Stuff for Dads
Thursday, 24 January 2008
Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (Wii)
Rated: 15.Story: Capcom recycles Resident Evils 0, 1, 2 & 3 as a shooting game pasted together with a selection of the old cut-scenes and a bit of text.
Gameplay: You have no control over your movement during the game and very little over where you look. Just point the wiimote and shoot. Selecting weapons, conserving ammunition and finding hidden supplies by shooting the scenery adds some complication.
Save System: Automatic saves at the middle and end of levels.
Comments: My boys asked me what game I'd got through the post. When I said, 'Umbrella Chronicles,' they fell about laughing. I knew I was talking about the story of an evil, multi-national, zombie-creating corporation. They obviously had an entirely different mental image of what the game might involve... I was initially amused but then I realised that this is actually part of a serious problem with the game - it pretty much assumes you've played plenty of Resident Evil before. If you have, you won't be thrown by a story cobbled together from bits and pieces of other games and, instead, be able to fill in the blanks in the plot and background information. If, however, the title makes you think of menacing rain protection, then all the talk of STARS, slugs and T-viruses is going to be impenetrable.
Unfortunately, having played enough Resident Evil to work out what's going on will mean that everything is very familiar. Very, very familiar. To illustrate, witness another conversation I had later the same day:
My wife: Is this a new Resident Evil game?
Me: It's a light-gun remake of the original game. Well, I suppose this bit is a light-gun remake of the GameCube remake of the original game.
My wife: This is the third version of the same game?
Me: I didn't mention the Director's Cut of the PlayStation original or the DS version.
My wife: Okaaay. Whatever...
'Whatever...' is a pretty good summation of much of the game. Walking slowly down that long corridor just right of the main door of the mansion (you know the one) and having zombie dogs jump at me through the window was scary the first time ten years ago. It seems to have happened so often since then, however, that this time I just got rather impatient waiting for them to appear.
So, in terms of Resident Evil, Umbrella Chronicles is a re-run at best. As a light-gun game, it's not that great either. It's relatively slow-paced with low numbers of enemies that each take lots of hits to kill. Each level ends with a boss that just WILL NOT DIE. The tough bosses, slow pace, familiar locations, fiddly controls and sparse checkpoints quickly made playing the game a chore. (The Wii Zapper works OK but doesn't add much to the experience.)
Note to developers: Having to quickly press buttons indicated by on-screen prompts in order to dodge attacks has always been frustrating and a lame alternative to proper interactivity. Bosses with enormous health bars, repeating patterns of movement and that can't be harmed unless they have their mouths open were old news ten years ago. Combining the two is pretty irritating. Stop it.
Conclusion: Maybe worth a rental if you're a big fan of Resident Evil.
Graphics: OK but nothing to write home about.
Length: Short.
Rating: 2/5.
Labels: computer game review, quick, wii
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Tuesday, 18 December 2007
Wii Zapper & Link's Crossbow Training (Wii)
Rated: 12+ but, to be honest, this seems to be more to do with the controller being vaguely gun-shaped than anything else. There's no gore and you don't get to shoot people - it's mainly shooting targets, goblins and skeletons. None of the enemies are scarier than the zombies you have to slap around the head using an EyeToy in Sega Superstars and that's rated 3+.
Story: Theory 1 - Nintendo are trying to hide the fact that their latest peripheral is merely a bit of plastic by packaging a game with it.
Theory 2 - Nintendo are trying to hide the fact that their latest game is very short and mostly recycled by packaging a bit of plastic with it.
Theory 3 - Nintendo are too busy counting money to bother hiding anything any more. This will all look like a bargain in a few months time once a motley bunch of other developers have knocked out a stack of full-price 'zapper compatible' games that aren't as good and don't come with a bit of plastic.
Gameplay: Shoot things! There are nine levels split into three stages each. Each stage is a minute or so long. Some stages simply involve pointing the cursor at targets and pulling the trigger. Some require you to turn on the spot to find targets by pointing off screen. Others involve using the control stick on the nunchuk to move about and hunt down targets. Holding down the z-button zooms the view; holding down the trigger charges up an explosive crossbow bolt. A bronze, silver, gold or platinum medal can be earned with a high enough total score on a level. Get a bronze medal and the next level is unlocked.
