Thanks to RCMADIAX for the review code

Title:
System: Wii U (eShop)
Price: $1.49
Release date: 6/23/2016

The main game/story

Once again after a few months break, we’re back with another simplistic title from RCMADIAX. In this game, you grab coins and avoid the bad creatures in the water. That’s really it, and like always there’s nothing worthy of a story here.

Graphics

Similar to Pixel Slime U in terms of the quality of the sprites, which look quite sharp compared to most of the publisher’s other titles, and that’s a nice touch to see. In terms of the background however, expect nothing besides waves of a few colors like green and pink. Better than what we got in Skeasy, but still nothing to write home about.

Music and Sound

In terms of music, we get this really loud song that doesn’t really fit with the game much at all, and it loops endlessly as to be expected. Thankfully, this time around we have sound effects which play as they should, although I couldn’t help but notice that both of them (the coin grab and the bounce sound) have a striking similarity to the sound effects from Game and Watch Gallery 4. Maybe it’s just me, but overall this section is forgettable.

Gameplay

Regarding how the game actually plays, Splashy Duck is an arcade-like experience where the main objective is to bounce the duck between two bouncy walls on the top and bottom of the game field, grabbing the coin that appears right in front of said walls. Besides the ability to turn around when hitting one of these walls, he can change directions on the fly with a simple press of the A button, pretty much exclusively used to avoid enemies that’ll be coming at you from the left and right sides of the screen. And that’s pretty much the entire game, once again going for a super simplistic high score chaser compared to the developer’s other titles like Pentapuzzle, Blok Drop X Twisted Fusion and Super Robo Mouse.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Splashy Duck is a simplistic game that pretty much does everything that it advertises, nothing more, nothing less. While a better looking and sounding game than Skeasy or Avoider, it still ends up being a dull and boring experience that’ll wear very quickly after a while. Wait for the inevitable Tap Tap Arcade compilation with this game included before you pick it up with something else, but if you’re really into the type of gameplay I mentioned above, your wallet won’t die if you decide to go for it.

I give Splashy Duck a 4 out of 10, and only recommend it if you are OK with the fact that there’s nothing much here to enjoy outside of the simple endurance nature of the game.