As promised here's part two!
Chapter 2: So you expect me to play as an anime Simon Belmont with faulty maraccas and PARTYING BABIEZ?
Third Party Support on Wii has been for many a love/hate affair. They love the fact that more and more developers are flocking to the Wii thanks to how many units it keeps selling. They hate, however, that they don't seem to be putting enough effort, or are generalizing the ENTIRE Wii fanbase as gamers who only like party games.
Square-Enix, a solid Wii supporter, started their releases with the release of
"Dragonquest Swords", a spin off title first announced back in 2006 when the Wii was still in diapers. Its essentially a proof of concept game which tests if the Wiimote can work as a sword in a first person perspective. The game mixed traditional Dragonquest gameplay with an arcade like concept which had you battling monsters through a first person perspective, something mainly reserved for shooters.
It was a solid title which provided some dumb fun and an enjoyable, if cliched, storyline. But many felt that the concept was too first generation and needed polish. Worst, the game took nearly two years to arrive to US shores, making people either stop caring or feel annoyed that the idea wasn't polished enough.
This was followed up by
"Chocobo's Dungeon", a game in the mystery dungeon series featuring the ever so lovable Chocobo from the Final Fantasy series. This was yet another game which many feel Square just rushed out of the door. Square is known for maximizing the console's potential for graphics and sound. Yet, Chocobo's Dungeon felt somewhat lackluster. Even if the concept doesn't really warrant a flamboyant presentation many still felt they could have done better. Not to mention that dungeon explorers attract a very niche audience of hardcore gamers.
Capcom, yet another big Wii supporter, kept its support strong with perhaps their biggest release of the year
"Okami". Okami was originally a Playstation 2 title developed by the team behind "Viewtiful Joe". It was praised for taking the basic Zelda concept and expanding it with lush paint like visuals and innovative gameplay. Sadly, the game was pretty much ignored by the big bulk of the gaming community.
So why were fans happy to hear that a Wii port was coming? Because from the minute the original game was released many felt that Okami was made with the Wii in mind. The celestial brush mechanics looked like it could have been done better on the Wii. So once Capcom confirmed that a port was in the works many got excited since they felt Okami would truly shine on the Wii.
The final game was, of course, widely praised, just as its original version did. But, many felt alienated by its controls, the extremist saying that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to port such game to the Wii.
As it is common with most Wii games many felt that they were taking the issues too far and could have been mastered in a matter of minutes. But despite these issues the game was stellar, and the updated graphics and widescreen support made it even better.
Sega kept chugging along as usual, though with few notable releases on the Wii this year.
"Sonic Unleashed", this year's multiconsole Sonic game, was met with extremely mixed reviews, despite the general consensus being that its the best 3D Sonic game in a while. The Wii version was developed by Dimps, the folks behind the excellent "Sonic Rush" titles for the Nintendo DS, though it lacked some of the features seen in the HD consoles, including more level.
Perhaps the most interesting Sega development was
"Let's Tap", a game so quirky that would rival "Rub Rabbits" in sheer weirdness and fun. The concept behind Let's Tap is that you place the Wii remote on a solid surface, then you tap it in order to create movement in the game. This will be used for a racing mini game, a Donkey Konga-like music game and even some Jenga mechanics will be implemented. Sadly, no US release has been announced.
With the Wii being seen as some sort of "Dreamcast 2" Sega felt the opportunity to bring more classic franchises to the Wii. First they released
"House of the Dead 2 and 3 Return", a re-release of the classic Resident Evil inspired arcade shooters. Despite the absence of "House of the Dead 1" the budget title was a hit. Big enough to announce the release of
"House of the Dead: Overkill", a follow up to the original game that is so drenched in cheese they might as well include tea and crackers with it. This is a good thing by the way...
Finally, there was Gearbox's take on
"Samba de Amigo", Sega's classic music rhythm game that utilized unique maraca controllers. The released promised to be very robust, polished and filled to the brim with songs, including downloadable song packs that keep the fiesta going. It was highly anticipated, but many doubted if the Wii remote would be good enough to mimic the technology used in the original arcade and Dreamcast release.
Just like "Okami" reviewers felt mixed about the controls. Some saw some issues, but many thought it was a disaster. Fans, however, noted that even the most accomplished player could get through the game just fine.
