Wii Rally

Harness the power of the wind in this innovative platform adventure game released through WiiWare. You play the game as a young boy named Toku who is recruited to help to release the curse placed on Mistralis by evil Balasar. You use Enril’s elemental powers as you travel through the game.

Lostwinds is a platform game that embraces the functions of the Wiimote and Nunchuk controller. You will use the wind jump, glide, move objects, etc. First you have to guide the wind with the Wiimote, drawing the direction on screen you want it to go. Then you use the Nunchuck to move Toku. It’s a bit of a learning curve but shouldn’t take too long to get the hang of it. The first level of the game is basically a tutorial, so you have ample opportunity to get these skills down pat.

What is most impressive about Lostwinds is that it is only 1000 Wii points. Lostwinds has stunning game with beautiful graphics, soothing music, and fun game play.

Mario Kart for the Wii brings all the fun of this classic Mario and friends game to the next gen console. There are old favorites, new ones, and a few Wii twists sprinkled in here and there.

There are new tracks as well as ones from Mario Kart games of the past. Some characters have returned but others haven’t. They have been replaced with new faces like Rosalina, from Super Mario Galaxy. Also you can unlock the Mii character that puts your Mii in the driver’s seat.

You can either race in karts or bikes. Both have more powerful, un-lockable upgrades throughout the game.

There will be some familiar tracks in the game from Mario Kart past like Delfino Square from the DS version, but there are also new ones to explore. The eight racing cups remain the same as in past Mario Karts and feature four tracks each. Finish first and get a good grade to unlock characters, karts, and bikes.

This is a must have for fans of Mario Kart and who doesn’t love that game? Mario Kart comes with one wheel. Additional wheels can be purchased separately for around $10. Playing with the Wii Wheel does take getting used to and is easier with certain well-rounded characters like Mario and Peach.

Mario Kart is hours of fun at our house. For us, all is fair in love and racing. What happens on the race circuit, stays on the race circuit. II never try to take it personally when my husband throws a fatal tortoise shell that costs me the victory or bumps me off the track into oblivion. I just think of the words of NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt would say, “That’s racing.”

Donkey Kong Barrel Blast is one of those titles that shows that Nintendo really knows how to make a fun racing game. We all knew Mario Kart was great but now Nintendo has another shining jewel in their racing series.

Up to four people can race using both the Nunchuk and Wiimote controllers. You move the controller to bang on the drum that builds up your speed. The Nuchuk is held in the left hand and the Wiimote in the right. Once you are at top speed, you do not need to keep alternating hitting the drums. If you need to move to a side of the track, then move the appropriate controller. There are plenty of tutorials in the game that help you become accustomed to movement and other game play.

You can play either an individual race or race for in a cup event that includes several races. By coming in first, you open up more events as well as more characters. Once you have won a few cups in rookie mode, pro mode will then become unlocked. More characters will also be unlocked as you race through more of the game. Each race you will receive a grade. To unlock some items in the game you must score a good grade.

You will have a chance to pick up objects on each track to use to either help yourself or hinder your nearest opponent. My favorite would have to be the huge barrel. Just where do the racers keep it until they need it?

The tracks are interesting and entertaining. Plus the background music is very nice to listen to. Very enjoyable game for one or more players that makes good use of the Wii controllers. Donkey Kong Barrel Blast was a blast to play and loads of fun.

Being a huge Mario and Sonic fan, I couldn’t wait to play Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. I finally got my chance to play when the game was available for rent at the local Blockbuster. I couldn’t wait to get home and give it a shot.

My first impression of the game is ‘boy that is hard.’ It seems to be a steep learning curve to use the controls properly in what are basically a set of mini-games with an Olympic twist. It was disheartening because on some games it took longer to read the instructions than to play it.

Still it was fun to compete in Olympic games like swimming, shooting, and track. Even though my first experience playing it wasn’t that great, I hope to give it another shot in the future. Maybe the price will drop in a few months, and I’ll pick it up then.

If there ever was a franchise game that was made for the Wii, Mario Party would have to be it. This party game veteran title is a perfect choice for the Wii because of the mini-games and multi-player mode. Plus it’s Mario. ‘Nuff said.

Mario Party 8 continues to do this title proud with fun games that make great use of the Wiimote. It’s also a great title to bring out when your friends come over. Gamers and non-gamers can enjoy this one.

