Nintendo Wii: First Impressions
Decidedly mixed.
The controls are nowhere near as intuitive as I had been led to believe. I spent the better part of an hour trying to catch a fish in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. I don't expect to be led by the hand through a game, but if you are going to introduce new controls, you better teach me how to use them. Worse still, the instruction book clearly lies on the appropriate method to catch a fish -- a sign that print guides are not going to be the best place to turn for future gameplay advice.
Wii Sports is equally patchy. Some of the sports felt immediately natural: I aced tennis having taken the by mail Tennis "course" from BYU. Baseball, however, is still a struggle. I have played a few games with friends, and have yet to see a single run scored. Again, a simple tutorial that identifies problems in your swing would be a useful addition. [And in the interest of journalistic objectivity, I should note that I rocked Mark's world in Boxing!]
Unexpectedly, Trauma Center - Second Opinion is the most engaging game at launch. The premise is relatively simple: using dubious surgical procedures, you excise malignant elements and suture wounds in typical stylized anime fashion. The gameplay, however, is anything but routine and it fully realizes the promise of the Nintendo Wii -- innovative controls not possible on any other system. And it is a lot of fun too.
In summary, Nintendo Wii: Not quite the immediate revolution I had hoped, but still an exciting potential.
posted by d l wright at 11/23/2006 04:53:00 PM
7 Comments:
Logan may have beaten me at boxing... and at bowling... but I totally schooled him at Tennis the first time I picked up the Wii-mote. (Three straight sets.) And notice how he didn't even mention Red Steel? Yeah, that's right. The worst launch title (by far). Totally kicked his ass.
I must say, that although I experienced the same frustrations as Logan, I took them as a sign that this is the Revolution I was hoping for.
Yes, for now there is a lot to be desired with the controls. The designed have yet to fully understand how to design natural feeling control. But when it works, it really works.
Trauma Center is the perfect example. The controls are so fluid and natural that I was able to just play. Likewise Tennis on Wii Sports just felt right. Sure, it might be shallow or limited, but it was fun. Zelda, likewise, seemed quite natural to me. I only played for five or ten minutes, but after two or three I forgot that I wasn't playing with a traditional controller.
Red Steel, on the other hand, exemplifies the problems with the Wii. This is a game that is totally worthless... and would be on any other console too. The controls are incomprehensible and unnatural. You shake the Nunchuk in arbitrary ways to throw grenades and open doors. The target/sight of your weapon jumps ineffably around the screen. And turning in a circle feels like swimming in a moving river with cement boots.
Yes... the Revolution has not yet hit your television. But we have the people in place. And it will happen soon.
Now if Nintendo would just get their shit together with the component cables...
Ben's first impressions:
It's amazing. I LOVE it.
I spent the better part of an hour trying to catch a fish...
No matter how large the strides in technology, Logan will always be a little slower than the rest of us. It took me 2 or 3 casts to figure it out. The beautiful thing about the Wii is that--much like my beloved MacBook--it's designed to be totally intuitive. When fishing, you cast by making a casting motion over your head, you bait the fish by gently moving the rod, you set the hook by yanking up on the rod once you get a bite, and you reel in the fish by making a reeling motion with the nunchuck. Brilliant!
I don't expect to be led by the hand through a game, but if you are going to introduce new controls, you better teach me how to use them.
Personally, I'd rather figure it out myself than be led through a boring ass tutorial. It's way more fun than being told how to do shit you can easily figure out on your own. I wish, for example, that there was a setting I could toggle in Zelda which bypassed all the little cut scenes that give you a hint as to where the functional elements of any given puzzle are located. Even the little “You swung too late” prompts in Wii Sports baseball seem excessive. If I shank a ball foul off to my right side, I don’t need some smart ass computer telling me I swung too late.
Worse still, the instruction book clearly lies on the appropriate method to catch a fish -- a sign that print guides are not going to be the best place to turn for future game play advice.
Am I the only one who's never once looked at the instruction book for a video game?
Wii Sports is equally patchy.
Bull shit. Bull shit times ten thousand. As far as the controls are concerned, it's even better than Zelda!
I aced tennis...