Save System: Automatic save after each level.
Comments: There are two ways to set up the zapper. The first involves clipping in both the wiimote and nunchuk, the second involves just clipping in the wiimote and holding the nunchuk normally. Neither is very good. Using the zapper with both hands, the trigger is too near the front end of the 'barrel' for the experience to feel natural, and it's not balanced properly for one-handed use, making aiming a constant battle against wrist strain. In both cases, the zapper is more unwieldy than holding the wiimote normally. It's also harder to reliably point at things. This is not a good start.
On top of that, the zapper doesn't work like a traditional lightgun. Rather than point where you want to shoot, you move the zapper to direct an on-screen cursor. There's a calibration screen in Crossbow Training that makes it possible to more closely match the position of the cursor with where you're pointing but it's not hugely convincing and is dependent on where you're standing. (I found I had to be a long way back from my TV). Unlike a lightgun, looking down the zapper to see what you're shooting is a complete waste of time. It's all about the cursor.
Essentially, the zapper doesn't feel like a gun, doesn't work like a gun and is less accurate than the wiimote on its own. You have to wonder what the point is.
Oh, and the plastic hinge on the clip that locks the nunchuk in place seems very flimsy.
If you've played Twilight Princess, then your first reaction to Link's Crossbow Training will be deja vu. Locations, enemies, sound effects and just about everything else have been entirely re-used. Considering how tired Twilight Princess felt at times, this is a problem. Unlocking new levels is a bit like opening your Christmas presents only to discover that they're last year's gifts that have been rewrapped.
Crossbow Training is also very short. Unlocking all the levels doesn't take much more than an hour. Getting a large haul of decent medals takes another hour. Obtaining platinum on every level will take longer but is liable to result in as much frustration as fun thanks to the scoring system. Shooting a target gives a set number of points but this is multiplied by the number of successful hits in a row. So, if there are 10 5-point targets, the first is worth 5 points and the last is potentially worth 50 points. One missed shot half way through a stage resets the multiplier and halves your overall score compared with a missed shot at the beginning or end of the level. This means platinum medals are as much about patience and memorisation as accurate aiming.
That said, Crossbow Training is enjoyable to play in quick bursts and the short levels make it addictive. The need to maintain a string of hits adds some depth, forcing constant balancing of risk versus reward. Is it worth trying for a difficult, distant target at the possible cost of a carefully built up x40 multiplier? As a demo game for the zapper, Crossbow Training is pretty decent. It's at least as good as Wii Play.
Wii Play is only an extra £5 on top of the cost of a wiimote, however. Since the Zapper/Training package costs £20 and the zapper doesn't really seem worth much more than a fiver itself, something doesn't entirely add up. True, the zapper can be used with other games but, if it doesn't work that well with this, what are the chances of it working much at all with anything more complicated? Most of the buttons on the wiimote are hard to get to and motion-sensing would be a real pain. (Apparently, these are issues even with the relatively basic Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles.)
Conclusion: Link's Crossbow Training is mildly fun for an hour or two but the zapper doesn't add much to the experience and is pretty uncomfortable.
Disappointing.
Graphics: All the locations are ripped wholesale out of Twilight Princess. Everything looks nice, but way too familiar.
Length: Very short.
Rating: 2/5.
(Does the link suggest you spend more than £20? If so, just laugh and move along. Oddly, you might do better searching in the shops than online.)
Labels: computer game review, wii
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Tuesday, 2 October 2007
Nintendo Wii console
Price: £180 including one wiimote, one nunchuk, composite AV cable and Wii Sports game.
Extras:
- RGB Scart cable: £20 (an essential purchase).
- Wiimote: £30.
- Nunchuk: £15.
- Classic controller: £15 (for use with GameCube and retro games).
- GameCube memory card: £10.
- Internet browser: £4.
- LAN adapter: £23 (for connecting to a wired network).
- SD memory card: A few pounds.
The plan seems to be working. Nintendo can't make Wiis fast enough.
