My Wii Mini Review : First Impressions

[Asher]

Speaking of Metroid: http://wii.ign.com/articles/815/815424p1.html

As said many many times, give developers time.

This is probably the first review of any Wii game I've read where the reviewers didn't have gripes about the control scheme in some way shape or form.

If you're looking for that kind of super precise controls, go out and buy Metroid Prime 3. Apparently this is just the start, given the other games up for release with the same super tight controls.

This will be very interesting if this is true. As a side note, I've learned a long time ago to stop trusting IGN when it comes to Nintendo reviews/previews after the Gamecube and lots of wasted money on titles they strongly enjoyed.

I watched the trailer for MP3 on my Wii, and I'm not sure why it didn't grab me. Perhaps it was the duality of the exciting music and the mostly meandering gameplay clips that didn't mesh right, or perhaps I'm spoiled by the brilliant trailers for Bioshock and Gears of War. But my excitement for MP3 is below what it was for MP2 which was below what it was for MP(1)...and I'm not sure that's far from most people.

I think MP3 will sell pretty poorly on the Wii, compared to other "top tier" games for other systems. Too many people are buying the Wii to play bowling vs playing an oldschool-revisited game like MP3.

 

[wco81]

Well part of the Wii's success is due to the missteps of Sony and MS, mainly in the pricing.

There was backlash to the prices and here was Nintendo with a product which played into that backlash. For now, better graphics isn't worth the high prices so Nintendo has "good enough" graphics for many and the new controller differentiates it.

But that's not to say the Wii control scheme represents some paradigm shift.

OTOH, if Wii game sales outpace PS2, then that is an indication that the Wii is pulling off users from the last-gen towards it than the other consoles. The other part of the equation is that the Wii is supposedly drawing people who've never gamed previously or people who used to game but gave it up a long time ago due to family, work and not having kept up with gaming through the years.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Yeah that must be why a game 2 year old game, released for the forth time already sold 400k or so on wii. If its a quality title it will sell.

As far as IGN and you go, maybe the games isnt bad, but you just dont like the game? Plenty of people who dont like mario, but that doesnt make it a bad game.

 

[_xxx_]

I think MP3 will sell pretty poorly on the Wii, compared to other "top tier" games for other systems. Too many people are buying the Wii to play bowling vs playing an oldschool-revisited game like MP3.

RE4 sales speak a different language.

And at least one copy of MP3 is already ordered

 

[Asher]

As far as IGN and you go, maybe the games isnt bad, but you just dont like the game? Plenty of people who dont like mario, but that doesnt make it a bad game.

I love Mario. I love Nintendo games, in general, up until the Gamecube days. The odd game like Zelda: Twilight princess (but NOT Wind Waker) are still very good.

The problem was a lot of the games Nintendo have been putting out lately are not like their classic game. Super Mario Sunshine was just bad, from many angles: graphics, control scheme, plot (what plot?), polish (do you recall the horribly pixelated, horribly voiced intro movie?), and ridiculously boring and repetitive game design. It still got raving reviews, but it didn't deserve them. It'd be a 7.x game at most. It's not a bad game, it's just very much overrated -- and IGN is one of the worst offenders.

The problem I think is the people who think Super Mario Sunshine is a "great" game are people who are nostalgic. They're not really reviewing the game for what it is.

RE4 sales speak a different language.

And at least one copy of MP3 is already ordered

Do RE4 sales compete with Gears of War? That's what I'm talking about...I think MP3 will sell significantly less than Bioshock, Gears of War, Halo 3, GTA4, etc. Also, RE4:Wii came at a reduced price point as well.

 

[Scott_Arm]

This will be very interesting if this is true. As a side note, I've learned a long time ago to stop trusting IGN when it comes to Nintendo reviews/previews after the Gamecube and lots of wasted money on titles they strongly enjoyed.

I watched the trailer for MP3 on my Wii, and I'm not sure why it didn't grab me. Perhaps it was the duality of the exciting music and the mostly meandering gameplay clips that didn't mesh right, or perhaps I'm spoiled by the brilliant trailers for Bioshock and Gears of War. But my excitement for MP3 is below what it was for MP2 which was below what it was for MP(1)...and I'm not sure that's far from most people.

