The Gamer's Quarter

player 2 · . Joined: 10 Jul 2005 Posts: 585 Location: Madison, WI USA

Because the Wii is so new and different I find that traditional game media places are even less reliable for their game reviews. And while my previous efforts would include checking out a game and its reviews and adjusting for general videogames journalism error, I can't do that anymore.

So here's a thread on TGQ to syphon off less mainstream reviews for the most mainstream system. That is, if you take mainstream to be different in different circumstances.

There are no rules to this thread other than the suggestion to please keep comments about reviews to a minimum. Maybe make a new thread titled Official UnOfficial TGQ Wii Game Review Discussion thread?

Games are listed alphabetically with the reviews in order by date. Also, continuous threads are marked with an arrow (->) sign. Thanks!

DISNEY'S CARS player 2

EXCITE TRUCK Tim, OtakupunkX

MADDEN 07 player 2

RAYMAN RAVING RABBIDS shapermc

RED STEEL Tim,

TONY HAWK'S DOWNHILL JAM player 2

WII SPORTS (bowling) dmauro, (boxing) dessgeega's mom, shaper mc -> silentmatt -> shaper mc

ZELDA: TWILIGHT PRINCESS player 2 -> shapermc, shapermc (one sentence)
_________________
Wii #: 8749 9109 9732 3653

"It is a peaceful way of understanding life, to play"
_Marcel Duchamp

player 2 · . Joined: 10 Jul 2005 Posts: 585 Location: Madison, WI USA

MADDEN 2007 (Nintendo Wii)
The Shadow of the Colossus of NFL games

I like playing football. I like running and cutting and juking and spinning. Stiff arming. Throwing through holes. Snatching balls out of the air. Letting them fly over my shoulder. And it falling in my hands. It's all pretty cool.

But I've never liked Madden. Even though I could understand what was going on, it never clicked in my head. I never understood why my recievers dropped balls. I never understood why sometimes I'd be tackled and sometimes I'd shurg off a defender. On top of all of that it was too fast and I didn't care to learn which button did what. Of course, I was playing '95 on the Genesis, but they're all the same, right?

The last Madden I had was one of them on the PS2. I'm not sure which one it was because to me they were all pretty similar. It didn't have the hitstick, but it did have pressure sensitive passes. I liked that. It was something that I understood right away - push hard to throw hard, push lightly to drop it from the sky. When I tried a later version once, the hitstick made sense to me, too. You push it in the right direction to do something that was awesome (in that direction).

Fast forward to now. I have a Wii and Madden's controls piqued my interest. See the relevant thread. When I was at the store it was an impulse buy. I decided on Madden over Dragon Ball or Red Steel. Immediately I felt regret because I've never liked Madden and I thought I wouldn't like this one either. I ended up picking up Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam out of fear I wouldn't like Madden. I got home and I realized I made two of my strangest purchases ever.

So I finally played Madden 07 last night. First I played by myself, and then my friend came over, so we played together. On my own I played the tutorial. That should be helpful to any beginners. It also helped me calm my fears about not liking this game. It tells you how to do every move in the game (organized by play type) and even lets you test run your gesturing. Throw your arms up to catch a ball, stick your arm out to stiff arm, juke your nunchaku to juke your player.

The tutorial was good, so I tried my hand at the game proper. I wasn't turned into an all-star right away, but it was easier to get into than before. The action on the field wasn't so much a problem as the strategizing off the field. Maybe if they had a Madden play-calling tutorial... After a while, I got frustrated with my inability to call plays and I just let Madden call all of them. That worked a lot better, even though I still quit my game. I'd much rather play a season where it matters.

I'm sure that there are limits to the Madden AI and that multiplayer will end up being the only way to go. Fortunately when my friend Tim came over it didn't take him long to get used to the controls. He used to play Madden, so that says explains that situation. What he didn't like was playing with me in the room. He refused to act like he was throwing or catching, so his game didn't work out so well.

So far Madden seemed ho hum. It seemed competent at what it was doing, but I don't spend $50 for something that's just competent. Tim wanted to leave soon after being trounced by me, but I convinced him to stay to check out the new 2 on 2 mode I'd heard about. Let me get this straight: Madden on the Wii is actually Madden 2 on 2 in disguise.

