Ok so I downloaded this almost the minute WiiWare launched here along with LostWinds (which I’ve played some of but not much yet). This game is probably the best £10 I’ve ever spent on a game before. Most games this price are good but don’t really keep me coming back for more. Games like Super Stardust HD, Pain, Calling all Cars and the others. This game however, although it can feel frustrating at times when your guys keep failing a dungeon or the slow progress you sometimes feel, it’s still a great game with tons of depth especially when you consider all you’re really doing is staying at home the entire time.
There is a lot of satisfaction to be had from building up your kingdom and keeping your people happy. The town will never feel bustling and alive since its not an MMO and the people are computer controlled, it will never feel like logging into wow and seeing people everywhere going about their business. However it does do as good of a job as it can. I would say it would have been nice if they could have a wider array of things to say when you talk to them, but on the other hand I often don’t read what they say anyway.
The game at first is very basic but when it builds up and you unlock new buildings, it actually starts to get pretty complicated. You’re faced with making sure you train your adventurers in the right jobs, create balanced parties, and send your guys to suitable dungeons. For a WiiWare game there is a lot of depth here and the game will keep you coming back for many hours.
When I do get to the end of the game, (although I’m not exactly sure if it ever does end) or at least finish all the dungeons in the game, I’ll probably check out some of the downloadable content. Some of the stuff here doesn’t really add to the game at all, costumes for the king and Chime aren’t really necessary and are from my point of view a waste of the 100 points each you’ll spend on them. On the other hand there are dungeon packs which will offer prizes for completing them which will up your limit on various buildings like houses which in turn will give you more gil for spending on various things. You can also get a triple pack of new races. This allows you three different building types, for each of the races, these races each excel at various jobs and so looks like it can really extend the life of the game.
This is definitely a must-buy wii game when it comes out, although for me personally its going to be about online no matter how good the rest of the game is, in the same way as prime 3.
High-Voltage are doing some really cool stuff on the Wii, Animales looks great on wiiware, and they have another wiiware title which is a space shooter I’m also looking forward to.
With the US launch of wiiware last week and the UK / Europe launch on Tuesday, I’m excited with how the service is making an impact and showing its potential right from the start. With two must have games in the launch line-up with many more to come, WiiWare I hope will be a success for Nintendo and more importantly, the (mostly) small developers that are making innovative original games for the new Wii download service.
I’m definitely going to revisit this to give reviews of Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, My Life as A King and LostWinds, the two must-have launch games on tuesday or whenever I’ve played enough of them to have my own opinion.
From looking at IGN and some other small review sites, LostWinds is by far the standout game of the bunch with my life as a king being more of a niche title, and more for people who are fans of games like animal crossing, sim city and other slower paced management games like that. The big mistake that some people may make is being My Life as A King thinking that it’s a traditional FF RPG style game, when in fact your just managing your kingdom and your people rather than venturing out to be the hero yourself. Me personally, I really like the concept, and the graphics, for a WiiWare game are stunning from what I’ve seen of it so far. LostWinds is also a stunning looking game for a WiiWare title and as IGN’s review says at the top, it’s better than a lot of full price wii games, which obviously shows WiiWare is off to a great start, unless your comparing it to data design games, but whatever.
So basically the short of this post is that WiiWare is a great step for Nintendo to take and that if you’re out there and have some cash to blow on some games then you can’t go wrong with these when you consider the price. This is the kind of stuff people need to support on Wii. This and games like Boom Blox which really use the wii remote well, and suit the console. The sales of Pro Evo 8 on Wii are apparently pretty poor which is extremely dissapointing considering how they’re really innovating at Konami with great IR controls. That’s another game you should pick up to support Konami and the effort they have made to innovate on Wii.
To quickly sum up WiiWare, great start and I hope they keep up the momentum with good weekly releases. There are some good titles on the way I’m probably going to end up buying. Especially Bomberman with 8 player wi-fi connection. That’s going to be so fun. World of Goo is coming and already frontier have announced LostWinds 2 which is great news.
You could say why write your own review when they do such a good job on IGN, but I have some stuff regarding mainly the multiplayer I want to address.
This game, while the story is undoubtedly amazing, I got it pretty much exclusively for the online. On IGN they say its worthit just for the online and I completely agree.
