Wii

Dream Pinball 3D

June 20, 2008

Reviews / Wii / by Chris Ingersoll Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Much like the arcades that once housed them, the classic pinball table is something that many of today’s gamers might not recognize, let alone appreciate. Their high degree of maintenance and large footprint make them less than ideal for most personal dwellings, which further pushed them into obscurity as the video game industry shifted towards home entertainment. The love of pinball born in the 70s hasn’t completely gone away, however; ever since the Atari 2600 the silver ball (or in that case, blue square) has appeared in pixelated form on pretty much every console and handheld, with varying degrees of success.

One such offering for Nintendo’s Wii console is Dream Pinball 3d from Southpeak Games. Featuring six virtual tables, Dream Pinball 3d comes off more as a demo of some pinball creation software utility than a serious pinball offering. Five of the tables contained on this disc are essentially interchangeable, nearly palette-swaps of each other with the ramps moved around and a different assortment of sounds. The sixth, “Amber Moon”, was originally created by a different studio for a Cyber Pinball World Cup of some sort, although it still seems strikingly similar to the other five. All six tables feature at least five flippers (“Amber Moon” has an astounding eight), multiball play, and the usual assortment of ramps and targets. They look impressive graphically, and the sounds aren’t any more obnoxious than those of an actual table, but they just don’t feel… well, real.

There are several factors contributing to this feeling of unease. The first and perhaps most apparent is the default camera, which follows the ball in play much too tightly, to the point of committing the cardinal sin of taking your eye off the important part of the table: your main flippers. As the ball zooms around the field the camera sometimes feels like it has no idea where it’s going next, leading to frustrating situations when a carom or downramp sends the metallic sphere rocketing between the flippers without you even being aware of it until it’s too late to react. Should you activate multiball on a table the camera pans back to encompass the whole field, but that’s just being considerate more than it is actually being any sort of good camera programming. The game features a total of seven different camera angles, but none of them are ideal.

There also seems to be some sort of issue with the actual ball physics, although I can’t quite put my finger on what, exactly. It could just be a side effect of the camera troubles, but the ball didn’t always feel like it was behaving the way I was expecting it to do. Flipper speed is another problem, as they are tighter than usual and reach their “on/up” position almost instantaneously; this is when I could even see the flippers in the first place, as they are often hidden behind other elements of the table and frequently emerge unexpectedly. For what it’s worth, less experienced pinball players might not even notice these shortcomings.

One aspect of Dream Pinball 3D that not even experienced pinball players can gauge, however, is its “ball change” feature. Once you’ve obtained a predetermined score, the game asks “Are you ready for ball change?” and the next time you shoot the ball into one of the table’s chambers it will emerge as one of six different materials with different ballistic properties. I personally didn’t really notice any difference, which is probably due to the above issues I had with the overall feel of the game. There are also four different difficulty settings, which affect the number of balls available as well as the duration of various timers; each difficulty has its own high score board so you don’t have to worry about your seven-ball “Easy” runs crushing your three-ball “Hard” attempts.

Dream Pinball 3D takes minimal advantage of the Wii’s unique control interface, using the Remote’s motion control to “shake” the table like in real life and mimicking pulling back on the plunger to put the ball into play. If you opt to use the Nunchuck, its sensor can tilt the table as well. Using the Nunchuck feels more natural, putting control of the left flipper(s) on the Z button while the right flipper(s) respond to the Remote’s B; these controls revert to the more traditional left on the D pad and the 2 button, respectively, when using the Remote alone (in its “NES” position).

Overall, Dream Pinball 3D is an accurate representation of what pinball has become in the “virtual” era. While that may be good enough for those who have never experienced a real pinball table, it simply tastes artificial and hollow to those who have. Making matters worse for Dream Pinball 3D is the fact that a more faithful pinball disc came out for the Wii approximately a month prior to its release that basically trumps it in every way: Pinball Hall of Fame — the Williams Collection. This unfortunate timing shunts Dream Pinball 3D firmly into the Rental category, especially for diehard pinball wizards.

Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection

June 20, 2008

Reviews / Wii / by Chris Ingersoll Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Much like the arcades that once housed them, the classic pinball table is something that many of today’s gamers might not recognize, let alone appreciate. Their high degree of maintenance and large footprint make them less than ideal for most personal dwellings, which further pushed them into obscurity as the video game industry shifted towards home entertainment. The love of pinball born in the 70s hasn’t completely gone away, however; ever since the Atari 2600 the silver ball (or in that case, blue square) has appeared in pixelated form on pretty much every console and handheld, with varying degrees of success.

