Nintendo’s Wario Ware franchise seemed like a really awful idea once upon a time. For those unfamiliar with the series, the blueprint for each of the games is really simple: take hundreds of simple motions and inputs, turn them into three- to four-second A
Wii
To start with, let’s get a show of hands: How many people were worried that the decision to produce a new console with architecture similar to the GameCube would result in a lot of lazy and hasty ports to the new system? Let’s see… 1… 2… 3… um, okay. Yeah, a lot of youA
When the first wave of Wii titles was announced, most of the staff at eToychest had pretty strong opinions about which titles were most likely to take good advantage of the Wii’s unique controller. Of the titles on the horizon, there were a particular few that seemed well-positioned to really capitalize upon motion-based input and experimental mechanics. EA’s Madden franchise was not one of the titles on this short list. If anything, most of us at eToychest were pretty convinced that football was not one of the genres in need of wacky control schemes. The annual sports arena might be one where innovation is sorely needed, but migration from a standard gamepad honestly didn’t seem like a worthwhile direction. Now, having played copious amounts of the new Madden on the Nintendo Wii, we’re happily willing to admit we were wrong. While EA’s strong initial support of the new Wii console is both surprising and comforting, the presence of Madden on the console is not a big shock. The series has made annual appearances on nearly every platform known to man, so an entry on the Wii was pretty much guaranteed from the start. That didn’t reduce our pleasure at booting up the game and taking it for its first spin around the block, however. With all of the innovation and experimentation the Wii has seen in its initial days, it was nice to dig into a traditional game of football from a publisher that knows how to turn out a solid game. In many ways, Madden on the Wii is identical to last year’s batch of games in the series, with the various modes (such as franchise and superstar), teams and players largely untouched aside from minor updates. On the other hand, while the Wii version of Madden ’07 may initially seem like the same old game of football (a prospect oddly comforting yet frequently criticized), the control innovations introduced in the game really set it apart from all that’s come before.
The first thing players will notice in Madden ’07 on the Wii is that the game has been retooled from the ground up to help new players come to grips with videogame football. The Wii is likely to draw a lot of new gamers to the hobby for the first time, so this is a pretty saavy decision on EA’s part. Tutorials are peppered throughout the game itself, giving detailed assistance with each and every action available, and there are also numerous training camps accessible from the main menu that give detailed instructions and tips on how to play the game. The really clever part of this strategy is that it will make it easy for a new segment of gamers to fall in love with EA’s digital pigskin franchise, but it won’t overtly annoy veteran players (as similar tutorials on other platforms might). This is because the Wii offers completely new ways to play and interact with the game, so even the experienced players will find something to learn in the various lessons.
But, can motion control and gesture recognition lead to a solid game of football? In short, absolutely. We’re pretty shocked to say this, but this type of interaction might be just what the stagnating sports genre really needed to get a bit of boost. Madden ’07 on the Wii has translated nearly every action required in football to some type of gesture or specific motion on the Wii remote and nunchuck combination, and the results are more than surprising. Players can now juke left and right by simply flicking the nunchuck slightly in that direction. Passing is handled by selecting the appropriate receiver with the d-pad and then making a throwing motion with the Wii remote (complete with impressive detection of different throwing speeds). Tackling can be boosted by pushing forward with both remotes, and crowds are likely to get a kick out of watching players lift both arms in the air to catch a Hail Mary pass. This is exactly the kind of extensive overhaul we were afraid of when we imagined a Wii football game, but the developer has actually pulled off most of the interactions with grace and style. The offensive game is now much easier to manage with fluid and very responsive players (we’ve never been able to juke and duck between defensive players with this much success), and outside of a few questionable tasksA
Throughout the holiday season, Wii Sports acted as an ambassador for gaming. Jaded old gamers were introduced to something truly innovative for the first time in years, and in many cases friends and family who would normally never pick up a controller found themselves fighting for one instead. That little collection of bowling and golf minigames brought people into our hobby and sold consoles for Nintendo. Wii Sports’ take on golf was a great appetizer, but what will gamers find for the main course? Many will pick up the first thing on the menu, Tecmo’s Super Swing Golf. Those who do will find a game that is frustrating, but still shows enough moments of brilliance to keep everyone around for the next course.
At first glance, our imaginary gamer upgrading from Wii Sports will find plenty of reason to doubt if Super Swing is right for them. With obvious anime heritage (it is actually based on a popular Asian game), the cartoon-inspired character style will raise immediate red flags with the Tiger Woods crowd. The focus on the pseudo-RPG Story Mode, which centers around characters being whisked to a fantasy land to reenact the heroics of ancients who somehow saved the world by plugging holes with little magic balls, doesn’t help a bit.
