Wii

Thor: God of Thunder

May 17, 2011

Reviews / Wii / by Justin Last Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Thor: God of Thunder for the DS is exactly what you’re thinking: a movie tie-in aimed at young kids, whose devs didn’t try very hard because, even if the game only sells to one percent of the DS’ install base, SEGA will make their money back and then some. And basing a game, even a bad one, off of a summer blockbuster will ensure that grandmas all over the nation will buy it for the grandkids’ birthday and Christmas presents. 

I really wish that pessimism didn’t pay off so often, but unless there’s a Tt Games or Telltale logo on it somewhere, licensed games just aren’t good. Thor: God of Thunder could and should have been a competent God of War-style action game or Zelda-style RPG. Instead it’s a boring run through five hours of the same enemies over and over with a limited combo system and graphics that, aside from bosses, look like they could be done on the GBA.

At the very least, Thor is not simply a retelling of the movie’s plot so those kids who receive will have a new narrative to play through. You take control of the titular Norse god as he protects Asgard from three types of enemies in a variety of colors. Single enemies are laughably easy to defeat, and groups don’t present much more challenge. Combos are easy to string together, and Thor has a decent amount of attack variety in melee, ranged, flying, and super moves. You won’t need all of them, but it’s nice that the option is there. Additionally, there is a small strategy element present in Thor’s equipping of runes to augment his abilities. You can only equip three at a time so you’ll have to choose runes based on your play style. It’s not a bad system at all, it’s just sitting in such a mediocre game that it suffers by association.

Where WayForward flexes its dev muscles a little bit is the boss battles. Bosses fill both DS screens and require a bit of strategy to beat. It’s nice to see something different than the same monsters over and over again, and finally utilizing the DS hardware is a great addition to the game. I wish more of the game took advantage of the platform, honestly. There’s room here for large vertical levels (Thor can fly after all), monster types that require more thought than “beat with hammer until dead” to defeat, and a more interesting setup than “monsters are marching on Asgard – are you a cool enough dude to protect the gods!?”

Thor: God of Thunder is rife with potential. Superhero games are not new regardless of whether their source material was recently given the movie treatment. Marvel’s take on Norse mythology should make for a great action game whether it be a traditional action platformer, something with RPG elements, or a flight-based shooter. Thor deserves better than this, and it’s a shame that SEGA and WayForward dropped the ball. If Disney could make a compelling Lion King game on the SNES, then SEGA should have been able to make a blockbuster out of Thor.

Pros: Interesting combat system full of combos and run combinations

Cons: Enemies are so easy to defeat that the combat system can’t shine

 

Conduit 2

May 13, 2011

Reviews / Wii / by Shawn Vermette Make a comment! / Tweet it!

The Conduit was an ambitious attempt at a motion-controlled FPS when it came out in 2009. However, it was considered more of a proof-of-concept than a finished product. Two years later, High Voltage is trying again with Conduit 2, but can it stand up to the advances in Wii shooters since the first Conduit was released? Unfortunately not.

The story in Conduit 2 picks up immediately after the first one left off, with Michael Ford chasing John Adams through a conduit in order to stop him from gaining alien power to twist to his own ends. The story is more reminiscent of a bad B-movie than a Wii game, but that doesn’t stop High Voltage from alternately taking the story way too seriously and being campy with it. It never really develops very much beyond the whole “chase down John Adams” premise, though you’ll get to do so in much prettier and diverse environs than in the first game.

The saving grace for the single-player portion of Conduit 2 is the accuracy of control options available to the player. You can play with the classic controller or with the remote and nunchuk. When using the remote and nunchuk, you can also play with the MotionPlus if you’d like. No matter which control scheme you choose, you’ll find it fairly easy to shoot the various aliens and Trust members. If you’re a better shot than me, at least.  