Perhaps one of the most faithful adaptations of real-world pinball ever, Pinball Hall of Fame — The Williams Collection (PHoF) for the Wii recreates ten classic Williams pinball tables spanning three decades of legendary machines. While none of their licensed tables (like their “Addams Family” table based on the 1991 movie) made the cut, the sampling we do get are indeed worthy of the title Pinball Hall of Fame, including “Pinbot”, a table that was also adapted for the NES back in 1990. Each table has unique features that distinguish it from the other nine, although some of the older tables like “Jive Time” and “Firepower” seem almost primitive compared to the later offerings like “Funhouse” and “Whirlwind”.

Of course, only four tables (“Taxi”, “Gorgar”, “Funhouse”, and “Pinbot”) are available for Free Play in the Practice Arcade when you first boot up the disc. You can pay credits to play on the other six, and can unlock them for Free Play for 100 credits; alternately, completing a table’s initial Goals will allow you to unlock any table you want for Free Play. Completing a table’s initial Goals also reveals that table’s “Wizard Goals”; completing those harder tasks unlocks optional features for that table, such as disabling tilt, applying various skins to the ball, or even turning on “Mirror Mode”, which reverses everything on the table! If you don’t know how to complete a given Goal, each table’s Instructions are available from the pause menu, which will take you on a narrated Power Point-like slide presentation that will show you every target and explain every indicator, sort of like a guided tour of the table. These instructions are an invaluable and awesome feature that I would have killed for when playing some of these tables in real life.

PHoF‘s other two modes are Tournament and Williams Challenge. Tournament mode is basically just that: official pinball tournament scoring for up to four participants, complete with leader board. The Williams Challenge pits one player against all ten tables, giving you three tries on each to achieve a minimum score, awarding you points based on your final score. Both of these modes count towards earning credits in the Practice Arcade and completing Table Goals, so a good performance or two can quickly allow you to unlock more tables for Free Play without ever spending an actual credit. These modes give the title more depth and coherence, elevating it from being simply a random collection of virtual recreations of real tables.

For someone who has played on the real machines, PHoF provides a nearly perfect translation to virtual pinball; the tables look, sound, and in some cases even feel like the genuine articles. You can tell that developer Farsight Studios put a lot of effort into making these collections of polygons as faithful as possible, right down to the classic slamming click when you break a machine’s replay score and reflections in the table glass (the latter of which can be disabled in the options). I experienced none of the questionable physics that I felt when playing Dream Pinball 3D, with everything reacting pretty much exactly as I expected. There was the rare instance of the ball sometimes passing through objects when things got crazy — sometimes even vanishing off the table completely (and being replaced in the plunger for free, thankfully), but that’s a minor problem. There’s even a “Call Attendant” option from the in-game pause menu that will reset the ball position for those rare — but real! — cases when the ball gets stuck on an obstacle and you don’t want to risk setting off the Tilt sensor getting it unstuck (which is what would probably have to happen in real life).

Further aiding in the experience is the superb “smart camera” that always keeps your primary flippers in view if there is any chance of the ball heading that way; when the ball is engaged in a cluster of jet bumpers or otherwise “safe”, the camera zooms in a bit to give you a better view of the action, and it naturally zooms out to encompass the whole table once the chaos of multiball starts. There are many other camera options available, but I found the default to be pretty much perfect and never felt the need to change it. I never had an issue tracking the ball even at high speeds, which made the game play smooth and enjoyable.

The controls are equally smooth, due largely to the inherent simplicity of pinball itself. The Nunchuck’s Z button mans your left flipper(s) and the Remote’s B takes care of the right. Motion sensing handles tilt responsibilities, and the C-stick works your plunger. The manual also mentions that the A button will activate “Magna Save” on tables with that feature (which is only the “Black Knight” table in this collection, although the in-game Instructions say to use the C-stick?). Finally, the – button toggles whether or not your score and other pertinent backboard information is displayed while you play, which can be distracting but is never obtrusive.

Bargain priced at only $20 where I picked it up (although some retailers apparently still carry it for $30, so YMMV), Pinball Hall of Fame — the Williams Collection packs an astonishing number of authentic pinball tables onto one convenient, easy-to-play disc. Every pinball fan worth his (or her) flippers needs to add this to their Wii library, especially if they have fond memories of playing the real machines contained within; this is one of those Wii titles that could be perfect for your “non-gaming” parents as well. Non-fans without pinball experience will probably find a mixed bag of experiences, but still an overall superior product to that offered by Dream Pinball 3D.

