I started playing Zelda this past weekend, and, so far, I'm both impressed and depressed.
The game play is great. I love being able to swing my sword, and do all sorts of combos with it. The story is mediocre, and seems rather forced at times, but is workable. The puzzles and quests, however, leave much to be desired. I shouldn't have to go online to figure out what the hell I need to do after the first 30 minutes of playing, yet I did. Twice. The "intro" level didn't explain how to do things, or what you needed to do to complete the quest. It was very vague, and, IMHO, a horrible "walk-thru" of possibilities of the game.
After that, I'm having fun though.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
I finished Rayman!
Okay, so I only played through story mode, so sue me. Everything I can read about it online says that it's impossible to unlock everything in score mode, so I'm not going to even try. I just wanted to unlock a game for my daughter, that it turns out wasn't even IN Rayman. *sigh*
I had fun. Lots of fun. Too much fun, and I continue to enjoy it. The games were entertaining, and even the cut scenes were funny. This is a good one for kids, at least 5+, as it needs quite a bit of hand-eye coordination. None of my kids (or my wife, for that matter) do well on the dancing games, but they still have a lot of fun, and that's what really matters.
I had fun. Lots of fun. Too much fun, and I continue to enjoy it. The games were entertaining, and even the cut scenes were funny. This is a good one for kids, at least 5+, as it needs quite a bit of hand-eye coordination. None of my kids (or my wife, for that matter) do well on the dancing games, but they still have a lot of fun, and that's what really matters.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Rayman Quick Notes
Okay, I haven't played this all the way through yet, so here are some quick impressions:
I'm left handed. In Wii sports, this wasn't an issue, as you were able to define your handedness on your Mii, and everything worked fine. In Rayman, there is no definition available. So far, this has only caused me problems with one of the mini-games, but it's one that runs during every "day" of game time: the dancing. The bunnies come at you from the left side and the right side, and you have to shake the controller on the correct side. So, for this game, you MUST hold the remote in your right hand, which, for me, requires switching hands. It's a minor issue, but one that should have been easily worked around.
The kids aren't quite up to this yet. They'll have fun with it once I unlock multiplayer (another gripe), but in a lot of cases (the dancing), even the older kids don't have the hand-eye coordination set. I'm positive they'll get much better with practice, but even after 3 tries my daughter was not able to finish the first dancing game, got frustrated, and quit.
Multiplayer? You have to play through the single player first. WEAK! I'm the only one that can pass the single player relatively quickly (especially considering the kids aren't allowed to play during the week), so, before they can play this game on their own (and just play the mini-games they want to play, not the whole story mode), I have to finish the whole single player game. I've run through about 27% so far, with a total of about 1 hour of game play. 3 more hours to go, and my kids can finally have fun with it. *sigh*
I still think it's a *very* fun game, and I'm having a blast when I play.
I'm left handed. In Wii sports, this wasn't an issue, as you were able to define your handedness on your Mii, and everything worked fine. In Rayman, there is no definition available. So far, this has only caused me problems with one of the mini-games, but it's one that runs during every "day" of game time: the dancing. The bunnies come at you from the left side and the right side, and you have to shake the controller on the correct side. So, for this game, you MUST hold the remote in your right hand, which, for me, requires switching hands. It's a minor issue, but one that should have been easily worked around.
The kids aren't quite up to this yet. They'll have fun with it once I unlock multiplayer (another gripe), but in a lot of cases (the dancing), even the older kids don't have the hand-eye coordination set. I'm positive they'll get much better with practice, but even after 3 tries my daughter was not able to finish the first dancing game, got frustrated, and quit.
Multiplayer? You have to play through the single player first. WEAK! I'm the only one that can pass the single player relatively quickly (especially considering the kids aren't allowed to play during the week), so, before they can play this game on their own (and just play the mini-games they want to play, not the whole story mode), I have to finish the whole single player game. I've run through about 27% so far, with a total of about 1 hour of game play. 3 more hours to go, and my kids can finally have fun with it. *sigh*
I still think it's a *very* fun game, and I'm having a blast when I play.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Where's the danger?!
