Diner Dash review
Everyone knows Diner Dash; the hit Flash game from 2003 which has seemingly been ported to every gaming system under the sun. Well apart from the Nintendo Wii that is, until now. Diner Dash has already ventured its way onto Xbox 360 and PS3 this year but Wii owners now finally have their chance to control the cute redhead Flo as she decides to run a restaurant business.
You take control of Flo who pretty much has to do everything in her restaurant minus the cooking. You’ll be seeing customers to their seats, taking their order, giving them the bill and then clearing up their plates when they leave. That’s the basic gameplay out of the way but it’s not as easy as it sounds. Once your restaurant starts getting busy with many customers arriving in quick succession you’ll find keeping up with the orders a real task. Flo is the only waitress and if you don’t keep the customers happy and seen to quickly then their happiness hearts will quickly decrease.
If all their hearts disappear then that means trouble for your chances of passing the level as well as dampening your high score. Your woes can easily continue with one simple mistake such as putting a party of two on a six seater table, thus not having enough seats for a party of five or six. Guess what happens if you’re carrying a dirty plate and a freshly made meal to the washing bin at the same time? Yes that’s right; the fresh food goes in the washing bin along with the dirty plate. Now the chef has to remake that order which can add a significant delay to the customer. All of this and more will drive you insane with fury but Diner Dash is so addictive that you’ll want to keep playing.
Finishing every level (unless you are playing endless time mode) requires you to reach a set number of points before closing time. Almost every task you complete gives you points but sadly you’ll need to put in extra effort to achieve an expert rating. This means matching the colour of a customer’s clothes to a particular chair to get bonus points as well as performing multiple chains. Chains require you to perform the same task multiple times in a row for an increasing multiplier score but as soon as you switch chores the multiplier resets to zero. Things are getting a bit tough and so you are given a little bit of help in the form of additions to your restaurant. Such additions include a drinks machine which can help satisfy customers waiting to receive their food and a podium which will let you recharge the heart meter of people waiting for a seat in your restaurant. The downside is that serving drinks and standing at the podium saps time you could be spending serving the customers already seated.
If you get stuck trying to make a success of Flo’s restaurant career then maybe you’ll want to attempt to play Diner Dash with friends. You can head online play hard head to head match with others via the Nintendo WiFi connection.
Diner Dash for Wii is a basic yet addictive casual title. Costing just 1000 points on the WiiWare shop channel means it’s not too expensive compared to a disc based game. The visuals are bright and colourful but don’t look as sharp as the HD console versions, perhaps even a little blurry in comparison. The music and sound effects are basic too, bippy boppy tunes that will get you by but not make you interested in owning the soundtrack. The simple and intuitive one button control scheme means almost everyone will be able to pick up play and enjoy Diner Dash. With no motion controls it also means that for a change you won’t need to wave your arms about like a madman.
Diner Dash for Wii brings nothing new to the table but is a nice little game you can load up at any time for a spot of time management fun. 3 out of 5.
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Related: Diner Dash for the Xbox 360, Hysteria Hospital Emergency Ward review
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Military Madness review
PlayStation 3 owners have had many reasons to think themselves better than Wii owners over the years. Be it the next generation 1080p visuals, Blu-ray Disc storage or an online multiplayer system that doesn’t require the pesky Friend Codes. One other reason the Playstation 3 owners had an excuse for smugness was the release of Military Madness Nectaris for the PS3 back in January. So it’s taken a whole two months but Wii owners can now (at last) get their hands on their very own slice of Military Madness pie from the WiiWare Shop Channel for 1000 WiiPoints.