Castle of Shikigami III

June 9, 2008

Reviews / Wii / by John Marques Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Shoot-em-ups are somewhat of a vice. It’s easy to sit down and start playing one for hours on end. The Castle of Shikigami series is obscure to western audiences, possibly because of the first two titles’ poor translation (think of “All your base”). Thankfully, the newest and superior chapter of the series, Castle of Shikigami III, hasn’t fallen victim to same fate as its predecessors.

The actual gameplay is pretty standard fare as far as shoot-em-ups are concerned. The player chooses from one of ten characters in normal mode, or two characters in Dramatic Change mode. The game progression is the same no matter what mode and which characters are chosen, but story events will change to reflect both characters in Dramatic Change mode, similarly if the game were played with two players. The controls are spot-on, and there’s several ways to fight enemies. There’s the normal rapid-fire shot, Shikigami attacks, and bombs. Each character’s Shikigami attack and bomb effect varies, from being homing shots or wide-area effects, and standard bombs to time stopping, respectively. Using a character’s Shikigami attack slows their movement a bit, but draws in coins that enemies drop; this is the key to racking up a high score. Additionally, a bomb can be sacrificed to activate High-Tension Max to increase point values temporarily.

Included in the game is a practice mode which allows the player to select a stage or stage segment and play through it freely, as well as boss attack mode, which pits the player against all 10 bosses in sequence on a single credit. There’s also a gallery mode which allows the review of artwork seen in the game’s story mode, as well as a “story recollection” mode. Story recollection allows the player to watch the in-game story sequences that have already been seen while playing through the game. The last option in the gallery is the jukebox, which goes without saying what it’s used for. I’d like to go on record by saying the game has a pretty slick soundtrack, so it’s a nice feature. The options screen hides the very enticing “extra options.” Once the game is cleared, regardless of which character and how many credits are used, this menu allows for tweaking of other game settings. These include more interesting tweaks like game speed and hitbox size.

Castle of Shikigami III is a worthy addition to any shoot em up fan’s collection, and plays very cleanly. It might feel like the barebones experience as far as games go nowadays, but it’ll provide hours of entertainment, to be sure. As far as story goes, it’s… uh… different. It’s not exactly clearly defined in the game nor in the manual. The in-game story sequences can be quite comical as the characters seem to enjoy breaking the 4th wall, referencing the fact that they’re in a game, or sometimes addressing the player directly. About the only thing the game is missing is the online experience. Granted the Japanese XBox 360 and PC versions didn’t have online play, but they did have an internet score ranking. This would have been a nice little extra just to see how your own skill measures up against the rest of the world. So in spite of the unclear story and the lack of online mode, it’s still quite solid. Be sure and check it out.

Target: Terror

May 19, 2008

Reviews / Wii / by Graham Russell Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Target: Terrible.

The This Is Spinal Tap fan in me has always wanted to write a two-word review, and Target: Terror seems to be perfectly suited for that. It’s a miserable cash-in with no real redeeming qualities, and it has a title perfectly suited to manipulation. However, my professional journalism instincts always seem to kick in, and I know I must convey the sense of the game in a more specific way.

The original arcade version of Target: Terror was released in 2004, and was largely a way to capitalize on Americans’ desire to shoot terrorists. Now the title has been ported to the Wii, as all light gun games seem destined to. However, it shows its age in many ways.

Target: Terror supports the Wii Zapper, but only marginally; plugging in a Nunchuk moves the controls for one rarely-used weapon to the C and Z buttons. However, if any enjoyment at all can be had from this title, it has to be the cathartic aspect of eliminating the terrorist threat, and holding a remote to do it just doesn’t work. The game supports two players, and also includes Justice Mode, which allows one player to wield two remotes with just one set of lives.

Graphically, this game looked bad in 2004. It looks marginally better than 1995’s Area 51, but still uses low-resolution pre-rendered sprites to represent targets. Most of the game’s menus and graphics seem like they were created years ago, and seem just too dated by today’s standards, even on the Wii.

The title tries artificial ways to extend the game’s life by inserting unlockable levels and minigames. The levels are set in an airport, the Golden Gate Bridge or a nuclear plant. Some of the minigames mimic classic arcade titles like Whack-a-Mole and Defender, but none are polished or enjoyable enough to play more than once.

If Target: Terror was the only rail shooter on the system, it might have a chance, but it is totally outclassed by Ghost Squad, House of the Dead 2 and 3 Returns and even Link’s Crossbow Training. All three retail for less than this title, so there’s no excuse. Pass on this one.

Mario Kart Wii

May 6, 2008

Reviews / Wii / by Chris Ingersoll Make a comment! / Tweet it!

The latest incarnation of the Mario Kart franchise is an easy game to love and an easy game to hate, often in the same session. For every successful innovation, there seems to have been either something lost or something broken in the process. The net result is a paradoxical much-purchase AAA title that is far from ideal, especially for long-time fans of the franchise.

