63 replies to this topic

[Mendon]

For those fortunate enough to have a Wii and played around with it, what is your overall opinion of the system and games?

System: Is it what you expected, more than expected, less than you expected? Are you happy with the current channel lineup and VC game offerings? Are you comfortable using the Wii-mote/Numchuck compared to the usual style of controller?

Games: What games do you own or have you played? Do you think the launch titles are as good as - better than - worse than launch titles for other systems? Have you experienced any control problems (over/under responsive) in games?

For myself... I must say, first off, that I'm really, really shocked at how furious the demand has been for the system. I never dreamt that the Wii (or its accessories) would be almost impossible to obtain, even over a month after release. I fully expected to be able to just walk into any store on launch day and find enough Wii's for anyone who wanted one. Nintendo has to be jumping for joy at this early success for the Wii.

As for the system, I am pleasantly surprised at how good the system is and its more than I expected. Looks good, seems very well built and designed, and offers much more of a gaming experience than I imagined. At first, I was dubious about the control scheme and thought that it might be little more than a gimmick. But after playing 5 games, I'm really enjoying the experience and have reached a very comfortable level with the control scheme.

I enjoy the current channel lineup. I was dubious about the Forcast Channel at first and thought it might be just a waste but have found that I actually check it each morning. The Wii Shop Channel, while a little slow to connect to most of the time, works very well and the speed of downloads is actually pretty fast. The Web Browser I found a pleasant surprise and its actually much more useful than I thought it would be. It will never replace my computer for web use but its still very well done. The Mii Channel... was sort of fun at first to play around with creating Mii's but its really nothing I will get much use out of.

As for the VC Channel, there are a few games online now I'd like to get and I know there are others to be released in the near future I want also. But for now, the offerings for download leave something to be desired. I do think the games are fairly priced and a good deal, especially since I don't have to drag out and hook up my Turbo everytime I want to play a round of Bonk or Military Madness. Side Note: I stated in another post (won't go into detail here) that until Nintendo changes its policy regarding linking VC downloads strictly to the console that I won't download VC games and so far I've stuck to it. But I've been really, really tempted to break my vow every time I see Castlevainia 4 sitting there ready for downloading.....

Games: I currently own Zelda, Far Cry, Red Steel, Metal Slug, and Excite Truck. Because of GameFly, I've been able to rent Call of Duty 3, Elebits, and Rayman. I think the launch lineup is much better than many other systems launched with and I'm impressed with several of the games.

Red Steel was my first FPS with the Wii and the controller almost went thru my TV screen during the first 30min of play (and not from any strap malfunction!) I was sooooo frustrated with the game control, especially when I found myself spinning in a circle. But I hung in there and slowly became more comfortable with the controls and the sensitivity of them. After I became comfortable with them, Red Steel became a totally enjoyable game. Despite what a lot of people state, I don't think the graphics are bad at all and I enjoy the comic book style cut scenes. Only complaints I have with the game is that a lot of the levels seem redundant with very little difference in the feel or strategy of the level. And sometimes (note: sometimes) the onscreen movements don't seem to react to my movements. Examples: slash with Wii-mote but sword doesn't always move onscreen or jab Wii-mote towards TV screen but gun doesn't zoom in.

Zelda... whats to say except its GREAT! Control is excellent!

Far Cry... yeah, the graphics aren't the best and the cut scenes are pretty bad. But if my enjoyment of a game depended entirely on graphic's then I wouldn't have bought a Wii and would have stuck with my 360. After playing RS, I had no trouble in picking up the control scheme with FC and felt comfortable with it right away. I'm enjoying the game alot.. but then I'm a fan of the Far Cry series so I expected to enjoy the game. Only complaint I have is the same as with Red Steel.. sometimes my Wii-mote movements are not picked up with a responding action on the screen.

Metal Slug... again, whats to say except its Metal Slug. If you like the series this is a must have! And with all the different control options offered there is one that you'll feel comfortable with.

Excite Truck... I like the game but its certainly my least favorite of all the Wii games I've played. I think the reason I don't like the game more is because I've been spoiled by Xbox Live's Leaderboards and this game seems to scream out that you should be able to check your score and progress against other players. Plays more like a good 10min Arcade game fix than a game you'd spend an hour or more playing. Good control as long as your movements are slow and not FAST.

