digital end

So now I’ve had the Wii for a week (it arrived Friday the 8th of December) what’s it like, is it any good? Should everyone get one?

I think it really is one of those consoles where playing is believing. Nintendo were right when they said they weren’t in the graphics powerhouse race, but the technology they’ve implemented instead works so well (with only minor niggles) that it really is a new way to play - it’s even given life to a quite boring FPS (Red Steel). The controls simply work.

For those not in the know, the Wii has a motion sensing controller (two in fact) and also a pointer which enables you to point at the screen. In an FPS this allows you to literally point at the screen and your gun points there too. The controller is designed just like a remote control, but it’s very confortable and easy to use. You even have a trigger on the underside, so when playing a FPS, it’s quite gun-like.

The Wii comes free with Wii Sports, a game allowing you to play (alone or with others) Tennis, bowling, golf, boxing or baseball. All of the games are done really well - you hold the wii remote (and in the case of boxing the nunchuck attachment too) exactly as you would hold the respective sporting equipment for that game. In tennis all you do is serve and return using either a forward or back-hand motion with the remote. The remote has rumble feedback and also a speaker, so when you strike a ball in Tennis or baseball, it makes the appropriate noise and gives a tiny rumble - which makes it feel like you really connected with the ball. Bowling works equally as well - you make a bowling motion and let go of a button to simulate releasing the ball. You can even add spin to the ball in all these games. Boxing has become a bit of a favourite of my house mate, Matt. You hold the remote and nunchuck and simply punch them forwards, fairly aggressively. You can guard your face and stomach, lean side to side and back and deliver various punches.

So we know that the Wii can deliver with individual (rather than team-based) sports - in fact with the sort of games that always felt completely ridiculous on a console, but what about with normal games? Well like I mention above, Red Steel is actually pretty good and so finally a console has a controller which is a serious competitor to the mouse and keyboard combination. Unfortunately turning around in Red Steel can feel a little difficult, but actually aiming at enemies is responsive, simple and intuitive - plus it feels good! You can also use the remote as a sword in Red Steel, which works relatively well, but unfortunately unlike boxing and aiming with a gun, the sword play doesn’t mirror your movements exactly - instead it approximates them to the nearest animation, so you can swipe either way horizontally, vertically or diagonally, but that’s about it. Still, it requires some skill for you to win a sword fight, although as with most of the games taking advantage of the motion sensing abilities, it really comes down to timing.

And of course there’s also the flagship game: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. I’ve played this game for about 15 hours so far and, although I’ve been taking my time I’ve still only managed to defeat two temples so far. There are apparently 10 (yes TEN) temples in the game and so far I haven’t even really spent a great amount of time on the side-quests. I can easily see me sinking well over 100 hours into this game, assuming the difficulty level continues increasing as it currently is. It controls and moves beautifully and it feels extremely natural to use the motion sensing and pointing capabilities of the remote - which suprises me after playing the previous long and wonderful Zelda games with an old-fashioned controller. Some people have claimed the graphics aren’t next-gen, but frankly I think the game is gorgeous, especially on my SD TV. I can imagine a few problems being noticeable on a more expensive, newer, HDTV, but this game wasn’t designed for that. It’s also worth taking into consideration the fact that this game was originally a Gamecube title, and the graphics haven’t really been improved for the Wii. Besides, this game is so damn good, you won’t notice the graphics, you get completely immersed and I think the only game to manage that recently was Half Life 2: Episode One.

The online components of the Wii are not yet complete; the news and weather channels do not yet work. However you can go onto the Wii shop already and download old titles from the NES, SNES, Mega Drive, N64 and TurboGraphics. So far I’ve got hold of a few old games and, considering how cheap they are, they’re providing a great deal of entertainment. Sega have put the most games on there so far, so well done to them. Nintendo need to keep up because I can’t wait for more SNES and N64 games. So far none of the games are playable online, which is dissapointing, but then that isn’t why I bought a Wii, so it’ll be a bonus when online games finally arrive. There’s a lot of potential for the online side of Wii to improve, and I’m quietly optimistic (but not too quietly obviously!) that Nintendo will make great strides in this area.

So are there any downsides (apart from the currently lacking online functionality) to the Wii? Well the speaker in the remote can sound a little tinny, but unlike some people, I haven’t had problems with it crackling or cutting out. I also fail to see how the wrist-strap could possibly come loose, or even how anyone could let go of the remote if they get a bit excited. Nobody in my house has managed this yet, even in some very agressive rounds of tennis, bowling and boxing, but even if we did let go of the remote, the chances of the strap then not working seem extremely slim. I get the feeling that anyone who does embed the remote in their TV is simply asking for the attention.

Do the graphics bother me? Not in the least. As I’ve mentioned already - you simply don’t notice the graphics when you get immersed in the game - unless you’re watching someone play, but then, who cares? The graphics are pretty amazing considering the size of the Wii (it really is that small) and I remember being shocked when I first saw the size of the remote - it’s barely longer than your hand and definetly smaller than my TV and Hi-Fi remotes. This is also the first time, ever, at a console launch, where I really haven’t been sure which games to buy. There’s already some great games and more on the way. How is any of this a negative when the Wii is cheaper than the Xbox 360 and PS3? Only recently has the 360 really got those ‘killer’ games. The Wii already has Zelda, and Mario arrives in January.

Overall I’m very excited about the future prospects of the Wii. I’m sure that Nintendo (and many of the other developers who have jumped on the Wii bandwagon) can produce some quality games using the new control method and I can’t wait to see what comes out of that. The real question is whether or not the non-gamers which Nintendo claims they are attracting with the Wii will find enough new and interesting games to keep them interested in the long-term. As I’ve already mentioned, my house mate (who hasn’t seriously played videogames for years) has now found himself hooked, so Nintendo must be doing something right, right?

This entry was posted on Friday, December 15th, 2006 at 3:39 pm and is filed under Gaming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.