Let’s start with the outright positives. Motion-based control via the included Wii Wheel takes some getting used to, but is easy and intuitive enough to learn if you stick with it; fortunately, the game also supports GCN Pad, Classic Controller, and Remote/Nunchuck control options if you’d rather stick with what you know. Speaking of what you know, Mario Kart Wii (MKW) features 16 classic tracks picked from throughout the franchise in addition to 16 all-new tracks; the new tracks are all awesome and the older ones are just as solid as they always were… although they do seem a bit flat by comparison (especially the SNES and GBA tracks). The other major innovation to MKW is the option to race on motorcycles in addition to the usual karts; at first, the 50cc engine class is restricted to only karts and the 100cc only bikes, but 150cc allows both to share the road. MKW also introduces speed-boosting stunts that you perform with a flick of the Wheel/Remote/Control Stick any time you gain significant air off the game’s many ramps, bumps, or other conveniently/cunningly-placed opportunities (including a few tweaks to some of the classic tracks); bikes can also gain a quick boost on straightaways by executing wheelies, but can only achieve one stage of drift slide mini-turbo to compensate.

On the subject of mini-turbos, a major change made to the series’s trademark mechanic (ever since the N64 days) begins the discussion of MKW‘s mixed blessings. In MKW, you don’t manually charge up your turbos by turning in and out of a slide; instead, the charge builds up over time as you hold the slide, up to two stages on a kart. This change was mostly made to reduce (if not eliminate) the controversial advanced “snaking” technique that made online play on Mario Kart DS unfun for more casual players. Unfortunately, it also took some measure of skill out of the actual gameplay, which can be frustrating at the more difficult settings. Further making the upper difficulties a tedious chore is the addition of four extra karts to the Grand Prix mode. While twelve total racers might seem like a plus, in reality it just means that there are four more players’ worth of game-swinging items ready to be launched up your tailpipe; these items include all of the mainstays of the franchise plus a few devastating new ones like POW Blocks and and Mega Mushroom. The change in mini-turbos and the additional racers — and their lead-punishing items — combine to make 150cc Grand Prix competition a swingy, luck-based competition rather than one that rewards any kind of real skill. Fortunately, the 50cc and 100cc classes don’t seem to be as affected by this.

Bizarrely, Grand Prix mode wasn’t the only one affected by the change to a twelve-racer system. The classic Battle Mode has been twisted beyond recognition, with two teams of six going at it rather than just you and up to three buddies… with a time limit. The end result is a chaotic mess, with up to eight AI-controlled bots getting in the way, coming out of nowhere, and generally taking up space, whether you go with the traditional Balloon Battle or Coin Runners mode. Versus races can also feature AI bots, in either solo or team play, but at least there you have the option of disabling them as well as setting how many races you will use for your competition. This is fortunate, as unlike previous editions, Versus races are also the only way you can participate in anything resembling a two-player Grand Prix. Regardless of the chosen mode, MKW is still a blast to play with some friends over, although the loss of the ability to pull back the camera (last seen on Mario Kart 64, I believe) makes four-way split screen play somewhat inconvenient. Fortunately, it is no longer the only option for console-based multiplayer Karting.

The ultimate rationale behind this twelve-racer system is MKW‘s exceptional online play, which allows you to race against up to eleven human opponents, both with and without Nintendo’s ubiquitous Friend Codes. Online play is seamless and, in my experience, pretty much lag-free. I’ve raced with the full allotment of twelve participants, found myself in a one-on-one encounter, and run everything in between as players (and up to one “guest” per console) dropped in and out of competition between each race. Online Battle modes are also possible, and there is a limited sort of Tournament feature wherein Nintendo will send out challenges via WFC that you can take on at your leisure and upload your best time. You can also brush up your skills by downloading top-ranked ghost runs for your Time Trial practices, which includes ghosts from Nintendo staffers as well, or even submit your own ghosts for bragging rights and/or challenges of your own. Even better, if you have 70ish blocks free on your system memory, you can install a Mario Kart Channel that can monitor your MKW friends and challenges without needing the MKW disc to be in the system. If only they had thought of that option for Super Smash Bros. Brawl…

In the end, and despite its lingering troubles, Mario Kart Wii continues with the franchise’s history of solid titles. The franchise that created the mascot-based racer pretty much perfected it on its first try, with each new iteration trying something different, whether it be three dimensions and analog control, tandem racing, or motion-controlled online play. While MKW is perhaps the most potentially-frustrating edition thus far, that doesn’t make it any less of an amazing experience.

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