Last year's cover art. Image via Wikipedia

This week is going to be really exciting in the world of F1, especially for gamers. The Singapore Grand Prix starts on Friday with practice and continues over the weekend as normal. However, the new F1 game by Codemasters comes out on the same day and it’s going to be hard to put it down while the real action takes place. While I am excited about the race, the championship and the changes in track and decoration in Singapore, I’ll get to that in a later post.

I got the F1 2009 game on the Wii last year and am still loving playing it. The graphics are pretty awful and there’s no online at all but it’s just pure fun. This new game looks to have all of the fun of last year’s version, but adds amazing graphics, online, a better career mode and much more.

It’s so much more realistic this time around that it’s almost indistinguishable from before. So many details make this as true to life as has ever been achieved before. From amazing weather effects, season upgrades, realistic car performances, track evolution and much more. It’s all in there.

You would think I would have left all of the compliments until after I actually get a chance to play the game, but from all of the stuff I’ve seen on YouTube and elsewhere I don’t think there will be any nasty surprises.

I would go as far as to say that there is only one game that can come close to this as my personal game of the year, and that’s unsurprisingly Gran Turismo 5, which looks absolutely mind blowing. The amount of content that they’ve managed to fit on one blu-ray is almost beyond comprehension.

With that said, in terms of actual racing fun, they may be tied in that respect, but we’ll have to wait and see. All I know is that I’ve never been more excited about two games before than these, and I’ve been playing games since I had a big yellow brick of a gameboy when I must have been around 8 years old.

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Image via Wikipedia

IGN today posted their reviews of all of the Playstation Move launch games, as well as the hardware itself. Overall I’m quite disappointed. Not only are there no launch games that stand out as a must play, the hardware, despite a good review, is said to sometimes suffer from needing to be recalibrated. This is something that plagued the Wii Motion Plus and I hoped it wouldn’t do the same for the Move. I hope this is simply based on playing in a bright room, and that in normal conditions it will fare better. We’ll have to see.

Sports Champions initially seemed to be the only game that would appeal to me. It just doesn’t do anything I care about now. I have Wii Sports Resort and I want something different. I don’t think it offers anything that will stay fun for long at all, and three of the sports are exactly the same.

EyePet is technically the best of the games and may prove to be the most successful as well. The augmented reality aspect seems to work really well and will have great casual appeal, but only if the move catches on. I can’t see many families, especially ones who don’t already own a PS3, going and buying the bundle pack for I think $400 just to play EyePet. With that said, it’s still by far and away the best launch game for Move.

Personally I’m going to wait to pick up the hardware until EA brings out their Grand Slam Tennis game on PS3 with move support. We haven’t heard anything about the game for a while, but if it lives up to what I hope it will be, then it’ll be the only game I’ll need to make the move controllers worth the price for me personally.

I’d also love to see a Harry Potter game with move support as it seems perfectly suited to it. We’ve already had a taster of what it could be like with the game Sorcery which was demo’d at E3 this year.

Aside from those wishes, I’d just generally like to see the development community get behind the move and really support it with lots of quality titles. If they don’t, we may never see the full potential of the device come to light, which would be a huge shame.

A couple of names have been rumoured for the final product since then. Those were Arc and Gem. In the end Sony decided on a simple name that clearly described the purpose of the device.

One of my initial concerns about the move was that they never showed a supplementary device to hold in the other hand with an analogue stick, as Nintendo have with the nunchuk. I feel as if motion control, to be used in a more hardcore way and to provide the best experience, you need to have elements of classic control as part of the overall setup. Sony now have announced their take on the nunchuk formula in the shape of the subcontroller which boasts and analogue stick, a couple of face buttons and possibly a trigger on the back as well as being wireless.

While many will simply say that Sony have stooped to simply copying Nintendo, my view is that a device like this is practically a must have for many types of games. For example, I was a big fan of Grand Slam Tennis on Wii which used a motion-plus remote and nunchuk combo for the optimum control. Having precise analogue stick control of your character makes it easier to focus on your shots and not where your character is standing. My hope is that now EA Sports will be able to simply translate across the same control scheme essentially, but the Move will allow greater accuracy and a more fun tennis experience, while also providing HD graphics and probably better online play. For this type of game, it really removes any chance of me buying the Wii version.

I also loved Tiger Woods 10 on Wii last year. It made great use of motion-plus as well and didn’t use the nunchuk which allowed complete freedom of movement. I expect the PS3 version, which has already been confirmed to support the Move when it is released, to take all the great elements of the Wii version and multiply them.

