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Elebits and Warioware - Bad Wii and Good Wii
The anecdotal evidence that's been going around, now that the Wii is an established fixture in American living rooms, is that Nintendo's new console still has room for improvement. We all had fun over the holidays, sharing Wii Sports with our relatives and watching our aunts laugh themselves stupid. Now, though, it's a new year and it's time for the Wii to step up as a gaming platform. It needs to be more than a Zelda player, and the console needs to prove that this 'new gen' style of play is sustainable over the long term. The post-launch round of games has started to trickle out, and the results are definitely mixed. Today I have for you impressions of Elebits and WarioWare: Smooth Moves. These are two games that show quite a bit of promise, but only one of which actually delivers. Read on for my views, and a return to a numeric grading scale.
That's not to say it's unlikable. Quite to the contrary, the game wraps itself in an incredibly appealing package. Hung loosely on the hook of telling stories to a kid, each stage pits you against the wilds of a suburban Japanese home. Your goal is to use the electricity gun developed by the protagonist's parents to capture a certain wattage in Elebits. The miniature creatures literally *are* electricity, and snapping them up with your weapon powers up household gadgets left and right. The key is that you need to find the little buggers first, which requires a great deal of rooting around in closets and checking under beds.
The fun comes from the fact that you're interacting with the environment through the extremely smooth Wiimote controls. Your controller is represented in-game by the electricity gun, which can lift objects via a sort of energy field; think Syndrome's zero-point energy from the movie The Incredibles. When you start off a level your power is somewhat weak. Moving small objects is all you can manage. As you collect more Elebits, the weapon grows in power and larger objects can be manipulated. Later levels feature you lifting entire buildings in an effort to locate the wily creatures.
The core game mechanic is thus essentially a modified form of hide and seek. The first time you play the game, it will be sure to cause a smile. Subsequent play is equally entertaining, but there's never a real sense of a challenge. Elebits is a very easy game, and the duration of the main story mode only highlights that ease of play. It's quite possible to play through the entire game in one five hour session.
That would be fine if the basic elements of the game were ever switched up, or if multiplayer offered something substantially different. That's not the case. Simple variations on 'lift things, find Elebits' exist in later stages; some require you to avoid breaking certain objects, while others have some of the little creatures actively attacking you. The core mechanic stays the same, though, and by the end of the game you'll be quite ready to stop playing. Multiplayer, likewise, is more of the same. Up to four players can lift things and shoot Elebits, competing to see who has the most wattage. Additionally, and confusingly, only the first player is allowed to move the camera. This makes it exceedingly hard to tell what's going on, and has a lot of potential for abuse.
Graphical presentation on the Wii is not something I'm going to harp on very often, but I think a more thoughtful look could have given this game a little extra oomph. While the Elebits themselves are cutely designed, the game world is very boxy and uninspired. My hope is that Wii game-makers will take into account the limitations of the console they're working on when planning art design. Why fight the console's low power when you can make a statement? A more stylized art form would have made Elebits pop off the screen more, and would have alleviated some of the sameyness of later levels.
If you're looking for a quite weekend rental, Elebits isn't a bad call. It's very Wiimote-centric, and is another title you can use to show friends and family the potential of Nintendo's console. Just the same, don't put down hard-earned money for it. The long-term playability of the game is very low, and a few months from now it will end up as grist in Gamestop's maw as you purchase more worthy 2007 titles.
Just as in past WarioWare titles, the single-player story is the means by which all of the on-offer minigames are unlocked. The multiplayer, too, is closed up until you 'beat' the single-player game. In Smooth Moves, games are identified by the 'move' that is used to complete them. These moves translate to specific ways to hold the Wiimote, and specific actions you can take with it. Games are clustered by move, and introduced over the course of the single-player game as part of an entertaining narrative for a the Wario-related characters. The cute witch Ashley, for example, introduces the moves 'The Thumb Wrestler' (a vertically held position), 'The Big Cheese' (holding the Wiimote at your hip), and 'The Discard' (lying the remote down on a surface and then picking it up or rolling it). Each move is introduced with a short instruction text, which is far more entertaining than game instructions have any right to be.
