Discovery Review

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Discovery Wii U Game Review Screenshot 1

Discovery is a sandbox game, developed and produced by Noowanda. In short, Discovery is a clone of Minecraft, which is strange, because you would have thought people would have stopped producing those, considering how famous and successful Minecraft is, but nevertheless.

The game does try to impress you. Visually beautiful, the game appeals to the explorer inside you, showing exquisite skies and ensures you will work hard to make the world of your dreams. The world is as open world as you can get, limitless in the space it provides you and the tools it gives you allows you to make some awesome creations. But, one of the things you miss straight off the bat is the survival mode in Minecraft, as Discovery only has creative mode. This one mode can get boring, depending on the kind of player you are. The majority of Minecraft players switch between the two, so to be constrained to one can be off-putting. But, there are great, varied maps, with three different biomes, giving you more of a realistic feel as you design and create.

Discovery Wii U Game Review Screenshot 2

Also, another cool feature is that Discovery has a local, two player mode, where one person uses the gamepad and the other uses the TV. Creating with another person allows you to think bigger and your creations will get finished faster. You hear all kinds of stories about what people build in Minecraft and how it took all their spare time away, but with another person, you are getting more input and more time.

The incorporation of the gamepad in single player more is wasted in terms of potential. The gamepad shows you a birdseye view of your map, along with the coordinates and altitude. But inventory management is not something you can do, which fathoms me, as it would be so much faster to choose from the gamepad, instead of bringing it up on the TV screen every time.

Single player mode is nothing short of laggy, with frequent pauses as the game loads. You might destroy a block and think you have not, causing you to keep pressing the button to do so, and suddenly the world loads and you are standing in the ruins of two minutes work. It does not sound like much, but when it happens as frequently as it does in this game, you will get frustrated soon enough and find yourself being cautious, wasting time when you could be building. Two player mode has barely any lag in comparison, so you can tell they focused a lot more time in to two player mode, to make it the main draw of the game.

Discovery Wii U Game Review Screenshot 3

Discovery’s frame rates are slow too, barely reaching the 60fps mark. However, like I said earlier, the real time sun in Discovery creates beautiful landscapes, casting shadows and lighting up the sky. It creates an atmosphere in the game that makes you feel as though you are creating something realistic, something that could find its place in the real world. You will find yourself taking the shadows in to account, changing your designs to incorporate the scenery as well as possible. I think that is something that Discovery does really well and sets it apart from other games like this. The soundtrack leaves a lot to be desired, with pauses in between tracks which are noticeable, but might not bother everybody.

But, at the end of the day, you can tell when Discovery pulls its inspiration from. It pales in comparison to Minecraft, and lacks the originality it needs. If this game had been released a year or two earlier, it would have been received better, but in a world where many companies have tried to make Minecraft 2.0, this game just does not have what it takes to be included in your game library.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Nintendo Wii U code was provided to Bonus Stage for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to press@4gn.co.uk.

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Discovery Review
  • Gameplay - 5/10
    5/10
  • Graphics - 5/10
    5/10
  • Sound - 5/10
    5/10
  • Replay Value - 5/10
    5/10
0/10
User Review
0/10 (0 votes)
0/10
Comments Rating 0/10 (0 reviews)
Overall
5/10

Summary

It pales in comparison to Minecraft, and lacks the originality it needs. If this game had been released a year or two earlier, it would have been received better.


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