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There are a few words that come to mind when I think of WarioWare Smooth Moves. Fast, chaotic, strangely addictive. Warioware: Smooth Moves is full of 3-5 second micro-games that challenge players to do crazy tasks like pick someone’s nose or balancing a broom in the palm of your hand.

There is a story behind all the chaos. Here it is from the Nintendo website:

While pursuing a strange creature that stole his snack, Wario accidentally stumbles into an old building called the Temple of Form. Inside, he finds a mystical treasure called the Form Baton, which looks suspiciously like a Wii Remote. He discovers that the Form Baton gives him special powers depending on his “form” - the way he holds and moves the baton. Wario decides to pocket his new treasure, and soon the form craze spreads through Diamond City.

To advance in the game you have to clear those wacky micro-games that change how you use the Wiimote. Be ready to adapt your game play really fast.

I had recommended WarioWare to friends because I thought that they would enjoy playing it. Apparently they didn’t and were very disappointed with it. So I guess the game antics aren’t for everyone. So, if you like crude humor and short games, WarioWare Smooth Moves might be worth checking out.

After reading all the praise for the new Mario game for the Wii, Super Mario Galaxy, I finally decided last week that it was time to play this game that is being touted as the best Mario game in years.

After playing Super Mario Galaxy for a little less than a week, I’m beginning to see what all the fuss is all about. I knew at the opening scene that I would like this game. It’s almost as if “you had me at Mario” moment. My only trepidation with the game for the Wii was that I would have to use the nunchuk and the Wiimote in the game, something I feared would be too much coordination for me. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy I mastered moving Mario with the nunchuk while also using the Wiimote to make him jump and to capture star bits. Star bits are important since you can feed stars or fight enemies using them. You can also earn 1ups when you collect 100 star bits.

This will not surprise Mario fans to know that at the root of the premise of the game is to save Princess Peach. Bowser has stolen something that allows him to travel through time and space. So, it’s up to Mario to set everything straight, as always.

The worlds of Super Mario Galaxy are quite different from the standard Mario game. There’s still enough of the game like Mario’s patented moves or the retro music mix to remind players that this is indeed a game starring the Italian plumber.

The only downside I have found so far to the game is the camera angle is somewhat clunky at times. You can use the Wiimote to move the camera around but can take a little getting use to.

Overall, Super Mario Galaxy is a great addition to the Wii line of games. It’s fun and provides a lot of entertainment.

Maybe it was all the bright colors but the moment I saw Carnival Games behind the glass I knew I wanted to play it. It even made my Will holiday gift guide. So after passing it by a couple of times and then unable to find it for sale, I finally got it a few days after Christmas.

Carnival Games features 25 different mini-games that will take either luck or skill to master. Up to four people can play with either their own Wiimote or use just one Wiimote by taking turns. Games resemble those found at carnivals like the ring toss, duck shoot, or the dunking booth.

The first order of business in Carnival Games is to create your player. Once you’ve created your sim, you are read to hit the midway. In single player mode, players earn tickets when they play games. You can use these tickets to purchase items for your sim or to play specialty carnival booths like the Fortune Teller. It takes a minimum of 25 tickets to purchase anything for your sim, so it’s best to play a few games to build up some tickets. The booths that take tickets are okay but only if you have nothing else to purchase. I wasted 15 tickets on the fortune teller basically to get an answer I could have gotten from a magic 8-ball.

Carnival Games with its variety of mini-games should offer something for everyone. I have my favorite games while my husband has his. All of the games are fun while some are more challenging than others. It’s a great game to break out when friends come over or makes a fun choice for family game night.

Link’s Crossbow Training comes packaged with the Wii Zapper and unlike Wii Play that came with a Wii remote, Link is very reasonably priced. I bought it because I knew I wanted a zapper and didn’t expect much from Link’s Crossbow Training. I do have to say that I was pleasantly surprised to actually play the game and see that there is some substance to it.

Link’s Crossbow Training has three ways to play: practice, mulit-player, and score attack. There are 27 different levels to play through. Each round lasts one minute and in that time the player is challenged to shoot as many targets as possible. There are three different shooting modes: target shooting, ranger, and defender. In target shooting, players try to hit the various targets like floating fruit, tossed skulls, or bullseye targets. In ranger, players roam around the playing map to snipe out the enemy. In defender, Link must stave out invading attackers in various settings.

