After seeing many kiosks with a Wii, but no Wiimote, I began to worry that Nintendo was really trying to dupe everyone. Why no controls? They might have been easily stolen I'm guessing. And it's true. Today, I was at a mall and there was a Wii kiosk with 2 Wii assistants and 6 working Wiis on Hi-def monitors, although I doubt they were using component cables. And the Wiimote was there for people to enjoy hooked up to the Wii display case by a thin thread wire. And it was easily breakable as one boy did, while swinging a tennis racket. LOL.
I decided to try the Wii. I tried the games that interested me: Zelda: TP, Wii Sports: Tennis, and Excite Truck. I spent about 15 minutes with each game to get an overall impression about how the controls feel. Were they intuitive? Were they revolutionary? Did they work properly? Those are the questions that I had in my head. But before I go into the games I just want to make a few comments about the Wiimote and the graphics.
Wiimote
The Wiimote and nunchuk felt super comfortable in my hands. The analog stick wasn't awkward to use at all. The Wiimote was tiny and lightweight. With the Wiimote, you mostly worried about two buttons, the A and the B button. The B button pissed me off, because it isn't properly labeled, so when it asked me to start the game by pressing the A + B buttons, I spent a few seconds looking for it. The D-pad is used nicely as well, as in Zelda, it is used as the C was used in the N64. Although it's a bit out of the way, it's not a bad solution. Unless a possible emergency situation occurs where you have to use it, only then, it may be difficult. They also asked me to press the 1 and 2 button occasionally which are located at the bottom of the controller, but since those aren't the main buttons, I don't think it will matter too much. However its still ashame you can't get all the buttons in your hands, so you wouldn't have to look at the controller. The Wiimote was generally responsive enough. Sometimes, such as in Excite Truck, it didn't acknowledge my motions. But overall, in the other games, it was responsive enough. And let's not forget the rumble function. Kudos for Nintendo to include the rumble function as it worked nicely and was a good addition. The lack of it, would have hurt the controller's potential.
Graphics
I was disappointed with the graphics. But not so much with the detail and the special effects, but with the aliasing that was everywhere. That annoyed the crap out of me. If they would have just bumped up the resolution to at least 720p, that would have made everything better. Adding some 2xAA wouldn't have been a bad idea either. I could've lived happily with that. But as the graphics stand, they get the job done, but it's not very pretty to look at.
Zelda: Twilight Princess
I played a demo, obviously, but Nintendo didn't even want you to finish it, since they timed it. This was probably done in order to force the player into give other people a chance to experience the Wii as well. The dungeon they chose for the demo wasn't too exciting. It was more like a training level in order to get you used to the controls, and there was some fighting and some puzzles, but the puzzles lasted longer than the fighting. The Wiimote on this Wii was very sensitive so it was very difficult to aim using the bow and arrow, and the boomerang. The controls in this game weren't intuitive, nor particularly exciting, but just different. The camera gave me problems as it did and didn't follow link, so I had to keep pressing the Z button. I remember doing it in previous Zelda games fine, but it seemed really annoying to do so in this game. Maybe it was the level that was just so complicated. I really felt like I wanted the Wiimote to direct where I was looking and it was annoying that I couldn't do that. Swinging the sword was done with a quick flick of the wrist. And quick it must be, or else he won't do squat. Fighting multiple baddies was easy, especially if you keep flicking your wrist side to side. In the end, I died because this guy above me, but not on the screen, shot me full of arrows. I couldn't lock on to shoot him with an arrow. I tried to manually aim with the controller, but the sensitivity kept me from aiming properly. That pissed me off. I felt that if I had a gamepad, it would have been different.
Wii Sports: Tennis
This was an interesting game. You flicked your wrist and the character swung the racket. But it was immersive. It felt like every time I flicked my wrist, that I slowly went into a tennis position towards really swinging. It felt that I played better when near proper form. It seemed like it would be a lot of fun with other people. My only disappointment is that I wish the nunchuk would be able to hook up so that I could control the character as well. I think that it would be more of a challenge that way.
Excite Truck
Excite Truck is and arcade truck game. You play with just the Wiimote, by turning it sideways and using it as a steering... pad. There was a little delay at times, but then again. I was on a snow level and the physics have to be taken into account. But I still think that some of the delay and some of the motions it didn't sense may be from the game. Or maybe it was because I couldn't sense the turning limits of the car. I was so focused on controlling the truck's steering that I forgot that I had the truck at full throttle. It would've helped to ease up on it. It was difficult to control; I'm not a big fan of analog steering. I always like to use the D-pad. But with a little more practice, I think I might of been able to do something with the Wiimote.
Conclusion
The Wii is an interesting console, that with the proper application, can be very fun to play with. My experience with the Wii has furthered my belief in the specificness of the controller. While playing games that were not specifically made for the Wii, the controller isn't more fun to use than a standard gamepad. It just feels different, and a little less intuitive. While games made specifically for the Wii, such as Wii Sports, are excellent games that showcase the Wii's potential.