I think MP3 will sell pretty poorly on the Wii, compared to other "top tier" games for other systems. Too many people are buying the Wii to play bowling vs playing an oldschool-revisited game like MP3.

1UP gave it a great review and a 9.0 and gametrailers gave it a 9.6. I think the reviews will be resoundingly positive.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Do RE4 sales compete with Gears of War? That's what I'm talking about...I think MP3 will sell significantly less than Bioshock, Gears of War, Halo 3, GTA4, etc. Also, RE4:Wii came at a reduced price point as well.

Like I said, RE4 is already a couple of years old and has been released on GC, ps2 and PC before it was released on Wii and it still selling and sold over 400k already which imo shows that Wii owners are more than happy to buy these kind of games. Ofcourse GoW sells more than RE4, but GoW is a new game with alot of hype, alot of time spend on making the game and good new quality. It would be very bad if that sold worse than a 2 year old game released for the 4th time.

If mp3 will sell like GoW? I dont know. Given the reviews quality isnt the problem but nintendo will need to do some marketing and hyping probably if they really want to sell multi millions.

 

[Teasy]

Wii sports is still a blast with friends, though basically all you do is wildly swing--there's no real strategy or skill.

You and you're friend could buy Fight Night on XBox360 and both just wildly hammer buttons if you want. That doesn't mean Fight Night is a no skill game, the same things fits any other game of that ilk. In other words you and you're mate being bad at various Wii Sports games doesn't make Wii Sports crap.

It took me about 20 minutes to figure Wii Boxing out so that I could then hit the punches I wanted and block how I wanted. Once you have that you can have a pretty good fight. Its not perfect by a long way, but saying its just about wildly swinging, well those are the words of someone who doesn't know how to play the game..

Obviously I assume you mean Wii Boxing, if you think that Wii Bowling is about wildly swinging you're arms then I don't know what to say to you

 

[dlm]

1UP gave it a great review and a 9.0 and gametrailers gave it a 9.6. I think the reviews will be resoundingly positive.

At least two 1Up editors also said that the control scheme in Metroid Prime 3 is NOT intuitive and that it took them literally hours to get used to it.

Doesn't sound like the sort of intuitive, pick up and play control that Nintendo promised to me.

IGN US is about as credible as Something Awful. Their editors are rabid Nintendo fanboys and they love to hate on everything else.

 

[Scott_Arm]

At least two 1Up editors also said that the control scheme in Metroid Prime 3 is NOT intuitive and that it took them literally hours to get used to it.

Doesn't sound like the sort of intuitive, pick up and play control that Nintendo promised to me.

IGN US is about as credible as Something Awful. Their editors are rabid Nintendo fanboys and they love to hate on everything else.

From the 1UP review:

"Confused? Don't worry, it probably won't click until you try it yourself, and even then, the first couple hours are disorienting. But given time (and a couple menu tweaks -- the "advanced" sensitivity option helps a lot), frustration melts into appreciation for what this new setup makes possible: kick-ass combat."

"On the whole, Corruption takes advantage of the Wii's biggest strength (with its unique controls), and minimizes its greatest weakness (through astounding art direction), while otherwise maintaining or improving upon the high standards and overall polish the series is known for. No predictions for six years down the road this time, just one for this fall: load a fresh pair of batteries into the controller, dust off the Wii, and surrender a week of your life to Corruption -- you won't be sorry."

Sounds like the learning curve is worth it, from their experience. Mouse and keyboard is in my opinion still the best way to play shooters, but the learning curve is HUGE. Gamepads to me, are still awkward for shooters, because I don't play them that much. The wiimote is the same. It doesn't mean it's bad. People are being asked to change years of gaming habits, and I don't think that's a bad thing as long as the end result is positive.

 

[dlm]

From the 1UP review:

"Confused? Don't worry, it probably won't click until you try it yourself, and even then, the first couple hours are disorienting. But given time (and a couple menu tweaks -- the "advanced" sensitivity option helps a lot), frustration melts into appreciation for what this new setup makes possible: kick-ass combat."

"On the whole, Corruption takes advantage of the Wii's biggest strength (with its unique controls), and minimizes its greatest weakness (through astounding art direction), while otherwise maintaining or improving upon the high standards and overall polish the series is known for. No predictions for six years down the road this time, just one for this fall: load a fresh pair of batteries into the controller, dust off the Wii, and surrender a week of your life to Corruption -- you won't be sorry."