The Wii Zapper houses both the Wii remote and Nunchuk. The Nunchuk is used ranger to move Link around, giving players a chance to practice with movement. The game begins with the first nine levels open. Players must earn at least a bronze medal to unlock additional levels.

While Link’s Crossbow Training may not be a full game like holiday favorite Super Mario Galaxy, it is worth the $25 or less to buy it and the Wii Zapper. Besides, it will give players a great opportunity to get used to playing with the Zapper. The learning curve isn’t that steep but does take a little practice to get the hang of walking and looking around. The graphics and music make Link’s Crossbow Training a delightful way to target practice while gearing up for full-blown Zapper-compatible games.

Link’s Crossbow Training

Would a Mortal Kombat game be the same without Fatalities? Kind of but not really.

Midway’s goal upon porting Mortal Kombat: Armageddon to the Wii was to give any type of gamer a chance to be able to produce special moves and fatalities. When Mortal Kombat debuted in arcades back in 1993 fatalities and special moves were a sign of skill but with the Wii edition of Armageddon a 5 year old can do anything a seasoned veteran can do. So the playing field has been effectively leveled.

Armageddon accomplishes this by allowing a player to produce special moves and fatalities simply by making one of eight possible motions with the Wii Remote. 4 of which are either up/down, down/up, forward/back and back/forward; the rest are quarter circles with the Wii Remote. The downside is that by simplifying the controls they’ve really dumbed down the challenge that made the gameplay exciting. Also in simplyfying the controls they’ve ditched the characters unique fatalities and replaced them with a generic one that can be escalated by the player but they pretty much all end up the same.
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Alright, in the interest of full disclosure I must tell you that I’ve been a fan of the Mario Party games for quite some time. One of the main reasons being that my girlfriend Jen particularly enjoys them as well. More often than not Jen just watches me play games but the first time I brought a copy of Mario Party, I think it was 5 over to her house she jumped right on board and wrestled the controller away from me. She waited with great anticipation for the next game in the series which happened to be the finest to date. Mario Party 6 was incredibly fun with a nice selection of compelling mini games. Mario Party 7 was all wrong it seemed that the series had lost it’s momentum. Enter the Wii and an entire new control scheme, which bring us to the topic of today’s lesson Mario Party 8.

Mario Party 8 is the series’ Wii debut. Many gamers were excited to see how the new controls would be implemented and what surprises Hudson (Who developed the game) and Nintendo (Publisher) had in store for this latest party game-a-palooza. Especially since the game was originally slated for a March ‘07 release which was delayed until June of the same year. Why the delay? I doubt anyone outside of Hudson or Nintendo knows.

A key mistake was made with this title. Mario Party 8 should have really showcased what the Wii Remote’s motion controls could do. The problem was they forgot to implement them. OK that’s unfair yes some very few motion controls are used but they are limited to tilting the Wii Remote to fly a plane and shaking one up and down like a can of soda pop. Most of the mini-games throughout Mario Party 8 are controlled with the Wii Remote’s D-pad. I know that these are mini-games we are talking about here but come on how about knocking the complexity up a little especially for those long time fans like myself who already know how to play the game. Which brings me to my next point.

No matter how well versed you are in the Mario Party universe, Mario Party 8 seems to treat you like a moron. Explaining every little detail like you’re 100% grade A “nub cake”. A way to tell the game “hey I’ve played this game before I know how it works” would have been nice but an old English teacher once told me “Always assume the members of your audience are ignorant to what you are talking about.” I’ve never used this rule myself I like to give my audience a good amount of credit I mean they can obviously read at least.

The stages or “game boards” in Mario Party 8 are seriously lacking in some decent creativity with the exception of Boo’s castle I felt as though I’ve played these game boards many times before. I did however enjoy the new Star Battle mode but felt it was too short.

With Mario Party 7 being a disappointment I began to suspect that the series may have lost it’s momentum and fun factor. I believe that Mario Party 8 confirms this suspicion. It maybe time to call the cops on this party and have it shut down. Ever go to a house party and by about 2 or 3 in the morning almost everybody has left except for a few obnoxious party people and you just want them to leave? Well that’s how I feel about Mario Party 8. I really do think that 8 is enough.