The games themselves are, as always with a WarioWare title, crack-addled. Only a few seconds long, each minigame allows you only a moment to understand how you are supposed to use the specified form to complete the vague command associated with the game. It seemed to me that things were a bit less insane than the offerings from WarioWare:Touched, the DS title, but the games were still plenty strange. Some examples include : picking a nose, putting a old woman's false teeth into her mouth, drinking a glass of water, hula-hooping, driving a car, balancing a broom with one hand, fighting a samurai, and roasting a piece of mutton.
There are 13 character stories in Smooth Moves (two of them revolving around Wario), and in total there are about 19 different controller forms to master. Only one of these, 'The Diner', uses the Nunchuck; most of the game is playable with just the Wiimote. Playing through all of the stories and learning all of the moves won't take most gamers very long. A determined player could almost certainly play through the entire game in one sitting of about four hours.
That brevity may seem like a problem, but what is a problem for so many other titles is a strength for this series. WarioWare titles are endlessly replayable, even in a single-player state of mind. There's always a drive to refine your skill at the various games, to see how far you can make it through the endless series of games before succumbing to a missed cue or a slow hand. The Muliplayer component of Smooth Moves is especially well constructed, and allows for up to an astounding twelve players to compete against each other using one Wiimote. There are about six modes for multiplayer mania, with multiplayer-specific games joining the minigames playable in the single-player mode. My favorite is the nose-shaped rocketship piloting course.
The insanity of the minigames would not be complete without the distinctive 'look' of WarioWare offerings. While the character art has a crisp '2D/3D' style to it that looks amazing on an HD screen, the minigames themselves are all over the map. Crude pencil drawings walk side-by-side with what looks like clip art, crayola colorings, college-level 3D renderings, and actual-in-game assets from Nintendo titles. These last make for some of the most memorable games, as you bounce Mario off of coin blocks with a waggle of the Wiimote, or flick the device upward to catch a fish in five seconds of Animal Crossing. The dizzying array of visual styles is one of the game series' signature elements, and Smooth Moves delivers in spades. The games' audio is just as entertaining, with each stage having a characteristic jaunty tune to accompany your gaming. I recall enjoying these offerings a bit more on the DS title, but I may just be thinking of Ashley's music. Her simultaneously funereal and bouncy theme was a highlight of that game for me.
WarioWare: Smooth Moves is exactly the kind of game the Wii needs in these post-launch days. It's a ridiculous amount of fun, contains an endless amount of multiplayer, and (most importantly) shows off the Wii control scheme in a way few other titles can match. The only thing holding this game back from perfection is the incredibly short single-player component, and even then it's hard to argue with the developers choices. If you ever plan to have friends over to your home again, this title deserves a spot on your shelf alongside Zelda. The game's multiplayer element is as close to perfect as you can ask for, sure to elicit laughter and invite play by any and all interested parties. Smooth Moves is a title that deserves a look from every gamer who enjoys the act of playing games.
- Title: Elebits
- Developer/Publisher: Konami
- System: Wii
- Score: 3/5 - This game is flawed, but will appeal to genre fans. Any gamer might enjoy renting it, but this won't ever be a classic.
That's not to say it's unlikable. Quite to the contrary, the game wraps itself in an incredibly appealing package. Hung loosely on the hook of telling stories to a kid, each stage pits you against the wilds of a suburban Japanese home. Your goal is to use the electricity gun developed by the protagonist's parents to capture a certain wattage in Elebits. The miniature creatures literally *are* electricity, and snapping them up with your weapon powers up household gadgets left and right. The key is that you need to find the little buggers first, which requires a great deal of rooting around in closets and checking under beds.
The fun comes from the fact that you're interacting with the environment through the extremely smooth Wiimote controls. Your controller is represented in-game by the electricity gun, which can lift objects via a sort of energy field; think Syndrome's zero-point energy from the movie The Incredibles. When you start off a level your power is somewhat weak. Moving small objects is all you can manage. As you collect more Elebits, the weapon grows in power and larger objects can be manipulated. Later levels feature you lifting entire buildings in an effort to locate the wily creatures.
The core game mechanic is thus essentially a modified form of hide and seek. The first time you play the game, it will be sure to cause a smile. Subsequent play is equally entertaining, but there's never a real sense of a challenge. Elebits is a very easy game, and the duration of the main story mode only highlights that ease of play. It's quite possible to play through the entire game in one five hour session.
