Ah, another console generation, another Call of Duty game. Call of Duty 2 really set the world on fire when it debuted alongside the Xbox 360 last November, and the sequel has been eagerly anticipated by armchair generals with itchy trigger fingers ever since. Now, Call of Duty 3 has been released on the Xbox 360 and PS3, and it’s bigger, prettier, and just as popular as ever before. But, what of the Wii version? Clearly, it won’t be able to stack up visually, but can Nintendo’s trusty Wiimote and a novel control scheme make up for this shortcoming? There’s no unequivocal answer to that question, since the control scheme can be just as frustrating as it is liberating, but Call of Duty 3 on the Wii packs enough great gameplay to rise from the trenches with honor, nonetheless. As with every Call of Duty game before it, Call of Duty 3 focuses on real battles fought during World War II, placing players in the shoes of various soldiers from different armies on the Allied Front. This third entry in the series focuses on a particular brutal string of engagements in France, where the Allies attempted to wrest control from the Nazi forces. Through the course of the game, players will play through the eyes of a soldier in the American, British, Canadian and Polish armies, respectively. Each stint is accompanied by its own storyline, but none of the passively relayed characterizations or plot developments are especially noteworthy. That’s not to say that the game is dull, however, as the overall narrative isA
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Rayman has returned! Last seen in 2003’s Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havok, not much was known about Rayman’s next installment. Series creator Michel Ancel began work on the next Rayman title while finishing the game adaptation of King Kong, but the wait is now over, and Rayman: Raving Rabbids is finally on store shelves, but the experience this time around is slightly different than what Rayman followers have come to expect. The plot picks up in traditional wacky Rayman fashion as the Ubisoft mascot is found sitting peacefully amidst a friendly picnic with a group of Globox youths, but it isn’t long before they are all accosted by a group of sinister bunnies. Thrown into a jail cell, Rayman is forced to participate in events that only crazy bunnies could think of in order to win his freedom.
As mentioned, gameplay in Rayman isn’t consistent with the previous entries into the series. Gone is the platforming of yore, replaced by a plethora of minigames that represent the crazed machinations of the Rabbids. Some favorites are the cow tossing, carrot juice stand, and plunger shooting segments. Each day, Rayman has access to three different events that each must be completed before unlocking the day’s fourth minigame trial. Completing each day nabs you a wonderful plunger for all your hard work for which, luckily, Rayman has plans.
It’s immediately evident that in developing Rayman: Raving Rabbids, the team at Ubisoft has worked overtime in devising numerous methods in which to take advantage of the Wii’s unique controller and nunchuck attachment. Some minigames use the remote like a pointer, while others have you rocking the remote back and forth in combination with the nunchuck. Each is unique in its control and the breadth of the collection is thankfully diverse enough to keep the whole experience from becoming stale. While the Wii isn’t the most powerful system out of the current big three, Rayman has been perfectly modeled and the environments and animations shine. Since Ancel and his team are very good at pushing their titles artistically, this title doesn’t suffer visually at all.
And even if this were not the case, entertainment is still the most important common denominator with regards to video games, and Rayman Raving Rabbids is one hell of a fun game. While the idea that the game is simply a collection of minigames might jade some existing Rayman fans, give it time and you’ll find yourself highly enjoying it both for its addictive gameplay as well as its hilarious humor.
It is an unfortunate note that the game doesn’t support progressive scan, that some of the later minigames are either not as fun or simply rehashes of others, and that the ending is rather tame, but these are really minor issues when considering this game’s overall value. Anyone who puts a few minutes with Rayman will have a hard time walking away without having smiled or laughed, and given that the bulk of the gameplay is so incredibly infectious simply adds up to one of the best launch offerings for the Wii.
Score: 84%
In the Before Time — the Long, Long Ago — gaming consoles had a launch title packed in with the system to really show off the new system’s capabilities. Many of you may be too young to remember August 1991 (if you were even [b]alive[/b] then… man, now I feel old), but that’s the last time I personally remember this happening (SNES and [i]Super Mario World[/i])… until November 19, 2006, over fifteen years later. In order to better “sell” its unusual new “Wii” console, Nintendo resurrected this now-defunct practice by including [i]Wii Sports[/i] in the North American product; Europe/Australia would also receive the title as a pack-in, but Japan would not. (Although it was the [url=http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/famitsu/japanese-wii-sales-figures-219253.php]top selling piece of software[/url], narrowly edging out [i]Wii Play[/i], which North America has not yet seen as of this writing; [i]Zelda: Twilight Princess[/i] was behind them by around 30,000 units.) [i]Wii Sports[/i] is at first glance a glorified tech demo, but upon closer inspection, it is five very simple versions of popular sports with three additional mini-games (“training exercises”) for each. Each of these games puts the Wii Remote’s abilities at the forefront rather than providing an EA-like recreation of the sport — I’m sure [i]those[/i] will come later (and indeed, a Wii-specific [i]Madden[/i] title was also available at launch, while Tecmo is bringing a more fleshed-out golf game soon).
