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Nicky Hill's Wii game impressions

by nicky hill
04 October 2006
GN 1.0 / 2.0

Back during E3, poor Nicky Hill had to spend his time taking pictures of the Wii while the rest of us played. He only got a few minutes with Wario Ware during the entire trip. That is why today I took a back seat, and let Nicky do all the playing. You can read his impressions of all the games he played below.

Okay… I hope you are sitting down for this. I have some incredible news… Well, to be honest, it’s not all that incredible. Nor is it really much news, I suppose, but after what happened at E3, I felt the need to tell the world… I actually got some significant time playing the Wii! Actually, anyone who had the guts to enter the Nintendo World Store today got to play a variety of games. It was a win win situation. I hope you don’t mind, but I kinda wanted to talk about it, now that I have finally joined a huge amount of people in the excitement of the upcoming launch day.

The first game I got to try out was WarioWare: Smooth Moves. Shortly after taking the controller into my hand, I felt it vibrating. Now this was the one game I DID get to try out at E3, but I don’t exactly recall the vibration there. Today it was definitely there. I can’t even remember why it would have vibrated, but I know I felt it sometime during that game. Anyway… The minigames I played today were different from the ones back in May and I actually got to play through a whole series instead of just a few here and there. There is a wide variety of motions for a large number of games, and you really can’t help but laugh and smile while performing them as they are asked of you during the game. I drank water too fast, but I rocked the crap out of the hula-hoop. If anyone has any doubts or questions of what the Wii is capable of, I think WarioWare is the game to really show it off. Some of the games call for big motions, and others need very small ones. And no matter how small the action is that you perform, the system registers it… Amazing.

Since bowling is one of the only physical activities that the podcast crew and myself take part in, I found myself down the row checking out Wii: Bowling. I’ll admit, I was a bit intimidated by the controls… It took a little time to get used to it, but by the eighth frame, I was bowling strikes. I even shocked the kiosk rep when I picked up quite an impossible spare on the tenth frame. The thing about the game is there are countless ways to prepare for each approach. You move side to side, on angles, and then the way you swing and release the “ball.” With a spin of your wrist, you put spin on the ball, which can be sideways or even back spin. If you release too late, the ball flies through the air and smacks onto the lane before continuing towards a collision. I tested it a bit and tried throwing down the neighboring lanes, but I failed to do so. However, I did succeed in releasing the ball behind me, throwing it back at the people watching. Again, the controller is sensitive, so the slightest twist while releasing will put a spin on the ball. But after some practice, a perfect game can definitely possible.

Staying at the same kiosk, I tried out Wii: Golf. I have NEVER played golf before except for time at a driving range or miniature golf, so I can’t really say how realistic it is. What I can say is that if I did try playing real golf, I’d probably rock the greens. Again in golf there are many ways to change your swing before even lifting the “club” but it all comes to your swing. The speed of your swing plays a HUGE part in the drive, and again I was amazed at how responsive the console was. I got to putting and hit the ball a bit too hard and it bounced right over the hole. It was very much like my Miniature golf putting days, but you’ll be glad to know I stuck with it and finally sunk the ball.

I didn’t have as much luck with Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, though. I got peer pressured into fighting the boss fight in the demo and embarrassed myself. The controls were very easy to understand after a very short introduction to them, but my main issue is the old hand eye coordination thing… I found myself watching what I was supposed to be shooting, but not really following my cursor. That’s a personal issue which I have feared since the news of the Wii controller. By the end of the demo I did have a better feel for what I was trying to accomplish, so I know that over some time of practice and training, those motions will come much more naturally. This Boss fight only really gave me the opportunity to shoot and move sideways, so I didn’t really get to try out all the other buttons. I also had people yelling at me to use my missiles and charge my arm cannon, so I got a bit flustered. I never did do well under pressure.

So overall, I was very surprised at how the games handled. Especially while playing the Sports games. I can’t remember the last time I played a sports game that was that true to the physical actions. I always knew and understood how the console was responsive, I just never knew how sensitive it really was.

Wiisponsive.