Maybe it was a matter of circumstance, but we ended up playing standing up and didn't sit down once. Madden 2 on 2 is just what it says; it's 2 on 2 football. Touch football, rush line, and a Mississippi count. Not only are all the rules from Madden changed, but the flash and pizazz of the regular game are gone, too. It's really bare and stark.

We fucking loved it.

What worked was that it was so intimate. Tim stopped pussyfooting around and got into the throwing and catching gestures. My stiff arming game got better, and power tackling (or whatever they call it) was no problem. What worked well is that the presentation is gone. There are no play menus. There are no routes. Its just football action. It felt like football. Best of all: no fucking Madden.

Madden gets 3 out of 5 Bruce Heads for doing football right but still being NFL. Where's my Mutant League Wii?
_________________
Wii #: 8749 9109 9732 3653

"It is a peaceful way of understanding life, to play"
_Marcel Duchamp

Tim · . Joined: 08 Feb 2006 Posts: 54 Location: Millersville, MD

I've said before that I'm really feeling two Wii games that are almost universally disliked - Excite Truck and Red Steel. I don't really have full "reviews" as such, but I'll just say a few things about each.

Red Steel obviously has a lot of flaws, but I got used to them and learned to kind of shuffle around them, more or less. I guess I'm too open minded or patient or whatever, but there was nothing in this game that screamed out "don't play me!" or made me never want to pick it up again.

I wish you could use your sword at all times, though, even with the simplistic controls. I imagine busting it out in the middle of a firefight ala A Better Tomorrow 2 - and maybe even deflecting bullets like Raiden! Then if someone challenges you to a swordfight and you just shoot him dead, you'd get RESPECT DOWN or some other type of penalty.

Excite Truck is just plain fun for me because of the controls. I can see myself getting really good at this and doing perfect runs of every course. If this were just a plain Gamecube title, I don't know if I'd give this a second look. And a lot of people see that in a negative way, but I just see it as something special - that this kind of control scheme can make an otherwise dull game fun to play.

player 2 · . Joined: 10 Jul 2005 Posts: 585 Location: Madison, WI USA

I feel as though a lot of Wii games are going to show their true potential in their sequels. Madden can be improved upon, but even now it's still fun. It's insane how deep Madden is... there are even Ogre Battle-esque upgrade stats (not that this is unique to the Wii version, it's just that the rest of the game is more accessable now that I don't hate the controls). Here's hoping for Red Steel 2.

Another (short) review:

TONY HAWK DOWNHILL JAM

The graphics, the music, the sounds, the cutscenes: they all pretty much suck. Even the controls are pretty crummy. It's really strange how I can get enjoyment out of this game, though.

Let's get the description out of the way first in order not to confuse anyone. The story is that Tony Hawk is holding a competition for a bunch of cartoon skater characters. Welcome to exotic locations and big hills. Most of the competitions revolve around racing downhill really fast (hence the name) against a bunch of opponents. Sometimes there's a change of pace with different events and goals (score, 1 on 1 race, hit pedestrians, hit slalom gates). Every time you go from uphill to downhill. It's nothing like other Tony Hawk games...

The premise is simple enough. In many ways it reminds me of Skate or Die. The different events, the "skating rules!" attitude, and the crazy obstacle courses. It's all about being a skateboarding videogame. That's probably cool to the target audience (younger kids who want to skate), but to me that gets in the way of a lot of the good elements.

What works the best in THDJ is the skating. Skating down a hill fast, weaving around cars, skating really fast, jumping over fences, and skating even faster. Grinding is pretty cool sometimes, so is wall riding. But what I really wanted out of this game, and what the game does really well, is just a lot of skating. I want to weave around more obstacles and use my Wii remote. It just feels good having the tilt sensor translate to a skateboard. The problem is the rest of the game gets in the way.

