It’s actually been in my hands since Saturday, I’m just now having time to actually post this. So far, so FUN.
Nintendo-Wii
FGotY 2009 [Nintendo Wii]
Now it’s time to get to the Big Three Consoles, starting off with the Wii.
Brock – As much fun as Wii Sports Resort, NSMBWii and Punch Out! were, I’d have to say that my picks for the games I had the most fun with on the Wii this year are a little off the beaten track. I had a stupid grin plastered to my face the entire time I played MadWorld, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, The Munchables, A Boy And His Blob, Little King’s Story and Rabbids Go Home. These games might not have the widespread appeal that the first 3 games I mentioned did but were fantastic nonetheless and had me singing their praises to all who will listen. I’d probably give The Munchables my top pick for FGotY on Wii because it was so reminiscent of the absurdity of Katamari Damacy that I couldn’t stop laughing the entire time I played it.
Nat – It was an off year for the Wii in our household, but some games do come to mind: Excitebots: Trick Racing, Little King’s Story, and Excitebike: World Rally. However, it’s Punch-Out!! that gets my vote for Fun Game of The Year. Nintendo did a fine job of staying true to the games roots, adding some excellent humor, and introducing Mac and his pink jumpsuit to a new generation.
Will – Much like my Nintendo DS, the Wii just doesn’t get a lot of love. I have built up a backlog of games that I really want to get back to, like Twilight Princess, Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3. With that amount of shame hanging over my head, I can’t bring myself to keep up my collection of Wii games. However, I did manage to add two games this year, which I submit as my candidates for FGotY 2009 [Nintendo Wii]: House of the Dead Overkill and Punch-Out!! I am just as surprised as you are that I picked the former title. The game is very self-aware, which attributes to the its silly nature. It also captures the grindhouse movie style very well. It plays as well as one would expect for a Wii on-rails shooter, with some pretty cool things to unlock (like dual-wielding weapons).
Tony – Another year goes by where we only bought a couple Wii games and rented a couple more. The overarching theme this year for me was definitely “Nostalgia Never Disappoints”. We started out earlier this year with Punch-Out!!, which was utterly fantastic and the kids absolutely loved, but ultimately, the New Super Mario Bros. Wii wins out for me. I love games that I can play with my kids, which doesn’t happen too often. My four year-old boy has played a bunch of NSMB on the DS and he was able to grasp the Wii version almost instantly. He loves to play with me, but he is a brutal co-op partner! He doesn’t understand the concept of “waiting up” yet, so I’ve got to stay on my toes or I’ll get squeezed out of the level. I love the new power-ups (the Spring Mario is still my favorite!) and the levels have the perfect mix of old-school Super Mario with enough hidden paths and power-ups to appeal to everyone. We will be playing this game long into 2010.
[2 Minute Review] Bully: Scholarship Edition
Can an ape work his way to the top of the school social pyramid?
Yes, and the journey is satisfying.
DO: Crack heads, kiss girls and uh…well, attend classes, and run from authority figures to be the big man on campus
TYPE: Third-person sandbox
PLATFORM: 360 (reviewed here) and Wii
PRICE: $29.99
MEAT: You play as Jimmy Hopkins—misfit, intellectual, romantic, mascot, leader, and above all, bully. There are four cliques in the school and they all hate each other. Your job is to unite the geeks, preps, greasers, and jocks under one banner—Jimmy’s. All the while, you have to go to classes and perform mini-games for clothing and skills upgrades. You can skip them as well. However, skipping and not being in dress code will land you a beatdown by the school’s prefects if caught. You’ll eventually get to wander all over the town that surrounds the school and be able to perform numerous missions and side quests in order to be the guy in charge of it all. Of course, someone else has the same idea. This has all been done before in 2006 on the PS2. Yep, this is a port with a couple of additions, including new game stopping glitches.