At this time, I don't think the Wii is worth getting. But I do think it has potential. And when that potential shows itself, it should be one wild ride.
I decided to try the Wii. I tried the games that interested me: Zelda: TP, Wii Sports: Tennis, and Excite Truck. I spent about 15 minutes with each game to get an overall impression about how the controls feel. Were they intuitive? Were they revolutionary? Did they work properly? Those are the questions that I had in my head. But before I go into the games I just want to make a few comments about the Wiimote and the graphics.
Wiimote
The Wiimote and nunchuk felt super comfortable in my hands. The analog stick wasn't awkward to use at all. The Wiimote was tiny and lightweight. With the Wiimote, you mostly worried about two buttons, the A and the B button. The B button pissed me off, because it isn't properly labeled, so when it asked me to start the game by pressing the A + B buttons, I spent a few seconds looking for it. The D-pad is used nicely as well, as in Zelda, it is used as the C was used in the N64. Although it's a bit out of the way, it's not a bad solution. Unless a possible emergency situation occurs where you have to use it, only then, it may be difficult. They also asked me to press the 1 and 2 button occasionally which are located at the bottom of the controller, but since those aren't the main buttons, I don't think it will matter too much. However its still ashame you can't get all the buttons in your hands, so you wouldn't have to look at the controller. The Wiimote was generally responsive enough. Sometimes, such as in Excite Truck, it didn't acknowledge my motions. But overall, in the other games, it was responsive enough. And let's not forget the rumble function. Kudos for Nintendo to include the rumble function as it worked nicely and was a good addition. The lack of it, would have hurt the controller's potential.
Graphics
I was disappointed with the graphics. But not so much with the detail and the special effects, but with the aliasing that was everywhere. That annoyed the crap out of me. If they would have just bumped up the resolution to at least 720p, that would have made everything better. Adding some 2xAA wouldn't have been a bad idea either. I could've lived happily with that. But as the graphics stand, they get the job done, but it's not very pretty to look at.
Zelda: Twilight Princess
I played a demo, obviously, but Nintendo didn't even want you to finish it, since they timed it. This was probably done in order to force the player into give other people a chance to experience the Wii as well. The dungeon they chose for the demo wasn't too exciting. It was more like a training level in order to get you used to the controls, and there was some fighting and some puzzles, but the puzzles lasted longer than the fighting. The Wiimote on this Wii was very sensitive so it was very difficult to aim using the bow and arrow, and the boomerang. The controls in this game weren't intuitive, nor particularly exciting, but just different. The camera gave me problems as it did and didn't follow link, so I had to keep pressing the Z button. I remember doing it in previous Zelda games fine, but it seemed really annoying to do so in this game. Maybe it was the level that was just so complicated. I really felt like I wanted the Wiimote to direct where I was looking and it was annoying that I couldn't do that. Swinging the sword was done with a quick flick of the wrist. And quick it must be, or else he won't do squat. Fighting multiple baddies was easy, especially if you keep flicking your wrist side to side. In the end, I died because this guy above me, but not on the screen, shot me full of arrows. I couldn't lock on to shoot him with an arrow. I tried to manually aim with the controller, but the sensitivity kept me from aiming properly. That pissed me off. I felt that if I had a gamepad, it would have been different.
Wii Sports: Tennis
This was an interesting game. You flicked your wrist and the character swung the racket. But it was immersive. It felt like every time I flicked my wrist, that I slowly went into a tennis position towards really swinging. It felt that I played better when near proper form. It seemed like it would be a lot of fun with other people. My only disappointment is that I wish the nunchuk would be able to hook up so that I could control the character as well. I think that it would be more of a challenge that way.
Excite Truck
Excite Truck is and arcade truck game. You play with just the Wiimote, by turning it sideways and using it as a steering... pad. There was a little delay at times, but then again. I was on a snow level and the physics have to be taken into account. But I still think that some of the delay and some of the motions it didn't sense may be from the game. Or maybe it was because I couldn't sense the turning limits of the car. I was so focused on controlling the truck's steering that I forgot that I had the truck at full throttle. It would've helped to ease up on it. It was difficult to control; I'm not a big fan of analog steering. I always like to use the D-pad. But with a little more practice, I think I might of been able to do something with the Wiimote.
Conclusion
The Wii is an interesting console, that with the proper application, can be very fun to play with. My experience with the Wii has furthered my belief in the specificness of the controller. While playing games that were not specifically made for the Wii, the controller isn't more fun to use than a standard gamepad. It just feels different, and a little less intuitive. While games made specifically for the Wii, such as Wii Sports, are excellent games that showcase the Wii's potential.
At this time, I don't think the Wii is worth getting. But I do think it has potential. And when that potential shows itself, it should be one wild ride.
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