Wii Impressions - Part 2
For today's post, I'll hit on the packaging / setup of the system, and Nintendo's "flagship" game: Wii Sports. Still to come: Excite Truck, Rayman and Zelda. Before I get started though, I should really point something out... I am a bit of a Nintendo fan boy. I'll do my best, and I'd love to claim that my reviews will be completely objective and unbiased, but I really can't give you any guarantees. (Isn't it part of the nature of bias that you can't recognize it in action?)
Setup
When I got home Sunday morning I was pretty pumped. I took my time though, savoring the anticipation of opening the Wii's box: put things in the fridge, ordered some pizza (neither Rohan or I had eaten yet) and even did a small bit of tidying up. Then it was go time.
Setup was simple. Very little to plug in, easy to place, things worked out of the box. You know, the way you'd expect things to be. I didn't use the sticky tape for the sensor bar... I've got a nice lip at the top of my screen where it fit perfectly. My center speaker (actually on top of the TV) presses down on the cord to prevent movements beyond the speaker from disturbing the bar. (I hate sticky tape on things like this: what happens if I buy a new TV, or need to move and don't want the bar on top while the TV is shipping etc.)
The only other thing I didn't like (besides sticky tape) about the setup was the packaging. Don't get me wrong: it was done well, and certainly in a way that prevents damage to the components. However I wish that we'd come up with a better way to package things without so much material. By the time I was done unwrapping (and it really was 'unwrapping') the console and all of its components, it looked like a dump in my freshly tidied living room. There was foam and plastic bags all over the place. :/
Once through unwrapping everything and plugging it all in, it was time to sync up the second controller I'd bought and get playing. Synchronizing the controller was very simple: press a button on the controller, press a button on the console, finished. I suspect things are about the same with any of this gen's consoles though. The controllers feel very good in your hand. Even with semi-large hands, I found that they fit very well.
The system menus are very well written from a UI perspective. I really like the navigation cues they've put in, and that everything is point (pun intended) and click. Without some screen shots and some detailed descriptions that will take me far too much time to put together, I've really got no clear evidence to back up the claim. You'll just have to take my word on it. The UI is very clean.
I don't know much about the internet setup. I don't have wireless or a USB hub and there are no open wireless networks up around my apartment. From what a friend tells me, its very straight forward though. *shrug* Given my experience with the rest of the console, I have no reason to disbelieve him.
About the remote (controller) pickup... I spent some time experimenting with positions around the apartment. The range is pretty good. There's one spot on my love seat where the angle is a bit too oblique for it to pick up properly, however, in general its very good.
Wii Sports
Given that this one came in the box, I figured I should review it first. (It was even the first game we tossed into the system.) Wii Sports is a simple little game, consisting of five sport simulation games: Tennis, Baseball, Bowling, Golf and Boxing. Like the console's system menus, the menus in this game are very well put together. I'm not a big fan of having to change handedness for every single sport individually when you choose your character (there should be an "all left" or "all right" button to make things faster), but otherwise its very well done.
Most people I've talked to haven't realized this yet, so I'll include it here: for any game where you take turns, it is possible to play with more players than you have controllers (bowling / golf). It'll hotseat switch players. Very nice.
Tennis
We've had a few very intense games of tennis at my place already... sometimes the game misses a stroke or missinterprets a motion, but its very forgivable. The game controls your characters movement for you. All you need to do is swing: toss the ball up, do an overhand smash, backhand, forehand, lob, slice, put spin on the ball, etc. (I'm not a tenis player, so I really don't know the correct terms, sorry.)
Baseball
The baseball feels awesome. The game is three innings long. You can only play two players: a pitcher and a batter. Fielding / running is all handled automatically for you. My only problem is that I seem to be about as good at reading the ball in this game as I am in real life. I can either swing and hope for the best, or delay the swing long enough to read ball vs strike, and swing late ending up with a foul ball. We've had a lot of very low scoring (1-0, 0-0) games.
The best part about baseball though is what happens if one player manages to get a huge lead. I somehow started connecting on Sunday night and ended up scoring 5 runs making it 5-0 in the second inning. Suddenly the game stops with a huge message across the screen: "MERCY RULE". *rofl*
Bowling
Probably the best feeling of all the games. Just the slightest turn of your wrist as you toss the ball is enough to put some spin on it and mess up your ideally straight shot. Of course once you learn that, you spin on purpose, sending your ball across the entire lane and curving back in. I got my very first bowling turkey last night by doing that! Again, one issue with this sport: the character on the screen doesn't mimic your motions very well. If you learn to move with him at the same speed, it looks fine, but if you go slower, you end up with a guy standing at the line and suddenly a ball being launched. Looks a bit odd, but still feels awesome.
Golf
It sucks when you decide to pull a 'Tin Cup' and blow your lead on the 9th hole... yes, I did that last night too. Had to have something crappy to oppose my Turkey! The strange part about the golf is that it picks up forward motion as the start of a swing, so it is possible (if you're lazy with your movements) to get the game totally out of sync. Again, its forgivable though: its just that much fun to play.
Boxing
This is my least favorite of the sports. You get a workout doing it, but it really isn't a lot like real boxing. None of us have been able to figure out how to consistantly throw hooks and uppercuts... they just seem to happen randomly. Its fun, but it just isn't close enough to the real thing to feel good to me.