The turbo meter (or Bone Bar or whatever stupid name it has) fills up when you do tricks. This mechanic is stupid to a fault. Tricks are fun because they're tricks. I don't need encouragement to do tricks other than seeing the tricks look awesome. There are a ton of other things that get in the way of my skating. Other skaters, cramped spaces, not enough spaces just for skating. You cover more ground in on track of this Tony Hawk game than in any Tony Hawk game I've ever played, but it only takes a minute to run through each course. What's really the most bonehead move is that there is no practice mode. There's a ton of stuff all over this game, but I can't go in and just check it out.

There are a lot of other things tangential to the skating. The create-a-skater mode is pretty shallow, and so far I've only unlocked four courses. The goofy cartoon feel may put off a few (I thought some of it was funny, but your mileage may vary). What's really bugging me, though, is that despite all these flaws...

Once you get into the game and you know what you're doing, it's just fun to play.
_________________
Wii #: 8749 9109 9732 3653

"It is a peaceful way of understanding life, to play"
_Marcel Duchamp

OtakupunkX · . Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 730

Excite-Truck Un-review:

I've played this game several times at Wii Kiosks in my area. At one point there was a crowd of soccer moms watching me play and marveling over my skills with the Wiimote. Several of them were hitting on me, to the disdain of their children. I had to give the lady at Gamestop my driver's liscense in order to play the Wii, because they thought I might run off with the Wiimote. One kid told me that the Wii was gay and the PS3 was better, and I called him a loser for trying to start a fight with me over something as trivial as that.

Also, the game isn't that bad. It's really similar to the newest Burnout game but mixed with the 3-D Excitebike that came out on the N64. There's a turbo boost and everything. If it wasn't on the Wii though I probably wouldn't have given it a second chance.

Also, my friend Tony went apeshit at GameStop when he found out they have to hold your driver's liscense or another valuable item while you play the Wii. It was funny as hell.

david · . Joined: 03 Mar 2005 Posts: 170 Location: b, md

Ah, I'm trying to imagine your friend Tony going apeshit. Yeah, I see how that's funny.

Just wondering, did you bust an ollie and hang ten before tagging the store clerk and making off like gangbusters?
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friedchicken · . Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 496 Location: Port Land, OR

SuperWes · Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:38 am Post subject:

Question: How close is Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam to Top Skater?

-Wes
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player 2 · . Joined: 10 Jul 2005 Posts: 585 Location: Madison, WI USA

dmauro · . Joined: 20 Jul 2006 Posts: 303 Location: Brooklyn

Wii Bowling Comparitive Review:

This game is one fifth of a free game. I feel pretty good about that considering that my friend and I have probably put at least ten dollars into the bowling game at the bar around the corner from my house. The game at the bar is a blast: there is a track ball that you spin sideways to determine how much you want the ball to curve, then you line the ball up and spin it forward (or slightly at an angle) at whatever speed you want. Wii bowling is similar with the biggest difference being that you set the angle of my toss up before you throw, and the amount of spin on the ball is determined when you toss it. This gives it a leg up against the bar game because everyone likes the challenge of trying to nail the correct combination of speed and spin as they toss the ball. There's the added novelty factor of winding up and tossing like you would with an actual bowling ball (instead of slapping a trackball), which is doubly nice when you realize it gets everyone standing up in the living room rather than sitting on the couch and projecting into the television. It has an additional element that the bar game does not have at all, and that is that you can choose when to release the ball. If you release up high the ball probably won't go as fast, but will start spinning later, if you release lower it will go faster and the spin will have more affect on it. The range you can release within is very wide as well.

Frills: The game in the bar lets you choose what ball you want to use as well as change the weight one pound more or less. It also has snappy little animation after it shows the replay (which you can skip if you find annoying, and you will after the first time). Wii Sports doesn't let you choose your ball, but if you go Pro you get some stars on your ball that are kind of nice and corny. But the best extra bit is the Miis. Your bowler looks like you, and there are people playing in the lanes next to yours. The simple replay with "nice spare/nice toss/Strike!" style is less annoying, but not as cute as the animations the bar game has.