Sounds like the learning curve is worth it, from their experience. Mouse and keyboard is in my opinion still the best way to play shooters, but the learning curve is HUGE. Gamepads to me, are still awkward for shooters, because I don't play them that much. The wiimote is the same. It doesn't mean it's bad. People are being asked to change years of gaming habits, and I don't think that's a bad thing as long as the end result is positive.

The vast majority of people are unwilling to deal with a 2+ hour learning curve to control a game. If they did, then nobody would be whining about using dual analog to control a shooter (I've never known anyone who spent two hours with one not to be reasonable with that scheme).

And this is 2+ hours to learn it for people who have been playing the Wii constantly for months. How are these casuals that this is supposed to pull in supposed to have any prayer at this?

There's no other conclusion to be drawn than that Wii controls for an FPS are NOT the intuitive pick-up-and-play thing that Nintendo has advertised. Period.

 

[Scott_Arm]

The vast majority of people are unwilling to deal with a 2+ hour learning curve to control a game. If they did, then nobody would be whining about using dual analog to control a shooter (I've never known anyone who spent two hours with one not to be reasonable with that scheme).

And this is 2+ hours to learn it for people who have been playing the Wii constantly for months. How are these casuals that this is supposed to pull in supposed to have any prayer at this?

There's no other conclusion to be drawn than that Wii controls for an FPS are NOT the intuitive pick-up-and-play thing that Nintendo has advertised. Period.

I think you're massively overreacting and reaching on this one. Sure, it might be a bit weird at first, but I doubt they mean completely unplayable. If it was that bad, they wouldn't have scored the game a 9/10. Gametrailers says it delivers in every way Wii owners want it to. IGN is glowing.

Stop trying so hard to find fault with a game you haven't even played. The few reviews that are out are good. If reviews start pouring in saying the control sucks, and the consumers agree, we can make an issue of it then.

My understanding, from reading IGN, 1up and watching the review on gametrailers is that this game delivers in a big way, and the controls work fantastically after a short learning curve.

 

[dlm]

I think you're massively overreacting and reaching on this one. Sure, it might be a bit weird at first, but I doubt they mean completely unplayable. If it was that bad, they wouldn't have scored the game a 9/10. Gametrailers says it delivers in every way Wii owners want it to. IGN is glowing.

Stop trying so hard to find fault with a game you haven't even played. The few reviews that are out are good. If reviews start pouring in saying the control sucks, and the consumers agree, we can make an issue of it then.

My understanding, from reading IGN, 1up and watching the review on gametrailers is that this game delivers in a big way, and the controls work fantastically after a short learning curve.

You're putting words in my mouth.

First of all, I never said the game was bad. I never made any comment whatsoever as to the quality of the game. I do not take kindly to straw man arguments.

Secondly, I also did not say that the controls were bad. See previous paragraph.

Third, a 2 hour learning curve, by most people's standards, is not short. And by that standard, the control scheme is *not* an easy-to-pick-up control method for FPS. In fact, I would advance the idea that *any* game that requires the simultaneous manipulation of camera and character will *always* have a significant learning curve, regardless of the mechanism used to control it.

The point is very simple. Regardless of the eventual quality or the control scheme for MP3 or the quality of the game, at a 2+ hour learning curve, it does not represent a significant advantage in learning time over dual analog, and thus unlikely to make the FPS genre more attractive to those who are not already reasonably hardcore gamers, or already familiar with having to control two reference points simultaneously.

 

[Zaphod]

And this is 2+ hours to learn it for people who have been playing the Wii constantly for months. How are these casuals that this is supposed to pull in supposed to have any prayer at this?

Might very well be that they'll have an easier time, not having been as conditioned to the gamepad/analogue stick or mouse/keyboard paradigms of control for FPS gaming as these 'pro players'.

 

[dlm]

Might very well be that they'll have an easier time, not having been as conditioned to the gamepad/analogue stick or mouse/keyboard paradigms of control for FPS gaming as these 'pro players'.

I'd be more inclined to believe that if these weren't people who have already played FPS's on the Wii, and are thus highly likely to be familiar with the basics.