The multiplayer in Conduit 2 is a mixed bag. It might have the most diverse array of multiplayer options available on the Wii. It has a maximum of 12 players, and seems to take the most popular modes from the most successful games and throws them all together here. All the standard modes are here: deathmatch, capture the flag and team deathmatch. Added though, are VIP, where one person on each team is designated the VIP and only his death nets your team points; ASE Ball, which is similar to Oddball in Halo, where you gets points the longer you hold the ASE; Bounty Hunter, which takes Assassin Creed: Brotherhood’s multiplayer mode(every player has a target and you only get points for killing that person); and Annexation, where teams try to take and hold a series of control points. Even a nod to Mario Kart is thrown in with Balloon Battle, a mode where each player has three ‘balloons’ and you lose one every time you die. Successfully melee-attacking an opponent steals one of their ‘balloons,’ and the last one with spare balloons is the winner. The one problem with the multiplayer is the people, or lack thereof. It’s sometimes hard to find a match already, and I fear it will only get worse as time goes on.

Graphically, Conduit 2 looks marginally better than The Conduit did, though not good enough to stand out at all amongst the recent releases on the Wii. The sound design isn’t that great either, with bad one-liners, cheesy dialogue and the Duke’s voice actor voicing the main character.

The good news is that Conduit 2 is a better game than the original was. The bad news is that the last two Call of Duty ports and GoldenEye are much better games with much more replay value.

Pros: Fairly accurate controls; plethora of multiplayer options

Cons: Bad graphics; bad sound design; uneven story direction

 

WWE All-Stars

April 21, 2011

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

Taking a departure from the more straightforward in-ring competition that previous WWE games have offered, WWE All-Stars is a more arcade-like presentation, with comically-exaggerated physiques on the superstars and moves that are even more outrageously over-the-top. The result is entertaining, but perhaps appropriate considering the current WWE corporate policy is not quite “wrestling” as most would recognize it. Given my rocky experiences with those previous games, this is actually for the best.

Each superstar is divided into one of four categories (Big Man, Brawler, Grappler, or Acrobat); each category has their own strengths and weaknesses, with a couple of unique control moves available only to them, but overall each superstar handles in mostly the same way. The game supports Classic Controller and GameCube control pads in addition to Remote + Nunchuk controls; I used the Classic Controller (Pro) and had very few issues. The controls are also customizable, if you wish to further tweak them to your liking. There are over thirty superstars available, with about half of them locked away initially. You can also create your own, but the options to do so are fairly limited.

The main attraction of WWE All-Stars (and the one in which you unlock all of the hidden superstars) is the Fantasy Matchup mode, which pits a current superstar with a somewhat analogous “legend” from the company’s past to determine, for instance, who is the best big man (Andre the Giant or Big Show?), the best innovative offense (Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat or Kofi Kingston?), or the dirtiest snake (Jake “the Snake” Roberts or Randy “the Viper” Orton?); a few of these match-ups actually happened — usually ones involving more recent “legends” like The Rock, Eddy Guerrero, or  Shawn Michaels — but the dozen or so remaining unique match-ups are fun “what if”s. The pre-match videos that play before each one of these matches are by far the best feature of the entire game, as the WWE’s top-notch production crew outdid themselves in assembling packages that would not be out of place on an actual pay-per-view featuring these match-ups.

The other primary solo mode is Championship, which pits your chosen superstar against a ten-match gauntlet for the right to face either the Undertaker, Randy Orton, or Degeneration X; completing this mode with any character unlocks alternate ring attire for that character (or one of the few hidden arenas if you use a created superstar). Exhibition mode is your basic catch-all versus option, allowing up to four players to chose one of about half a dozen different match types. Of course, the problem with more players (or participants in general) is the fact that there are at least four pre-match load screens per match: the introduction of the arena and stipulations, the individual introductions and (often abbreviated) entrances of each wrestler, and then the actual match itself. The load times are reasonably quick, but having to sit through so many in a row for almost no reason is a nuisance; you can skip past the intros using the + button, but there is no option to ignore them outright so you still have to suffer the loads. Commentary by JR and Jerry Lawler is fine, if monotonous at times, and Howard Finkel’s usual quality ring introductions are confusingly hampered by the complete lack of any emotion he put into the announcement for the winner of the match (which is, to my mind, more the fault of the game’s director than Mr. Finkel).