Many Wii games are controlled using just the wiimote (which looks like a TV remote control). A sensor bar you sit on top of your telly can tell where the wiimote is pointing for moving cross-hairs, etc, and there are also motion-sensing components so the wiimote can be used like a golf club or tennis racket. For some games, a nunchuk attachment can be connected to the wiimote. This has more buttons, an analogue stick and its own motion sensors. Unfortunately, some of the buttons on both controllers are awkward to get to. Also, poorly designed games use shakes in different directions to replace button presses. This adds no immersion whatsoever, can be imprecise and, frankly, is just plain annoying. Motion-sensing only makes a game better when the player's movement is required to mimic 'real life' movement, such as swinging a sword or bowling a ball. Anything else is pointless. Very few games have got it right so far.
GameCube games and some downloadable games require a GameCube or classic controller to play. These are sold separately. Fine if you already have a full set of GameCube controllers but expensive if you're new to Nintendo and want to try out some of the GameCube's excellent multiplayer titles. You'll also need a GameCube memory card.
The Wii itself is very small - about the size of three DVD cases - but there is also an additional power block that tends not to get displayed in publicity photos. This, combined with the wired sensor bar, makes the Wii difficult to unthread from the matted cabling behind my telly and a faff to move round the house. The sensor bar means that a video-sender isn't much use either.
Photos can be read from an SD memory card and there's some software for playing around with the images. The results can't be saved back to the card, however, so it's a bit of a waste of time.
The Wii can connect to the internet over a wireless network and there's an internet browser available for download. This works surprisingly well even on a normal telly and I wish I'd had it to entertain me during all the sleepless nights I had when the kids were small.
As ever, a console is only as good as its games and this is where the Wii really falls down at the moment. There are hardly any that make worthwhile use of the innovative controller. Many Wii games feel like they'd actually be easier to control with a GameCube pad. Like the EyeToy camera for the PlayStation 2, developers seem to think the Wii is great but none of them appear to know what to do with it. The best games available include:
- Wii Sports - Tennis, Baseball, Golf, Bowling and Boxing. Genius on a DVD. Not much more than a tech demo of the wiimote's abilities really but this is a game that will even get your mum leaping around breaking your light fittings once she's had a couple of sherries.
- Wii Play - A selection of minigames which come bundled with a wiimote. Great fun but, once again, very limited. Good for getting children used to the wiimote.
- Wario Ware: Smooth Moves - A vast collection of microgames which display more imaginative design than much of the rest of the Wii's back catalogue put together. All over in an evening, though.
- Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - A lengthy and excellent action adventure. Just like every other Zelda game, however, and motion controls feel tacked on (because they were).
- Super Paper Mario - Platforming adventure that, like Zelda:TP, began life on the GameCube.
- Paper Mario - Witty and fun role-playing game that first saw release on the Nintendo 64.
On the way, there's Metroid Prime: Corruption, Super Mario Galaxy and, erm, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. I'd be willing to bet good money there's also a huge stack of minigame collections incoming, closely followed by a skipful of shoddy tie-ins to CGI movies. Can't wait.
Honestly, if it weren't for my kids' large collection of GameCube games, then our Wii would barely have been used for months. The only places to find more GameCube games these days, however, are GameStation's second-hand racks or on eBay. Even then, the decent ones are still pretty expensive.
Conclusion: Lights will flicker up and down the country this Christmas as a million Wiis are switched on. Whole families will wave their arms about like lunatics for a few days. Everyone will have a great time. By Easter, though, the thing will be covered in dust and the kids will start demanding a PlayStation 3.
Pros:
- The only console you're likely to get your gran playing this Christmas.
- Easy to control.
- Fully backwards compatible with GameCube.
- Lots of quality retro games to download.
- As much fun as an EyeToy...
- ...But when was the last time you actually played with your EyeToy.
- Lack of 'proper' games.
- Cost of extra controllers quickly adds up.
- Limited internal memory.
- Retro games are relatively expensive.
- Wiimote eats batteries.
- Not as easy to control as they'd have you believe.
- Not as portable as it looks.
- Can be dangerous in the hands of small children or drunk grannies.