Okay, I completely forgot to write about the dangers. We initially played the Wii at my parents house, which is not exactly set up in the best way for someone flailing about with a controller. Only 3 accidents were had to date, all of them at my parents house.
The first was my fault. When swinging the remote to bowl, I accidentally hit my dads little fan. The remote never left my hand, and my hand hit the fan just as much as the remote did. No damage to anything, just a little embarassing.
The second was all my daughter. In her fun and excitement of playing her older brother in tennis, she accidentally let go of the remote during a down swing (imagine a tennis swing, with her hand down and behind her, coming forward). She managed to smack her brother in the calf, then smack herself in the head with the remote. After a few minutes of stunned silence and almost weeping, the kids continued with the game. Thank god for that strap, otherwise that remote would have gone flying.
The third accident was caused by someone (the 3 year old) entering the field of flinging remotes during a game. My youngest got up to go to the kitchen, and had to walk in front of his siblings as they were playing. His older brother, intent on the game, swung, and thwacked the youngest upside the head. Lots of crying and soothing ensued; but there was no realy damage, and after a few minutes of drama, all was well. Thankfully, this won't be a problem at my house, as the playing field doesn't require anyone to walk through it.
The first was my fault. When swinging the remote to bowl, I accidentally hit my dads little fan. The remote never left my hand, and my hand hit the fan just as much as the remote did. No damage to anything, just a little embarassing.
The second was all my daughter. In her fun and excitement of playing her older brother in tennis, she accidentally let go of the remote during a down swing (imagine a tennis swing, with her hand down and behind her, coming forward). She managed to smack her brother in the calf, then smack herself in the head with the remote. After a few minutes of stunned silence and almost weeping, the kids continued with the game. Thank god for that strap, otherwise that remote would have gone flying.
The third accident was caused by someone (the 3 year old) entering the field of flinging remotes during a game. My youngest got up to go to the kitchen, and had to walk in front of his siblings as they were playing. His older brother, intent on the game, swung, and thwacked the youngest upside the head. Lots of crying and soothing ensued; but there was no realy damage, and after a few minutes of drama, all was well. Thankfully, this won't be a problem at my house, as the playing field doesn't require anyone to walk through it.
Wii Sports: the fun, the danger
Even though I bought 2 other games when I bought my Wii (Zelda and Rayman), Wii sports is by far the most played in my house (okay, Zelda hasn't even touched the Wii yet. I am ashamed to say, but I just haven't had time to devote to it. I've played Rayman, but maybe a total of 45 minutes -- hardly enough time to review it). It's multi-player, and, so far, most games only require a remote, and no nunchuck (which is good, because I only have one nunchuck!). We haven't tried boxing yet (no one is really interested), but the kids adore the other games.
Tennis: My daughter has a mean serve. It's not even funny. We recently bought real life tennis rackets so that we could play as a family at the local park, so when she saw this game she was all over it. All the kids had fun with the game, except my youngest (3 years); the tennis game requires too much timing and hand-eye coordination for him. My older 2 kids love it, and I enjoyed it as well. It's doubles tennis, and, if there are only 2 players, you control both the forward and rear positions. The Wii will swing with whichever position is closest to the ball. I assume that with 3 or more players you'll be able to play all the positions independently; when I get more controllers I'll re-review it. Downsides: I can't find any obvious way to make your on-screen character go a particular direction, or make the ball go where you want it to. It doesn't help that I haven't read the instructions, but there are no in-game instructions, and it's not obvious from just playing. I also have no idea how my daughter does her power serve; she's the only one that can pull it off.
Bowling: My youngest sons favorite game. You can turn your character, change the left-right orientation of where you're standing in the lane, and can affect the spin of the ball by twisting the control while you toss the ball. A very fun family game, the only downside (as in real life) is having to wait your turn while everyone else plays.
