Thrii Wii games micro-reviewed

Them last couple of months have been deeply and irreversibly influenced by Nintendo's quirky Wii console; the first current-gen console I have ever (ever) owned. Also, the first console/PC/handheld/whatever that made me buy not one but two whole games for 60 euros each, which -let's face it- might be a wise move from a gnome's liver point of view, but economically proved to be quite the disaster. Anyway, financial woes aside, what follows is a nice compact post swiftly micro-reviewing said games along with Wii Sports, the game only the Japanese are unfairly made to pay for...

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Ahh, yes. Let's start off with the big one. The game everybody loves and praises, allegedly even people (or gnomes) that don't care much for Zelda. The Wii killer-app. The game that scored an impressive 95% over @ metacritic. Well, did I like it? Of course I did. The scope is truly epic, the art direction just fantastic, the gameplay varied, the story interesting and the controls much better than expected. Did I absolutely love it and declare it the best game evah!!1!, then? Uhm, no, not quite, even though I've spent less than 25 hours playing it and my judgement is far from final. Still, due to some weird reason, perhaps even due to severe lack of time, I haven't really gotten into the game. It still feels sort of consoley. But, please, don't get me wrong. I do see the sheer brilliance of the thing and did definitely enjoy many of the puzzles and set pieces. It's just, well, it's... it's just not as good as Beyond Good and Evil. There, I said it. More on the game, after I finish it, which according to my rough calculations should be sometime in mid-August.

Rayman Raving Rabbids

Rayman was an excellent platformer for the Atari Jaguar, Rayman 2 another excellent platformer for Sega's Dreamcast and Rayman Raving Rabbids the first properly funny thing to hit the Wii. This collection of mini-games, you see, as any old youtube search should easily prove, is the funniest thing since Monkey Island, with the only possible exception being them Sam & Max games.The 60 odd mini-games featured, most of which are extremely enjoyable (with 3-4 infuriating and badly designed exceptions), have you swinging the Wiimote like a lunatic, shooting Sam Fisher-esque rabbits in (on-rails) FPS style, getting all sado-masochistic with the demented creatures, dancing to ridiculous disco tunes and generally laughing your arse off. If only it were a bit more polished and offered a greater variety of mini-games, it would be an absolute must-buy, especially for people with at least one friend.

Wii Sports

Unexpectedly, Wii Sports is the game I've played the most. I think I have actually played it for over 70 hours, and, despite it's many shortcomings, I have enjoyed each and every one of them. Wii Sports, besides totally revolutionizing the way sports games are played (you know, by actually ...uhm... moving), is the perfect multi-player game, even beating Sensi on the Amiga, and also a way to get some much-needed light exercise while having fun. As for the included sports, well, Tennis is great, Golf is brilliant but too short, Bowling is okay, Baseball is pointless and Boxing is absolutely dreadful and unresponsive. The included mini-games are a nice diversion and so is the daily training/testing bit. Now, if Wii Sports definitely needed something, this would have to be online multiplayer. Then again, I haven't even managed to connect my Wii to a wireless network yet...

Related @ Gnome's Lair: Sam and Max get Wii-ed?, 3 forthcoming Wii games, Wii vs. Gamecube



Related Tags: Nintendo Wii, The Legend of Zelda, Zelda, Wii, Wii Boxing, Rayman Raving Rabbids, Nintendo, Twilight Princess, Review, Reviews, Game, Games