To sum up, for me I'm impressed with the system and its more than I expected. The potential is there for some really nice games and channels in the future. Nintendo games seem to be spot on as far as control while 3rd party developers are still learning the system. As long as 3rd party companies support the Wii and with Nintendo's own lineup of upcoming games, the Wii should do very, very well and be a system I'll keep.

Only complaints: Nintendo has got to come up with a way other than Friend Codes/System Codes for any online play. It really is a pain to have to go through this procedure of registering people and waiting for them to register you. And Nintendo really has to change their policy regarding VC Downloads tied strictly to the console.

Other than that, I'm very, very pleased with my purchase of a Wii.

Mendon

[bretthorror]

The system for me, has about met my expectations. The real power of the Wii to me rested in Wii Sports and in general, the sports titles to come. Using the Wiimote as a sword is one thing, a gun is great, but another. To actual hold the remote and use it as a racquet or ball bat is what makes the system for me. I am very happy with the feeling of the controllers. The browser isn't very good yet, hopefully they improve on it.

Gameswise, I have yet to play a game that's better with a normal controller. Minigames are gonna be huge on this system and that's not a bad thing. Sometimes learning all the fancy control schemes for games becomes a hassle to me. I am a pick up and play gamer at heart, and I think this is the system for me. The following are the games I own and what I think of them:

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Ummm, I don't need to say much. One of the best games I've ever played.

Wii Sports A simple game that turned out to be one of my favorites. I even like boxing, which gets a lot of flack.

Rayman Raving Rabbids This is the kind of game I forsee as being very, very prominent on the Wii. This game is a blast from start to finish. Funny, with great controls, this game has it all for the pick up and play fan.

Excite Truck Honestly, I've not had much of a chance to play this, so I can't say for sure. I have trouble getting my truck to do a burst after a jump, but it's probably just my own timing that needs work.

Red Steel Not as bad as people say. The way I see it, a bad fps on the Wii is as good as an average one with a regular controller. The problem for me is the people shooting at you are so small, you literally don't see a damn thing until they open fire. Of course, this is probably the most realistic scenario.

I have Metal Slug Anthology and Madden 07 but haven't played them yet.

VC games are generally not worth the price, or I already have them. I can generally get them cheaper elsewhere. I will be buying some in the future though. And the thing most people don't mention, it plays Gamecube games. And since a lot of people (like me) who got a Wii didn't have a GC, this is a tremendous asset. Although the system didn't have the greatest games, it had it's moments and certainly is worth it to just have to buy a controller and a memory card. It's like getting two systems in one for people who never owned a GC, which is a great bonus.

I can't wait to see how in the future it'll work with my DS Lite.

[bdog_147]

System:I like it. I was surprised by how small it is. Very simplistic look, nothing flashy. I just like how it looks. the controllers are neat, although it took me a while to get use to it.

Games[b]:Wii Sports,Exitetruck,Zelda:TP,Trauma Center.

Exitetruck was the first game i played. the first 10 mins. i was oversteering like crazy but got the hang of it. It's a fun game but there isn't really enough tracks and I kinda got bored of it. The music is horrible. No track editor??

Wii Sports. I love the tennis game. I'm almost addicted to it. I like the golf and bowling as well.

Zelda. I haven't really gotten into this game yet. I just finished the part were a monkey steals your lantern(those who've played through should know what i'm talking about....yeah i'm still at the beginning pretty much....). The graphics I think are nice in this game.

Trauma Center. Interesting. only played this for 2 hours, so far I think it's a neat game.

Out of the above games, Wii Sports gets played the most

I rented Need for Speed:Carbon......I was not impressed

As for controls, in wii boxing it doesn't seem to register my movements with the nunchuck. I'll want to keep punching again and again but i have to punch, then wait a second and then punch,etc. anyone else having this problem?

Yeah, i was surprised to see a line up on launch day i was not expecting that, I got the last one they had in the store (they had 36). I was rather happy about that.

Overall I am really happy with the Wii. I think it's a fun system and I'm glad I bought one. As for VC games, well i don't have a wireless router and don't want to buy one soooooooo......and they don't really have any games at the moment that i would want to download. Maybe later down the road....

[Red 5]

System: Pretty slick. Like the weather and Wii store features. Overall though, I got my money's worth with Zelda.