Extra Fun: We play for pushups such that if someone scores a strike, that's ten points against you, if they pick up a spare that's five points against you, and then you add to that how many pins you didn't knock down. So if you only took down 9 pins in your two throws for that frame, and another play got a strike, you have to do 11 (10 + 1) pushups (or drink for 11 seconds if you want to go that route). But if you had picked up the spare, you would only have to do 5 (10 - 5) pushups. At the end of the game, the difference between your score and the high score is how many pushups you have to do.

GSL · Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 1:36 pm Post subject:

Slonie · . Joined: 28 Nov 2006 Posts: 141

friedchicken · . Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 496 Location: Port Land, OR

player 2 · . Joined: 10 Jul 2005 Posts: 585 Location: Madison, WI USA

Preliminary The Legend of Zelda: Twlight Princess (Nintendo Wii)

Hey guys, here's my story so far:

I was on my way to hating Zelda. My game clock was something along the lines of 6 hours, I had 4 hearts, and I was already on my 2nd section of what seemed to be a long multisection bigger section. I was regularly quitting Twilight Princess and booting up the original NES version to get my Zelda kicks in.

What was bothering me on top of that was that I was using this really comfortable and new control setup feeling feelings of comfort but not feeling feelings of new. Wtf, mate?

There was also a stupid fucking fairy floating on my screen. It never went deep into the 3space that my super powered Wii renders in real time. It just stayed there. If I was drunk or high it'd look like a blue bug on my TV. Wiihaveaproblem indeed. I couldn't do anything with it. At best it helped me aim my items (the few items I could aim) before I pulled them out. Woopdie do.

But I just got to a point where my fears were put at bay. Sure, there are a ton of missed opportunities. The fishing could've been so much better. The sword fighting could have been so much better. I wish I had to toss the 'rang and pull back the slingshot. But at this one point I was riding on my horse and kicking goblin ass. It fucking rocked.

It felt like Samurai Ninja GTA in a green tunic with the radio station set to WZLD. I was speeding down Hyrule field with a slingshot in hand nailing moblins and bats on the fly, flanking them, running half of them down and slashing the rest that managed to stay standing. I have seen the light. Please, please, OH GOD PLEASE tell me that the rest of the game is all about this.
_________________
Wii #: 8749 9109 9732 3653

"It is a peaceful way of understanding life, to play"
_Marcel Duchamp

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

GSL · Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 2:20 am Post subject:

Shaper, you have almost totally convinced me that this Zelda is worth looking into.

Just for clarification, did you really mean the GB Link's Awakening, or did you mean Link to the Past?

Slonie · . Joined: 28 Nov 2006 Posts: 141

friedchicken · . Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 496 Location: Port Land, OR

Yeah, I always thought it was a real shame that Ollie King came out at a time that basically assured it would never be ported to a console because of its unique controls. Its soundtrack is incredible!

But now with the Wii it's entirely possible that Sega could dig it up, add some remix stages or other extras, and release it.

OtakupunkX · . Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 730

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

GSL · Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 4:33 pm Post subject:

Just wondering. I'm actually playing through Link's Awakening again right now; I haven't touched the game since its ending severely traumatized me 12 years ago.

Ethoscapade · . Joined: 30 Oct 2005 Posts: 276

link's awakening is the only game that i compulsively buy whenever i see a copy of it.

i have nine of them at last count.

OtakupunkX · . Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 730

Geez, Ethoscapade. That's crazy, although I shouldn't talk, at one point I had Street Fighter II on almost every system I own, plus I own two copies of that Evil Dead survival horror game (one on PC, the other on Dreamcast).
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player 2 · . Joined: 10 Jul 2005 Posts: 585 Location: Madison, WI USA

DIsney's Cars (Nintendo Wii)
God I wish my licensed games were this fucking good
or
It put's FFXII's voice acting to shame
or
Just as I suspected, the Wii remote makes decent games pretty fun

Nintendo's gamble that control schemes make games fun isn't proven by games like Zelda or Rayman. Big efforts by Nintendo and its close affiliates are almost guaranteed to get the Wii right. They have the documents and have been designing since day one. But what about the guys that aren't so close to being on the inside?

