XBOX 360 Wire

Wii60 - A gamers delight?

Many gaming websites touted the Nintendo Wii as the ideal companion to a ‘proper’ next-gen console. Having just purchased a Wii for my non-gaming partner, I thought I’d give my impressions on the combination of two very different consoles. This is a very basic overview, given we are 360 Wire and not Wii Wire!
The Console

Not at all what I expected, having never seen a Wii in the wild before opening up the box - I was very impressed (and shocked) by the relatively small size of the console itself. It really is the size of three stacked DVD cases and looks very nice indeed. You almost expect to see an Apple logo on the front - it’s super sexy. Most images of the console floating around show the machine sitting in the vertical position resting in it’s snug little stand, however due to space limitations under the TV ours is sitting in the more traditional horizontal position. It really does look a little out of place, being less than half the width of the now ageing DVD player and digital set-top box.

The Games

Only have a few of these at the moment, due to rather limited funds. I’ll just give a quick impression as I’m sure reviews of these titles are pretty much covered elsewhere on t’interweb.

Wii Sports - This comes free with the console, and turns out to be one of the most worthwhile pack-in games yet experienced. The games on the disk are Tennis, Baseball, Bowling, Boxing and Golf.

Tennis seemed to be a bit hit ‘n miss. Whilst still playable, the ability to return a ball seemed to be a bit random and fairly frustrating. Perhaps better played with more than 1 Wii-mote (5/10).

Baseball (or rounders as I call it!) is particularly unforgiving with many swings of the Wii-mote giving comments like “you swung too early” or “you swung just a little too late”. Fun when you get the hang of it, but aching arms ensure you can only play for 10mins or so at a time (6/10).

Bowling - now this is fun. Reminds me of a mis-spent childhood down the local Megabowl. Takes a little while to get used to the technique but very rewarding and a total gas with 2 people (7/10).

Boxing is of course far more energetic than the rest of the games. There seems to be quite a bit of emphasis on timing which actually frustrated me quite a bit. I just wanted to let rip and knock the living hell out of the punch bag or opponents, but it won’t let you do that. Tiring, but fun all the same (6/10).

Golf is magic, very basic when compared to other Golf titles such as the Tiger Woods series but so much more fun. We probably spent at least 75% of the Wii’s ‘on-time’ playing this. Very addictive and I can’t wait to give it another shot (8/10).

Wario Ware : Smooth Moves - Quite incredible really, not the game in general but how this title more than any other so far shows what can be done with the Wii-mote. It uses it in so many different ways, it’s almost a game in itself to remember which way to hold the thing as the next challenge pops up on screen. Quite funny too, particularly the old woman who’s lost her teeth who’s wearing a rather fetching pink shell suit….like something out of that old classic film Cocoon! Quite a stressful experience though, and not for those of you who like to sit down and relax with a game. Only completed the first 7 stages so that’s what my impressions are based on - I can only imagine it gets more stressful as the game progresses (7/10).

Red Steel - I’m not even going to waste my time on this one, perhaps if only to get to the sword play sections to see how they pan out. Horrendous graphics that could easily be achieved on the SEGA Saturn and controls which see you constantly struggling to stop pointing you feeble weapons at the ceilings. One for the bargain bin! (3/10)

Overall, I’m really impressed with the Wii itself and its new take on social gaming. Games so far are a bit of a mixed bag. Zelda is in the post so looking forward to giving that a try soon.

Do we need motion sensing on the 360? I don’t think so - It’s just not that type of console. A Wii and a 360 will complement each other in any living room so why try to shoehorn something into the 360 when it doesn’t need it? If Nintendo can combine their revolutionary control system with HD next-gen graphics in their next system they may just well take over the world.

Posted by Bleem - February 12th, 2007 -