Related Links:
Review: Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Review: WarioWare
All Wii Reviews (including Red Steel, Super Monkey Ball & Excite Truck)
Review: Microsoft Xbox 360 console
Dear Dave: Gamesnight
Dear Dave: Gamesnight II
Dear Dave: Satire on the PS3 price cut
Dear Dave: Satire on the other PS3 price cut
Labels: computer game review, computer games, wii
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Sunday, 29 July 2007
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)
Rated: 12+Story: Link, an elf-boy with pointy ears, must rescue Princess Zelda, rid the world of darkness and confront an ancient evil. Again. This time the world of twilight is trying to invade the world of light. Link must track down the pieces of various ancient artifacts in order to unlock the path to an old enemy. Again. The twist is that sometimes Link is forced to take the form of a wolf. This is explained by an impenetrable back-story involving arrogant sorcerers and incompetent sages. Again.
Gameplay: The same as the previous three 3D Zelda games. If you haven't played Ocarina of Time, then go and download that from the Wii shop right now - it's one of the best games of all time. If you have, then Twilight Princess is just like it but with better graphics and not quite as good.
I guess, if you really want me to tell you, then LoZ:TP is a third-person action-adventure game. Explore towns, villages and countryside for quests, secrets and mini-games, then enter intricate dungeons full of puzzles and monsters. The ten-or-so dungeons are unlocked in turn as the story progresses and most contain a new piece of equipment, such as a bow or grappling hook, which opens up new areas.
Save System: You can save at any time. This keeps an exact record of your current equipment but only an approximation of your position and achievements. This is OK but can occasionally be frustrating if you have to quit half way through a complex series of obstacles.
Comments: OK, for fans of the series, here's what you need to know:
- It's better than the second half of The Wind Waker...
- ...but not as good as the first half.
- The graphics are quite nice.
- The Wii controls add nothing to the experience overall.
- The GameCube version is almost certainly just as good.
For everyone else:
- This is a great game.
- Go and buy it.
- Don't read the rest of the review because, although this is a great game, all I want to do is whinge about it.
Capcom did an amazing thing with Resident Evil 4. They took a successful series that had barely changed in years, ripped it to shreds, designed it afresh and created one of the top games of the last console generation. They could so easily not have bothered. They could have left everything alone and made Resident Evil 3.5. It would probably have been great. Taken in its own right, it might have been superb. Except it would have been impossible to take in its own right, impossible to ignore the umpteen previous installments and spin-offs - the game would have felt... tired.
Twilight Princess is Zelda 3.5.
A few niggles have been dealt with - it's now possible to save in dungeons (sort of), for instance - but very little has changed since Ocarina of Time which came out nearly ten years ago. Even then, where changes have been made, they aren't always for the better.
The sections where you play as a wolf are noticeably less fun than the other parts of the game. You can't use your equipment, the game mechanics are inconsistent and the graphics go grainy. It's a relief when Link finally gains the ability to change forms at will and you only need to change back into a mutt in order to solve the occasional puzzle.
The Wii controls handily make it possible to aim directly with weapons like the bow but most sword moves require shakes and prods of the wiimote or nunchuck. These are imprecise and cause far more frustration than immersion. The whole control set-up feels fiddly. I was longing for a GameCube pad on occasion.
The dungeons are the best in any Zelda game, expertly designed and full of the kind of puzzles which require a little bit of lateral thinking rather than endless block pulling. The exploration side of things, however, is less rewarding than normal. Much of the land seems barren apart from annoying, re-spawning monsters. The prizes for uncovering secrets and winning mini-games seem hardly worth the effort of bothering. It's only quite late in the game, with most of the specialist equipment available, that the exploration really opens up and becomes fun.
Maybe I'm being harsh. Most of these grievances (and a host of others) wouldn't have registered if I wasn't so familiar with the whole concept. Taken in its own right, LoZ:TP is a great game - its only real problem is in being a sequel that has chosen bigger over better.
Conclusion: A good game in a fantastic series. Possibly the best launch game ever. Challenging, absorbing and full of neat touches.
Er, but it's still a port of a GameCube game that's barely evolved from its nearly-ten-year-old predecessor on the N64. The next Zelda seriously needs some re-invention.
Graphics: Technically the best the GameCube(!) has to offer but the colours and design can seem drab.
Length: Very long.
Rating: 5/5.