Sports: All gimmick and little replay value except for bowling. The rest I don't ever see myself playing again unless friends and relatives come over and want to play. If I paid $49.99 for it, I would be a little pissed. (In a way, I guess I did.) The game is just a means to show people what the controller can do, and not much more. (Except bowling, which is quite good.)

Elebits: Fun and original and I can play with my 3 year old.

Zelda: One of the best games I ever played. It's why I bought the system and if nothing came out ever again for it, I feel I got my money's worth just with this title.

Right now there is nothing else I would even consider buying considering I have a 360 as well.

If a game is made for Wii and the 360, the thought of getting it for the Wii wouldn't even cross my mind for an instant.
The controller would never make me think of getting Call of Duty on the Wii instead of the 360.
Trauma center is a good game but I already played it on the DS (it's just about an exact port).

As for FPS (Red Steel) or driving games, there is nothing that compares to the 360 in that area. There is no FPS that will come close to Call of Duty, Gears of War, Rainbow Six, etc.

SO ! I knew this would be the case with the Wii. I bought it understanding that every once and a while a good exclusive game might come out (like Mario Galaxies), but most of my gaming will be on the 360.

I hope some new original games come along. The controller does open a world of new possibilities.

In the end, it is just what I thought it would be. A stand alone Zelda machine and a nice accessory to my Xbox 360.

Now that I think of it, it's exactly what the GameCube was to my Xbox. (With a really nice Resident Evil bonus surprise thrown in.)

[moycon]

My thoughts....

It's exactly what I thought it would be. Provided the controls "worked" and they do seem to work darn good on the games I have.

Zelda - Controls better than I expected but I've never been a huge Zelda fan beyond the first and SNES version.
Monkey Ball - I haven't played this one too much. Lots on mini games, maybe too much going on in the background. Sometimes simple party games are best (Like sports)
Super Swing Golf - Very nice golf game. If you like the Sports golf you will LOVE this game.
Elebits - I enjoy this game! Make you feel like one of the Ghostbusters!
Sports - Perfect for folks who maybe don't play video games. VEry easy and fun.

The game I've played the most is Sports, mainly because anyone can pick it up and play a quick 15 minute game and have a good time. It's a great system to break out at parties...In fact I'm sure the Wii will see some use tonight as we are having a few people over for a birthday.

That said, I still stay up all night playing the 360...The Wii is great fun but no substitute for the wow factor I get playing 360 games (yep I enjoy the eye candy...more than once during a 360 game I've just stopped what I was doing, jaw opened, just looking) or the ability to hook up and play online. The Wii will excel at simple games I think. Games like Far Cry and Call of Duty just aren't ment for the Wii. These games are indeed AWESOME! Just not on the Wii.

Bottom line in my opinion the Wii is a must have system right now, and so is the 360 for very VERY different reasons.

[NE146]

360 doesn't jaw drop me.. graphics are still pretty much the same except a little sharper and clearer. (As I've said numerous times.. HD is overrated). That being said, yeah I play the 360 more than the Wii. Which is probably because I got over 60 games for it. All I got for the Wii is Zelda (which I finished), Wii Sports and Excite Truck. After I finished Zelda I really dont play the Wii too much.. I'm waiting for the next 'big' game.

Right now almost all my console time is spent playing Rainbow 6 on live via the 360. Also a little Viva Pinata. The rest of my time is spent playing on the PSP with the new hacks

My review of the Wii is it rocks. But I aint playing it too much right now. How's that for a review

[jpfalcon2003]

enjoy the sports package. enjoy my other 3 games metal Slug, Monkey Ball, and Rayman Raving Rabbids, but no Mario Galaxy at launch.

[MegaManFan]

Exceeded my expectations. I actually bought a few more VC games than I thought I would, Wii Sports is a lot of fun, and Zelda and Metal Slug are easily "must owns" for this system. I love the web browser, the backwards GCN compatibility, the small size of the unit itself, the built in wireless networking, well I basically love pretty much everything about it other than the shortages on accessories FOR it.

[King_Salamon]

I don't have the system yet but I can say I've been impressed by the way it's near impossible to find sitting on the shelf. The same goes for the accessories, games are becoming rather easy to find.

I only played Excite Truck a few times but I think I could see myself playing it a bunch! I think this will be the system my wife will really enjoy with the games that have been released.

