Last week we looked at six promising titles for the upcoming Wii U launch day on November 18th. This week we will look at six more, including an updated version of Ninja Gaiden III, and some of the biggest Nintendo exclusives: New Super Mario Bros. U and Nintendo Land.
While the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions of Ninja Gaiden III were generally panned for a bland experience and neutered gameplay, Team Ninja seems to be looking to rectify the mistakes of the past with the Wii U port, Ninja Gaiden: Razor’s Edge. Team Ninja has added so many new features, improved on many that were introduced in the other versions of Ninja Gaiden III, and tinkered with the main gameplay so much that Razor’s Edge almost feels like a completely new game.
With “Rayman Legends,” a Wii U exclusive, being announced earlier this week to no longer be a launch title for the Wii U system, it is time to look at what games will be released in a little over a month when Nintendo’s upcoming system is finally released. With around 23 games being released on November 18th alongside the system, including some well known third-party games as well as a few Nintendo exclusives, it should be a great day to be a gamer.
Ever since E3 2010, hype has steadily built up around The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and understandably so. Nintendo is positioning this new Zelda title to become the game that finally changes the tried and true, yet ultimately staling, Zelda formula that has been with the series ever since Link’s first days on the NES. The question is: How can Nintendo accomplish such a lofty goal? So far, the going looks tough for Nintendo. Fans have already decided that Skyward Sword will be nothing more than a combination of Wii Motion Plus controls and the art styles and game mechanics of The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. While that may appear to be true at first glance, it would serve fans well to remember that during Twilight Princess’ development, series creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, insisted that “Twilight Princess will be, without a doubt, the last Zelda game as you know it in its present form.” To figure out what this quote means for Skyward Sword, it is important to understand what exactly Twilight Princess did for the series.
Whether or not gamers played it on Wii or Gamecube, Twilight Princess represented a pivotal moment in the series that went far beyond the initial Ocarina of Time 2.0 accusations the game received. What Nintendo had aimed for and achieved with Twilight Princess was the culmination of nearly every success the series had attained so far. For starters, the game had Ocarina of Time’s game-play mechanics, Majora’s Mask’s dark narrative style, A Link to the Past’s dual world adventuring, and The Wind Waker’s technologically adept engine. The list could go on as to how each games in the series contributed to Twilight Princess’ make-up, but doing so would also reveal the game’s greatest weakness: It is the culmination of all these things. Sure, the game does venture beyond Ocarina of Time 2.0 territory when it combines all of these elements well, but Ocarina of Time had, unfortunately, already accomplished a similar cumulative task almost a decade before. Link’s first foray into the third dimension could not have existed had it not been for games that had come before it, and current series director, Eiji Aonuma, has long understood this point. Much like today, The Zelda franchise was in desperate need of a freshening up by the time Aonuma had taken charge of the series, and it was plain to him that Ocarina of Time, while impressive, had done little more than to transplant 2D game design into the third dimension. His response to this problem was Majora’s Mask.
Despite continuing to sell like hotcakes year after year, the Wii is still dogged on and picked on by many gaming elitists and fanboys. Without a doubt, the largest complaint toward Nintendo’s moneymaking-machine is the lack of hardcore games. Furthermore, third party developers have jumped on the side of elitists because it is the third party developers who’s games sell abysmally. In spite of all the criticism, I am here to prove you wrong. Well, just on the point about the Wii not having any hardcore games. So this week, I dig way deep into the archive of my many games and reach for Zak and Wiki:Barbaros’ Treasure.
When it comes to how great a game is, there are many components that people discuss. Most players attribute the greatness of a title to the addictive gameplay, beautiful graphics, a compelling story, or fluid controls. Most reviewers in this day and age would follow suit, arguing that gameplay is the most important, followed (in no strict order) by graphics, story, and controls. Music in video games however, often fails to hold a candle to other elements of gaming in terms of importance. This week in the Unsung Heroes column, my aim is to demonstrate that video game music is far better than most people give it credit for.
Most Wii games are shovel-ware. Most people seem to feel that hardcore games do not exist in the Wii world, and though wading through Best Buy bargain bins lends some validity to this statement, this does not mean the Wii does not have a good amount of great hardcore games. The big problem is, with the exception of first party titles, games that elitists would fancy don’t usually sell too well. Case in point; Vanilla Ware’s Muramasa.