So what is Military Madness for Wii all about? Well the first thing to mention is that Military Madness Nectaris for Wii is a remake of the classic 1989 Turbografx-16 game that most of us never played back in the day, either because we didn’t own the Turbografx or that we were born years after the game came out. Whichever the excuse; Hudson Software and Backbone Entertainment have resurrected the franchise and you now have no excuse not to get into the action; but before that – the story:
There are two factions battling for supremacy on the moon in the year 2156 and as with any War we need to look into the past to understand why it started. Due to an ever increasing population and therefore a total lack of space to build anymore luxury villas on the Spanish Rivera; somebody had to find a way to free up a bit of space on Earth and do it quickly. With Ethnic Cleansing (or to give it it’s correct name; Genocide) being out of popularity the only other option was to move all of the World’s criminals to a new hyper prison newly built on the Moon.
But wouldn’t you know it, there was another reason why cheap labour being sent up to the Moon seemed such a good idea to those on Earth. There just so happened to be a wonderful, powerful and valuable new element under the Moon’s surface which needed to be mined, refined and sent back to Earth right away. Jump forward a few more years and we find that the prisoners have managed to revolt against their captors and have managed to take over the moon and use that aforementioned new mineral to start developing a massive super weapon that could destroy the Earth.
So it’s time for you as leader of the Earth’s Military to put a stop to this mess by flying to the moon and engage in a series of turn based battles to defeat those nasty baddies.
Military Madness is a strategy game set in the future on the Moon. For the most part the setting doesn’t matter because you’ll really only be concentrating on one thing: numerous amounts of futuristic tanks shooting at each other against a bland grey Moon backdrop. Nectaris for Wii is split into two straightforward modes; a Single Player Campaign and Multiplayer. In single player mode you start with a series of small enclosed maps with normal difficulty and then when you’re done with those you can move onto some larger more advanced maps.
The goal of each map is to defeat the opponent by either capturing their home base or destroying all of their units. Both require quite different tactics so which you’ll choose to do is entirely up to you, your play style and how well you are doing at the time. Each map typically starts off with both forces on opposite sides of the map with their units spread out around their home base. To confuse things a little I must explain that each of those units is actually a placeholder for up to eight actual units. To put it another way, instead of having a cluttered map the number of onscreen units is limited by grouping eight individual units into one big unit. These units never separate into their individual parts but individual ones can be destroyed when you enter battle – I’ll come to battle in a moment. Teams take it in turns to move all, some or even none of their units. Units can only move set distances and this will also vary depending on the type of ground. Flat ground is easy land based units will only move slowly across rough land and slopes.
Let’s take a look into the strengths and weaknesses of these units:
- Walking Armour – Super tough but slow. Very effective against land and air based units.
- Transporters – As the name suggests these can transport other units around the map at high speed. They’re rubbish in battle though.
- Tanks – You already know what Tanks are. Very strong, but a tad slow.
- Aerials – These are very fast and agile but not the toughest by any means. It’s best to keep moving these around attacking in short bursts.
- Infantries – The weakest but also the most useful. Human’s in armoured spacesuits with jet packs capable of flight. These are the only units which can capture an opponent’s home base.
- Technicals – Unlike the other units these can attack and then run away afterwards. Quick and agile but very weak too.
When it comes to attacking other units it all comes down to RPG like stats. Although the main factor in any battles is the unit(s) strengths and weaknesses, there are other things to consider. If friendly or enemy units are directly surrounding in the battle then that will alter the stats. Another contributor is if units are on flat, unstable or higher ground. Ideally you want to surround an enemy with several of your units trapping them on lower ground; this will give you the upper hand even this will not save you if you send a weak unit up against something very strong. Units can be repaired in factories but they will lose a movement turn whilst under repairs and at any time the factory could be captured by the enemy if not guarded.
The Military Madness Multiplayer mode is very similar to the single player campaign featuring just a few gameplay tweaks not really worth mentioning here. The good news is that you and up to three others can battle each-other locally or online. Sadly just like my experience of Military Madness on PS3, the Wii game also features a distinct lack of people playing online in random matches. This isn’t too bad if you have friends with the game but it may turn out you’ll be playing offline more than online until more people buy the title.