The first thing the casual observer notices about [i]Wii Sports[/i] is the decidedly lackluster visual presentation; what are these blocky piles of basic, untextured polygons doing on my new console!? First of all, those are known as Miis, and they’re the Wii equivalent to online avatars. You create them via the Wii’s Mii Channel, and then you select the one you want to use when you play the game. And secondly, [i]Wii Sports[/i] isn’t about the visuals (although they are quite nice in some areas, like the water on Golf), it’s about the gameplay, so shut up and strap that Remote to your wrist.
With that out of the way, the opening screen presents you with seven options, which I’ll tackle from top to bottom:
[list]
[*]Tennis — use the Wii Remote to swing your racket in doubles play for up to four people, one remote per person (although one person can control multiple Miis onscreen). Play one set, best of three, or best of five.
[*]Baseball — comes in two flavors: batting and pitching; batting is as simple as in real life, while pitching combines a throwing motion with the Remote’s buttons for specific types of pitches. Three innings, and there is a “Mercy Rule” in effect if necessary. Play alone or against a friend (who will need his/her own Remote).
[*]Bowling — ten frames of you versus the pins. No power or spin meters here; everything is handled by the Remote and your natural swing. It can accommodate up to four alternating players using only one Remote or however many remotes you happen to have available.
[*]Golf — take your driver, iron, wedge, and putter on your choice of a three-hole sampling (in three levels of difficulty) or the full nine-hole course. Like Bowling, you don’t have the old crutch of “swing meters” here. Also like Bowling, up to four players can alternate using however many remotes you have handy. (Easter Egg — compare these holes with those of the NES’s [i]Golf[/i] title!)
[*]Boxing — the only [i]Wii Sports[/i] event to use the nunchuk attachment, which represents your left hand as the Remote subs for your right. Throw combination punches while dodging your opponent’s — or friend’s (who will obviously need his own Remote/nunchuk combo) — blows.
[*]Training — initially five single-player mini-games (one for each event, although all of the Baseball exercises are batting-oriented), you unlock the other five simply by trying out the first ones you get, and then the final five for trying those.
[*]Fitness — put your training to the test in three randomly-selected exercises (or in some cases, slight variations) to measure your “Wii Fitness” age (similar to your “Brain Age” on the DS title of the same name). You get measured in Speed, Balance, and Stamina, with the best score being an age of 20; younger players will not receive accurate results, although there’s a good chance that older players will experience some wild fluctuations as well. You can do this once per day per Mii.
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The individual events keep track of your rating, awarding you with “Pro” status once that rating breaks 1000 (and taking that title away if you dip below that threshold).
Greatly adding to the atmosphere is the Wii Remote’s speaker, which will emit the crack of a bat, the whistle of a golf club slicing through the air, or the sound of a tennis ball striking your racket right around where you would expect to hear the sound normally. The other sounds aren’t much to write home about, but the crowd does make some appropriate groans when you wind up just missing a putt or cheers after an intense series of volleys. The announcer’s brief comments (“Nice spare!”) are somewhat obnoxious but easy enough to ignore.
Undoubtedly, the real strength of [i]Wii Sports[/i] is how easy it is to literally pick up a Remote and start playing. There is a very brief adjustment period, with one of the hardest lessons apparently being to [url=http://www.wiihaveaproblem.com/]take it easy and don’t actually let go of the remote[/url]; the second important lesson is to heed the warnings about having enough space around you. After that, it’s completely intuitive and highly responsive… with perhaps one exception.
This brings me to the complaint portion. Each individual event has at least one problem that I noticed. Let’s run down that list again:
[list]
[*]Tennis — you don’t move your Mii at all; it chases the ball on its own and usually does a good job, but your strategy can become limited because of this. Also, you cannot play singles games. It seems difficult to control the ball as far as aiming is concerned, but that may just be a reflection of my actual skill. Your Mii automatically pre-determines whether it will swing a forehand or backhand depending on which side of it the ball is landing and not how you actually swing the Remote. Finally, good luck having enough physical space for more than two players if your Wii is in a room anything like ours.
[*]Baseball — as mentioned, you just bat and pitch, not unlike [url=http://www.partyoutfitters.com/itempics/games/PITCH-~1.JPG]an old mechanical arcade machine[/url]. Fielding and base-running are handled automatically (again: fairly well, but not always perfect), and there are no base-stealing or double plays. Batting results feel random, but again that may just be my skill talking.
[*]Bowling — while keeping track of your ranking is nice, I would have appreciated the game keeping track of my average as well. No option to play multiple strings. (Nitpicks; it’s almost impossible to screw up Bowling as long as your physics are sound.)
