Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is one of the smartest, most charming puzzle games of 2014.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is bound to warm your heart and challenge your intellect.

Perhaps aiming to satisfy a younger audience, Treasure Tracker prefers to drop in a colourful boss-fight or format-breaking set-piece than to push the puzzle designs as hard as they can go. Solving most of these levels is more a matter of following your nose than exercising your brain. Captain Toad also doesn't achieve as reliably perfect a synthesis of puzzle and platforming as Game Boy Donkey Kong did, occasionally failing to fully scratch either itch - though at other times it finds something truly original in the space between them. And there is always that moment when you load up a new level and spin it, beholding another perfect microcosm, made just for you. 18 years on from Super Mario 64, Nintendo's designers are still going further in their exploration of the third dimension than almost anyone else.

For anybody else, Captain Toad's weird little experiment would be an afterthought. But Nintendo's exercise in digging has found something pretty special - an action puzzle game that succeeds on charm and smarts, rather than reflexes and spectacle.

While it's good to see Nintendo stepping out of its comfort zone, Captain Toad isn't versatile enough to compete in the big leagues. It'd be a budget no-brainer, but feels too slight at a higher price.

Captain Toad's treasure laden levels are bite-sized, stress-free puzzles packed with surprises.

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Captain Toad is an experience that doesn't attempt to really wow you, but instead delivers consistent puzzle experiences at a rapid pace. There's more Nintendo could have done with it, but it is a puzzler in its purest form, and that will be more than enough for people who wanted more of the titular hero after playing the bonus games in 3D World.

It's a (mostly) polished, fun single-player game from Nintendo. Not a lot of those in a year of Kart and Smash.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is a rare case of a game that feels truly designed — from the ground up — with the Wii U in mind. The GamePad is utilised just enough to be worthwhile without being a nuisance, and the only mis-step is that the difficulty later in the game can't be eased by assistance from a friend, parent or game-savvy son or daughter. That aside, it's relentlessly charming and joyous, and is another example of Nintendo's developers flexing their creative muscles along with game-making skill. There's nothing else like this on Wii U, and it's a welcome addition to the system's growing library.