Super Mario Galaxy is terrible. It is so absolutely terrible because it puts almost every other Wii game to shame due to its incredible presentation, inventiveness, and attention to detail. People have compared this game to Super Mario Brothers 3, and that might be an apt comparison. While Super Mario Brothers 3 didn't really offer up anything revolutionary, it expanded upon the ideas put forth in the first two games and created unsurpassed 2D platforming excellence. Galaxy has accomplished the same for the 3D Mario games by refining every great aspect of both Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine. However, being able to walk on an object 360 degrees can be disorienting... I think this is the first game that's given me a headache. It’s no big deal though.
A few months ago is when I received Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. I think I'm close to finishing this one, as there aren't really any unexplored areas left on the map and I've collected most of the energy cells. This game has a completely different feel than the previous two games; firstly, interacting with other humans just seems wrong in a Metroid game, especially since Samus never utters a word. The environments are far too mechanical; the planets don't have the same sense of life and ruined prosperity that the previous games' worlds had. It does still have the same attention to detail however, and the planet hopping makes for a little more variety. The controls are perfect, they work perhaps too well. The game has been somewhat easy, and this makes me wonder... At the start, you're given the option of difficulty of normal or hard. In the previous games, the hard mode was unlocked after you beat it, but I'm left wondering if the normal mode is actually the easy mode, and there's some sort of "super hard" difficulty unlocked after you beat it. In any case, I should have chosen hard...
I don’t care what anyone says, Mario Party 8 is sweet. The boards have a good amount of variety to them, each one feels unique instead of just being a slightly remixed board with a different theme. The minigames, however, vary greatly in terms of enjoyment and creativity. Only about half use either motion or pointer controls; the others have you hold the controller NES-style and use just the buttons. This seems like a bit of a wasted effort, as the move to Wii was the perfect time to revamp the series. The luck-based games are annoying and tedious; you'll be hoping they never show up. Games which use motions tend to be simple, though the games which use the pointer are a little more creative. The NES-controller minigames are your standard Mario Party fair. Overall, despite a few stinkers the minigames are sill solid.
Battalion Wars II is another game I got recently. As you can see I have some catching up to do on the Wii backlog. I've only played a few missions so the game hasn't thrown anything difficult or complex my way yet. It feels a bit strange to use the pointer for aiming a weapon in a third-person perspective game, but it works. The only thing I don't like is twisting the Nunchuk to roll.
Mercury Meltdown Revolution… I'm not sure if this is really a "puzzle" game, as it's usually obvious what you need to do. Doing it is what can be troublesome. This is sort of like one of those little toys you'd get in a fast food kid's meal with the little metal ball that you have to maneuver through a maze by tilting it... only it, you know, won't bore you to tears. Actually completing levels isn't difficult, but doing it under the par time while collecting all of the bonuses scattered around the level and not losing a drop of mercury can prove quite the challenge. It seems strange that you can use a Classic Controller though there's no Nunchuk support. Just don't try it with the Wii Wheel... I did and I failed. Hugely.
Wii Play is a good two-player game, especially for $10. My sister actually enjoys this more than Wii Sports, if you can believe that. She likes the Find Mii game, we got up over Level 90 by working together. She also likes Tanks!, though we never could get too far in that; I think Level 18 was the highest we ever reached.
My brother has Guitar Hero III and I tried playing a few songs once. Have you ever seen anyone fail a song on Easy difficulty? Yeah, neither had he, up to that point anyway...
Every time my sister visits she loves to use the Everybody Votes Channel and answer the questions, though she likes predicting the majority response even more. I think she is about 85% accurate overall whereas I’m something like 60%. She also likes the Check Mii Out Channel and has downloaded a bunch of Miis to my system, though she was disappointed when she first discovered they couldn’t be edited.
Mario Strikers Charged is a decent game, but it is too contrived for me. For one, it doesn't follow the pick-up-and-play mentality of other Mario games partly due to the controls are leaning towards complex. Characters have greatly varying stats, as well as a unique deke and skill shot; ironically, the captain characters have a generic Mega Strike, making them less interesting than the sidekick characters. Each captain also has a unique item which they obtain randomly. The problem with all of this is that it lacks balance; some captain's items are way too powerful, certain skill shots are unstoppable while others are easy to block, and even some dekes are overpowering. What's worse, there are exploits (unintentional ways of scoring) that were discovered which have further ruined the game. The online play is a joke now because almost everyone uses the exploits to score, and the only way to counter is to use exploits yourself. It's basically one big back and forth of cheap shots until time runs out and hope you have more points at the end.
What bothers me most has to be the art style. The game is strangely set in a post-apocalyptic world, so the stadiums reside in desolate environments and have dark colours and dramatic shading. The generally cheerful cast of colourful characters are now dressed in battle armour and take everything way too seriously. Some of the character's theme music doesn't suit them at all either. It's a stark contrast to the rainbow-happy Mario universe that I'm used to, and seeing such a dark take on the Marioverse is rather depressing.
Mario Strikers Charged is very un-Mario in many ways, so much so that I'd probably like it better if it didn't have Mario characters in it. It is probably the most hardcore Mario game of them all, even more so than the platformers and RPGs. It is quite detailed in its animation and presentation, but it isn't in a style which I like, and it sometimes feels a bit mean-spirited. It is likely no coincidence that it is the worst-selling Mario game on Wii.
In any case, it is always fun to check others into the electric fence using Birdo; he may think he's a girl but he certainly doesn't hit like one!
Then, on a cold night the SSB Brawl blog updated with the info everyone wanted to hear: Sonic was in Brawl!
Everyone except for me, but then again I’m used to spitting in the face of popular opinion.
Topic: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2007 (Read 13088 times)
