I've been wondering what WiiWare games were the best to download, but rather than start a new thread every week to ask the same question, I figured it'd be easier to just have one thread where we can pile up our personal WiiWare reviews for other members and guests to see what might appeal to them.

I'm hoping people will offer their own reviews of whatever titles they have purchased and will purchase in the future (even if the title is not from this week, but a game that's been out for a few months now). I also thought that having multiple people offer their opinions would be the best way to see which games are really worth it, and which are more narrow in their appeal.

I've included my four WiiWare games below: feel free to add your own critiques on those same games, or to add games that I don't have. I included pretty pictures: you don't have to. But please write out the full title, so people can find it quickly via control-F.

Strongbad's Cool Game for Attractive People (1000 Wii Points) offered a fairly amusing two hours of point-and-click goodness. The sense of humor was good, the controls were serviceable, and the puzzles weren't too twisted, so it was hard to get stumped for long. The game also offered a bunch of fun side-quests of sorts, such as finding extra costumes for Strongbad, or creating gruesome death scenes for the Teen Girl Squad (the latter was one of my favorite features in the game).

I'm a sucker for point and clicks, so I'll be downloading the rest of the series, but if you're not into the genre Strongbad doesn't have much to offer you.

Lost Winds (1000 Wii Points) is a beautiful 2D platformer with some excellent controls that can only be done with the Wii. So I wanted to fall in love with this game so very badly. Unfortunately, while I enjoyed the experience well enough I wasn't blown away by it. The game's difficulty was a breeze, there wasn't enough variety for my tastes, and while there was gusts of awesomeness sprinkled throughout the three hour game I mostly felt like I was just blustering through it.

Lost Winds was a relaxing game that has a ton of potential for the next segment, but I personally would spend my 100 points elsewhere.

Defend Your Castle is about as simple as you can get with a game. Use the IR pointer and A button to pick up an attacker, and fling him to his doom. Good times all around. It's a simple concept, and a simplistic game, but I've found that when I've got three friends over the game can become intense fun. Be prepared to get carpal tunnel, though...

It's a shallow experience that isn't too suited for single-players, but at 500 Wii Points Defend Your Castle is great as a multi-player experience.

So far the most expensive WiiWare title, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King has surprisingly proven to be my favorite game on the service so far. It certainly offers a twist on most RPGs; you're no longer the steadfast adventurer, you're the lazy king who sends the adventurers out to save his town for him. But the town and character management aspect of the game are mostly well done, allowing you to raise money and construct buildings to support your fledgling adventurers on their various quests.

Mind you, the game has some serious flaws: the morale system is a major drag, and this game will try to nickel-and-dime you via DLC like no other. Still, if you're the type of player who enjoyed Act Raiser or the Tycoon series, this game will more than justify its 1500 Wii Points price tag.

Here's my recommendation for Lost Winds.

Only play it two-player. And only play it when that friend is there. There is an extra level of communication offered by forcing your player to go in the direction that you want them that is very rewarding.

And your success will be felt two-fold upon completion of the relatively short game.

It was worth every point for me.

I need to add a very major plug for Toki Tori. If you have even a slight interest in logic puzzles, download it right now. You definitely won't be disappointed.

Can you give us a few more details? Are we talking Professor Layton style puzzles, or Zak and Wiki style ones, or Braid-esque? Is it multiplayer as well? Would you recommend it to people who aren't major puzzle game fans, or is this exclusive to those sorts of folks?

Toki Tori - My recommended game

This great value puzzle game has 4 sets of 10 levels + some hard levels for each location once you have completed the set. You control a Toki Tori and have to collect all the eggs on each map using a number of skill such as build bridge, teleport and ice cubes to get around there are a few creatures to trap and avoid as you go.

The learning curve is great you will fly through the first 20 levels but it then starts to slow down and once you hit the hard levels they become extremely challenging. I am still working on them.

The only two player mode is that a second wii remote can be used as a pen to draw on the screen to suggest places to move etc. It can be controlled via the IR on the wii remote or the classic controller.

I can't rate this game highly enough if you like puzzles and great catch music.

agreed. toki tori is fun. I highly recommend it. Also, defend your castle and strong bad's cool game for attractive people are fun. Buy all 5 episodes of the latter. They will be even better as time goes on.

Great review. The publisher should also send you a royalty check, because you've essentially sold a copy; I'll be downloading and playing it within three weeks. Thanks.

On an unrelated note, does anyone here have any review for Gyrostarr or Helix? I've heard mixed things about both...And does anyone else have any games they do/don't recommend?

I played toki tori for gbc. It's really fun at first but then the levels get frustratingly difficult & I got sick of that & never completed it.

Defend your castle is a really great game when you have friends to play it with :D

 I too would love to know something more about Helix. I have found exactly one review for it so far (8/10 on WiiWare Review).

Mike from Morgantown