Golf: Another of my youngest sons favorites. He doesn't pay attention to any of the golf details, he just swings. He has a blast through the entire game; for him, it's all about getting the ball in the hole. The few times I've played with him, I'm amazed by how the remote picks up the strength of the swings, and all the aiming options. Very fun, fluid game. My youngest beat my oldest the first time they played (came in like 10 strokes under), so there's already some bitterness involved.
Baseball: My boys played this, although I wasn't even in the room at the time. My oldest seemed to enjoy it, but I'm not sure if it's the game, or that he was able to win against his brother, who was totally confused by the whole thing. A little beyond the league of a 3 year old. I'll have to spend more time on this.
Boxing: Haven't tried it yet. From commercials, it looks like you need 2 nunchucks for 2 players, and since we only have one nunchuck right now, it doesn't look like we'll be playing this as a group game any time soon.
All in all, lots of fun for everyone. Tennis is by far the family favorite, with even the wife enjoying playing a couple games with all our kids. I'll see about doing a Rayman review tomorrow.
Tennis: My daughter has a mean serve. It's not even funny. We recently bought real life tennis rackets so that we could play as a family at the local park, so when she saw this game she was all over it. All the kids had fun with the game, except my youngest (3 years); the tennis game requires too much timing and hand-eye coordination for him. My older 2 kids love it, and I enjoyed it as well. It's doubles tennis, and, if there are only 2 players, you control both the forward and rear positions. The Wii will swing with whichever position is closest to the ball. I assume that with 3 or more players you'll be able to play all the positions independently; when I get more controllers I'll re-review it. Downsides: I can't find any obvious way to make your on-screen character go a particular direction, or make the ball go where you want it to. It doesn't help that I haven't read the instructions, but there are no in-game instructions, and it's not obvious from just playing. I also have no idea how my daughter does her power serve; she's the only one that can pull it off.
Bowling: My youngest sons favorite game. You can turn your character, change the left-right orientation of where you're standing in the lane, and can affect the spin of the ball by twisting the control while you toss the ball. A very fun family game, the only downside (as in real life) is having to wait your turn while everyone else plays.
Golf: Another of my youngest sons favorites. He doesn't pay attention to any of the golf details, he just swings. He has a blast through the entire game; for him, it's all about getting the ball in the hole. The few times I've played with him, I'm amazed by how the remote picks up the strength of the swings, and all the aiming options. Very fun, fluid game. My youngest beat my oldest the first time they played (came in like 10 strokes under), so there's already some bitterness involved.
Baseball: My boys played this, although I wasn't even in the room at the time. My oldest seemed to enjoy it, but I'm not sure if it's the game, or that he was able to win against his brother, who was totally confused by the whole thing. A little beyond the league of a 3 year old. I'll have to spend more time on this.
Boxing: Haven't tried it yet. From commercials, it looks like you need 2 nunchucks for 2 players, and since we only have one nunchuck right now, it doesn't look like we'll be playing this as a group game any time soon.
All in all, lots of fun for everyone. Tennis is by far the family favorite, with even the wife enjoying playing a couple games with all our kids. I'll see about doing a Rayman review tomorrow.
Monday, January 22, 2007
I have to go Wii!!
So, over the weekend, I was hunting for a Wii. I found out that there would be a big release on Sunday by all the major retailers (Best Buy, Target, Circuit City, etc). On Saturday I visited a GameStop at the local mall. They said they'd have Wii's on Sunday. Deciding, with my wife, that we'd give up on the Wii till next year, we went to purchase two DS's instead, with a bunch of games. They didn't have any DS's either, and when a guy went back to check on stock, they weren't going to have any on Sunday, either. Damn.
Sunday morning hit. My wife, daughter, and mother-in-law were going to a quilt show all day. None of the stores opened till 11, so me and the boys would go Wii hunting. Stopped at Best Buy first, since it's on the way to the GameStop. They were already open at 10:30, with a line coming out the door. I decided to stop, and talk to the security guy. He said they got 40 units, and there were already more than 40 people there. I thanked him, and moved on to GameStop.