There is no online play (or downloadable content) on the Wii version. In fact, a lot of features present in the HD versions are missing from the Wii version. If you’ve seen the commercials for this game and seen all of the cool zoomed-in camera angles you might be disappointed when you realize that this version doesn’t have them. It also has some serious issues with sound quality, especially when you execute a finisher or signature move and the sound all but cuts out; it’s pretty obvious that this is where the other versions would cut to a close-up but this version is just left hanging with nothing to cut to. Apparently the Wii version is a port of the PSP/PS2 version, which is so lazy and inexcusable on so many levels at this stage in the console cycle that I’m actually grading this title slightly harsher than I would normally. The Wii has sold more units (in any market and/or worldwide) than both of its HD competitors (as of December 2010), and yet it is still being treated as a second-class console by many third-party developers in a self-fulfilling prophecy.

While it would be valid to say that WWE All-Stars is the best wrestling game I’ve played in a long time, it would be more accurate to say it is merely the least horrible one, and I say this as a lifetime fan. When I’m able to look past its numerous faults, I enjoy playing WWE All-Stars. For a little while, anyway. I’m never going to be bored enough to endure Championship Mode with all thirty-plus superstars in order to unlock everything, but it’s still fun in small doses. The real problem is that I can never really ignore the fact that, as a Wii owner, I’ve been given a clearly inferior product yet again.

Pros: Fast-paced play; unique roster; fantasy match-up videos

Cons: Someone keeps thinking porting the PS2/PSP version onto the Wii is a good idea

Top Shot Arcade

April 18, 2011

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

Activision caught my attention last year with the latest release of the Dangerous Hunts franchise, so I jumped at the chance to cover Top Shot Arcade, a hunting arcade title that is exclusive to the Nintendo Wii. Top Shot Arcade features 75 shooting galleries across 15 North American locales and features 6 primary trophy animals with a host of supporting trophies.

Top Shot Arcade is sold standalone or coupled with the fabulous Top Shot Elite peripheral. Gamers opting to pick up the game by itself will need to make use of the Wii Zapper in order to easily play the game. Having played both ways, I would spend the extra money for the Top Shot Elite. 

Once you get started, there are 2 primary game modes available to play. First is your standard gallery shooting mode that features 1-4 player action in single and multi-gun varieties. This means you can enjoy multi-player without having to shell out for additional peripherals, but you’ll be taking turns. The second mode is called Rapid Hunt, which features a random set of shooting galleries from across the game. The standard gallery modes feature 6 primary trophy animals that each have 3 hunts that consist of 5 galleries and 1 bonus game. Most bonus games require rapid fire, which accentuates the annoyance that you must reload after every shot. The final bonus game is a nice surprise though.

Each individual shooting gallery features a mix of animals that run across the screen. Trophy animals feature a variable point value based on their size and proximity to you. The larger the animal the more points it is worth. The further away the animal is from you when the kill occurs, the more points you score. Small animals are worth 100 points and also refill your ammo. They are a valuable part of achieving high scores so don’t ignore them. Does also run across your screen and you’ll want to avoid shooting them unless you enjoy the penalty of being unable to fire for several seconds. At the end of each level your total points are calculated based on kills, accuracy, and hunting bonus and a medal is awarded.

Top Shot Arcade is made up of all my favorite parts of the latest Dangerous Hunts title, but also takes a few steps back. It is purely shooting galleries and none of the story mode, but the fact that you are limited to a single weapon (that must reload after every shot) really annoyed me. As I got closer to completing the game it became less of an issue and contributed more to the challenge. For some, it may be a dealbreaker. This is also why I preferred using the Top Shot Elite to the Wii Zapper.

