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WiiU

North America

Nintendo Land

by Neal Ronaghan - September 17, 2012, 9:36 am EDT
Total comments: 5

Balloon Trip Breeze could be one hell of a high score game.

Balloon Trip Breeze, from an outsider's perspective, seems very simple. You use the GamePad's stylus to draw gusts of wind to guide your balloon-bearing Mii past different obstacles. That's basically it.

However, there is a devious high score game lying underneath Breeze's exterior. At the recent New York Wii U Preview Event, NWR Staff Writer Josh Max and I engaged in some minor score wars, vying to get the higher score. It was fun, competitive, and awesome. We both commented how this will continue over Miiverse when the system comes out. Damn it, it will. Also, I want to beat him.

The experience is basically just Balloon Trip, the fantastic extra mode in the NES game Balloon Fight, but with an awesome new art aesthetic and a new input method. You have a zoomed-in view of your character on the GamePad that, for the most part, you should ignore. Your character is always centered on that screen, so after some adjustments, you should be able to look at the TV and use the stylus on the GamePad to make the adjustments needed to move your character around.

You can use the GamePad's touch screen to also pop obstacles, such as spikes or rival balloon fighters. That requires some deftness as you glance down at the GamePad to pop the obstacles and then go back to the TV to get right back to moving.

You also need to worry about collecting all of the balloons on the screen. As you collect them consecutively, their value goes up. Miss a balloon and you have to start over. It's another wrinkle that makes this high-score affair more intriguing.

Only time will tell how much the experience lasts over time, but judging from how much time I spent with Balloon Trip on my 3DS Ambassador copy of Balloon Fight, I have a feeling I might be diving down the Balloon Trip Breeze rabbit hole.

Balloon Trip Breeze is just one of the 12 Nintendo Land attractions, and one of the six single-player-only games that appear to be very high-score-based.

Talkback

C-OlimarSeptember 17, 2012

There can be no way that Nintendo Land can be as good as the impressions, which have been unanimously positive (other than those for Takamaru's Ninja Castle). There seems to be a nice range of genres (Shooter, RTS, Racing, Chasing, Platformer etc.) and the games look brilliant and great fun, which really is unexpected. I guess now we know why it featured so prominently at E3 though - Nintendo thought people would judge the game on its quality. Foolish.

I'm a huge fan of Balloon Trip, so I see myself playing this for hours. Online high scores, please.

NWR_NealNeal Ronaghan, Owner/Reviews EditorSeptember 17, 2012

I have no doubt in my mind at this point that Nintendo Land will be well received. Even if people use qualifiers like "only good if you have 3-5 people around to play," the quality of the game is undeniable, I think.

The key part, which I'll harp on from now until next April/May, is that I think Nintendo Land will only be successful if people are still playing it six months after launch. If people play it and put it away, it failed. It needs to be a part of semi-permanent multiplayer rotation to truly succeed.

Boo_BusterSeptember 17, 2012

At first glance I was not too impressed with Nintendo Land, but I think that was akin to a bad cover on a good book. The more I see and read about the game, the more eager I am to play it. In fact, I've went from "I doubt I'll get that game" to "Might as well pre-order the Deluxe Wii U for the value" to finally reach "I'm glad I went with the Deluxe version; Nintendo Land looks really fun!". Thanks for the nice article NWR, I enjoy the website. :D 

NeifirstSeptember 17, 2012

Another great write-up.  I'm glad to hear that 6 of the events have a substantial single-player focus.  My friends are not always going to be around, and since there's no online, I wanted to be able to get some substantial playtime regardless.  What I'd really like to see is an update to Canvas Curse using the gamepad.  That's still my favorite use of the DS touchscreen ever.

TJ SpykeSeptember 17, 2012

I will rarely get to play with friends, so I hope Nintendo put bots in all the multiplayer games so I am not stuck only playing half of it.

Sounds like another good part of NL.

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WiiU

Game Profile

Nintendo Land Box Art

Genre Party/Parlor
Developer Nintendo
Players1 - 4

Worldwide Releases

na: Nintendo Land
Release Nov 18, 2012
jpn: Nintendo Land
Release Dec 08, 2012
PublisherNintendo
RatingAll Ages
eu: Nintendo Land
Release Nov 30, 2012
PublisherNintendo
Rating7+
aus: Nintendo Land
Release Q4 2012
PublisherNintendo

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