What about Incinerator Games, Rainbow Studios, and Disney? The first two are, as far as I can tell, closely tied with THQ. I can't remember a THQ game I've liked. In fact, the name usually scares me away from a game. Disney, well, they gave them the license. When was the last time you liked a licensed game?

This game has a lot of things going against it. I knew that when I went to BlockBuster. My sister, on the other hand, did not. She suggested the game. And against my better judgments (or maybe going along with my even better judgments) I picked it up. The $7.99 price tag for a game rental brought me down even more. I thought I should make sure to get the game's manual, but then I thought I should save face and not ask for it.

Sad

So five minutes later after a snowy drive home with a bunch of popcorn, two movies, and a Wii game that I know will only be the first of many like it. Simple games aimed at kids. Immediately I popped the game into my Wii hoping against hope, and well well well...

The game made me smile within five minutes

The music, sound effects, graphics, presentation - it's all first class. I felt as though this was a genuine Pixar experience and not just a tacked on licensed game. Every few lines of dialogue I get confused if the main car is voiced by Luke WIIson or not. And I'm pretty sure Cheech Marin was kidnapped and forced to say the lines for one of the characters, too. Like the sound, the graphics do a great job recreating the feel of the movies. Even if they're not *the same*, they're more the serviceable.

I'm not totally impressed just yet. I've seen plenty good looking games (especially with these same cartoony graphics) miss the mark when it comes to gameplay. This is not one of those games. It's not a diamond in the rough by any means, but it works using the Wii Remote. It works pretty darn well.

And that's the point. Cars sounds, looks, and feels good. I'm not going to spend $50 on it, but I'm pretty sure that if you have a 5 year old that loves playing with cars, well, this is his dream game.
_________________
Wii #: 8749 9109 9732 3653

"It is a peaceful way of understanding life, to play"
_Marcel Duchamp

Swimmy · . Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 990 Location: Fairfax, VA

GSL · Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 2:58 am Post subject:

Select button glitch?

Reveal your secrets!

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

It's a trick that you hit select when you're switching screens and you get teleported to the other side of the screen (or something like that, it's been a while). You ahve to have the timing correct but you can beat the game without ever getting the sword by exploiting it.

player 2 · . Joined: 10 Jul 2005 Posts: 585 Location: Madison, WI USA

Guys, stop ruining my thread.
_________________
Wii #: 8749 9109 9732 3653

"It is a peaceful way of understanding life, to play"
_Marcel Duchamp

player 2 · . Joined: 10 Jul 2005 Posts: 585 Location: Madison, WI USA

To anybody who read my Tony Hawk review and thought you might like it...

It looks like EA is fixing all my problems with THDJ with SSX Blur (Wii).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOkZUioh6Us&mode=related&search=
_________________
Wii #: 8749 9109 9732 3653

"It is a peaceful way of understanding life, to play"
_Marcel Duchamp

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Review 1 (in one sentence): Twilight Princess is so-o good that it made me go back and give Wind Waker a second chance.

Review 2: Rayman Raving Rabbids is, shockingly, one of the best “original” games out for the Wii right now. Don’t get too excited though, it is just a mini-game game. The game is probably only about 5 or 6 hours long to beat in single player (less if you’re good and more if you’re not very good) and has a wide gamut of interesting game styles with almost all of them using the wii-mote well. At worst the games are very easy and short.

Occasionally the visual connection with the interface and what motions you have to perform don’t quite connect (on one game you have to close the rabbids into their outhouse by closing the door, but you actually have to have the pointer over the center of the outhouse not over the door. This caused the game to be a lot harder for me than it should have because the doors when open they are not over the center of the outhouse).

The Rabbids themselves have a whole lot of character to them, and are possible the best new character design in a really long time. It’s hard for their hysteria and manic actions not to capture your heart and make you smile just a little. There are also ninja and pirate Rabbids, so the age old debate will continue.

The best part of the game to me was the revisiting of both their rhythm games (7 songs, one per level, and most have two difficulties) and the on-rails shooting section of the boss levels. The rhythm game is simple, when a rabbid hits the left or right side you move either the nunchuck or wii-mote in connection to that side, and the motions tie into the rhythm or lyrics of the song. The on-rails shooting is pointing with the wii-mote and reloading by shaking the nunchuck. It’s fantastic and has me really hopeful of seeing a House of the Dead collection or Time Cop on the Wii.