That would be fine if the basic elements of the game were ever switched up, or if multiplayer offered something substantially different. That's not the case. Simple variations on 'lift things, find Elebits' exist in later stages; some require you to avoid breaking certain objects, while others have some of the little creatures actively attacking you. The core mechanic stays the same, though, and by the end of the game you'll be quite ready to stop playing. Multiplayer, likewise, is more of the same. Up to four players can lift things and shoot Elebits, competing to see who has the most wattage. Additionally, and confusingly, only the first player is allowed to move the camera. This makes it exceedingly hard to tell what's going on, and has a lot of potential for abuse.
Graphical presentation on the Wii is not something I'm going to harp on very often, but I think a more thoughtful look could have given this game a little extra oomph. While the Elebits themselves are cutely designed, the game world is very boxy and uninspired. My hope is that Wii game-makers will take into account the limitations of the console they're working on when planning art design. Why fight the console's low power when you can make a statement? A more stylized art form would have made Elebits pop off the screen more, and would have alleviated some of the sameyness of later levels.
If you're looking for a quite weekend rental, Elebits isn't a bad call. It's very Wiimote-centric, and is another title you can use to show friends and family the potential of Nintendo's console. Just the same, don't put down hard-earned money for it. The long-term playability of the game is very low, and a few months from now it will end up as grist in Gamestop's maw as you purchase more worthy 2007 titles.
- Title: WarioWare: Smooth Moves
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Developer: Intelligent Systems
- System: Wii
- Score: 4/5 - This game is above average, and excels in the genre it supports. A classic for the genre, likely to be a part of a genre fan's collection, and well worth a look for every gamer.
Just as in past WarioWare titles, the single-player story is the means by which all of the on-offer minigames are unlocked. The multiplayer, too, is closed up until you 'beat' the single-player game. In Smooth Moves, games are identified by the 'move' that is used to complete them. These moves translate to specific ways to hold the Wiimote, and specific actions you can take with it. Games are clustered by move, and introduced over the course of the single-player game as part of an entertaining narrative for a the Wario-related characters. The cute witch Ashley, for example, introduces the moves 'The Thumb Wrestler' (a vertically held position), 'The Big Cheese' (holding the Wiimote at your hip), and 'The Discard' (lying the remote down on a surface and then picking it up or rolling it). Each move is introduced with a short instruction text, which is far more entertaining than game instructions have any right to be.
The games themselves are, as always with a WarioWare title, crack-addled. Only a few seconds long, each minigame allows you only a moment to understand how you are supposed to use the specified form to complete the vague command associated with the game. It seemed to me that things were a bit less insane than the offerings from WarioWare:Touched, the DS title, but the games were still plenty strange. Some examples include : picking a nose, putting a old woman's false teeth into her mouth, drinking a glass of water, hula-hooping, driving a car, balancing a broom with one hand, fighting a samurai, and roasting a piece of mutton.
There are 13 character stories in Smooth Moves (two of them revolving around Wario), and in total there are about 19 different controller forms to master. Only one of these, 'The Diner', uses the Nunchuck; most of the game is playable with just the Wiimote. Playing through all of the stories and learning all of the moves won't take most gamers very long. A determined player could almost certainly play through the entire game in one sitting of about four hours.
That brevity may seem like a problem, but what is a problem for so many other titles is a strength for this series. WarioWare titles are endlessly replayable, even in a single-player state of mind. There's always a drive to refine your skill at the various games, to see how far you can make it through the endless series of games before succumbing to a missed cue or a slow hand. The Muliplayer component of Smooth Moves is especially well constructed, and allows for up to an astounding twelve players to compete against each other using one Wiimote. There are about six modes for multiplayer mania, with multiplayer-specific games joining the minigames playable in the single-player mode. My favorite is the nose-shaped rocketship piloting course.
The insanity of the minigames would not be complete without the distinctive 'look' of WarioWare offerings. While the character art has a crisp '2D/3D' style to it that looks amazing on an HD screen, the minigames themselves are all over the map. Crude pencil drawings walk side-by-side with what looks like clip art, crayola colorings, college-level 3D renderings, and actual-in-game assets from Nintendo titles. These last make for some of the most memorable games, as you bounce Mario off of coin blocks with a waggle of the Wiimote, or flick the device upward to catch a fish in five seconds of Animal Crossing. The dizzying array of visual styles is one of the game series' signature elements, and Smooth Moves delivers in spades. The games' audio is just as entertaining, with each stage having a characteristic jaunty tune to accompany your gaming. I recall enjoying these offerings a bit more on the DS title, but I may just be thinking of Ashley's music. Her simultaneously funereal and bouncy theme was a highlight of that game for me.