Labels: computer game review, wii
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Thursday, 19 April 2007
WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Wii)
Rated: 7+Gameplay: Hold the wiimote in every way conceivable in order to complete scores of five-second microgames. Shake a bottle of champagne and spray it, pump up a balloon, boogie, hand out leaflets, drink a glass of water - you name it. Get it wrong and you lose a life, get it right and things speed up and get harder. Half the fun is working out what you've got to do, the other half is flailing about like a loon.
There are also different modes to unlock and a few longer games.
Save System: Auto-save every time you finish a level or get a high-score.
Comments: This game uses the wiimote's abilities more imaginatively and competently than all the launch titles put together. It's great fun and a huge advert for the Wii... but you'll see nearly all of it in an evening.
There's nothing to stop you cheating and holding the wiimote normally rather than touching it to your forehead like an elephant's trunk or whatever you're supposed to be doing but where's the fun in that?
The longer games are OK but only a minor distraction. The most notable is Can Shooter. It's brilliant but limited and makes you wonder once again why there isn't a proper lightgun game for Wii yet.
Bizarrely, the multiplayer is only unlocked once the single player mode is complete. Also, there's no way to use multiple controllers. A single wiimote has to be passed quickly between players. Since some of the players are likely to be either young or drunk, this is asking for trouble.
Conclusion: Superb while it lasts.
Length: Very short.
Graphics: Vibrant and purposefully simple.
Rating: 4/5
Labels: computer game review, wii
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Red Steel (Wii)
Rated: 16+Story: Your girlfriend's been kidnapped by the yakuza. Get her back.
Gameplay: It's a first-person shooter that every so often makes you ignore your guns for no apparent reason and duel with a sword.
Save System: The game has checkpoints throughout each level but only saves at the end of the level. Madness.
Comments: The gunplay is average and involves constantly moving the wiimote forward to zoom. This is uncomfortable and annoying. The wiimote has to be pointed so far towards the edge of the screen to turn that I kept pointing it too far and losing communication with the sensor-bar. Even pointing at the middle of the screen the cursor leapt about for no reason.
The sword-fighting is just a case of blocking an attack and then flailing about. There's no impression of actually using a sword and I quickly wished I could pull out my guns and shoot.
Some of the cut-scenes are just story-boards with the occasional hilarious piece of animation.
All this, more bugs, unevenly placed checkpoints, unskippable dialogue, a daft menu system and some stupid motion-sensing gimmicks too!
Conclusion: Broken.
Length: Who cares?
Graphics: Poor.
Rating: 1/5
Labels: computer game review, wii
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Wing Island (Wii)
Rated: 7+Gameplay: You're a bird who flies aeroplanes(!?). Carry out missions such as delivering cargo, popping balloons, putting out fires and locating lost cows. Fly solo or in formation with four wingmen (wingbirds?).
Save System: Save after each short mission.
Comments: OK, let's get this straight, motion-sensing should make controlling a game seem more natural and add to immersion. Having to shake the wiimote in a certain direction in order to change formation in a flight game is no more natural than pressing a button but involves more effort and is much more likely to go wrong. Having to press a button AND shake the wiimote in a certain direction in order to change formation is just stupid.
The whole thing, from the presentation, to the gameplay and graphics, is strangely reminiscent of an early PS2 game with better anti-aliasing. Maybe it's just the familiar feeling of wishing there was something decent to play on a new console.
Conclusion: Trying to achieve anything involves a constant battle with the controls, especially when formation flying. The cut-scenes make those in Red Steel seem worthwhile. If this were a PS2 game, it would be obscure and straight-to-budget. Sadly, it might also be more fun to play.
Length: Short.
Graphics: Basic.
Rating: 2/5
Labels: computer game review, wii
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Thursday, 29 March 2007
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz (Wii)
Rated: 7+Concept: Roll and jump a ball containing a monkey through obstacle courses by tilting the wiimote and thus tilting the onscreen landscape itself.
Gameplay: It's basically that simple. You have to race to the goal before time runs out without falling off. You can collect bananas to gain extra lives. There is a choice of monkeys with differing attributes such as size, speed and agility, allowing multiple routes through many of the levels.
There are also fifty monkey-themed minigames to play. These involve everything from golf to shooting asteroids.