But the two biggest eyesores of the year were Konami and Ubisoft. Why? Yeah, they are the Wii's biggest supporters right now, so why did they became a bother in 2008?
Ubisoft has been supporting the Wii since its release in 2006. Even if their titles weren't perfect they were rock solid titles that managed to impress many. They went as far as to assure the media that they wouldn't re-release old content and would focus on more polished games on the Wii.
But at their Ubi Days conference they announced some games that enraged fans and made people wonder Ubi's integrity.
While they announced new entries in their "Prince of Persia" and "Beyond Good and Evil" franchise for the HD consoles, the Wii received
"Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party", "Shaun White Snowboarding" and the cream of the crop
"Petz Dogz" and..."Imagine Party Babiez".These last two were the last straw for fans. From that moment on Ubisoft became a textbook example of how a third party can generalize the Wii audience with questionable titles. So much so that even analysts like the great Sean Malstrom saw this as the birdman effect taking place.
See, many third party developers see that the Wii is a hit with families, so they spend their budget on cheap and easy to create games that attracts a wide audience. Doing so, however, means that they are ignoring their fanbase as well as the need to create solid franchise games.
This was helped by the fact that they looked pretty bad.
But despite this, Shaun White and Rayman were solid hits, both which utilized the Wii balance board to its great strengths. And hell, even IGN like "Party Babiez!".
Konami has, for the most part, struggled with Wii support. They released the unique and beloved "Elebits" and "Dewy's Adventure", but nothing notable using their classic franchises, mainly Castlevania and Metal Gear.
They published "Target: Terror", easily one of the most laughable releases of the year.
But their biggest release yet is
"Castlevania Judgment". Yes, that's right, a Castlevania game on Wii, despite their original comments about how the classic whip gameplay wouldn't work on the Wii. But its not what you expect.
Judgment is a non canon free brawler featuring nearly the entire cast of Castlevania characters, including Simon Belmont, Maria Renard and of course, Dracula himself. The updated character designs were done by the artist behind the popular manga and anime series "Death Note" and they were unique to say the least.
Cutting to the chase, people hated it. Everyone was surprised by this because no one expected Konami to spin off the series after its 3D games bombed in the worst way possible on past consoles. Not to mention that it was going to be a waggle-tastic fighter, something that conflicted with the comments of the Wii not being good enough for Castlevania. Finally, the most hardcore fans felt offended by the update character designs, saying that they had raped the classic designs that made the characters so memorable in the first place.
To sum it all up, Judgment became the poster child of classic franchises gone wrong...
BUT, as the final game was release many warmed up to it, and discovered that the game wasn't half bad. Still there are some that wish this never existed in the first place, never mind the fact that this might be a solid title to look forward to.
What about the multiconsole releases of the year? Much to anyone's surprise many ended up performing better than their big HD counterparts. EA kept their support strong by releasing "All Play" versions of their now renowned sports franchise. "All Play" is an attempt to bring in a new audience to the complex world of sports and feature mini games and controls that hope to rope in gamers who feel alienated by the concept of big, sweaty men fighting over a football. These, however, received mixed reviews from the media. Some liked the idea, but others were too elitist to accept such experiments.
Activision saw big bucks once more with their "Guitar Hero" franchise, especially on Wii. "GH: Aerosmith" was both a mix critical and sales released, but "World Tour", aka "Guitar Hero 4" really brought the audiences in.
Finally, there was "Rock Band". Released in the summer of 2008 Rock Band was a fine example of developers being lazy with their Wii releases. It was essentially a port of the inferior PS2 version and lacked many of the original's inviting features, such as character creation and downloadable content. Despite this the game sold. But, EA promised to deliver Rock Band 2 Wii without any features being stripped in the name of quick development cycles.
So that's the entire third party scene of 2008 in a nutshell. I know there were even more releases, so forgive me if I missed some. While they are still some improvements waiting to be made the year was marked with some solid releases and three very spectacular games that proved that if heart, love and strength is put behind these games they can show the world that the Wii can be a great system for franchises you can't experience anywhere else.
But the one aspect of the Wii that REALLY took a beating from fans was its first party released. But that's another tale for another time...
TO BE CONTINUED...
Topic: The Wii in 2008 or... "THE TERRIBLE TWOS!!!" (Read 26265 times)
