Nintendo Wii: First Five
Wii SportsFor the first time in a long time a video game console actually came packed with a video game. Just like the old days when the Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt came with the NES. Wii Sports is that game and overall it's pretty good. WiiSports breaks down to five smaller games; Baseball, Tennis, Bowling, Boxing and Golf that you play with your Mii's or little video game charactures of yourself that you make on the Wii. Each with it's own unique style of game play using the new motion sensitive WiiMote. The games are pretty fun and easy to control, although Golf does seem to be a bit to sensitive when it comes to the putting but they even offer a training area in the game to help you improve your batting or whatever else you need. Basically WiiSports I believe was really packed in with the Wii just to help you get a handle of the new control scheme but it doesn't stop it from being a great game when friends come over.
Wii Sports gets a 3 out of 5.
Wii PlayWhen I got WiiPlay I wasn't expecting to much. I had got the game as a gift and that's mostly do to the fact that an extra WiiMote comes with the game. However I was pleasantly surprised when I gave the game a chance. Like WiiSports you use you Mii's for the most part as characters in the game. But it's not just a reharsh of what you saw in WiiSports. You do have some basic in here like Billards, Table Tennis and Fishing but you also get a shooting game, a airhockey game similar to Pong and a tank game very similar to Combat on the Atari 2600. You also have the Find Mii game which has you picking a Mii or Miis with a certain characteristic out from the crowd and the cow racing game is surprising enjoyable. Although you can rank up points an earn medals for playing on your own like WiiSports the main draw in multiplayer gaming and I enjoyed these game even more than what I had gotten with WiiSports. The only draw back, is that it's 2 player only unlike WiiSports where you can have up to 4 with some of the games. Still great party game and worth checking out whether you need the extra WiiMote or not.
WiiPlay gets a 4 out of 5.
Marvel: Ultimate AllianceFollowing up with their X-Men Legends series of game Activision decided to open up the same style of game with far more character and thus Marvel: Ultimate Alliance was born. Now giving you a chance to play with such comic book icons at Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, the entire Fantastic Four as well as some returning X-Men characters like Wolverine and Storm. However one draw back is also in the character selection, sure you have great character like Spider-Man and the Thing but then there are also less popular character almost felt stuck in like Luke Cage and MoonKnight so being unfamiliar with these characters would automatically make you less likely to use them, unlike the Legends game where even a mild X-Men fan knows the character in the game. Also gone are health and energy items, they are still there but they just recharge your characters after defeating enemies of breaking boxes you can collect and store them to use later on, also as far as I can tell the shop have been completely removed as well and so even equipment is just picked up during the course of the game. One benefit is that you no longer have to spend money to revive a fallen party member, if someone dies a minute of two will pass and then they'll be back in action just not in your party and they are far fewer exraction points in this game then legends so you're gonna have to like the character your playing with cause you'll be using them for large sections of the game. Of course being on the Wii, some motion senstive actions had to be placed in the game. Waving around the Wiimote does you basic attack and holding the B button down will bring up your special moves that you can performing use a gesture. My biggest problem is the camera controls which you rotate using the nunchuck attachment, if your not paying attention and let you wrist rest during game play the camera will pretty much start spinning round your characters and start to make you sick, so just be mindful that. Overall I don't feel that this game really captured the greatest that came with the original Legends games even with all the great new character addition but they stuck to the forumla and still shipped a solid title.
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance gets a 3 out of 5.