Save System: Auto-save after every level.
Comments: I've hit upon a quick way for you to gauge Wii games. How they make you enter your name tells a very great deal. The simplest, quickest and most accurate way is for the entire alphabet to be displayed on screen and for you to point and click with the wiimote. Any game that's any good will use this method. A game that displays the entire alphabet on screen but then forces you to move a cursor from one letter to the next using the d-pad is obviously a lazy port from another system. A game which employs some funky motion-sensing method of text entry, however, just hates you.
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz makes you scroll left and right through the alphabet by twisting your wrist. I found entering 'ED' awkward and tiresome. I had to do it each time I got a high score on each of the minigames. This drove me mad. Sega's method of compensating for this seems to have been to make at least ninety percent of the minigames so dreadful that I only wanted to play them once anyway. Some have controls so floaty that attempting to use the Force seems like a worthwhile alternative. Others are dull. The rest are as basic as a Flash game. Even the way the instructions are conveyed is so confusing that merely to describe it would be a lesson in confusion. The few games which do work aren't fleshed out enough. Monkey Target, where you have to collect bananas by paragliding and then land on a target for points, is excellent but there's only one course. Monkey Wars, a first-person shooter, miraculously has the best FPS controls on Wii but only three death-match arenas. You have to wonder why they bothered.
Luckily the main game still works. I would have liked to have been able to turn the wiimote sideways in order to hold it with both hands, though. The new ability to jump makes things more interesting but it still all boils down to rolling a monkey in a ball through a maze. (Now with added boss battles!) You'd be as well picking up the original GameCube game second-hand for a fiver. The control system in that is less immediate but more accurate. The minigames are actually decent. If it turns out you really like the concept you can always buy this later.
Conclusion: More of the same but with motion-sensing. In previous Monkey Ball games, however, the minigames were a highlight. In this they actually lower the score.
Graphics: Pretty in the main game. Frequently ugly in the minigames.
Length: Short.
Rating: 2/5
Labels: computer game review, wii
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Wednesday, 21 March 2007
Call of Duty 3 (Wii)
Rated: 15Story: It's World War II. It's France. There's shooting to be done.
Gameplay: It's first-person. It's a shooter. Move with the nunchuk; look around with the wiimote. Shoot Germans. Occasionally do other things like drive a vehicle or spot targets for a tank.
Save System: Checkpoints at often random intervals.
Comments: Shovelware ahoy! I'm not a great fan of first-person shooters or World War II games so this was never going to go well but I was expecting better than this.
The controls are broken: Aiming is jittery. Button assignments feel wrong. Gratuitous motion-sensing elements such as setting charges and rowing either feel daft or fail to work. Driving the jeep is pure slapstick.
This is also the buggiest game I've played since Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness. In an hour and a half, I experienced looping dialogue, invulnerable enemies, camera issues and getting stuck on scenery. I even fell through the ground into the Twilight Zone.
The story seemed to involve lots of soldiers. I failed to care about any of them. This was lucky because the grainy graphics meant I had a hard time telling whether I was shooting enemies or allies. Not caring meant I had much less guilt shooting everyone.
Graphics: Looks like an Xbox game... if you squint a bit.
Length: Don't find out.
Rating: 2/5
Labels: computer game review, wii
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Excite Truck (Wii)
Rated: 7+Concept: Race pickup trucks around undulating off-road courses and earn stars from stunts and race position. Earn enough stars in each race of a league and unlock the next league.
Gameplay: This involves holding the wiimote in two hands (with the buttons at the top) and tilting the ends up and down to steer. The buttons are used to accelerate, boost and brake. Boosting off a ramp or hill sends the truck flying. Tilting the wiimote forwards and back controls the trucks angle when flying. Some of the power-ups on the course give extra speed, others cause the terrain ahead to morph, creating enormous ramps or drops.
Save System: Autosave after each race.
Comments: It's a wacky racing game. If you like the kind of game where you drive around at high speed with a blatant disregard for the laws of physics, then you'll like this. If you don't, you won't. The motion-sensing Wii controls don't really add anything to the experience over using a joypad. The tilt works well (particularly in the air) but using the buttons at the same time feels awkward. Trying to achieve a mid-air spin is unnecessarily complicated. The morphing looks cool but is little more than a gimmick.