Instead of talking about why its so great I’ll go into what’s not so good instead since its quicker. Once you get out of the lobby its almost flawless but its the lobby system itself that really let’s the online down. The main issues are the slow ready system, only leaders being able to change game modes or settings instead of a mariokart style voting system and not having a chat box in the lobby. I understand it may get combersome to allow voting on settings but not allowing voting on game type or race tracks or vehicles is inexcusable for me. For example there is no way to play a helecopter race or drive an ice-cream truck unless I’m a leader (which I never am) or if im lucky enough to join one which also pretty much never happens.
The only other thing I would mention is that when they patch the lobby system to streamline it, they should add pool, bowling and darts to the list of multiplayer game modes, even if they have to make a “mini games for noobs” section. I just feel like these mini games are probably better than full pool, bowling and darts games on ps3 or xbox and therefore why leave them out of the online experience. I think I read you can do them in free and party modes. However, with no in-game messaging besides voice (until the in game XMB) how can you get anyone but your friends to play with you? Its harder than getting someone to give you a hellicopter race, that puts it in some perspective.
anyway despite these shortcomings, the game is obviously a must buy and if you don’t have it then get it unless your name is Jack Thompson.
So back on topic this game is probably deserving of the perfect 10 and if they streamline the online then it will absolutely seal the deal. My only concern is that where do you draw the line with 10s. Its going to be interesting to see what reviewers give to other high profile games in the near future.
Go and buy or play this game now and if you need more convincing (like what the story is like) check the following IGN review, then go to IGN.com and check out the ads there so I don’t get sued.
2008 is going to be a really good year for gaming and thats not to say 2007 was a slouch at all. We had Super Mario Galaxy and COD4 last year among others, I almost forgot about The Burning Crusade and tons of other games I can’t remember right now. This year I’m looking forward to some great Nintendo titles like Mario Kart Wii, Smash Bros. Brawl and Wii Fit. All of which will be amazing for sure. Then on the PS3 side, although not a game, Playstation Home will be interesting to check out, plus a Gran Turismo 5, Metal Gear Solid 4, GTA 4, Haze and more to look forward to. On the PC side theres WoW The Wrath of the Lich King, Starcraft 2 and the impressive looking Spore. I’m not really much of a hardcore PC gamer but I’m really looking forward to playing these games. Then for those into the whole Xbox side of things, there’s Fable 2 that has been talked up for a while now, and of course Gears of War 2 which will be in the running for game of the year, but then again there are so many here that could win. I wouldn’t be too surprised if Wii Fit won to the dismay of hardcore gamers everywhere. Anyway, I’m sure I’m missing some from this list but I think even if I did this is still another huge year for gaming. Just not too kind to people’s wallets.
It’s definitely shaping up for 2007 to be a pretty dissapointing year in which Nintendo fail to deliver their games on time. No matter what any release date pages say, I have a feeling that I’ll be dissapointed in the same way I always seem to be with video game releases. The games you want always take the longest to come out and when they do, while it’s great to play them, its just a bit empty because of the long wait for it.
Mario party 8, metroid prime 3, mario galaxy etc all looked like they would be out in the first half of this year but now that’s out of the question. I think game.co.uk should change the release info on metroid and galaxy to be a little more realistic than Q1 2007. Nintendo have recently said that they are releasing pretty much all the games that we have been promiced in 2007. The problem is they don’t specify if that will be for Japan, the US or Europe and because of this, I’m taking it as meaning Japan only for all of them, some of them in the US and virtually none in Europe.
Recent examples of delays include pokemon diamond and pearl which are sheduled to come out sometime between june and july in this country I think, but it’s already out in the US as of April. I think worldwide releases should become the norm because really, how hard can it be to get the games out everywhere simultaniously?
Other prominent examples include Excite Truck which came out November 19th in the US and Feburary or March in the UK. The latest game I want to play but can’t is Super Paper Mario which is coming out sometime later this year I’m guessing, by which time i probably will have lost interest.
I think the problem is every time Nintendo bring out a console, it seems like there’s always a super smash bros and mario kart long in the distance and it’s pretty dissapointing when theres at least a year’s wait for it.