In all, I quite enjoyed Top Shot Arcade. It’s on the Wii, so it doesn’t have jaw-dropping graphics and the commentator can get quite annoying at times, but it is a lot of fun. The standalone game comes in at under $30 so it’s really not a huge investment. Fans of hunting titles will definitely want to consider this a purchase, but others may find it shallow.

Pros: Fun, Optional peripheral, Inexpensive, Multi-player

Cons: Slight learning curve

 

Liight

March 23, 2011

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

Studio WallJump’s elegant WiiWare offering Liight i

s an abstract puzzle game that tasks you with illuminating various colored posts with a selection of colored light cones. Since you only have the three primary colors of light (red, green, and blue) at your disposal, you will have to overlap the areas of illumination in order to satisfy the yellow (red + green), cyan (green + blue), magenta (blue + red), and white (all three) posts. Posts that are lit up by the wrong color(s) will let you know by giving off a halo of the offending color(s), while satisfied posts light up with a healthy glow. Further complicating matters is the fact that you can’t just place the cones anywhere; some spots of most maps lack a floor, and others have raised blocks that obstruct your glows. Finally, there are also black posts that must remain in the dark in order to successfully solve a given puzzle.

The main mode in Liight is “Solve” mode, which contains 100 puzzles broken down into four 25-puzzle difficulty levels. The beginner levels give you the basics, without too many complications. Medium levels introduce spinners that rotate certain posts until you have them where you need them to be as well as split posts that put out two colors in smaller arcs than the normal single-colored posts. Hard and Expert levels don’t introduce any new tricks, just devious post placements that will require you to place your light posts with pinpoint precision.

Controls to do so are simple. Placing the cursor over a cone and holding A allows you to drag it and put it where you want (more or less); this isn’t quite as accurate as it sometimes needs to be, which will result in some frustrating repetition as placements that were legal while you were holding the button suddenly become illegal when you release it. Holding B allows you to twist the Remote to turn the cone until it’s pointing in the desired direction; you will often need to “dial in” your beams carefully in order to solve puzzles. You can use the buttons separately or simultaneously, whichever is more convenient for your playing style, as there are no time limits in “Solve” mode.

Time is more pressing in the other main mode, “Endless”. In this mode you have one cone of each color and have to shine the correct light(s) on randomly-generated posts until they vanish; the posts have a visible timer on them that indicates how much longer they need to be lit up before they are scored. “Endless” mode suffers  from the somewhat imprecise controls and the incredibly precise limits on your cones’ areas of illumination, but since it isn’t the main attraction its flaws are mostly forgivable. The other modes are “Create” and “Send”; the former allows you to make you own “Solve” puzzles, and the latter lets you send them to Wii friends. 

The strategy in Liight is straightforward on most levels. You only get a certain number of cones, so the first order of business is often figuring out which ones must used to cover certain posts. Once you have that down the rest usually falls into place, but environmental hazards and/or particularly tricky posts will sometimes require rethinking. It’s not much of a brain-burner once you get used to it, but it’s still a pleasant challenge that will keep you busy for a few hours.

Visually, Liight puts all of its focus on the lighting effects, as one might expect. They’re nothing special, but they do what they have to do. Much more effort was put into the aural components, surprisingly. Every stage has nothing but the yawning sound of an endless void as background music initially; as posts are lit up, they emit additional layers of techno-like music that add up to a groovy beat once things get rolling. Amusingly, lit black posts emit a screeching feedback that will seriously put a damper on your groove until you correct the problem.

Liight will only set you back 500 Wii points ($5) for 100 premade “Solve” stages and the opportunity to make your own and trade them with friends (plus “Endless” mode, I guess). That makes it an easy recommendation. Puzzle fans should definitely pick it up, and anyone else who thinks the concept sounds interesting won’t be wasting too much money to give it a try. 

Pros: Simple but elegant puzzle design; groovy sound effects; bargain price

Cons: Cone placement can be finicky at times

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