Interestingly enough the WiiWare version of Military Madness stands up very well against its higher def sibling on the PS3. Sure Military Madness on Wii is in low definition but unless they were running side by side you could probably not tell the difference. Everything looks near identical to the game on PS3 just without being displayed in high res. It’s just a shame that the moon maps are very bland (understandably I guess) and the units all look more or less the same. Sometimes the similarity in appearance was to my own detriment; a couple of times I got a bit mixed up and sent in low powered units up against tough ones. Apart from the bland visuals and a lack of analogue or pointer controls I was very impressed of the Wii port of Military Madness and award it 3 out of 5.
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Related: Military Madness: Nectaris for the PS3, Onslaught Wiiware review
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Metroid Other M release date
At last we finally have a release date for Metroid Other M on Wii thanks to Nintendo’s recent media summit. Metroid Other M for Wii was originally revealed last year to everyone’s complete surprise and since then news has been quiet. The promise of old-school 2D gameplay for the core crowd and first person shooting for the younger Call of Duty fans may very well bring us all together for a terrific summer on Wii. The Metroid Other M Release date is June 27th 2010.
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Related: Metroid Prime 3 Corruption review, Moon for the DS review
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Alice in Wonderland release date
I agree that Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are a strange choice for a Disney Movie. Sweeny Todd lovers may not find enough blood in the upcoming Alice in Wonderland game for their liking but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. Alice in Wonderland for Wii is the game of the upcoming movie and promises to be just as imaginative and weird as the film. Disney haven’t been slumps when it comes to their video game releases lately so the thought of getting Alice to master abilities like; altering perception, making objects invisible and manipulating time, could mean that this Wii game is a hit come the Alice in Wonderland release date of March 2nd 2010.
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Related: Review of Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals, Ultimate Band review
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Super Mario Galaxy 2 release date
We finally have a release date for Super Mario Galaxy 2 thanks to yesterday’s Nintendo Media Summit 2010. Not only do we know the exact date but we’ve also seen a lot more of the game including Mario’s new Drill Ability as well as his trusty pal Yoshi who has an appetite for almost everything. Get your credit cards at the ready for another mushroom filled summer blockbuster on Wii. The Super Mario Galaxy two release date is May 23rd 2010.
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Related: Top 5 Games of 2010, Super Mario Galaxy sales
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Max and the Magic Marker review
Let’s start this review of Max and the Magic Marker with another one of my moments of reminiscing about gaming in days gone by. Throughout the 80’s and 90’s Britain was well known for its bedroom programmers. Back in the good old personal computing days of the BBC Micro and Sinclair Spectrum, it was possible for you program your own games right out of the box (providing you knew how to program or were willing to learn that is). This continued up until the mid-1990’s when game development finally became out of reach for a typical home computer user. The indie game movement we have today evolved from the public domain movement from back then; small groups or individuals who have a great game idea but for one reason or another design and make it themselves.
It’s great to see that rather than disappear into obscurity onto PC message boards, the indie movement has instead moved onto the home consoles; something I wouldn’t have thought possible with such domineering companies such as Nintendo; Microsoft and Sony ruling the console roosts. So whilst nowadays I’d wager that zero games appearing on the Wii, 360 or PS3 were developed in somebodies bedroom. We at least still have some great talent producing low budget games that don’t spawn from the gaming equivalent of factory farming. Yes I’m looking at you Ubisoft and your range of shovelware all ending in Z.
Ok so what has this got to do with Max and the Magic Marker? Well probably not too much besides the fact that Press Play; the developers behind Max and the Magic Marker for Wii are one such indie development group. Unable to get their title picked up by a big publisher, they stuck it to the man and decided to publish it themselves digitally through the Nintendo WiiWare service.