WarioWare: Smooth Moves is exactly the kind of game the Wii needs in these post-launch days. It's a ridiculous amount of fun, contains an endless amount of multiplayer, and (most importantly) shows off the Wii control scheme in a way few other titles can match. The only thing holding this game back from perfection is the incredibly short single-player component, and even then it's hard to argue with the developers choices. If you ever plan to have friends over to your home again, this title deserves a spot on your shelf alongside Zelda. The game's multiplayer element is as close to perfect as you can ask for, sure to elicit laughter and invite play by any and all interested parties. Smooth Moves is a title that deserves a look from every gamer who enjoys the act of playing games.
Besides, who wouldn't be charmed out of their socks by a giant R.O.B. the Robot waving a Nintendo Zapper at your Starfox Arwing fighter? I mean, can you get any geekier?
BTW, it's worth noting that the Wii does have a few non-minigame games. Call of Duty, for example, is apparently a well liked FPS even if the graphics aren't quite as nice as the 360 version. Also, by the time that most people get their Wiis, Metroid Prime 3 will be blasting on the scene, ready to kick some Space Pirate booty!
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
However I need to ask the question, What is going to keep X-Box and PS3 from stealing the Wii thunder? They simply need to make a remote to match their systems and Nintendo will be off the board, perhaps for good. I guess Nintendo will still have the low price but that is about it other than fanboys.
CS: It is all sink or swim...oh and did I mention there are sharks in that water?
How can the Wii be an "established fixture" when most of us who want one haven't even been able to see one in person yet?
One of the biggest reasons why I won't be picking up a Wii any time soon is Nintendo's reliance on Mario/Wario spinoff titles. I realize that they made their fortune on Mario's back, but it's been a long time. Hell, I remember when Mario brothers was just another game in the arcade. I humbly suggest that a new mascot is needed, to get Nintendo's creative juices flowing again.
'Loose' is when your pants are three sizes too big. 'Lose' is when you misuse 'loose'.
This one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayman_Raving_Rabbids is the funniest game I ever play on a game console! It's uber funny game ! It.s only amazing how stupidity and good desing can match !
Ceci n'est pas une Signature !
Well the main difference is, with the other consoles, you get a bunch of first party crap and a bunch of third party crap ;-)
No seriously I am currently playing the cube backcatalog, there are a lot of gems in there, even third party stuff.
But you have a high junk/gem ratio on every console, even on the ps2 you only have a handful of games which are worthwile playing.
Now, though, it's a new year and it's time for the Wii to step up as a gaming platform.
Maybe it would be more useful to look at the Wii this way: Do people who bought a Wii enjoy it three months, six months, a year after purchase? The target audience is broader, and the games are different than those for PS2, XBox 360, et al. I'm reminded of all the early analysis of how the iPod was going to go down in flames. The analysts didn't understand that the target audience wasn't technophiles, but regular average everyday people.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
At the moment there is a lack of really quality games. Rayman, WarioWare, Wii Sports and so on are really fun (x10 with friends) but only Zelda stands out as great 'proper' game. (Red Steel and CoD3 just don't cut the mustard IMO)
By the end of 2007 we'll have
- Super Mario Galaxy
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl
- Metroid Prime 3
- Sonic and the Secret Rings
- Project H.A.M.M.E.R. (maybe?)
that stand out as really great games (plus one or two more probably) that aren't simply based on the novelty of the wiimote. Sounds good to me, but is it good enough for most 'gamers' and enough to compete in the long term with the 360 and PS3??