[Atari Master]

NE146, on Sat Jan 6, 2007 11:04 PM, said:

360 doesn't jaw drop me.. graphics are still pretty much the same except a little sharper and clearer. (As I've said numerous times.. HD is overrated). That being said, yeah I play the 360 more than the Wii. Which is probably because I got over 60 games for it. All I got for the Wii is Zelda (which I finished), Wii Sports and Excite Truck. After I finished Zelda I really dont play the Wii too much.. I'm waiting for the next 'big' game.

Right now almost all my console time is spent playing Rainbow 6 on live via the 360. Also a little Viva Pinata. The rest of my time is spent playing on the PSP with the new hacks

My review of the Wii is it rocks. But I aint playing it too much right now. How's that for a review

Gah, get some games like Elebits, Trauma Center, and other stuff. Support the third parties!

I can't wait for Metroid Prime Corruption. Finally, a FPS meant for the Wii that isn't a half baked port (or half baked, I'm looking at you Ubi).

[moycon]

NE146, on Sat Jan 6, 2007 8:04 PM, said:

360 doesn't jaw drop me..

You didn't pause and admire the ivory spire of the Imperial City when you broke over the crest of a mountain 2 miles away?
I literally was like....Ooooooo Pretty!!!!!

I dunno, It might be that I'm just easily amused.

[Atari Master]

You're just a graphics whore.

[NE146]

moycon, on Sun Jan 7, 2007 5:12 AM, said:

NE146, on Sat Jan 6, 2007 8:04 PM, said:

360 doesn't jaw drop me..

You didn't pause and admire the ivory spire of the Imperial City when you broke over the crest of a mountain 2 miles away?
I literally was like....Ooooooo Pretty!!!!!

I dunno, It might be that I'm just easily amused.

No.. it was nice. It's just that I'm waiting for it to be AMAZING! Seriously though, through all the HD hype I got to thinking we were near the point of photorealism and "looking through a window" and whatnot. But when I really got down to it no matter what I use, component, HDMI, 1080i, 1080p, my plasma and lcd's.... as far as videogame graphics, it still looks like just an incremental update over the Xbox/PS2 generation..(and as far as TV goes, just obviously highly dependant upon the video source.. which often sucks anyway).

And really in this day and age, where graphics are already really really good, the only thing that will really make me think "wow THIS is next gen!" is not little incremental updates cycle we seem to be stuck in but rather something really amazing. I don't know what that is, but you and I will know it when we see it

As is I think we're a number of years away from that "amazing" point. Anyway that's just my opinion. So yeah, I think it's less you're easily amused, and more I'm probably a little jaded

[Atari Master]

I think the graphics of the 360 and PS3 are nice, they're just not enough to make me say, "OMG MY OLD CONSOLE LOOKS UNPLAYABLE NOW!"

It's more like a jump from the NES to the SNES... Maybe not even that much.

[AtariJr]

System: first system that i took out of the box that i was almost afraid to touch.. not that its not built well, but not having that rough toy like plastic anymore was new for me haha. The synching on the wiimote with the red button i only knew how to do sicnce i read it somewhere.. otherwise, I could see that being an issue with people, esp older gamers. The thing that amazed me was the gamecube on the top, ... i was like, wow.. a whole next get system in this little packages, and the gamecube ports and card slots are magincally in there too.. very nice.

Games:

Wii Sports: Besides bolwing which is golden, I actually like Baseball a lot. no, its not the most "fair" game in the world , but its the best as i can see all you atariage avis there coming up to bat . Boxing is fun, but tiring. i must say, that Sports Golf showed me that i might never own a golf game on this system. its not that its flawed, its just too realistic.. i suck at golf.. and i such here too.. but seriously.. why does it punish you for swinging to hard... not even too hard, i barely swing! wth! if it was up to me the harder you swing in reason would mean you hit farther.. this frustrated me to no end and i stopped playing. Tennis, i dont get the hype.. its fun, but is kinda simple... rather play Bowling or Baseball.

Zelda: my favorite game on the system so far, and the first zelda game i know i WANT to beat and get trhough it.. kinda stopped caring about the franchise with majora and windwaker.. thank you for getting away from that.