If you’ve played other indie games on WiiWare such as World of Goo then you’ll instantly feel at home after booting Max and the Magic Marker. This isn’t just because like 2D Boy’s Goo filled masterpiece that the graphics are somewhat kiddie; no it’s because you can instantly tell that care has been taken every step along the way in making this game. This isn’t something you just see with your eyes but feel when you start to control Max and his Magic Marker. The story of Max and the Magic Marker goes like this; Max is a young red haired child who loves to draw. Out of the blue one day he anonymously receives a new drawing pen; without thinking anything of it he rushes to work on a new piece of art featuring a purple Monster. To his surprise the Monster suddenly comes to life, then starts to run amok through Max’s other drawings.
Now of course you and I would solve this problem by putting all of the drawings through the paper shredder but Max is much more imaginative and has simple yet far better plan. Max draws a picture of himself using his new magical marker thereby allowing him to come alive in the world of his drawings and chase after that purple Monster. Will max manage to defeat the Monster and return home safely with only the use of his Magical Marker? Well I know the answer but I’m not going to spoil that now but what I can say is that I really enjoyed this game. Time to look a bit more in depth isn’t it?
You take control of the aforementioned Max with your Nunchuck and his Marker with your Wii Remote in this colourful magical adventure spread across three worlds. If like me you played Drawn to Life then you too may have been disappointed that you actually were tending to colour in shapes rather than really draw unique aspects to the game. Max & The Magic Marker is a little different in that you only draw things to assist you getting Max to the end of the level safely. So these could be staircases to reach higher platforms, weights to tip a seesaw, bridges to cross chasms or even basic platforms. I’d agree in saying that it sounds rather basic but this is actually just where the fun starts.
Simply drawing a few bridges isn’t going to impress anyone, no matter how well the Wii Infra-Red pointer control has been adopted. Max must collect globules of ink as he progresses throughout each level, the more ink he has the bigger your drawings can be. For instance, to reach a collectable up high you will might need to build a large staircase but if you didn’t collect every ink container that you passed you may find yourself with not enough ink to make it tall enough. This obviously corresponds further into the game when drawing a long bridge; there’s just no way to cross a large gap with only a small bridge right?
Well wrong actually, large gaps are no match for Max and his Magic Marker. At any point the a level you can press the A + B buttons together to warp out of the picture back into the real world where the real Max is on hand to physically draw on the paper (rather than being in game). This confusing trans-dimensional concept actually makes a lot of sense when you think about it and even if it doesn’t make sense, well it’s damn useful. Here instead of drawling inside a live living piece of artwork you can draw onto it statically before warping back in. What does this mean? Well to put it simply it means that when facing a large chasm and not much ink you can draw half of the bridge you require, make Max run across it and jump towards nothing and then hit the A and B button to warp out. Here you erase the old section of bridge and draw in the missing half so that when you warp back into the game Max lands safely. Clever stuff.
I could go on further about what to expect but that would only spoil a rather unique adventure which you should experience yourself. I’m sure that other fans of World of Goo, Lost Winds and Braid will really feel comfortable with this game. All that’s for me to say is that Max and The Magic Marker is a sensational concept title which maybe a little short but more than makes up for it with some crazy platforming antics; clever physics based puzzles and just a clever down to Earth charm about it. Max and the Magic Marker for WiiWare scores an almost perfect 4 out of 5
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Related: Cocoto Platform Jumper review, Manic Monkey Mayhem review
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Madden 10 for the Wii review
I can’t say I’m a big fan of what we in the UK call American Football (or just Football to the Americans themselves). Yes I’ve played a few games in the Madden series before (most notably the original on the Commodore Amiga) but even so the series for the most past makes me go, meh. Can Madden 10 for Wii with its family friendly graphics and control system win me over? It’s time for a review of Madden 10 for Wii.
If you’re unfamiliar with American Football I will try to explain the rules in the most basic fashion I can. The goal is to run and pass the ball towards the opposing goal line to score a touchdown, your opponents will try very hard to prevent you from doing so by knocking you to the ground. To keep possession of the ball you need to progress a minimum of 10 yards every 4 turns, if you fail possession swaps to the other team they become the offence and you become the defence. Obviously just like any sport there is a lot more to it but that should give you an idea of what we’re looking at here.