So overall? I rank the console pretty high. I love the way they've put it together, the small touches in their ui, and how much fun it is to play. Wii sports is definately a good party game and will probably see a fair bit of action over the years. Heck, I might even be able to convince my father (computer/gaming illiterate) to play golf this Friday (we'll see).
Setup
When I got home Sunday morning I was pretty pumped. I took my time though, savoring the anticipation of opening the Wii's box: put things in the fridge, ordered some pizza (neither Rohan or I had eaten yet) and even did a small bit of tidying up. Then it was go time.
Setup was simple. Very little to plug in, easy to place, things worked out of the box. You know, the way you'd expect things to be. I didn't use the sticky tape for the sensor bar... I've got a nice lip at the top of my screen where it fit perfectly. My center speaker (actually on top of the TV) presses down on the cord to prevent movements beyond the speaker from disturbing the bar. (I hate sticky tape on things like this: what happens if I buy a new TV, or need to move and don't want the bar on top while the TV is shipping etc.)
The only other thing I didn't like (besides sticky tape) about the setup was the packaging. Don't get me wrong: it was done well, and certainly in a way that prevents damage to the components. However I wish that we'd come up with a better way to package things without so much material. By the time I was done unwrapping (and it really was 'unwrapping') the console and all of its components, it looked like a dump in my freshly tidied living room. There was foam and plastic bags all over the place. :/
Once through unwrapping everything and plugging it all in, it was time to sync up the second controller I'd bought and get playing. Synchronizing the controller was very simple: press a button on the controller, press a button on the console, finished. I suspect things are about the same with any of this gen's consoles though. The controllers feel very good in your hand. Even with semi-large hands, I found that they fit very well.
The system menus are very well written from a UI perspective. I really like the navigation cues they've put in, and that everything is point (pun intended) and click. Without some screen shots and some detailed descriptions that will take me far too much time to put together, I've really got no clear evidence to back up the claim. You'll just have to take my word on it. The UI is very clean.
I don't know much about the internet setup. I don't have wireless or a USB hub and there are no open wireless networks up around my apartment. From what a friend tells me, its very straight forward though. *shrug* Given my experience with the rest of the console, I have no reason to disbelieve him.
About the remote (controller) pickup... I spent some time experimenting with positions around the apartment. The range is pretty good. There's one spot on my love seat where the angle is a bit too oblique for it to pick up properly, however, in general its very good.
Wii Sports
Given that this one came in the box, I figured I should review it first. (It was even the first game we tossed into the system.) Wii Sports is a simple little game, consisting of five sport simulation games: Tennis, Baseball, Bowling, Golf and Boxing. Like the console's system menus, the menus in this game are very well put together. I'm not a big fan of having to change handedness for every single sport individually when you choose your character (there should be an "all left" or "all right" button to make things faster), but otherwise its very well done.
Most people I've talked to haven't realized this yet, so I'll include it here: for any game where you take turns, it is possible to play with more players than you have controllers (bowling / golf). It'll hotseat switch players. Very nice.
Tennis
We've had a few very intense games of tennis at my place already... sometimes the game misses a stroke or missinterprets a motion, but its very forgivable. The game controls your characters movement for you. All you need to do is swing: toss the ball up, do an overhand smash, backhand, forehand, lob, slice, put spin on the ball, etc. (I'm not a tenis player, so I really don't know the correct terms, sorry.)
Baseball
The baseball feels awesome. The game is three innings long. You can only play two players: a pitcher and a batter. Fielding / running is all handled automatically for you. My only problem is that I seem to be about as good at reading the ball in this game as I am in real life. I can either swing and hope for the best, or delay the swing long enough to read ball vs strike, and swing late ending up with a foul ball. We've had a lot of very low scoring (1-0, 0-0) games.
The best part about baseball though is what happens if one player manages to get a huge lead. I somehow started connecting on Sunday night and ended up scoring 5 runs making it 5-0 in the second inning. Suddenly the game stops with a huge message across the screen: "MERCY RULE". *rofl*
Bowling
Probably the best feeling of all the games. Just the slightest turn of your wrist as you toss the ball is enough to put some spin on it and mess up your ideally straight shot. Of course once you learn that, you spin on purpose, sending your ball across the entire lane and curving back in. I got my very first bowling turkey last night by doing that! Again, one issue with this sport: the character on the screen doesn't mimic your motions very well. If you learn to move with him at the same speed, it looks fine, but if you go slower, you end up with a guy standing at the line and suddenly a ball being launched. Looks a bit odd, but still feels awesome.
Golf
It sucks when you decide to pull a 'Tin Cup' and blow your lead on the 9th hole... yes, I did that last night too. Had to have something crappy to oppose my Turkey! The strange part about the golf is that it picks up forward motion as the start of a swing, so it is possible (if you're lazy with your movements) to get the game totally out of sync. Again, its forgivable though: its just that much fun to play.
Boxing
This is my least favorite of the sports. You get a workout doing it, but it really isn't a lot like real boxing. None of us have been able to figure out how to consistantly throw hooks and uppercuts... they just seem to happen randomly. Its fun, but it just isn't close enough to the real thing to feel good to me.
So overall? I rank the console pretty high. I love the way they've put it together, the small touches in their ui, and how much fun it is to play. Wii sports is definately a good party game and will probably see a fair bit of action over the years. Heck, I might even be able to convince my father (computer/gaming illiterate) to play golf this Friday (we'll see).