This was a launch title in the States and it still has that basic feel to it. There aren't many courses and progression can be frustrating at times. There are challenges to complete as well but they don't add that much. The gameplay is fun but sometimes you're left wondering if the number of stars you gain has much to do with how well you're driving. It's like they didn't have time for tweaking but polished up a preview version, slapped some menus on it and shoved it out the door. You have to suspect Nintendo Europe realised the game wasn't that special and held it over a few months to pad out the release schedule and maybe sell a few extra copies to Wii owners desperate for new games. (Remember, folks, it's this or Barnyard. Choose wisely).
Conclusion: Excite Truck is definitely worth renting for a night or two but whether it will hold your attention longer is debatable. You might want to dust off Burnout 2 instead.
Graphics: Good but sometimes lacking in detail. Everything moves fast and smoothly.
Length: Short.
Rating: 3/5
Labels: computer game review, wii
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Monday, 19 February 2007
Rayman: Raving Rabbids (Wii)
Story: The limb-less French wonder, Rayman, has been kidnapped by psychotic rabbits while out on a picnic. He is forced into becoming a gladiator and must fight his way through an arena of wacky, rabbit-filled mini-games each day in order to win a plunger. Enough plungers and he might be able to organise an unlikely escape... (Oh, seriously, why do I bother?)Gameplay: Fifteen rounds of five mini-games. The first three games in each round are short, fairground entertainment: pump the wiimote and nunchuk up and down to milk a cow; tilt the wiimote to get a ball through a maze; move the wiimote on a horizontal plane and press A in order to whack rabbids on the head; that kind of thing. The fourth game in the round is always a rhythm game where you must help Rayman disco by drumming with the wiimote and nunchuk in time to the music. The final game is occasionally a race but usually an on-rails shooter. You must point and fire with the wiimote like a lightgun game (except in most lightgun games you're not usually firing plungers at psycho rabbits).
Save System: The game saves only after you successfully complete all the games in each round. This means that if you have to switch off for any reason you might lose twenty minutes progress. Grrr.
Comments: The Wii has had an amazingly successful launch. This is particularly astonishing considering that the major launch title was a GameCube port, the console's name is particularly unfortunate and that playing one frequently results in minor injury to pets and small children. Despite these disadvantages, Nintendo is selling the machine left, right and centre to people who, until recently, thought all games were played on an X-Station Thingy and that they still looked a bit like Pac-Man. The reason for this success is, of course, the bundled Wii Sports selection of games. Suddenly grannies can pick up a controller, flail it about and be trouncing their bemused progeny within minutes. Everyone wants a shot. Give them some bowling, a game of tennis and then follow it up with some shooting on Wii Play, and they're convinced. Everyone wants a Wii.
Christmas is over now, though. Granny's gone home, Twilight Princess is almost finished and downloadable Virtual Console games are too expensive. What are we going to play on our Wiis?
Not this.
Rayman: Raving Rabbids is fun for an hour or so but quickly becomes repetitive and frustrating. Some mini-games use the Wii functionality in a meaningful way (usually where you have to point) but others have you shaking the nunchuk for the sake of it when pressing a button would work just as well. Some, like dagger throwing, don't work and others have you wishing you could just use the analogue stick for tighter control. A few are amusing; most are teeth-grindingly annoying. You have to complete all of them to progress and there's a good chance that at some point you'll get stuck and give up. If you lack rhythm then you're particularly stuffed.
Everything gives the impression of being rushed: poor graphics, long loads, awkward navigation, annoying structure and 'whatever sticks' gameplay.
EyeToy on PlayStation had a similar initial success to Wii but then no one seemed to know what to do with it. We ended up with various collections of mini-games, and interest waned. To avoid becoming a dusty novelty, the Wii needs proper games. We have Wii Sports, Wii Play and WarioWare. Mario Party 27 can't be far away. That's enough comedy multiplayer arm-waving to last us all beyond next Christmas. Don't bother with this sub-standard effort.
Graphics: Looks like a GameCube game.
Length: Short.
Rating: 2/5
Labels: computer game review, wii
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