Excite Truck: When i first played this, didnt know how to boost on jumps, not over steer, or dload my own music.. i must say, i was disappointed. But with my own music on SD care, knwing how to jump and boost, and steering like a pro, damn this is arcade racing at its best. Yea, it doesnt have lots of tracks and cars like a gran tourismo.. but its not trying to be that. For an arcade romp. very respecatable. only downside, i cant do an air spin to save my life.. tiliting the controller this way and that.. guhh.

Rayman: Eh. its what i thought when i first played it. "this is it?" i said to myself. but honestly, i didnt give it a fiar shot.. and i soon realized the difficulty of the games got harder as well. Now its forcing laughs from family and freinds who play it with me.. good job. one thing id change is the load times.. kinda liked the party party/wario ware feel, where you smoothly go to mini games.. load times kinda kill the energy.. but sitll , great game.

Elebits: I returned Red Steel for this, and from what i can tell, im really glad I did. What a game. The simple pleasure of throwing around stuff and zapping these criters has me very entertained.. and i hope this game sells well.

Overall... im very happy. Most of all, when i think of this as launch time, and the spring games arent out yet and i sitll want more games , that is an awesome feeling.. more than i can say for the gamecube or ds launch where pickings were slim ((gc launch: rogue squardron nd smash was all i cared about... DS: Mario 64 and Asphault)).

Oh and btw.. i was not a supportive of the VC... iddnt think id need it.. so tell me how come i now have gone trhough 3 wii cards... god its like crack, stop me! Really like playing TG 16 games ive never played.

Edited by AtariJr, Sun Jan 7, 2007 8:33 PM.

[LarcenTyler]

System: I must say I was pleasantly surprised with the Wii. I wasn't sure how I'd adapt to the controls, but I found them to be easy to get accustomed with for the most part. It's a small system with a big heart, like the Atari 7800, except this time the Wii definitely has a chance to be a big contender in the system wars.

Games: These are the games I currently own for my Wii.

Wii Sports - It may seem like a novelty pack-in, but it's actually a lot of fun. The workout mode and the ability to put yourself in the game (well sort of!) is a lot of fun. Even my mother likes this one!

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - My Wii package came with this one. I've played the demo but not the full version yet. Controls take some time to get used to, and the fact everything's mirrored from GameCube version may be confusing to some, but it's still a good launch title.

Excite Truck - The first Wii game I experienced, and I was blown away. The way you can run through certain objects to morph the landscape for major tricks is a nice feature, as well as being able to get a boost after you crash. The only gripe I have is the controls take a little getting used to.

Trauma Center: Second Opinion - This one I've been playing the most recently. It's a remake of the DS title with all the characters redrawn, and the operation sequences are in 3D. It's not very detailed in terms of the internal stuff, so you shouldn't get too squeamish. There is some blood, but not a lot. Picking your tool with the nunchuck's analog stick is a blessing, since you can switch off almost instantly. The defibrillator mode is unique, but positioning the remote and nunchuck isn't always easy. I lost on a patient when I couldn't get the position right. The fact you have a laser pointer indicating where you're pointing at is a real plus.

[rockman_x_2002]

Okay, I'll post my reviews then, since I've finally been able to connect up to the Internet with it.

System: Excellent system. Very interesting, that little remote. I like the way it controls, and I like the general interface. One of the cleanest system interfaces that I have seen so far, and certainly one of the more creative ones. Wireless works good, and while it may be slow as molasses on dialup (the two initial updates took me about five hours total to download over dialup) it still works, which is not only surprising but great to know, in my opinion, since you must update once to enable the Wii to use SD Cards. So far I have had no problems with the system, and the machine really doesn't get all that hot (nowhere near as hot as my laptop does), even when using its wireless capabilities or playing a game for several hours. If Nintendo can learn to play to the system's strengths, I can see this system sticking around with us for the long-haul.

Wii Sports: This is a pack-in game, so I'll not be harsh on it. The graphics aren't as snazzy as you might see on the other two systems, and indeed in other Wii games, but what's there is nice because the graphics step out of the way of the gameplay. This makes the games accessible to everyone, almost as the Atari 2600 does. Graphics take a back seat to some wonderful gameplay, and outside of a few strange oddities (like the almost haphazard controls in boxing), the game is great. Although I would highly recommend that Nintendo see into expanding these sports into their own, full games with all the trimmings, for those of us who enjoy a good thorough sports game now and then.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: I haven't played a whole lot into this game, but what I have played (about two hours worth) is nice. There's a lot of errand running, which you would expect in a Zelda game. But overall, I like the controls and how they are done in this game. I think the game could've benefitted from an option of allowing you to use both the Wii's unique controls, as well as selecting the GameCube control set so you could use the GCN controller for those that would prefer it. But as a Zelda game, I can already see this is one of the best of that series. I can't wait to get further into the game and see what this thing really has in store. Should be wonderful.