If you’re looking for a game that you can showcase out to people aside from Wii Sports when you just want to pull the console out for demo this will fit the bill. But if you’re going to do that I highly recommend that you beat the game first to unlock all the games. The main drawback (for me) is that the game isn’t in widescreen… oh well.
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

dessgeega · Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 10:40 am Post subject:

my father has a wii.

(no jokes because i already had to suffer through his.)

i'll probably get to play it tonight.

i think he has zelda too.

huzzah!
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kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

Does the Rayman game have much multiplayer stuff that needs to be unlocked in single player mode?

SuperWes · Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 12:00 pm Post subject:

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

SuperWes · Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 2:01 pm Post subject:

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

dessgeega · Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 9:02 pm Post subject:

my mother is a wii boxing fiend. seriously, she's a killer. i like boxing a lot too. it is like the motion-sensor punch-out i've always wanted. my father is unnaturally good at bowling.

all in all i am very pleased with the wii, but it takes a really long friggin' time to set up the internet.
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Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

It took me like five minutes to connect mine to the internet!

I'm crazy good at boxing, and my mother is crazy good at tennis. It's nice to have a system that she is actually excited about and enjoys playing! I can't wait to get a second controller so she can beat me.

I also found out my friend has a lot of pent up anger. She played wii boxing and totally unleashed the beast. I've never seen her like that before, it totally blew my mind.

I'm happy I'm no longer the best game player I know.
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Six · . Joined: 15 Jul 2006 Posts: 313 Location: montreal

For some reason, I'm really wicked good at boxing. I am pretty much a pansy in real life, though?

I like how with the Miis you can create your own little league of Punch-Out rejects.

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

I've been working on getting a professional rank in Boxing. I spent most of an afternoon doing it too. I really enjoy the game too, I just can’t do an upper-cut for the life of me.

I actually enjoy every wii sports game except Golf. Putting is so freaking hard that it makes the game not worth it. I don’t know why but I can’t make the game play right when putting.
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

silentmatt · Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 10:03 am Post subject:

I actually like golf... Despite extremely disliking the sport in real life. It is good for a 9-hole one-on-one tournament with the girlfriend. Putting isn't that bad... you just need to keep in mind the slope and all that jazz. It is all about slight flicks of the wrist instead of full-out swings. Plus, remember you can test the strength of the swing before hand by not pressing 'A'.

On the otherhand... I almost dislike boxing - it is way to frantic. It is still kind of fun though.

All in all - tennis is still king in my books. I love that shit.
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"Jadis, si je me souviens bien, ma vie était un festin où s'ouvraient tous les coeurs, où tous les vins coulaient."

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

dmauro · . Joined: 20 Jul 2006 Posts: 303 Location: Brooklyn

My roommate was having trouble with putting as well. I never had a problem with it, and good putting is usually how I get my birdies. The best part of the game is chipping though. I like the Chip In practice mode the best. I'll write up a review of Super Swing Golf if I get it for Christmas.

player 2 · . Joined: 10 Jul 2005 Posts: 585 Location: Madison, WI USA

I was thinking that it'd be nice to have the OP have a link to all of the subsequent threads that actually reviewed the game. So I went through the thread and did it. The list is kind of goofy, but hey, it works for now. There are some notable games missing: Call of Duty, Super Monkey Ball (I just got this one), Dragonball, and Elebits (!!!). If anyone has any of those games, a little text on the matter would be pretty cool. Or if anyone picks up a game soon (I'm looking at Metal Slug Anthology and Super Swing Golf) it'd be kinda cool to have reviews on those games, too.
_________________
Wii #: 8749 9109 9732 3653

"It is a peaceful way of understanding life, to play"
_Marcel Duchamp

silentmatt · Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 9:14 am Post subject: A Review of Three.