EA have once again tried to balance Madden as best they can between new users and previous players of the franchise on Wii. New or Casual players can play the game with little or no effort thanks to generous CPU assistance and the ability to just point and click at the screen to perform actions. Core players can jump straight into the action with full control using the Wii Remote and Nunchuck to control things. Motion controls are available to all players for passing the ball and performing field kicks but fundamentally control is quite straightforward without tons of arm waving.
As you may expect you can choose to play single matches against the CPU or other (up to 4) humans. Multiplayer has always been a favourite of Madden players and thankfully this still remains true here on Wii, 2 players is really the ideal but if you have extra friends they can help out in a special Huddle Up mode that can see them assist you invisibly like a Godly force.
For the real Football fans amongst you then trying to win the Superbowl is what counts and Madden doesn’t let you down here either. Now up to 4 players can play together in this mode but typically Superbowl mode has been a single player affair and that’s how I played it. Now sadly I can’t pretend I really enjoyed my time because when it gets down to it, all of the matches against the CPU feel very much the same. Unless I was playing using the advanced control scheme it felt to me as if the game was playing itself. Whilst Madden 10 does feature a full NFL roster with real NFL players the new graphic style does away with next gen photo realism. I don’t mind this but I doubt real fans will be able to recognise their favourite players on Wii and may have to look into the Xbox 360 or PS3 versions of Madden 10 for that.
When you are under full control of your team things get very complicated; choosing runs and formations is something for the true Madden players because I quite frankly can’t tell the difference between any of them. In all the games I played and won I simply either passed the ball and ran through the middle of the defence or let the Quarterback throw it upfield to a waiting player. Of course the CPU was trying to and often succeeding in intercepting the ball or making me fumble, but when they came to play my team was quite easily able to prevent them from scoring which soon made play switch to me being Offence once again. This isn’t to say that Madden 10 is easy; if you play by the rules and understand what you’re doing the game actually becomes harder because both teams are being quite tactical. However it just feels that not really knowing what you’re doing makes you fall into a style of play that allows for easy wins.
This does mean that new players can still win the trophy playing by their rules and tough players can attempt to win it by playing the game for real. What I don’t understand is how EA envisaged pictured families playing together in a happy way.
Let’s assume Dad and Son who have playing Madden games for years come up against Mom and Daughter who have never played it at all. Mom and Daughter play using the All Play mode with CPU assistance which in turn gives them a chance of winning and (after a couple of goes) maybe even a win. So if Dad and Son with all their skill do actually lose they will be quite annoyed at being beaten by the ‘cheating girls’, probably then storm off in a hiffy. This makes me think that adding such an extensive easy mode in a game really only suited for true Madden fans is a waste of time.
If you really like your American Football then Madden 10 for Wii won’t disappoint you; all of the teams, commentary and plays you’d want are here. If you do own one of the more powerful consoles you will probably appreciate the broadcast quality visuals a lot more than a couple of Wii specific features that may attract attention. Being able to point at a player with the Wii Remote to pass really does give you that directorship feel and puts you closer to being the quarterback than ever before, but it’s not such a standout feature.
If you want even more to explore then there are many mini games and practice modes available to hone your skills. I went into the mini games expecting them to be a bit Mario Party but I was wrong, again this is ok for NFL fans but your kids will wonder why these mini games are no fun.
Oh and before I forget you can now take Madden 10 online and play with random people or friends who own the game also. I’ll be honest and say I wasn’t able to find a random game and I don’t know anyone who owns it. However I assume that playing someone online is similar to playing them locally but without being able to seen them laugh or cry.
Madden 10 for Wii looks and feels ideal for an NFL lover who has taken a break from the series and wants to head back into it gently without investing many hours into learning the full complexity of the next gen versions which are more like simulators than games. 4 out of 5.