GT Pro Series: Well, while I think this game is underrated, I will say that most reviewers are correct in saying that the graphics are outdated. To be honest, the graphics are anywhere between N64 and PS2 quality, cel-shaded graphics. They would've been better off had they spent a little more time in this department. However, the game controls very well, and as a racing game, it isn't too difficult for anyone to simply pick up and play. Seems like there's a good bit of depth to be had here, but I would say you really need to like racing games to want this one. The included wheel accessory is nice, but even so, you might want to wait for a price drop if you're cautious. Beyond that, I'd recommend the game for at least a rental. It's worth a shot, all the same.

Metal Slug Anthology: It's Metal Slugs 1, 2, X, 3, 4, 5, and 6 on a single disc. A few gallery unlockables such as music tracks, artwork, and a text interview, but not much else here. But if you like Metal Slug, then you owe it to yourself to get the game. If you do the math, at $39.99, you get 7 different games, so that comes out to about $5.71 a game... each game almost as cheap as an NES VC download. So if you like 2D classic platforming action, then I'd recommend this one, highly.

[Atari Master]

If you've only played Zelda for around 2 hours, don't review it yet. The game hasn't started.

Trust me, at first it was like, "slooow." But now, I swear it's my favorite Zelda, now.

[rockman_x_2002]

Atari Master, on Mon Jan 8, 2007 12:37 PM, said:

If you've only played Zelda for around 2 hours, don't review it yet. The game hasn't started.

Trust me, at first it was like, "slooow." But now, I swear it's my favorite Zelda, now.

Well, it's not a thorough review by any means. I've played the other Zelda games long enough to know you can't fully review a Zelda title until you finish it. All that I'm saying is that, from what I have seen so far, the graphics look good, the sound and music is great, controls are excellent, the gameplay is spot-on, and from what little I have seen so far, I like it. I would expect nothing less of Nintendo, though.

[AussieAtari]

System: It has exceeded my expectations in build quality and the controls are superb. Ok, so every now and then you can confuse the motion detectors but overall they completely support the game play and do become an extension of your arm - very impressive.

Games: We only have Sports and Play (which came with our second Wiimote). Sports is excellent. We have had people who have almost never played video games spend hours playing sports. The graphics are fine and the controls excellent. It is being played at least one hour a night since Xmas in our house.

WiiPlay came out once, was looked at and went back in the box. It just does not seem to really add any value. It may be a good title for young kids to get used to the controls and that may be all.

We've been holding off getting any more games at the moment due to cost and waiting to see what you guys recommend. We will definitely be heading off to get Super Swing Golf as I reckon Sports Golf is pretty good and She Who Must Be Obeyed loves the game.

I'll be out shopping for some GC games and a controller and memory card this week as well as it has already been said, but getting two systems in one is pretty cool and we never got a GC and there are some games we had missed out on that we will now add to the collection.

Overall, a great addition to our gaming room and we are looking forward to spending a lot of time Wii'ing in the corner.

Edited by AussieAtari, Mon Jan 8, 2007 2:59 PM.

[moycon]

AussieAtari, on Mon Jan 8, 2007 5:58 PM, said:

We've been holding off getting any more games at the moment due to cost and waiting to see what you guys recommend. We will definitely be heading off to get Super Swing Golf as I reckon Sports Golf is pretty good and She Who Must Be Obeyed loves the game.

If you enjoy the Sports golf (Like I did) You definately will enjoy Super Swing. Now we just need a deeper version of Baseball and all will be right with the world.

[AussieAtari]

I'm not with you on the Baseball thing but Wii Cricket would be awesome!!!

Thanks for the Super Swing recommendation, I'll pick it up when I can find a copy, like over there anything Wii keeps selling out - apart from Cars and Spongebob games.