Red Steel.
I picked up Red Steel at launch. It was the first game I played on the Wii, post-Sports and, for awhile, I was more than inclined to defend it. I wanted to like it and forced myself to keep going back to it over a couple weeks (on-and-off during exam time). I didn't find the controls that bad - yes, the view will really swim if you forget, even for a second, not to keep the Wiimote pointed at the screen. And, yeah, he sword fights which looked "so cool!" in the commercials turned out to be pretty damn lame and boring with a 'one slice per 5 seconds' timeout rule. But, I thought, I can deal with these short-comings - it is a launch title, after all.

I got fairly far into the game (past the arguably 'best level': the one in the fun-house) but then my interest started to wane. I couldn't deal with the absolutely horrid cut-scenes and the fact that they were completely unskippable. I found myself pissed off about how unreliable the zoom functions causing me to get my ass kicked for not doing a large enough movement. I became pissed off that the character couldn't turn his head when in the badass slo-mo zone. I mean, what the fuck.

Things got worse when I invited a friend over to test the multiplayer modes. I was hoping, I really was, for a Goldeneye - easy to pick up and consistently fun. Instead, it took an hour just for Tyler to barely grasp the controls and there was no depth to the gameplay at all. In a word, it sucked. I could see that, if I had more "gamer" friends who knew how to play, it might be fun in a 4-person match but - with the people I know - it just doesn't live up.

This is an even more serious consideration because, as Christmas looms and my plan to bring the Wii back to my parents house (for the 'family experience' in drunken Wii gaming) is set, I need games that show off the console's ease of use and entertainment factor. Not a murky, too hard to grasp, fairly uninteractive (you can't even talk to people you run into on the street) FPS. There were too many buttons to remember and it just wouldn't fly in the coming context. So, I came to the decision that I couldn't bring myself to keep the game.

Based upon Shaper's review, I went to EB last night and traded in Red Steel (>$40 trade-in, still!) for Rayman Raving Rabbids. I then drove home and went directly to the Wii to test it out. I must have played for about 4 hours or so - and I got through most of the game. (I think only 2 or 3 'days' are remaining).

Yes, it is a mini-game game. And, I might add, the "storyline" is pretty frigging non-existent. The game consistently reuses the same cut-scenes over and over again with a few minor changes as it progresses. Thankfully, they are skippable. For a single player experience, I can say that the game did cause me to laugh a few times, smile quite often and get annoyed once or twice. The fact that the single-player experience is mandatory for unlocking the multiplayer levels is ridiculous - it totally feels tacked on.

BUT - and this is the important aspect - the games, for the vast majority, are ridiculously fun. They are easy to play (the game tells you how to play each one before it begins) and so I can easily visualize my entire family being able to play this come Christmas. The multiplayer menu gives lots of choice, as you manually choose which level you want to play, which is both good and bad. It is good if you find a few games you want to play often... bad because it would be great to have a "random game" series which tallies up scores for competitions (maybe there is one, but I haven't seen anything hinting towards it yet).

My plan tonight is to have a friend over and play, turn-for-turn/game-for-game, the rest of the single player games to unlock them with a couple drinks. If we succeed in that, we'll switch our attention to the multiplayer modes. I must say, though, this is exactly what I wanted when I picked up the game - it is not a deep, intellectual experience (like SotC) or a extremely single-player orientated game (like Z:TP) - but a light game that can be used for the same purposes as Wii Sports - simple, somewhat competitive multiplayer fun.

Zelda: TP: All that needs to be said, akin to Shaper's review, is that I love this game. I am just entering the final dungeon but there are still a ton of side quests to complete afterwards. It feels like the perfect amalgamation of all the previous games into one glorious whole. Which makes me think that it would be a fantastic first for a Zelda virgin (which, I'm sure, does exist... somewhere).
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PSN: Twitch_City ||| Wii: 8083 5371 5767 6700
"Jadis, si je me souviens bien, ma vie était un festin où s'ouvraient tous les coeurs, où tous les vins coulaient."

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Elebits: (Early impression after only an hour)

The only reason I could get Elebits was because somehow my wife found out about the plush elebit that you get with pre-ordering. I wanted the game anyways, so I didn’t complain about her getting the plush.

