The Gamer's Quarter

[Nana Komatsu]

...for Wii Play?

This has been out (of stock) in the US for a while but I haven't heard a peep about it. What do people think? Has anyone found a copy? I know it's available overseas, so speak up!

One of my coworkers who found a Wii also got a copy of the game but she didn't like it. She's lending it to me tomorrow, in exchange for Warioware (which I gave her earlier this week) which she likes a lot more.

So, is it disappointing? Good? Bad?
_________________
resetbutton.net: videogames for unattractive people

[B coma]

I kinda of want to get Wii Play if only for the extra controller and more Mii action. unsurprisingly both a controller and Wii Play are rare finds here in my piece of California.

So I just picked up Wii Sonic and have read pieces of the manual so far. It can only get worse from here!

[Shapermc]

[dessgeega]

it's been out in australia for months. i know cycle has it. maybe he'll post about it!

this contains at least one piece of software i think the console's needed from the beginning: a basic multiplayer "light gun" shooter. the combat-a-like looks interesting and so does neon pong. i'm sure i've heard good things from cycle about the cow race.
_________________

[B coma]

[Cycle]

Reposted (and a little updated, but uncorrected) from another thread:

Wii Play

I got Wii Play for christmas, mainly for the extra remote.

FUN FACT: In australia, buying Wii Play with a remote is cheaper than buying a remote on its own in some stores, so people like my friend have three copies of this game. It's literally a free game. In fact, it's a MINUS free game, since they basically give you some money back! So maybe it's plus free. Whatever, I guess.

Anyway, it's pretty neat, but nowhere near the level of Wii Sports. It feels too empty and lacks real depth and options, and feels too much like a remote training program than a real collection of games (which, in reality, it is). The games, especially in single-player, feel like minigames that you would find in something bigger, unlike Wii Sports which actually feels pretty complete.

For example, I was dissapointed to find that when you play table tennis solo, the goal is to rally the ball 100 times rather than the game pitting you against an AI opponent. If they actually had a proper opponent ready, and each game had a couple mission modes like the 100 rally thing which you can earn medals in, it would have been great and this collection would have been closer to Wii Sports standards. Two player is pretty fun though, but Wii Tennis is better.

I like the Wheres Wally game, although it got confusing because of all the fricking Hitlers and Christs in my mii parade. Hey guys, get original! Oh! And I really like that when you do the rally challenge in ping pong, as you do better you slowly attract a bigger crowd. Nice touch!

Let me do a little summary of each game. The shooting game is a really nice Duck Hunt homage, even if you only hear the dog rather than see him (and his bark hints that a duck is about to fly onscreen) and is fun in both solo and two-player (but obviously more fun with two). I only wish it had more modes or was longer, it's really fun. I look foward to the first lightgun game on the wii!

UPDATERayman also does the lightgun thing pretty well. In fact, it did a fantastic job of it! Too bad the rest of the game was so inconsistent.

The Where's Wally game is also pretty rad. Basically, the game gives you a task and you have to spot one or more Miis in a crowd. You may have to find a certain face, three of a kind, the fastest moving, etc. There are a couple different scenerios they throw at you and in combination with the different mission types, it's pretty fun. I play this one on my own, but it's also great in two-player. Again, I wish it had more modes or a better scoring mode, rather than just different medals. I want to do time attack, for example!

The bubble game is boring, tedious and long. It's just not fun at all. My brother and I forced ourselves to finish it, and even quit the first time to go do something else.

I already talked about ping pong, but it's pretty fun in two player. It's not as close a representation of the sport as Wii Sports tries, but it still does a pretty good job and is lots of fun.

Billiards is ok, it plays pretty much like Virtual Pool which I played years ago on the mac. The interface could have been a little better, but over all it did a pretty good job, even if I think it shouldn't hold the cue straight for you when you take a shot plus sometimes it's difficult to control the power of your shot, but maybe we just need more practice like with some of the Wii Sports titles. I've never played the included game type, but I don't like it that much and wished it included a couple others, or just 8 ball.

UPDATEThis turned out to be one of our more played games in the collection, and is pretty solid once you get used to it. I just wish we weren't stuck with 9 ball. 8 ball all the way, baby. Also, a real pool table is better.

There is a trippy version of pong also included, which... plays like pong except you can move your paddle forward, backward and change the angle of it. I love the graphics, not as impressive as plasmapong though. A fun little one, this is. I like the little techno graphics and...

UPDATE it does a great little thing with the controller speaker. When you get a goal, music plays in your wiimote which moves towards the tv speakers. Great touch. Imagine Rez on here! Or any rhythem game for that matter.

Fishing looks great, with its paper cut-out visuals, but it plays a little iffy. It's not bad, I just expected something a little closer to... fishing. This is arcade fishing, though, and it's fairly fun with two players. My friend loved it and always makes me play it, and she's gotten pretty good.

