With my XBox 360 down and out, I’ve been playing the Wii more and more. Most notably The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess has been getting most of my time. Honestly I’m just not having that much fun with the game. There are moments of brilliance during it, and the graphics are actually pretty decent (with the component cables), but the controls at time get annoying, and I find myself almost feeling limited by the lack of buttons on the controller. The combat just feels too simple, and the puzzles for the most part have been uninspiring. I also find myself despising any of the parts where you play as the wolf.
I also got a copy of Dragon BallZ: Budokai 2 for the Wii from Atari. I’ve never been a fan of DBZ, and playing this game reminds me why. The game is essentially a fighting game with insanely large arenas to fight in, and the way the controls work on the Wii are quite frustrating. To begin with you have 1 attack button, and then a secondary move button that you hold and do gestures with the Wii-mote to complete special moves. The game essentially becomes button mashing without any buttons to mash. Here, try this. Hold both arms up in the air. Now wave your right arm uncontrollably while pressing your thumb down over and over and over again. That’s what playing this game is like. There’s also this annoying quirk where if you don’t sit/stand close enough to your TV, a big white message comes on your screen telling you to move closer. No thank you, I’d like to keep my distance.
I also tried a bit of Red Steel this weekend and found the controls simply attrocious. The fact that you need to move to the end of the screen to turn, and the looseness of the aiming. I will say the presentation is pretty nice, but the graphics are severly lacking.
Finally I’ve been playing a ton of Wii sports. Mostly just Bowling and Home Run Derby. Everything else on the game simply is too inconsistant for my tastes. Especially Golf, Boxing and sometimes Tennis. Bowling is damn near perfect, and truly shows a great use of the Wii-mote. Home Run Derby is a blast as well, but there are a few tricks you can do (sometimes accidently) that cause you to hit the ball REALLY far without actually swinging.
Overall the Wii is not living up to the hype for me. The initial offering shows quite a few shortcomings in the Wii control system. I’m hoping most of it is a software issue, and that as developers get more and more familiar with the Wii they’ll put out more solid offerings with more consistant controls.
