Two months ago, I pre-ordered a Wii at the Nintendo World Store. This turned out to be a great idea. While others were camping in the cold weather out by Times Square, huddled and waiting desperately for the chance to buy a Wii at midnight, we spent the evening enjoying a nice dinner, and then heading home to sleep.
Once we woke up, we took the trip to Midtown, parked the bike about a block away from the Nintendo World Store, and joined the line of people waiting for their chance to purchase Wii. As time passed, us pre-orders were slowly plucked from the line, and brought into the store. There, we waited on the final line, as the walk-ins were also processed in a separate line. I’d honestly figure that most people on the line had an excellent shot at walking away with a system, accessories, and some games.
A quick survey of the available games led us to hit multiple genres. We purchased a Wii Remote, a Nunchuk Attachment, and the Classic Controller add on, along with 2000 Wii Points, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Excite Truck, and Red Steel. A quick walk for some hot cider, and we were ready to head home.
(Interesting fact: The Wii box is just narrow enough to fit in a Vespa GT/GTS top case.)
Hooking up the Wii proved to be quite simple. It ships with component cables, most likely to ensure that just about anyone can make it work with their TV, and the sensor bar is adequate for any setup which places your game console near your screen. Projector owners may not be so lucky, depending on your wiring.
Internet setup took no time at all, once I added the Wii’s MAC address to my access point’s whitelist. After poking around with settings, we started the fun of the prep process: Making Mii.
A Mii is basically an avatar for any game which supports it. They’re primitive, comicky, and can be transferred to your own Wii Remote’s internal memory. We made one for each of us, stored them on our Wii Remotes, and now we’re ready to play at anyone else’s home with our own Mii ready to go. Next up: Wii Sports.
Wii Sports is a little thin, being a package of five sports games. Wii Boxing is a bit of a workout, using the Wii Remote and the Nunchuk as boxing gloves. Cross, jab, or block, and your Mii will do the same. Needless to say, you should give yourself some room to move. Wii Tennis is harder, using just the Wii Remote as a tennis racket. While the controls feel solid, it certainly takes a little time to get used to it. Wii Baseball is an exercise in frustration, giving you a three-inning game with some odd approximations. (I hit a few grounders, and didn’t even have a chance to run for first base.) Wii Golf is, quite simply, hard. It feels like golf, being utterly unforgiving when you use too much power, too little, or swinging at the wrong angle. Finally, there’s Wii Bowling. It’s also hard, but it lets you set your position and angle, and spin control is very intuitive.
Once that was out of the way, we moved on to Excite Truck. Jenny didn’t like it much at all. You hold the controller like an NES control pad, and much like Excitebike, too much turbo will burn out your engine. Crashes are expected, and just result in you starting off back on the track, and the truck itself is controlled by tilting the (now sideways) Wii Remote. The drawback of the game is that you have to go through a tutorial before you can play anything, including Versus mode. Compared to Wii Sports, which simply explained your options as you played, this felt like a chore.
Saving the most addictive for last, we loaded up Red Steel. The controls aren’t bad, but you *must* point the Wii Remote at the screen at all times. It determines where you look on the screen, so this is pretty important, or else you’ll end up looking at the ceiling while people shoot you. All in all, it does have the best controls I’ve ever used on a console FPS, and the swordplay adds a nice touch. In a firefight, you spend a lot of time crouching, focusing mostly on finding a target, popping up, and hoping that you’re a good enough shot to get him before you have to crouch again. It’s a neat game for me, but it’s not for everyone.
Finally, Zelda. This is a far cry from Wind Waker, both graphically and plotwise. You’re no longer a kid, you’re not just trying to save a little girl, and the graphics are eerily beautiful. As usual, you’re not a hero when you start off. You take on the role of the legendary hero from the past, just like in Wind Waker, Minish Cap, etc., but you’re a whole new Link. The controls are smooth, the Nunchuk feels like it belongs in your hand the whole time, and the swordplay/slingshot controls just feel perfect. Z-targeting is still there, but it’s nowhere near as important now as it used to be.
All in all, this tiny console packs a decent punch, being effectively a Gamecube on steroids, with probably the best controllers I’ve ever used. The fit is perfect, the button placement is perfect, and everything about the system just feels natural. It’s definitely lacking in the graphics department compared to the PS3 and the XBox 360, but I just haven’t been able to let that bother me in the slightest.