PERKS: excellent style and presentation, well paced, some great achievements for the whores, 20+ hours of play; mini-games are not lame—well, most are not; stellar voice acting (best I’ve ever seen, er, heard), excellent motion capture; superb dialogue; numerous LOL moments
SCREAMS: to have been better tested—the second time around (360 version—there is a patch, thankfully); some achievements are silly repetitive time sinks that you would not do in the general order of play; to have better controls in the mini games—timing is brutal on some; to have had an online or, better yet, co-op component; the main villain is a downer; buttonmashing traverses Billy faster but it offers no benefit the faster you mash; to have an auto-save feature (don’t ask)
VERDICT: Buy. Get it if you’ve never played the PS2 version.
I find it funny most professional reviewers don’t do this, but here’s my gamercard to show I completed the game.
Time to Purge (“The List”)
In light of all I’ve gone through and with giving up (actually, changing perspective) on “The List,” it’s now time for me to get rid of all the games I no longer want or need. What does that mean for you, oh, inquisitive reader? Simply put, you get first dibs.
Here’s how it works. I’m going to list all the game I want to get rid of. (All of them come in their cases). I could just take them in to Gamestop, but they are idiots (There’s a guy in our local store that deserves a plethora of posts. I feel sorry for uninformed customers.) and they would give me a pittance for the trade-in anyway. I will sell the game to you at half the price Gamestop sells it used (look it up on their site and email me the link). That way, you get a game cheaper than used list and I make more off it. Make sense? Let’s eliminate the used store middleman and save on their fees.
Just email me (agentgray at gmail) what you want and we can work all the other stuff. I’ll probably use Paypal and ship the mail via USPS (US or Canada) Here’s the games (with commentary):
Gamecube:
- Metroid Prime – It’s a little past it’s namesake, but an excellent game. Good for a single play through.
- Metroid Prime 2: Echoes – echoing what’s above
- SSX Tricky – I loved this game. One of the few I did everything with. Now? Meh.
- Pikmin – If you like telling flowers what to do, then this is for you.
- Mario Golf Toadstool Tour – I consider it to be the best sports game for the ‘cube.
- Super Monkey Ball – A party game before they were popular. You unlock the party game part.
- Prince of Persia The Sands of Time – I had a blast with this, the grandfather to Assassin’s Creed.
Xbox
- Lego Star Wars – I have the new version. No need here.
- Panzer Dragoon Orta – I guess this game may be rare? Good for a single play through.
- Psychonauts – Just a smidgen overrated, I think, but very funny. Might be a little rare in Xbox form.
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – A classic. Might be the best Star Wars story since Episode V.
Nintendo DS
- Dragon Quest Heroes Rocket Slime – a fun diversion that’s easy to play.
- Brain Age – my age dropped the more I tried to complete “The List”
- Contact – what a quirky game. Almost like a new Startropics.
- Hotel Dusk Room 215 – one of the best uses of the DS ever, an interactive book.
- Metroid Prime Hunters – cramp inducing? At least for this lefty.
- Meteos – From what I understand it may be rare now. A fun puzzle game.
- Electroplankton – I love this quirky off the cuff stuff. NOt really a game, but interesting. Rare.
Xbox 360
- PocketBike Racer – I will give this away. The King creeps me out.
- Lost Planet – the constant falling down lost me on this.
- Dead Rising – A frustrated love? The timer, the inmates (that keep coming back), the bad survivor AI, and weird save system. I need to move on.
Nintendo Wii
- Zack & Wiki – I had fun with this quirky adventure game. Hilarious unintended Wiimote motions too.
- MLB Power Pros – I wish I had the time. I really do, but this is the most interesting, time consuming baseball game on any console. Stat tracking is amazing.
There you go. There are some more titles I may add to this, but I am very close to completing them. Plus, I have some PC titles, but I need to make sure license keys and stuff are OK.
DJing with the Wiimote
Sometimes, people are just awesomer than you. Check out DJ ! (DJ Shift 1 to his friends) use a pair of Wiimotes to control music on his PC setup. Make sure you watch both videos.
Update: It appears that the site is down. Try again later. Not sure what’s going on there. You can also try this link, has worked for me in the past.
Update 2: Okay, ignore those other links and use this one.
Here are the links to his YouTube videos: Video 1 and video 2.