With E3 behind us, and a week of catching up on emails having taken place, its time we begin our deluge about what we had the chance to check out at the show. I’ll begin with Nintendo since it was the first press conference I attended (I missed the Microsoft presser due to my “actual job”). Now, this won’t be a rehash of the presser but a look at the hands-on impressions of the products on the show floor that I was itching to see.
In fact, I didn’t even have a chance to visit the Nintendo booth until Wednesday, as Tuesday was full of press conferences and appointments. So, let’s kick it off, shall we?
First Party Games
I grew up on Nintendo. I always thought that if I ever went to E3, the first booth I’d want to visit would be the Big N’s. Well, that didn’t happen. Instead I waited until the second day of E3 2009 to visit it. My first stop:
New Super Mario Bros Wii
Loved it. As a fan of NSMB on the DS, I had been waiting for Nintendo to make an announcement that they were bringing the game to the Wii in WiiWare form. Instead what we got was a full new Mario game in the classic side-scrolling style with insane power-ups, creative level design, and multiplayer. Yes, mutliplayer made my day.
Playing the game, the first thing noticeable is the visuals: the graphics are crisp and clean, and remind me of a high-res version of Super Mario World for the SNES. While not in high-def, the characters are rendered extremely well. Mario, Luigi, and two Toads were playable with no word on any other Marioverse characters making the cut. The characters functioned exactly like you would expect them to. Mario’s jumps were almost pixel-perfect to the Super Mario 3 days, without the “floaty” gravity found in other modern side-scrollers like Little Big Planet or even Super Smash Bros Brawl. The layout of the playable levels reminded me of the best of the classic Mario games although they seemed slightly more sparse with very few enemies on screen in the demos we played. This may be due to the fact that the demos were set up for multiplayer gaming.
This is where the game shines. Gathering 3 other players was a snap (Nintendo had several demo screens available with minimal wait time at each). Initially I played the game cooperatively. As my cohorts would need assistance I would provide it, often sending power-up mushrooms their way or letting them bounce off of my head to reach a higher platform. At the end of each level, the players all need to jump onto the famous Mario flag to complete the journey, and points and rankings are given after each round based on play and coins gathered. All was good and peaceful in the Mushroom Kingdom.
But, at some point in the play sessions I would develop an incredible competitive streak. A shot of evil would course through my veins the moment I would get screwed over. You see, the game screen zooms in and out depending on where the players are on screen, but there is a limit. If a player is too far off screen once the others move forward enough, he dies. Or if a player is mid air over a pit and another player inadvertently bumps him… well, you get the picture. This sparked almost an instant “Well, screw you guys. I’m finishing this level on my own!” response from each player, turning co-op into last man standing.
And it was brilliant.
WiiSports Resort
Waddling over to the WiiSports area after throttling my NSMBWii opponents, I waited a bit in line before it was my turn. While holding the WiiMote, WiiMotion Plus was hardly noticeable, and didn’t add any memorable size issues. It was built into the now infamous WiiMote Condom.
The first minigame I played was swordfighting. The game had me and Kristen, my opponent, playing split-screen. Our respective characters where transparent on each half of the screen, a la WiiSports Boxing. Unsurprisingly, the similarities didn’t end there. While the game’s use of Plus in blocking was executed well, I felt as though random flailing would be enough to win a match regardless of how accurate a player was. The layout of the level was a large circle; once a player was knocked off of the circle, they fell into the water below. However, Nintendo’s standard way of rubber-banding games allows for a player on the brink of defeat to make a dramatic, improbable comeback. The rubber-banding prolonged my inevitable win as the final match ended in a draw, with a sudden-death match on a smaller circle deciding yours truly as the winner. Let me repeat what I said earlier: this is WiiSports Boxing with swords.
The archery game, on the other hand, was a heck of a lot of fun. In fact, archery seems to be turning into the new motion-sensing gauge, as both Nintendo and Sony showed forms of archery at their pressers. The beauty of archery lies in the way that the game interprets your center of aim: the screen around the center of your aiming reticule remains a clear circle, but the area beyond that to the edge of the screen blurs. This is meant to create a center of focus for the player. The controller and nunchuck are held like a bow & arrow, and I found myself misfiring the first few tries. When I had figured out the wind factor I was able to make my shots pretty accurately, nailing almost a dead center shot on the target twice.
The basketball 3-point shootout was the third of the minigames I tried. This game, too, was enjoyable. In fact playing this game brought back memories of the 3-point shootout of the Jordan vs Bird games of the past. The MotionPlus gauged my fluid arc, or so I thought. In fact, the game measured it almost too perfectly. I found my shots falling well short of the rim as I took them, the result of my “rainbow” being too high. I adjusted my shot, but by then my opponent was far ahead of me (13-6) and I ended up losing. The basketball shoot-out was a great addition to WiiSports Resort, creating a classic feel that I can see myself playing every time I have friends over, much like the bowling minigame from the first WiiSports.
Overall, I was pretty satisfied with WiiSports Resort. The addition of a more accurate controller in WiiMotion Plus works well in some games, and in others is invisible. This should be the new pack-in for the Wii, along with MotionPlus. It takes the best of WiiSports and adds some ingenious new games to it. I was itching for a game to replace my currently aging WiiSports matches when friends came over.The only thing missing: online play.