[BydoEmpire]

System: Extremely sleek and solid. I'm very impressed with the hardware. Overall I like the interface, but I do have a couple of minor gripes. 1) I hate the "Health and Safety" warning that comes up. 2) I wish there was a way to organize your address book, even just having it sort alphabetically would be nice. 3) I hate the "please connect the wrist strap" warning that comes up up on nunchuck games. When it comes to interfaces, the less stuff I have to click through, the better. Put that stuff in the manual, or make you see it once and then skip it subsequent times. Anyways, minor stuff. The system works very well and has a great design.

Games
Zelda:I don't see why people didn't get the intro. It's only an hour, and you learn the controls and start getting some back story. Anwyays, I absolutely love the game. I'm almost 30 hours in and it's definitely the best game I've played in the last year, and all signs are pointing to it being one of my favorites of all time. The dungeons are brilliant, the control is excellent, the game looks and sounds beautiful, there's a TON of stuff to do and discover. I can't say enough good things about it. A+

Red Steel - I enjoyed Red Steel quite a bit. There were a few problems with the controls, such as zooming, which doesn't work at all. I occasionally (maybe a dozen times throughout the entire game) started spinning wildly out of control. This seemed to be due to aiming the wiimote too fast. Flicking the nunchuck to pick up items is annoying. But for the most part I found the controls usable. Aiming with the wiimote is a lot of fun. Chucking grenades was cool. Swordfighting broke up the shooting action nicely, and by the time you get to the end of hte game, you'll be engaged in white knuckles back-and-forth matches. You learn moves as you go along, and there's a pretty good system of parrying and dodging. The swordfighting felt a little sluggish, and occasionally missed input movements, but I've heard you can fix this by enabling "short moves" or something similar in the options. Haven't tried it. The graphics are a mixed bag. The 'grunt' enemies look horrible. And about half of the levels (particularly near the beginning of the game) look pretty plain. But some of the later levels are really amazing - the burning dojo and the bamboo forest in particular. I really enjoyed the level design, though. Everything felt big without being confusing. There were some standard warehouse/docks levels. But even the warehouse had a nice twist - you could shoot the stacked up boxes to make new paths (shades of Dig Dug). The game has a perfect difficulty level on "normal," though it feels a little... I don't know... "forced" due to the cheap-feeling auto health recharge. Red Steel is one of those games where, for everything it does right, it screws something else up. It's very inconsistent, but at the same time the game is fun at its core. If you can sit down and enjoy a B action movie on a UHF channel on Saturday afternoon, you can enjoy Red Steel. If you're expecting a big, polished Hollywood blockbuster, give it a rental or look elsewhere. B-

Rayman - Laugh out loud funny, and generally well designed and replayable minigames. Haven't played it as much as I would have liked (got sucked into Zelda and Red Steel), but I enjoyed it. The game is as much fun for the humor and presentation as the game play. B-

Tony Hawk: Downhill Jam - It reminds me a lot of 1080: Avalanche - it's downhill racing on skateboards. I liked the levels, the controls, the very smooth difficulty ramp up, the variety of goals, and the sharp graphics. Not a revolutionary title, but pretty fun. Haven't played it as much as I would have liked.B-

Super Monkey Ball - The single player game - it's Monkey Ball and it controls well with the wiimote. The minigames, however, are extremely disappointing. I tried about 2/3rds of them, and none of them were particularly fun or replayable. What's worse, the interface makes it a chore to select minigames and replay them. It boggles the mind. Plus they totally screwed up Monkey Target, which was a family favorite. Go buy SMB2 for the Cube instead. D+

Wii Sports - I haven't put as much time into it as I would have liked. Bowling and Tennis are really fun, and well done. They both use the wiimotes perfectly, and are very replayable. I had problems with boxing and golf. Haven't tried baseball. No score since I haven't played it much.

Virtual Console - I'm happy with the system so far. It does exactly what it was promoted to do: play a variety of 8 and 16 bit console games, well emulated. I'm mostly interested in TG-16 games and they've certainly delivered those. Some individual games are overpriced ($5 Urban Champion, $8 Altered Beast), imho, but I think the prices are *generally* fair and reasonable. Six bucks for Bonk's Adventure, $8 for Super CastleVania IV? I'll take it. I love having a save state, although I wish it wouldn't HAVE to go back to the wii menu to quit. I would like online play, but it's not a high priority, nor did I ever expect it. So if they ever update the system with it, that'll be a nice bonus. The other features like the Weather Channel and Opera browser are nice additions. Much to my surprise, I've actually been surfing on the TV occasionally. Never thought I'd do that. But it's convenient for quickly checking headlines.