We were about 18th in line, and at about 10:45, the GameStop guy came out, and announced they had 9 Wii's. Oh well, we'd already decided to go the DS route anyway, so I stopped back at Best Buy to get 2...except they didn't have any. Sheesh! It's a Nintendo hardware shortage!
We went home to pick up the dog and head over to my parents house for the day. I thought about it, and there was a Best Buy in Long Beach, just off the freeway. It was brand new, just opening up in the past year, so I decided to check that out on my way to my parents. I left the dog and the boys in the car, and walked in.
On impulse, I asked someone if they had any Wii's. They didn't know, and pointed me in the direction of the computer people. Someone from customer service overheard, and came over, asked "Are you looking for a Wii?", to which I replied "Yeah". He then said "We have *one* left, are you interested", which got an emphatic "YES!". In the end, I walked out with a Wii, one extra Wiimote (no extra nun chuck though, I was bummed about that), and a copy of Zelda.
All in all, a good day. All 3 of my kids are loving it, especially Wii sports. I'll go over that in a later post.
Sunday morning hit. My wife, daughter, and mother-in-law were going to a quilt show all day. None of the stores opened till 11, so me and the boys would go Wii hunting. Stopped at Best Buy first, since it's on the way to the GameStop. They were already open at 10:30, with a line coming out the door. I decided to stop, and talk to the security guy. He said they got 40 units, and there were already more than 40 people there. I thanked him, and moved on to GameStop.
We were about 18th in line, and at about 10:45, the GameStop guy came out, and announced they had 9 Wii's. Oh well, we'd already decided to go the DS route anyway, so I stopped back at Best Buy to get 2...except they didn't have any. Sheesh! It's a Nintendo hardware shortage!
We went home to pick up the dog and head over to my parents house for the day. I thought about it, and there was a Best Buy in Long Beach, just off the freeway. It was brand new, just opening up in the past year, so I decided to check that out on my way to my parents. I left the dog and the boys in the car, and walked in.
On impulse, I asked someone if they had any Wii's. They didn't know, and pointed me in the direction of the computer people. Someone from customer service overheard, and came over, asked "Are you looking for a Wii?", to which I replied "Yeah". He then said "We have *one* left, are you interested", which got an emphatic "YES!". In the end, I walked out with a Wii, one extra Wiimote (no extra nun chuck though, I was bummed about that), and a copy of Zelda.
All in all, a good day. All 3 of my kids are loving it, especially Wii sports. I'll go over that in a later post.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Wii have a problem here
Okay, there HAS to be a better way to distribute these game systems. I'm not just talking about the Wii (although that's the hardware I'm interested in), all of them have issues.
The whole "trickle" effect is annoying. Yes, I want a game system. No, I'm not willing to stalk a store (or every store within a 5-10 mile radius) for a game system. Why can't I just put my name on some sort of list, and when the store gets one (and gets to my name), they call or e-mail me, and I have 24 hours to pick it up? I wouldn't be running around town, causing problems and annoying store clerks with "Hey, got any Wii's?".
One of these retailers really needs to just step up and change how they're operating. Once it becomes a convenience, rather than an inconvenience, you're pretty much guaranteed the customers.
The whole "trickle" effect is annoying. Yes, I want a game system. No, I'm not willing to stalk a store (or every store within a 5-10 mile radius) for a game system. Why can't I just put my name on some sort of list, and when the store gets one (and gets to my name), they call or e-mail me, and I have 24 hours to pick it up? I wouldn't be running around town, causing problems and annoying store clerks with "Hey, got any Wii's?".
One of these retailers really needs to just step up and change how they're operating. Once it becomes a convenience, rather than an inconvenience, you're pretty much guaranteed the customers.
Here and now
The original name of my blog, but it was denied (someone else already had it). Dammit.
Look here for what's going on in my brain. I'll try to keep it clean :)
Look here for what's going on in my brain. I'll try to keep it clean :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)