Still going strong with Virtual Console Week here on the Rally today I’m doing some mini-reviews of the classic and not-so classic.

Donky Kong
NES, 1 Player, Wii Remote, 500 points

Nintendo’s Donkey Kong was originally released as a coin-op arcade game and as such it makes sense to have only 3 stages where the overall goal is to beat the high score. However shelling out 500 points for a game with only 3 stages doesn’t really seem right in today’s day and age. Bottom Line: Skip this one, trust me you’ve played it at some point in your life.

Punch Out!!
NES, 1 Player, Wii Remote, 500 points

A great classic with tones of replay value. I was once asked why I never wrote down any of the passwords for this game. My answer, “I find it more fun to try and finish all the bouts in one shot. I wouldn’t want to fight the thoughest guy over and over that’s just boring”
Bottom Line: Grab this one for endless hours of fun.
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“Twip, twip, twip”

OK I’m going to say this right off the bat. Vicarious Vision’s “Alchemy” engine is normally used for less detailed environments most commonly found on handheld platforms like the PSP and NDS. That being said why VV decided to use it for this game is really beyond me. Everything that is done “in-engine” looks absolutely retched. Models have incorrect geometry and textures look like they were done by a High School student instead of a reputable developer. I will say that the pre-rendered CG cut scenes look really good.

Now that I have that off my chest I can talk about how this game is fun. This is the first (movie-based) Spider-man game for the Nintendo Wii. The controls are implemented well and the combat is reminiscent of Twilight Princess. Once you get the hang of the combo system you should be able to take out large groups of baddies in no time with or without the use of a certain black suit. Web-slinging is done by pressing the left or right triggers (Z and B respectively) and flicking your wrist in the direction you would like to shoot your web. It’s all very intuitive and is very fun since you actually feel and look like you’re web-slinging around the city.

Enough about the controls lets talk story. For a game based on a movie with almost no story I was surprised to find even less here. They throw a couple of extra villains like the Lizard and Morbius in there but with a complete lack of any reason whatsoever. The villains are present just for the sake of being present. Even the scenes right from the movie were altered for no reason. No Harry or Venom death here folks they simply disappear and are never mentioned again.

Even with the extra villains this game tops out at about 6 hours to complete the main story, I was even playing on “Super-Hero” difficulty and came in under the 6 hour mark with 51% completion. Sure I can go back and defeat all the gangs that populate NYC but since they all have the same 3 enemies I think the cops can handel it.

If you love Spider-man give this one a rent. If you hate Spider-man you’re just not very nice. If you bought this title than you obviously didn’t learn anything from shelling out 11.75$ for that movie ticket opening day.

P.S.
Thanks to Brad who bought this game and was kind enough to lend it to me so I could save all of you the trouble of making the same mistake.

That’s right kiddies Super Mario is back! No Super Mario Galaxy is still a long way off but Mario fans recently got their beaks wet with a new addition to the Paper Mario series which debuted way back during the N64’s heyday.

I can’t talk about Super Paper Mario without first mentioning that the game was originally supposed to show up on the GameCube much like Zelda: Twilight Princess. I blame this on Nintendo’s commitment to quality which often results in long development times. This time around the GameCube was six feet under even before the Wii was picked from Nintendo’s secret underground console farm. Seeing as how both titles were given extra functionality and 0 to -10 load times I’m hardly complaining here.

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*Note* This game has been rated M for Mature by the ESRB and should not be played by anyone under the age of 17 for more information about ESRB and their rating please visit http://www.esrb.org

There are some ignorant people out there (fanboys mostly) that would have you believe that the Wii is just for kids. Well The Godfather: Blackhand Edition is definitely not for kids or adults that happen to be pacifists. From the opening cut scene to the final mission blood, guns and barehanded assaults are never in short supply

This game is essentially a Wii-make having already been released for Windows, Xbox(360) and PS2 there is also a special “Don’s Edition” for PS3. What’s unique about the “Blackhand Edition” is of course the Wiis unique motion controls which have been integrated nicely I might add.

I did find the precision aiming a little wonkey and insensitive which seems to be common among most Wii games especially those made by a certain french developer which I will not name. The Godfather has a “lock-on” targeting system so the precision aiming didn’t get much use so I can’t really penalize EA for that.

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