures that things are kept ticking over nicely onboard your ship. Mainly you will be embarking on many a voyage as this is the life-blood of the experience, though you are ultimately free to do as you please, you can even become a pirate if you so wish because there is that much freedom present - shades of Elite shining through - but you can quite simply just get by via sailing between various ports in order to trade goods with the locals as this will get you quite far just going down that one particular route.

There are many options available to you though, I could list a multitude of them but there would be little point as you can just go out there to see for yourself what appeals to 'you' individually as here you have a title which can almost be considered just as much of a 'sandbox' title as the latest GTA V in its own thematically limited way. Essentially it would be best for me to simply say that if you like adventure, sailing, strategy plus the addition of free choice wherever possible then just give it a go; what have you potentially got to lose apart from a relatively small amount of digital dosh and a few moments of your time?

Visually there isn't a huge amount to get excited about but then, this isn't exactly the area in which these type of game usually excel but to its credit all the sprites in addition to the various areas on-screen are all certainly rendered rather competently, with the odd nice touch or charming animation but nothing beyond that. The audio isn't exactly a highlight either, though there are still some decent arrangements which play in the background whenever you
reach a new continent but on balance it can all get rather repetitive at times with the sound effects being the only other element that breaks things up.

A splendid strategy title with more than a hint of RPG influence, Uncharted Waters: New Horizons is an excellent title for anyone who enjoys games that have hidden depth, because here there are layers of it for players to discover for themselves at their own pace; this is a must-have if you live for micro-management. If however you're just looking for a standard RPG then you'll need to look elsewhere as this is so much more than that and it's a blessing that this game has finally made it to the European Virtual Console being that we missed out on it during the Wii era, but at least now you have the option of playing it on the GamePad as well.   

Verdict : Superb strategy title that's submerged within hidden depths.

Price: GB £3.59, EU €3.99
Publisher: Technos
Developer: Technos
Released: 1992
System: NES

If you like both River City Rampage plus Track and Field then there is a chance that you might like Crash 'n The Boys: Street Challenge as it seems to combine the visuals from the former with the gameplay of the latter, or at the very least makes a rather brave attempt at it. Sadly though the actualy quality of the game is more akin to something like Urban Champion only with perhaps a touch more variation, as essentially you get to partake in five different 'street sports' which you can either opt to play all of them in rotation, just one from the list or rather oddly three which seems to be neither here nor there but is perhaps more geared towards multiplayer which can support up to four players alternating but in practice this is a two-player title on a technical level.

Before you start the events there is a chance to purchase various items which just might give you the tactical advantage in a particular sport, these include extra moves plus items for slowing down your rival but if you want to keep it clean then you can just opt to play the games as they are. First up is the '400m Hurdles' which plays like the regular version of the sport with a crucial addition to the gameplay which allows you to break the hurdles so that you can hit them with the debris; 'Hammer Throw' is a little bit like golf... but with hammers as you must hurl your hammer across the course many times until you make it land in a hole, the quicker you can get there with the least amount of throws the better.

Perhaps the 'Swimming' event should be renamed as 'Drowning' because that is essentially what you end up trying to do to your opponent in order to win, while 'Roof Top Jumping' prooves to be even more bizarre yet strangely enjoyable as you get to ride a unicycle along a narrow piece of wood between two buildings for seemingly no good reason at all; finally we have 'Fighting Scene' which is very much like a classic side-scrolling beat em up of sorts. Although some of the 'sports' are randomly enjoyable, their method of control really isn't at all and as a result you will be hard pushed to persevere with any of them for more than a few tries which is where this package of mini-games is ultimately let down very badly indeed, which is a shame because it clearly showed at least some promise within its bizarre appeal.

Graphically you can expect rather standard 8-bit visuals which have a clear style but aren't exactly pusing the console to its limits, the level of animation seems to be reasonable as well although sometimes it can come across as being unintentionally hilarious at times. The music is sub-par at its best sadly, at its lowest points I'd even go as far to say that it sounds awful complete with sound effects which are very drab indeed lacking any real substance that you might otherwise expect.

Overall there is at least a decent amount of originally within the title but it's let down by sloppy execution, the fact that there is a distinct lack of polish to the whole package certainly doesn't help matters any further as it's clear that this entry in the Crash 'n The Boys series could have been much better. If you happen to like titles which are at least mechanically similar though then you might just find that this will hold your attention for a short while, just don't expect to get anything more than a handful of play sessions out of it before you move on to other better games though.  

Verdict : Crashes but doesn't completely burn.

That's it for another installment of VC Weekly which will return again soon. So until then, enjoy the rest of the week and Game On!