We’ve had the Wii set up for a few weeks now, I just haven’t had time to post my initial impressions of this wonderful piece of video gaming goodness. I will say now that I am a full fledged Wii acolyte. It is not gimmicky. This is the future of gaming.
Even now, weeks after hooking it up, I don’t feel like I can really post anything definitive or authoritative because I’ve only been able to play it for about an hour total since it’s been hooked up. The kids have usurped control from its rightful owner and are showing no signs of relenting. I haven’t even broken the seal on Mario Galaxy yet! We have two wiimotes. Ergo, if the kids are awake and the Wii is on, I’m not playing.
When I do get my turn at Wii sports, I’m always surprised at how responsive and accurate the controls are. There is a sense of more than just playing the game. It really takes gaming to a different level.
What’s really fun is watching the kids play. They have no preconceived notions. They’ve both played games on the 360, but that’s it. They have no idea of how a game should be “controlled.” It took them both a few tries to get used to the wiimote, but now it’s second nature. They both love to play bowling and baseball. It’s so simple and so obivous to them. I can’t wait to see them interact with other games.
This little machine is pretty scrappy. I’ve played around with the other channels a bit, I plan on picking up a few games from the Virtual Console (Super Metroid will be the first one) and I want to grab the web browser. I just need some time with it on mu own.
So for now, the Wii is really just a bowling game for the kids, with an occasional baseball game thrown in. Once I get a few hours to dedicate to Mario Galaxy, I’ll be getting down to some serious Wii gaming.
My son is five and averages a 200 in bowling. He has unlocked every course and car and received an “S” rating on almost ever race in Excite Truck. He’s not that bad in Geometry Wars. He just picked it up and ran with it.
I find this to be interesting because he plays the Wii and the 360. He had some older friends over to play and a game like Excite Truck and it was alien to them. They just couldn’t grasp the concept of turning. They kept wanting to use the D-pad.
I’m gonna have to get me one of these. Or maybe two if little Bobster gets into it as much as your little buttonmashers do.
The kids love the Wii and I am glad to see Wii Sports wasn’t just a throw-away pack-in title. Frankly I thought the Tennis was terrible and I find the boxing controls dodgy, but it also has me playing games I normally wouldn’t touch. I’m not a big sports game fan, but I find the baseball to be well done and we’ve bowled the hell out of the system. I’ve even played the golf! I wouldn’t know a nine iron from my foot but I’ll play golf on Wii Sports.
It’s kind of a fun little console, I think Nintendo managed to succeed in what they set out to do this time. They definitely deserve some success on this one.
@Nat – My boy’s best game is 206, but he hasn’t broken 200 since. He’s made because his older sister hit the “pro” level and has a new ball. Now he’s jealous.
@Bobster – Oh, the little Bobster will most definitely get a kick out of it.
@Jason – We decided not to let the kids play the boxing game yet (we don’t want them practicing on each other, but other than that, they love all the sports games. I definitely think Nintendo is reaping the benefits of their “little” success.
I hate be negative here (not really, I’m usually pretty negative) But WiiSports is the only Wii game that feels like a wii game. The sad thing is no other Wii game has got actual MOTION controls as well as Wii Sports. If you look at the Wii library, it hasn’t changed the games devs are making, they’re making the same stuff, just with controls schemes that more often than not, just plain old suck.
Now, that doesn’t mean the system is crap, it just means I doubt it will really change gaming. Change Nintendo into a casual game focused company, yes.
Some games I would recommend:
Godfather Blackhand edition (this actually has good motion controls, and I had a lot of fun with it. I put in over 50 hours into this)
Geometry Wars Galaxies (if you like geometry wars, you’ll love this. Even if you liked the concept of Geowars, but didn’t really care for Retro Evolved, you’ll love this. And yes, it does justify the price tag)
No More Heroes (this is the best action game on Wii, awesome combat, never gets old. the overworld is lacking. but the combat and boss battles are awesome.)
Metroid Prime 3 (this is like a more refined, improved in every way version of the other metroid prime games. It’s VERY good. Everything flows very well, the level design is awesome, backtracking makes sense, you dont get lost, it keeps things interesting, etc etc)
Twilight Princes (if you like Zelda games, this is a good one)
Brawl (when it comes out. Do I really have to explain this one?)
Oh, and while I’m here, I may as well make your wallet a little lighter and suggest Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. Probably one of the best DS games i’ve played, up there with EBA and Phoenix Wright.
Oh, and Ninja Gaiden DS is going to be awesome as well. Unless they completely changed everything from the demo.
The issue is that the Wii is still relatively new. I think we’re seeing a bit of a repeat of the X-Box, where developers on the system had to mature beyond “We can make graphics prettier”, there was definitely more to the system than that.
I see the Wii at kind of the same stage. Developers are kind of stuck in the “OoooOOOooo motion controls!” but they don’t really know what to do with them. A few games have had promise, such as Red Steel, but then you have Super Mario Galaxy where it feels kind of contrived. Having been out over a year, I suspect we’ll begin to see more games like No More Hereoes that are less hung up on having motion control and actually understanding how they can tie it into gameplay.