I started up Elebits after my wife had played a couple of hours of Zelda:TP (which she is really getting into) and went straight to the tutorial. I don’t want to say that I really recommend the tutorial, but it’s not very good. There’s some stuff in it that you will probably need to learn/understand to get the hang of things, but some of the stuff is really patronizing. Anyways, after I had learned how most things worked and operated I quit the tutorial.

I was already really wanting a Ghostbusters game for the Wii. “Don’t cross the streams!”

So I start up the single player story mode and am greeted with some really excellent art (for a childrens book anyways) and voice acting reminiscent of the animated Pokemon. The story is that Elebits came from a lightning bolt many years ago and are now used to power everything from TV’s to cars. The main character , you, (or rather the 12 year old version of you) wants to watch his favorite TV show since his parents left him at home to go check their Elebits lab after a power outage. But there’s no power! You decide to find your fathers power gun in order to capture elebits (because you don’t want to touch them!) so that you can power your TV.

Sorry, there’s really no reason for the plot other than to use the pretty good art, and to introduce what the elebits are. The game is basically a physics toy mixed with Katamari. I was a little shocked that when I was in the tutorial that I could move anything, but those same things in the actual game were too heavy for the power-gun when I first started. The main thing you do is move stuff to find elebits and then capture them to build up power in the house. When you gain watts you can turn on smaller things (like hair dryers and lamps) then as you earn more the lights in the house will come on and larger items can be powered (like the TV and a Computer). Not only that, but as you’re gaining energy your gun can lift heavier items.

At first you can’t lift the toy blocks with the power-gun, but you can grab them and slowly move them around. This works really well with the wii-mote because it gives a sense of weight to it. It will drag a little and your tractor beam will bend wildly based on which way you’re aiming your wii-mote with a 1:1 relation. You can also open drawers and doors by grabbing them and pulling them with your remote. It’s really great to eventually get up the the point that you can grab the display case in the hall and throw it over the railing by the front door on the lower floor.

I mentioned Katamari earlier and there are a few reasons for this. One is the basic premise of a simply designed house which within you interact. Second is the way in which you gain your abilities: you start off only being able to move and lift the smallest of things, and as you find more elebits you can lift more and heavier things. As you get further into the game you’ll find that you can’t access certain parts of the house because you can’t lift the objects in the way of the hall or door. This all basically ties to the principal of Katamari in which rather than size you are now rolling up weight (well, and size, but they’re not always relative).

So, you have your gun at level 3, you grab a toy chest and lift it up into the air, you pull the remote towards you effectively bringing the chest closer, rotate the remote and the chest will flip over and the contents will start to pour out, giving the controller a little shake will dump the contents more quickly, and with a flick of the wrist you toss the chest off to the side as it bounces off a wall and rolls into a flowerpot which it breaks, but you don’t care because you’re trying to zap all those elebits that you just dumped onto the floor and are running everywhere like mice. That’s elebits. I can’t wait for some of the more interesting physics based items and puzzles, as well as seeing more of the house.
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

silentmatt · Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 9:54 am Post subject: Re: A Review of Three.

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Tim · . Joined: 08 Feb 2006 Posts: 54 Location: Millersville, MD

Elebits has some spot-on control. The camera and movement are leaps and bounds better than Red Steel. I didn't have any problems at all!

I didn't have any problems with the tutorial. I actually loved it, and in some instances a particular section would seem like it ended too soon because it's just so fun to play. I like that it started with the basics of movement, because there are most likely a lot of people (like my girlfriend) who aren't used to FPS-style controls (so it kind of ties into Nintendo's whole "we're trying to get everyone to play!" theme). I didn't mind it because I got through those parts quickly. And it's good that you can skip the tutorial as well!

The zero-point energy capture gun feels more like Syndrome's, and less like Gordon Freeman's.

It's cool that if you hold one of those cookies over the Elebits' heads, they jump up for it like puppies.

The homing laser is the fucking Rez gun! Or Panzer Dragoon gun, if you prefer.

I love the graphics, and the fact that it's 60fps.

and OH MY GOD THAT SOUND THEY MAKE WHEN THEY'RE SLEEPING IT'S SO CUTE