 

[Natoma]

I'd be more inclined to believe that if these weren't people who have already played FPS's on the Wii, and are thus highly likely to be familiar with the basics.

No FPS on the Wii has used the Metroid control scheme. Prior to this it's been the Red Steel paradigm, i.e. drag the wii-mote to the side of the screen to turn, and so forth and so on.

Once they adjusted, they said it was by far the best control scheme.

 

[fearsomepirate]

2+ hours sounds like gross exaggeration to me. I acclimated to Turok 2's laggy, weird controls faster than that, and there's no way that these could be harder. Come to think of it, I doubt these could be much harder than Descent or the original Prime, either. Also, 2+ hours to figure out and 2+ hours to master are different things.

 

[Scott_Arm]

You're putting words in my mouth.

First of all, I never said the game was bad. I never made any comment whatsoever as to the quality of the game. I do not take kindly to straw man arguments.

Secondly, I also did not say that the controls were bad. See previous paragraph.

Third, a 2 hour learning curve, by most people's standards, is not short. And by that standard, the control scheme is *not* an easy-to-pick-up control method for FPS. In fact, I would advance the idea that *any* game that requires the simultaneous manipulation of camera and character will *always* have a significant learning curve, regardless of the mechanism used to control it.

The point is very simple. Regardless of the eventual quality or the control scheme for MP3 or the quality of the game, at a 2+ hour learning curve, it does not represent a significant advantage in learning time over dual analog, and thus unlikely to make the FPS genre more attractive to those who are not already reasonably hardcore gamers, or already familiar with having to control two reference points simultaneously.

I know you never said the game or the controls were bad. I was just pointing out that 1UP gave the game a 9/10, so they obviously didn't have any serious issues with the control. I'm sure they had some issues, but nothing that would destroy the experience.

As for you second point, who really cares? I totally agree; The only people that want to spend 20 hours of their life playing Metroid Prime 3 are probably people that are really into video games anyway. For those those people the only thing that really matters is whether the payoff is big enough to justify the learning curve, and it sounds like it is. Grandma isn't gonna be playing MP3, even if she could control it with her mind. This is a game aimed strictly at the "traditional" gamer.

I mean, why call out Nintendo on broken promises when you know that simultaneous control of two reference points is going to be difficult, no matter what the input method? There's a reality that there's a certain hand-eye coordination we all have to adjust to when playing 3D games.

 

[dlm]

I know you never said the game or the controls were bad. I was just pointing out that 1UP gave the game a 9/10, so they obviously didn't have any serious issues with the control. I'm sure they had some issues, but nothing that would destroy the experience.

As for you second point, who really cares? I totally agree; The only people that want to spend 20 hours of their life playing Metroid Prime 3 are probably people that are really into video games anyway. For those those people the only thing that really matters is whether the payoff is big enough to justify the learning curve, and it sounds like it is. Grandma isn't gonna be playing MP3, even if she could control it with her mind. This is a game aimed strictly at the "traditional" gamer.

I mean, why call out Nintendo on broken promises when you know that simultaneous control of two reference points is going to be difficult, no matter what the input method? There's a reality that there's a certain hand-eye coordination we all have to adjust to when playing 3D games.

Sounds like we're pretty much in agreement as to the original point that launched this little exchange.

As for the last bit, just because a lie is an obvious lie, it doesn't mean that people won't believe it. There's no shortage of Nintendo apologists even on this forum who will happily parrot Nintendo's claims that casuals are going to suddenly because expert FPS players. I think it's fair to call out when something is not as it is advertised to be.

Nintendo has made many extremely bold claims about the Wii Remote that have so far not come to pass.

 

[fearsomepirate]

As for the last bit, just because a lie is an obvious lie, it doesn't mean that people won't believe it. There's no shortage of Nintendo apologists even on this forum who will happily parrot Nintendo's claims that casuals are going to suddenly [become] expert FPS players.

Who here expected Wii to make FPSes so easy that Grandma could play them like a pro on the first try? When did Nintendo claim anything other than that Prime 3 was for traditional gamers, or say that it was going to turn "casual gamers" (formerly defined as people who mainly played FPS and sports games, now defined as people who mainly play Mario Party and Wii Sports) into "expert FPS players?" I think the only "lies" are the ones you created in your own head and attributed to Nintendo.