Super Mario Galaxy 2
While not on the show floor, I’ll throw a comment down for the trailer, which was playing online and during the presser. The first Mario Galaxy game gave Bioshock a run for the money for 2007’s game of the year. The trailer for SMG2 showed improved visuals, Yoshi, new modes of play (like the ice arena), Yoshi, more side-scrolling levels, and Yoshi. Did I mention Yoshi? Yup. From what the trailer shows, it appears as though several of the missing items from the first game were added/fixed in the upcoming sequel. Nice.
WiiFit Plus
The little time I spent watching others demo WiiFit Plus made me think that the game really is only a slight improvement over the first game. The concern of the first WiiFit was that there weren’t specialized workouts. For instance, I never knew what exercises to do to lose the weight and reach my goal. Plus seems to have corrected this, allowing for individual workouts, some online capabilities, and some improved visuals in-between exercises. This isn’t WiiFit 2, and it isn’t even WiiFit 1.5; this game is WiiFit 1.1, the way the game should have been in the first place. It’ll sell well, but not nearly as much as the original. There simply isn’t enough (shown) that will make gangbuster sales, unless Nintendo can market the heck out of it against similar (and possibly superior) offerings from EA and UbiSoft.
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
I enjoyed the first DS Zelda game, Phantom Hourglass. As much as I am not really a fan of the cell-shaded WindWaker Zelda games, I can understand why fans like the Toon Link style: it’s clean, easy to understand, and retains a small bit of the classic Zelda attitude of a silent link. The latest in the series, Spirit Tracks, carries over much of the assets of the first game but replaces the boat with a train. At least, that’s what it looks like from the surface to those who blew it off. In fact the game is much deeper than the first Zelda DS game, involving Link’s new Phantom companian in much of the games puzzles and focusing more on the story instead of the seemingly millions of puzzles of the first game. Spirit Tracks works several lengthy sub-plots into the game, something that many puzzle-seekers may not like but fans od Twilight Princess will. While I didn’t get a chance to get hands-on with the game, (Zelda had the longest line of any game at E3 this year, surprisingly) what I saw (from others demoing it) made me believe that I might like this game more than the first DS game.
Metroid: The Other M
Once again: not on the show floor, but I felt the need to mention it. As a fan of the Metroid Prime games, I was starting to wonder if any other version of Metroid would ever be made. I started to miss the side-scrolling epic that was last found in the GBA versions, and in the great Super Metroid. Well, my prayers were (seemingly) answered when I first saw the trailer for The Other M, noting several similarities between it and Super Metroid, both stylistically and dramatically. The Other M is a story-driven game, maybe more so than any other Metroid game, providing details about Samus Aran as a character. The trailer showed mostly 3-D action/adventure, but veered into FPS modes when specific tools were used. Perhaps this will be similar to how the Prime games became 3rd person action games when Samus rolled into the “ball” mode. Regardless, 2010 can’t come soon enough as this sequel looks to be the one that I’ve been finally waiting for.
Third Party Games
Nintendo had several third party demo stations at the ready for players to try out. I engaged in a few of them.
The Conduit
This is the FPS that Wii owners have been asking for. This may also be the FPS that “gets it right” for the system. The controls of the game were extremely fluid and the visuals were some of the best on the system. What I liked most about the game from the short 5 minutes I spent with it was that I was able to jump right into it without worrying about the story, what mission I had to take on, or learning the controls. The game was extremely easy to pick-up-and-play, something that all great FPS games need to be. The last thing I wanted to do was spend the entire time learning to play the game; I was able to actually play, as if I had already owned the game and was coming back for more. After 5 minutes of play, I can say that this is a good FPS game for any system, and possibly the Wii’s best.
Dead Space: Extraction
While many balk at on-rails games, if executed correctly they can be fun and enjoyable. Dead Space: Extraction was not only executed well, but also includes terrific visuals and an engaging storyline. The original Dead Space was my GOTY last year, so I was excited to get my hands on the “prequel”. The history of the franchise works well to set up the game, as the player takes control of individuals on the planet that spawns the… spawn… of the original. As calamity begins to ensue around them the team of players (we had two) must work to unravel the mystery of the monolithic icon they have found, as well as stay alive in the process. I liked the ability to dismember the aliens, which was a key in the first game, and how it translated here. The game gives a slight bit of “fudge” room to those who don’t have pinpoint accuracy, yet rewards the players that do. The only real issue I found while I played was that the game seemed to take place from the point of view of one character, and when that character looked up, the entire screen shifted. This can be a pet peeve for teammates who are working on aiming at specific targets and are suddenly thrown off. Regardless, this is another great game that I am highly interested in when it releases this fall.
Note: I didn’t get a chance to try Sin & Punishment 2, Monado, Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles, and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. There was simply not enough time to cover everything.
Overall, Nintendo seemed to finally place enough focus this year on third parties, highlighting some great third party “core” games within its booth. I would have like to play more blockbuster first party games, but I guess that will have to wait until next year. The booth was packed, and the layout a bit awkward, but enjoyable and easy to get from one “zone” to the next. While I don’t know if this will bring any new core gamers to the Wii, it will give those who are left and the Nintendo faithful the chance to blow the dust off of their systems for some great third-party games, as well as a solid offering in New Super Mario Bros Wii.
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