The PS2 library is the largest, most diverse, and highest quality library of games ever assembled for a console. It puts the GameCube,Xbox,Xbox 360 combined libraries to shame. Actually no, the biggest game lib still is the PC with over 20 years of gaming, and almost every console under the earth emulatable, but that is a different issue. Besides that the pure console with the largest number of games currently in existence probably is the gba, but I do not want to see the shovelware/gem ratio on that one. What I meant is, you maybe have 500-700 games on the PS2 and depending on your taste about 10-20 are worthwile playing while the rest is shovelware. I looked into the PS2 backcatalog, and only 10 games really interested me, about 8 of them I also could get for the cube (mainly crossplatform stuff, like Tomb Raider Legend) The only game currently which I would consider to be a PS2 system seller for me is Okami, the Final Fantasies, definitely are none for me (Although I know that they are for many others) So what I mean is, that most people in the end over the lifetime of a console end up with around 10-20 titles. And that is pretty much except for some hardcore people, what most people own with every console generation. So it in the end really does not matter that much which console you own, except if you want to go towards rental or second hand, because depending on the console you will end up with the same amount of games anyway. It depends more on the games you like to play.
Then you've got your "new gamer", which Nintendo is now catering too, with lighter and easier fare (Wii Sports). These new gamers, your grandparents, for example, aren't suddenly going to become your standard console gamer, purchasing 5+ games a year, spending hours in front of the console, etc. The Wii will be something they pull out from time to time, maybe when friends are over, or maybe when the grandkids visit, etc. That's fine.
So, the doom and gloom we hear from typical hardcore gamers saying that the Wii needs to "step up as a gaming platform" is somewhat unwarranted. It's already doing it's job with that new audience, and arguably, that's really the important one for Nintendo.
-- jchenx
I thought the anecdotal evidence was that it's hugely successful and so in-demand that you still can't find it any in stores. Everything in the world has "room for improvement;" what a totally meaningless statement.
Your summary neglects the elegance of the setup.
Regarding pointing...
In a FPS on a typical console controller, you are required to use one joystick to aim your target reticule. Imagine trying to do the same thing on a PC. Any PC gamer would tell you it's ridiculous and go back to using their mouse.
The beauty of pointing is that it is simple and realistic, while freeing my thumb up for more important matters. I point where I want to shoot, and I shoot. Soldiers in real life do not fiddle around with joysticks on their guns to fire.
That is, of course, only one use for pointing. You can use it to zoom in and out of an image for a Where's Waldo game, interact with a puppy in a Nintendog's style pet game, direct armies in a RTS (something consoles have long struggled with), or even draw.
These things are possible with the current controllers, but a pointer does them better.
Regarding waggling...
Waggling has far more potential than even pointing. The vast arrays of minigames that have been derived ala Rayaman and WarioWare are testaments to that. Then you have other concepts such as Excite Truck where it works as a steering wheel. It, like pointing, is a dynamic interface with your game environment.
Claiming that "waggling" only replaces A and B buttons completely neglects the limitations of a button. In racing games, hitting a button to accelerate is the equivalent of flooring the gas pedal. You have absolutely no control save on and off, and the durations or repetition of each therein. With a waggle, the severity, speed, direction, twist and other factors can be used to define control.
The "waggle" does more than replace the buttons, but surpasses them. Any failure of your friend to come up with any better example than a light saber is his alone.
Your complaints eerily mimic those levied against the DS when it first was released. It may not have happened immediately, but incredible games were made using the new interface. While the Wii's remote is not above criticism, yours speak more of ignorance than of insight.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
By far the hardest thing with the Wii to obtain is hardware itself... then the nunchuck then the wiimote... the games are cake easy to find, even zelda. It's a fun system.
Shadus
This generation, it appears that all the major players have their own strengths that they can focus on, to try to distinguish them apart from everyone else. Nintendo, obviously, has the Wii-mote and everything that new interface can bring. MS is focusing a lot on all of the software/services of the 360, especially with Xbox Live. Sony, well, it's hard to say, but I imagine they would have to build their strength on just the raw power of the PS3, and really prove to gamers that their system is far more sophisticated than the others. Oh, and that Blu-ray thing too I suppose.
-- jchenx
You're wrong. Adults very much play with dolls and toy cars and read children's books. I even have an uncle who collects toy cars, and has a huge slotcar game in his garage. Many of the adults I know read books from Eoin Colfer or J. K. Rowlings. All in all, adults generally do whatever they like to do without thinking too much about the impression it may give to others.
Here's another interesting tidbit: Kids prefer the PS3 and 360 over the Wii. I actually think it's mostly adults who buy the Wii. Kids prefer to have violent games which impress their pals, regardless of whether they are fun to play. Adults play whatever they think is fun.