If by "aced" you mean you could beat Mark in a best of three game while you were both sitting on the couch, I’ll buy it. But did you get a gold medal in all three of the tennis training modes? I didn't think so. Can you power serve consistently? I thought not.
Baseball, however, is still a struggle. I have played a few games with friends, and have yet to see a single run scored.
It's a struggle because it's (beautifully) designed to be hard!! Despite everything I've heard about the Wii being designed for a younger audience, Wii Sports most certainly is not. The first several baseball games I played with friends ended without either team scoring a run, but after a weekend of play, we consistently had 9th inning nail biters with scores of 7 runs or more per team.
Again, a simple tutorial that identifies problems in your swing would be a useful addition.
The best part about Wii Sports, in my opinion, is the robust tutorial ("Training") section. There are three training features for each sport, and earning a gold medal on each one is exceedingly difficult. But by the time I’d earned my first gold medal in the first and easiest tennis training, I almost punched a hole in my bedroom wall because I was so frustrated with myself for botching my swing on return number 44. Unlike Perfect Dark challenge #29, it wasn’t the bullshit I-can-walk-through-walls Dark Sim that killed me in the last six tenths of a second that got my blood boiling; it was my own laziness for not following through with my swing that sent the ball flying out of bounds.
To perfect your play in each of the various Wii Sports games, you really have to pretend like you're on the court, the lane, or the field. If you don't get your racket back soon enough, you’re going to shank any well hit ball. If you perfect your tennis swing and hit each shot hard and low across the net, you have to be careful to follow through with your swing or the ball will tip the net and bounce out of bounds.
If you haven't discovered the amazing features of Wii Sports (trying to get a strike with 100 pins set up in the lane), keep playing. I promise it won't disappoint. And if you don't think the game controls are accurate or consistent, I suggest taking a tennis class on a court, not through the mail, before talking shit.
PS, who knew Logan looked like Clay Akin?
and you reel in the fish by making a reeling motion with the nunchuck
There isn't even a reel on that pole, so I don't know why you are using such excessive motions. In fact, all you have to do is hold the controller up -- not intuitive, or realistic. I have fished plenty in my life, and this was in no way a reasonable simulation. Zelda is a bad example of this, regardless, as it was originally created for the GameCube, and was only ported to the Wii late in its development cycle.
It's way more fun than being told how to do shit you can easily figure out on your own.
It is easy to claim something is intuitive, when you have no trouble figuring it out. I was working on the fish for well over an hour, trying different techniques and nothing was working successfully. That is not a good sign.
And if you don't think the game controls are accurate or consistent, I suggest taking a tennis class on a court, not through the mail, before talking shit.
The aced comment was made in jest, but I find it laughable that you consider the Wii Sports controls to be realistic, or that being good at a sport in real life translates into the virtual world.
I am also skeptical that Nintendo would ever design a console demonstration game to be hard. Part of the appeal of the system is that anyone can pick it up and play. Most casual gamers don't care or have the patience to sit through tedious tutorials if that is what is going to take to make contact with a pitch.
Kudos for the Perfect Dark memories, but the appropriate analogy would be PD's mind-numbing training exercises. Fun? Hardly.
If by "aced" you mean you could beat Mark in a best of three game while you were both sitting on the couch, I’ll buy it.
Umm... Ben, I totally kicked Logan's ass in Wii Sports Tennis.
Also I'm glad you're having so much fun with your Wii... that makes it even more meaningful knowing that you're going to box it up and send it to me as a wedding present.
I'm really touched man. :)
DRAMATIC IRONY OVERLOAD!
Dramatic irony overload, indeed.
RE: the fishing, alls I’m saying is that it looks pretty intuitive (not to mention hot) when this guy does it (and when I did it).
The Wii Sports controls are realistic despite the fact that you disagree (suck), and I’ll prove it to you when I’m home in a couple weeks. To be sure PD’s training exercises were total BS, but the Wii training games are what keep me coming back. Plus, if you can find a kid under the age of 13 who can get gold medals on each of the exercises, I’ll take you both lunch.
And props to Mark on handing Logan his hat in tennis, but you’d better keep practicing for when I come to town. It’s gunna be ON.
PPS, good luck this weekend, Mark, and congratulations again. I'm thrilled for you both, and I really, really wish I could join you. Mazel tov!
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