Of course, not all games are suited to motion control and it’s really personal preference as to whether or not you feel you would rather use classic or motion for different genres. I personally prefer classic control on a lot of my Wii games when given the choice. Mario Kart, F1 and more are much more fun with the more precise duel analogue setup of the classic controller. On the other hand, I can’t imagine playing Excite Truck, Wii Sport and Wii Sports Resort, Boom Blox (and bash party) and others any other way.

Gamers shouldn’t feel threatened by motion control because I’m confident that they won’t become the norm. They will be great in some ways, limiting in others but I think there will be a choice for gamers as to how they play.

Whether or not I actually buy these games when they come out or not (Mario Galaxy 2 is more likely but I need to play more of the first before that), I am excited for everyone who is either a hardcore Nintendo fan or just a gamer wanting good stuff to play regardless of platform. Nintendo could have easily just done what we’re so used to seeing in the games industry, which would be to just put out both games in the Autumn / Winter timeframe and just rely on the long term successes like Wii Fit and Mario Kart and all the others to carry them through the year until then. After all, New Super Mario bros. will eternally have new in the name so therefore it will continue to sell.

However, Nintendo haven’t sat back and let the profits roll in for once and instead are being really aggressive by putting both these big games out in mid-year. Of course, they’re partly doing this to leave room in their release schedule for Zelda and possibly another game or two later on in 2010.

The sceptics will surely be pointing out that with the massive profits they make on hardware and software (which costs far less to develop than for other systems) they should have been making much more great games since it became clear that the Wii was going to be a runaway success, which of course it has.

While that is true, take solace in the fact that Nintendo are seemingly finally getting their act together.

Quick note: Only games that I’ve played / am excited to play soon will be eligible to win awards.

Best Platform Game - New Super Mario Bros. Wii

NSMB is a good Mario game. It does what you expect in that it takes an established formula and adds new elements to it including local multiplayer and a little motion. Some of the motion is implemented well, like the tilting platforms. Some is annoying to use, like the helicopter hat jump. Overall the game is fun, it just didn’t blow me away, plus I found it to be too picky and frustratingly difficult, which isn’t new to the Mario series or this genre of course, but it hurt my enjoyment as I just wanted to blast through the levels just having fun.

Best Racing Game - F1 2009

There hasn’t been a new F1 game for several years, and as someone who has become a huge fan in recent times, it was a bit disheartening. F1 2009 isn’t HD, it doesn’t have online and the default controls are the ever-awful motion steering. It even comes with a cheesy Wii Wheel plastic housing for the remote. However, as long as you play this with the classic controller, and you enjoy driving fast cars, you will almost be guaranteed to love this game. You get an intense sense of speed and great driving mechanics which on default settings feel satisfyingly easy to get to grips with, while also giving you enough of a challenge where you really feel as if you’re on the edge a lot of the time. Turn the driving aids off and you get a much more hardcore racing sim for the more hardcore player who’s waiting for the HD version to come out next year, or hardcore Wii owners. Aside from F1 2009, Excitebots (if it had come out here) would have been right up there with it fighting for best racing game, but as we know, it wasn’t released here, which is a real shame.

Best Shooter - Modern Warfare Reflex Edition

While Dead Space Extraction is generally a better game, I don’t really enjoy light gun games so I didn’t play that game. Modern Warfare Reflex therefore wins best shooter by default, in a similar way to how NSMBW won best platform game, without any competition. MW was a pretty good port of a two year old game and to its credit, did have very good online for a Wii game. Especially when compared to The Conduit, which was a big let down in the online play. It practically never worked. It then got shown how to do it by a two year old port. I just find that to be particularly sad. Not only this, but this year I also learned that I don’t like playing FPS games with the Wii remote IR pointer because Dual Analogue is just so much more comfortable and precise. My brother summed it up when he said that he would have come back to the game a lot if it had included classic controller support.

Best Sports Game - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10

Sports games is a genre the Wii is able to excel at, and it’s where I had the most fun with the system this year. Tiger Woods 10 uses motion-plus in a way which shows off what the peripheral is capable of. It works great and is really enjoyable to play, and very satisfying. Grand Slam Tennis I also enjoyed a lot. Despite the fact that the motion-plus wasn’t utilised as well as it could have been (it doesn’t track the location of the remote constantly, like in Wii Sports Resort Table Tennis for example). Regardless, the game was very enjoyable and shows a lot of potential for next year’s game. Wii Sports Resort is fun, but doesn’t in my opinion falls short of producing the magic that the original Wii Sports had. There are some fun additions though. My personal favourites are basketball 3 on 3 and table tennis. Archery is impressive as a tech demo for motion-plus but isn’t something I would go back to.

Also notable: Wii Sports Resort, Grand Slam Tennis

Best Visual Quality - Grand Slam Tennis

This may seem like a weird choice, but when you talk about Wii graphical quality, not a lot springs to mind in the last 12 months, at least of games that I’ve played. Grand Slam Tennis though has a very cool, cartoony art style which is very aesthetically pleasing.