At this point most of our imaginary gamers who aren’t fans of Japanese cartoons are probably putting down the box and wandering off to look for the latest of EA’s Tiger Woods titles on other machines, or are going back to play the 9 holes of Wii Sports a few more times. If they do, they will be missing out on one of the most unique and natural feeling control mechanisms to ever grace a golf game. The swing system is Super Swing feels amazingly like swinging a real club. Players take a stance as if they are stepping up to the ball, then swing the Wii remote backward as they would a real club. This moves a marker on an on-screen power bar; the larger the backswing, the farther across the bar the marker moves. Once the desired power level is reached, the golfer (for he or she is feeling less like a simple ‘player’ all the time) holds down the A button to set the marker. That mark determines how far the ball will go if the swing is perfect. From there the golfer swings back down toward the imaginary ball and follows through the rest of the swing.
To a spectator the action looks much like a real golf swing, and when it all goes right it feels like it too. Swinging too slowly will keep the full potential of the power bar from being used, and a slight curve of the swing or twist of the wrist will send the ball hooking or slicing far off center. To anyone who has swung a real club before the effect can be uncanny, bringing the game home in a way that has never been achieved before. Listening to friends controlling chibi schoolgirls with pink pigtails give each other advice concerning the right way to swing their arms and move their wrists, with the same seriousness they would discuss their real swing at a driving range, is almost worth the price of the game by itself.
Not everything about the swing mechanic is perfect, however. The most critical point of the process is also the hardest to control; setting the mark on the power bar at the top of the backswing. The way Super Swing’s physics work, it is nearly impossible to beat the computer players without hitting the correct distance every time. Hitting the mark at the precise moment you want with the Wii remote nearly upside-down and behind your head, at the end of a long swing, isn’t an easy task. As with many Wii games, ingenious players will find many ways to make the process easier by taking other actions that register as the same motions. Those who don’t want to deviate too much from the A
By all rights, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown should be ugly, simplistic, and not fun for anybody over the age of six. Thankfully, game developer Eurocom understands that people of all ages deserve to have fun.By all rights, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown should be ugly, simplistic, and not fun for anybody over the age of six. Thankfully, game developer Eurocom understands that people of all ages deserve to have fun. If more developers treated movie and television licenses in this fashion, it wouldn’t be such a surprise when Monster House (GBA) turns out to be a great buy or Cars (PSP) wind up being a fun arcade racer. Sadly, games like Over the Hedge and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory remain the norm. These games rely on the franchise name instead of good gameplay elements to move units. Then we all sell our copies back to EB where they sit on a shelf, collecting dust and never to be played again.
Ice Age 2 does a lot of things right. It has its share of faults, but all games do. First, the video game version of Ice Age 2 doesn’t just rehash the plot and situations of the film. As a matter of fact, the majority of the game is spent as Skrat, the adorable, ill-fated squirrel-rat hybrid. Skrat, whenever he is seen in the film, is chasing acorns. This folds into the platformer paradigm extremely well because every platformer hero needs something to collect. Ratchet has bolts, Mario has coins, and Skrat has nuts. The majority of the collecting is optional, but collecting 1,000 nuts in most levels yields a bonus video clip from one of the voice actors. The only nuts that absolutely must be collected are the walnuts scattered about each level that allow the player to progress by squeezing through a crack in the wall. Why do these cracks respond to walnuts? I don’t know (Editor: Because they’re walnuts, Justin. Get it? Wall nuts?), but it’s a decent excuse the explore the levels, and it’s believable that Skrat would be interested in large, glowing nuts.
So, what sets this version of Ice Age 2 apart from the others that were available months ago? The Wii controls. Skrat performs an attack when the player horizontally slashes the Wiimote. A special attack is performed when the Wiimote is slashed harder. As you’re likely guessing, this can be a little problematic if you’re prone to get excited while playing a game, but the more powerful attacks are never necessary to progress through the game. In an interesting twist, Ice Age 2 only really features one boss. Other milestone events are handled through a bonus stage. Sid slaloms down a water slide and plays beginner’s DDR in the air, Skrat must sneak by Diego to escape a cave unscathed, Diego hammers on possums in a Whack-A-Mole analog, and a creepy fish must be defeated by throwing pebbles at all the eyes surrounding the door out of his stomach. Wiimote aiming is precise and makes projectile weapons both handy and entertaining.
After all it does right, however, Ice Age 2 has a couple of flaws. First, it is too expensive. The game is fun, but it is also short. Very short. Ice Age 2 can be completed in around five to six hours, and that includes collecting enough nuts to unlock all of the bonus videos. When coupled with the game’s brevity, the price point of $50.00 is too much to pay for six hours of entertainment when the Xbox version can be had for $30.00. The motion-sensitive controls are neat, but I’m not sure that they’re worth an extra $20.00. One feature that would be welcome and would keep me coming back is the ability to replay the bonus segments. I neither need nor want to collect 1,000 acorns again (the completionist in me would require it even if the game does not — I mean, they’re just sitting there; waiting to be collected), but I’d take Sid down that waterslide again, and it would be a great segment to show off to other players.
Ice Age 2: The Meltdown is fun, and it makes good use of the Wii’s motion-sensitive controller. If you’re an Ice Age fan or a platformer fan that doesn’t mind a short game versus an engrossing epic, then it’s hard to go wrong, and it’s not often that movie licensed games look this polished or play this well.