Transformers: The GameSo a lot of time I feel like movie to video game translations get a bad rap. I don't play them to often but if I enjoyed the movie a lot of times I'll enjoy the game as well. It won't be a perfect experience but I'll enjoy it even when many of these games get terrible reviews. This was the case with Transformers: The Game, I absolutely loved the movie and figured that I would enjoy the game too, this time I should have listen to the reviews. Now most of the problems do have to deal with the fact that I'm playing it on the Wii so they may not apply to other systems but here the way I see it. First off camera control is terrible, far worse that Ultimate Alliance. You have a target on the center of the screen which you use as you cursor and to rotate the camera you move it to any side of the screen the problem with this is that once again if you don't point the WiiMote directly at the screen and let your hands rest on your lap the cursor will go straight to the top of the screen and you'll be looking up your transformers nose, there is a camera reset button so remember that cause you'll be pressing it a lot. Oh and the cursor also doubles as your targeting which you'll have to align with the enemy and then hold the button down to stay locked-on. The biggest issue is the controls by far, it's clear this wasn't meant to be played on the Wii and shouldn't have been ported. Mostly do to the fact that the up arrow on the d-pad transforms you back and forth and the down arrow is your jump in robot mode and nitro in vechile mode. So not only is your jump button completely messed up but the nitro is the opposite button that you want to press. I couldn't tell you how many times I was racing against the clock in the game and transformed back into robot mode when I wanted to hit the nitro it's gets annoying. Another problem which I think many reviews point out is the use of your weapons in the game, they actually give you both a primary and secondary fire button but the only problem is that your weapons are pretty much useless against any enemy. All except for the weakest drones are immune to the weapon fire and you need to basically just destroy them with your bare hands, so why they give you two types of firing when neither are effective is beyond me. I could maybe understand for the boss fights but when I'm fighting drones let me blow something up. As for the actual gameplay is very similar to that of a GTA, open world where you go around to a certain location to start a mission and progress the story. Makes sense for the most part being that you can transform into a vechile so you want a chance to drive around and explore but that's pretty much all you can do. There are a few mini games and you can collect energon cubes to unlock bonus features but you can't do anything outside of that and I was never to big on a GTA mission structure, screw up once and you have to start the mission all over again there's nothing you can do just play it over and over again till you get it right. So is there anything good about the game, well there are a few unlockables where you can unlock the original skins of Optimus Prime and Megatron from the cartoon series, although Megatron won't transform into a gun he'll just fly if you hit the button cause he transforms into a cybertron jet in the movie and the game. Oh and the original voice of Optimus and Megatron Peter Cullen and Frank Welker return. It's also good to see them intergrate characters like Shockwave into the game, but overall the game is just hard to play and even harder to enjoy, but the movie was still great so check it out if you haven't already.
Transformers: The Game gets a 2 out of 5.
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight PrincessIf you've been coming to this site for a while then you pretty much could see this review was coming. I have been waiting for this Zelda game ever since the first teaser trailer was shown at E3. I had gotten my Gamecube for two reason, one was Resident Evil 4 and the other was for the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Of course I never got the Gamecube version, instead I got the Wii version even before I had a Wii to play it on but I couldn't be happier either way. First off, I think it's interesting to note that the Wii version is a complete inversion of the Gamecube version, in that and all other zelda games before it Link is left handed but was actually flipped around for the Wii version since a majority of people are right handed. Overall the game controls great, you wouldn't have guess that the game was never really meant for the Wii. All of the control problem that I mentioned in the previous games are no where to be found here the controls feel right and you can beating actually swinging the sword to defeat enemies. Riding horseback is another important part of the game as the world is so vast that you need a way to get around quickly, the combat on the horse is handled incredibly as well although I would have liked a little bit more of it. One new feature in this game is the ability to transform into a wolf, which at first was not my favorite part of the game. Mostly because in this form his main attack to to jump at enemies and I found myself falling off a lot of ledges during battle but as the game progressed and I actually got control of the transformation I found I enjoyable being a wolf just as much as good old Link and in wolf form you actually cause you portal to travel and help get from one location on the map to another. Like in any Zelda game you aren't just restricted to a sword and a shield but a variety of different items, weapons and even a new outfit or two. Of course you can always buy new items from the shops and go on a variety of side quests for the people of hyrule or even just take a break from saving the day and do a little fishing. Overall when you got a great game there isn't much you have to say cause in the end the game speaks for itself and this is a great game.
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess gets a well deserved 5 out of 5.
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