The cow racing game is pretty hilarious, it really feels like you're trying to handle an (almost) out of control steer as it rages down the track. You hold the wiimote on the side and it works really well for this game. However, again, I wish there were more options to make it more like an actual racing game, rather than a "hit more scarecrows than the other player" game.

UPDATEWhen I play this game with friends, I tell them you have to make a WUP-PAH sound when you jump. It makes playing the game pretty hilarious, especially considering all my friends actually jump when doing it, instead of just flicking the wiimote up. But it made dess and I think... why ISN'T there a mic in the wiimote? Imagine the possibilities!

The final game is a Combat clone, which is pretty neat. You can either use a single wiimote and aim with the motion detector and steer with the digital pad, or you can use the better option and use a nunchuck to control the movement while aiming with the sensor. This is a pretty fun game, which involves taking out all the tanks in the level either on your own or with a friend. As level has a new layout and the tanks get tougher as it goes on. While this mode is fun, it's surprising they didn't have a deathmatch option. Imagine four-player wii combat! It would have been awesome.

So yeah, considering it's basically a freebie, it's hard to fault it. The solo play is weak and gets old quick (I still like playing the Where's Wally game though, and some of the others are fun for a quick distraction but that's about it). Multiplayer is much more fun, especially if you make it more fun like I did with my friends, but there are better multiplayer games out there. It's a shame, because with just a little more care and effort, it could have been something really great. As it is, it's a good freebie that will be nice to throw in your wii every now and then.
_________________

[AJ 187]

The game has limited replay value unless you play it with friends or go for all Platinum medals.

Sadly, I've only gotten a handful of Silvers and one Platinum (on the target practice game, no less!)

[Fred]

It would be better if it used WiiConnect to compare your high scores with your friends, or even if there were a leaderboard ranking the people who play the game on the same Wii.

Oh well. It's pretty good for a tech demo. As with Wii Sports, I'm sure we'll eventually see other games that take further the work done in developing these demos: Tanks seemed to re-use certain things from the Batallion Wars demo; VC Duck Hunt will probably use a similar interface from the Shooting Range demo; cow racing is... well, it played better than the Wii Monkey Ball, so maybe Charge! was the end product, and not the other way around.

You get your money's worth!

[dmauro]

When did this come out? I guess I should go buy a third controller if I can find one.

[SuperWes]

I got it thanks to a GameStop pre-order™! Everything Cycle said is true, but I'd like to add that It's not very good unless you play two players a lot. The billiards is my favorite game on there, but it's not good enough to warrant actually getting up and putting the disc in to mess around with. The "find the Mii" game is our favorite.

-Wes
_________________

[Nana Komatsu]

I am playing this game now! So far, I can see why my coworker was very not thrilled with this and willing to lend it so easily.

Game 1 - Duck Hunt
This game really is duck hunt, although my arm got sore after all the pointing at the screen. It's all right.

Game 2 - Where's Waldo
This is a lot like one of the New Super Mario Bros minigames. Actually, all the games are from what I can tell, except as a bundle on their own instead of with a full other game. Anyway, this one was okay.

Game 3 - Table Tennis
I managed on my third try to get a volley with 100 hits, and then the game ended. There's no depth to it, just make sure you're at the right spot (which isn't very hard). Maybe if I had a gigantic fucking HDTV or something.

Game 4 - Bubble falling something or other
This was okay, but really I didn't see the point.

More as I continue!
_________________
resetbutton.net: videogames for unattractive people

[Nana Komatsu]

Game 5 - Laser pong
This game is pretty great! The first to have any real depth to it, although it seems like the computer AI ramps up in the later half of the 120 seconds. So far the only game I'd be interested in playing with another person. The sound effects remind me of PSO and the music reminds me of Lumines, both of which I enjoyed quite a bit.

Game 6 - Billiards
This is pretty good. I am terrible, but I am also terrible at real billiards so it comes as no surprise. That you can put spin on the ball and how it affects the shot seems to be fairly realistic from what I can tell. It's a shame they don't actually penalize you when you hit the wrong ball in and such. Also, it appears you can't jump the balls off the table (not that you're supposed to do this anyway) which is a shame.

Game 7 - Fishing
This is just dumb. I can't see myself playing this again.

Game 8 - Cow Racing
Cute but that it's always the same level is disappointing. I want more!

Game 9 - Combat
This is fun! Although I enjoyed it, as I got up in the levels it didn't seem fair that my tank never got upgraded when the enemies got upgrades (sometimes more than 1!)

Overall I can understand how my coworker was completely underwhelmed by this game. Of the nine games, I'd probably only really come back to laser pong, combat, and maybe billiards. Though I mean it took me about an hour in all to work my way through each game and most of them I feel no real burning desire to replay.

I guess... this game is worth $10 or less?
_________________
resetbutton.net: videogames for unattractive people

[AJ 187]