Best Use of Sound - Modern Warfare Reflex Edition

Seeing as this is a port of the epic 2007 game CoD4 Modern Warfare, this version also brings the franchise’s staple chaotic but fantastic sound to Wii. Turning the sound up really heightens the excitement and the atmosphere.

Best Multiplayer - Boom Blox Bash Party

The original Boom Blox was one of the first console games that my Mum really got into, and we had a lot of fun playing it as a Family. While MW Reflex has great online for a Wii game and NSMBW offers the never before seen up to four player mario experience, Boom Blox has to take this award for how well it suits the Wii platform, and how it can appeal to almost anyone. There were other good multiplayer games too, but none match up in my opinion. Boom Blox can go down in Wii history as a casual game done right.

Also notable: Modern Warfare Reflex Edition, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, F1 2009, Wii Sports Resort, Grand Slam Tennis

Best WiiWare Game - Swords and Soldiers

Swords and Soldiers is a very unique, stylish, side scrolling RTS game which has been really well received critically.

Wii Game of the Year - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10

Sports games don’t often win awards outside of their own categories, if ever, but I’m going to buck that trend, even if 3DG isn’t exactly a huge site to say the least. Regardless, Tiger Woods 10 is a complete package, well designed and is a great example of how motion-plus can make Wii’s motion control useful for games other than Excite Truck / Excitebots.

Also notable: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Up next: PC

I’ve had issues with my Wii and PS3. We bought the PS3 together but now my bro is buying a slim because our launch 60 has an f’d up blu-ray drive. I don’t trust discs anymore and he plays it much more anyway so he’s footing the bill.

When I’ve had trouble with both of the generally more reliable systems, I can only imagine the joys being a 360 owner would bring.

The first thing to mention is that it is fun. I do enjoy playing games like this, and LittleBigPlanet for example, but it’s hard to get over the feeling that this game is poorly marketed. It’s like Nintendo are trying to shoehorn a hardcore game into a casual package and the result comes out more on the hardcore side.

For a family who are more casual in their gaming and generally play things like wii sports and wii sports resort, I can’t see them getting a great deal of fun out of this game.

The first couple of levels will be great fun but after that it will really be difficult to pass the stages, even with perceived strength in numbers, although I don’t think it really works out that way. I did touch on this before though so I will move on.

I also had trouble when I played it with my brother. I’m not sure what exactly it was that made us do so badly. Perhaps we were rushing, maybe we weren’t in the right frame of mind. Perhaps, but I did complete LittleBigPlanet, which is a similar game and does have some tricky parts to it, so it’s not like I just generally am unable to play this type of game.

A few other issues I have with it, firstly the graphics are serviceable, but they don’t appear to be pushing the system at all. I mean there are some nice effects, but for the most part, it’s hard to see how this game couldn’t have been made on the GameCube. If you compare this to games such as Mario Galaxy, Smash Bros. Brawl and Metroid Prime 3, I think you’ll notice the difference.

While I understand why Nintendo had a focus for local multiplayer in this game, a lot of people have criticized the lack of online support. On the other hand, when you consider how poor Nintendo’s friend code based system is, maybe they were doing us a favour by leaving it out. Regardless of how cumbersome it is though, the fact is that a lot of people who could have played it online with friends who live elsewhere, will be forced to play solo.

So I think in conclusion, I would recommend this game to either the long time Nintendo fans who clamour for more 2D Mario games and the casual families / couples who want to have fun (but preferably only if you have at least one gamer who can carry the rest). If you’re on the fence, the fact is that despite its shortcomings in some departments, this remains one of the best Wii games of the year, if not the best.

I do like the game and multiplayer is definitely more fun. When I went back to the game a little while ago today by myself, I ended up giving up without completing a level because I made a couple of mistakes at critical times. I guess you just need to be in the right frame of mind and I wasn’t today.

It’s very weird for a game that’s so traditionally punishing to be marketed by Nintendo as a casual family game.

As if it isn’t difficult enough single player, multi-player really ups the ante the more players you add in. This is partly because of the camera which in a similar way to LBP, zooms out and makes things tricky. Not only that but you can’t occupy the same exact space as each other. This means that on tight areas of the course, you have to spread out to avoid pushing each other into the lava or bottomless pit by accident.

For this reason, it’s definitely advisable to stick with 2 players if you can, but obviously you’ll have chaotic fun with more also, it’s all about personal preference.

Check back soon for part 2 of the review, but just to clarify for the time being, you should own this if you have a Wii. Just be prepared to take the frustrations with the fun.