In summary, I'm extremely happy with the Wii. It does just about everything I wanted and does it well. There's a lot of untapped potential, to be sure, but what's there is fantastic.

Edited by BydoEmpire, Tue Jan 9, 2007 5:34 PM.

[khisanth]

I have Zelda, Call of Duty 3 , Wii Sports (of course) and downloaded Bomberman 93, Solomons Key and Super Star Soldier for the Virtual Console.

Overall I am very impressed and really enjoying the experience. I never had a GC so am more than happy with the graphics and already getting those must have GC games. Zelda is absolutely fantastic, has me hooked big time. Call of Duty is pretty tough as the controls let it down a bit.

I cant wait for the games that make good use of the controller.

[kisrael]

All right, I'll take a turn on the soapbox:

I was lucky enough to have a friend who thought to go wait in line at CostCo, and let me buy it off of him. Then some other friends later got me the full set of Nunchucks at Times Square Toys R Us, plus a few other controllers here and there, so I have a complete set.

SYSTEM:

Controllers:
Not as bad as the haters say (especially w/ the nunchuck), not as great as the fanboys say. Before I got a Wii, I kind of assumed that the Wiimotes would use some kind of traingulation for full 3D tracking, and that's just not the case. Still they work pretty well, and I enjoy being free of the "nuthin' but thumb twiddlin'" legacy of consoles. You see where it doesn't work in some of the minigames, and stuff like the Zoomin feature on Red Steel (also in Red Steel, how not to handle the situation of "pointer off the screen")

Also I thought the system was smarter about saying the first controller activated is 1, second is 2, etc...

Design:
I think this generation's love of the "upright console" is kind of dumb. Overall I almost prefer the GC over the slab, but I appreciate how small it is. I think this glossy plastic thing is a bit played out too. Still, looks are not that big of a deal for console, as long as it's nice and compact.

Menus Etc:
I hate how there isn't quite a single standard for manipulating menus, especially pulling up a "Pause" menu. The home button is pretty universal, but isn't the same thing, and (+) seems to be common, but some games (Monkey Ball, for who knows what reason) don't react immediately to the button press.

Misc:
Making Miis is insanely popular, and pretty well done overall
VC needs to stop being so stingy with the titles!
And I was super bummed to find out that stuff like the GC Freeloader is being sabotaged, but then again, I'm more upset with the region locking idiocy that makes stuff like the freeloader have a market at all.


GAMES:
Red Steel:
Housemate got this one. Bad. In other games I see that system has awesome potential for FPS, so to screw the pooch so badly control-wise hurts the system.

Zelda:
Haven't gotten past the early slow parts yet... admittedly I'm a little down on the Zelda formula, it hasn't been able to grab me in quite the same way since more "living breathing" worlds like the GTA came out.

Elebits:
Very cute. Haven't really sunk my teeth into it yet.

Rayman:
Ah, partygames. I think there's a lot of untapped potential in this system, but Rayman makes a pretty good show of it.

Monkey Ball:
I basically ignore the single player mode, and the multiplayer isn't quite as fantastic as I first thought, at least with a harsher audience.

Excite Truck:
One of my favorites. Wish it had 4 player racing though! Really one of the better demonstrations of the controller. If Mario Kart uses a similar scheme (rather than something dumb like drive with the thumbstick and swat at opponents) it should be great. (You can put your own music in? Interesting. That's one of the things with these systems, they're putting in so many features, it's easy to miss out on what functionality is in there!)

Wii Sports:
Tennis is great, Bowling is really popular (don't see quite why; the mapping to throwing the ball seems a little more stretched than say tennis or baseball) Baseball is cool, the pitching motion isn't realistic, but if someone is mixing it up batting is quite a challenge...Boxing is kind of cool as a workout, though it's a bit hard to control the punches, Gold doesn't do much for me.

FINAL IDEAS
I think what impresses me most about the system is how inviting it is, especially for non-gamers.
They love making Miis and playing sports. I think there's a lot of potential that's not fully tapped, especially with party games and FPS. (I'm looking forward to trying out Play, as well as grabbing WarioWare once it's out...)