[*]Golf — four clubs (or if you prefer, three clubs and a putter) and nine unchanging holes does not a golf game make; it’s almost a tease. Very tough to judge how fast/hard you need to swing; while somewhat inherent in the play mechanics, this is something real golfers don’t have to consider as heavily due to having a (much) wider selection of clubs with more varied ranges. Greens can be hard to interpret with the topography-style map, and overall putting feels awkward. Like Bowling, a measure of my handicap might be appreciated.
[*]Boxing — perhaps the most frustrating event, as the Remote doesn’t seem to accurately be able to sense all of your movements; whether this is a factor of the game itself or the way my wife and I throw punches is hard to determine, but I know we aren’t alone in experiencing this. It may also be a factor of our sensor bar being located under the TV rather than on top of it, although given that there’s a setting for this in the global Wii Options it shouldn’t be a problem. Throwing specific punches is also difficult, which will [i]murder[/i] you on one of the training exercises (and as a result, jack up your Fitness score whenever that event comes up) and make fights against higher-ranked AI opponents frustrating.
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With those problems out of the way, however, what remains is a very solid gaming experience. Some of the training exercises are flat-out awesome (Bowling: Power Throws come to mind immediately) and are great for quick workouts while actually (theoretically) developing your skills in the game. The word “workout” in that previous sentence is meant literally, by the way; I’ve built up legitimate sweats during extended Tennis and Boxing sessions, and while I’m definitely no athlete, I’m not grotesquely out of shape either. Perhaps most importantly, [i]Wii Sports[/i] is a blast to play with friends and family — and anyone in the family old enough to swing a baseball bat should be able to enjoy this game. In the end, that is what the Wii is meant to do, and [i]Wii Sports[/i] passes that test despite all of its shortcomings.
One final note regarding our Snackbar ratings as it applies to [i]Wii Sports[/i]’s unusual pack-in status: If you own a Wii, you most likely already own this (unless you are Japanese or hypothetically bought a system without the pack-in — say, years after I write this), but it’s getting a “Purchase” score just in case. As I mentioned, better and fuller versions of these sports/games will inevitably become available, but those are for a different audience; [i]Wii Sports[/i] isn’t trying to cater to the sports fan, it’s catering to the gaming fan — and more importantly, the “non-gamers.” Right now, there is no better demonstration of what the Wii is all about than [i]Wii Sports[/i].
At first blush, Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam for the Nintendo Wii may seem like a throwaway title. It certainly doesn’t stack up to the other next-gen Tony Hawk entry, Project 8. While Project 8 perfected the traditional mechanics of the seriesA
As with every other tentpole children’s release that graces the local multiplex, Happy Feet comes to the small screen early in the form of a video game adaptation. Although many gamers have learned to keep a cynical distance from movie-licensed games, it’s a sure bet that kids who were fans of the movie will want to get their hands on it. However, while kids might be begging for this game after leaving the theater, older gamers may be disappointed by how unfulfilling Happy Feet truly is.
In Happy Feet, players take on the role of Mumble, the dancing penguin star of the film, as he races downhill on his belly, swims, and – of course – dances. Unfortunately, though the gameplay sounds varied, the different play styles seem more like uninspired minigames than the actual meat of a game, and as a result, they become tedious quickly and lack replay value. The dancing portions play much like a rhythm game might, pressing the correct button in time with the on-screen cues, and that may be the most enjoyable of the three. Downhill racing and swimming are superficially the same, with each stage requiring Mumble to beat an opponent or simply collect items as he goes. The main difference between the two is the little penguin can jump and do some aerial tricks during the downhill stages.
Gameplay aside, Happy Feet does manage to capture the movie’s aesthetic very capably. The environments are attractive and the color palette in the game is vibrant, perfect for its intended audience. Happy Feet especially manages to remain faithful to the movie’s characters, with the film’s voice actors reprising their roles and the character models themselves looking much like they do on the silver screen. Likewise, the soundtrack enforces and enhances the game’s whimsical feel.
The worst claim that can be leveled against Happy Feet is that it’s mundane and repetitive. Most versions of the game have that in common, but the Wii manages to breathe some life into the game thanks to its control scheme. Players use the remote to steer their character instead of an analog stick or d-pad and, while it may just be novelty talking, it’s more fun. Similarly, the dancing game is much improved with the functionality of the remote – at times, it can seem as though you are conducting in time with the music. However, even the Wii title, sadly, can’t rise above mediocrity, though it’s easily the best among its peers.
Happy Feet is sure to please kids, at least for a while, and in that sense the game is a success. Still, the game is fairly insubstantial and could have benefited from some platforming in between its minigames, a la Rayman: Raving Rabbids. Happy Feet is a simple game that can at times be fun to play, and will at least leave you smiling before it eventually leaves you cold. Especially if you’ve seen and enjoyed the movie, Happy Feet is worth the price of a rental, but doesn’t have the longevity required to justify its cost as a purchase.
Score: 60%