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Related: Madden NFL 10 video review, Madden NFL 09 video review
Tags: Madden 10 for the Wii, Madden, NFL, EA, Wii
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Madden 10 for the Wii review
Formula 1 F1 2009 for Wii review
Motor Racing seems to be one of those sports that people either love or hate. Oddly enough I’m just about to contradict that by saying that I fall somewhere in-between. I used to really enjoy Formula One but I have found that my enjoyment has dwindled somewhat over the last few seasons. All that said, I do love a good racing simulation and in the past I’ve spent many an hour pretending to race a car on my TV or PC monitor, in fact I still play Live For Speed every weekend and to this day have fond memories of F1 World Grand Prix on the Nintendo 64.
As you can imagine when I heard Codemasters were developing a brand new Formula One game I wasn’t too displeased. The strange thing about F1 2009 for Wii is that instead of being released to coincide with this year’s F1 Season as you’d expect, it has in fact come out after the fact. If I’m honest I would have preferred to play this game alongside the season on TV and not afterwards when we’re already hearing details about the 2010 season starting next March.
As mentioned just a moment ago, I have been partial to Formula One game or two in the past but will not hide the fact that in retrospect they have been somewhat disappointing. I don’t think that anyone has gone out of their way to make a bad Formula One game but the fundamental problem I think is that F1 is a very difficult sport to simulate. Not only are the basic physics of the sport (such as aerodynamics) very challenging to recreate accurately, designing realistic AI CPU controlled opponents is near impossible as well. Both of these and more (or the lack of), tend to result in a F1 game which feels like an arcade title rather than the proper simulation you’re expecting.
So let’s get back to F1 2009 for Wii. Firstly if you’ve been waiting for a next gen F1 game that puts you so close to the cockpit of an F1 car that you can smell the exhaust fumes of the car in front then sadly you’ll have to wait a bit longer. If you have just been waiting for a fun spot of F1 gaming on your TV then we do certainly have a contender here.
F1 2009 Wii is all about the racing; to start with you can either create a profile then head into career mode trying to become a top F1 racer. Or you can race a standard championship/single race and drive it with your favourite F1 driver; mine is Kimi Raikkonen but yours is probably Jenson Button or Lewis Hamilton. All of the drivers and teams who started the 2009 season are here but fans of Luca Badoer who substituted for Felipe Massa will not be able to race with him.
I don’t think there is anything particularly unique about the championship mode that hasn’t already been explored in countless other F1 games. You pick a driver, race every race and see if you can win the season, if not try again. So let’s gloss over that; the same goes for picking a single race. Boring. Career mode is where you’ll have the most fun so let us start there.
After creating your profile you are an upcoming racer who is looking for his (or her) chance to drive in Formula One. From the offset I was invited to test for a seat with two teams, Red Bull and BMW. You are pitched with beating a set time around the Melbourne circuit; if you do then you’ll shortly get the chance to join the team at the expense of a real F1 driver. Once you are in the team the pressure is on; you will be given requirements and expectations of race wins etc. Whilst I didn’t drive too bad for my team I can imagine that poor results see you getting the sack. All of this is presented to you via a virtual email account which you can check before and after ever race, here you’ll get the latest news and views from the team but also headlines from the press regarding your performances. This is cute but I’d ideally have liked the option to send an email back to my team telling them to eff off or give me a faster car but as you can imagine this in an unlikely feature of any game outside ones imagination.
Taking a break from racing as a ‘real’ Formula One driver you can head into the Challenges arena; here you are pitched with a nice selection of short yet fun F1 style racing challenges to play through. For each you are awarded a rating based on your performance, the best being A of course. Some of my favourite challenges include a terrifying drive around Spa in the pouring rain on slick tyres and racing to checkpoint after checkpoint in an almost OutRun like affair. Whilst it was fairly easy to get an A rating on most of the challenges there are a few which are very tricky and even I, the ultimate gamer, still can’t manage to get the highest mark on. Something to keep me entertained for a bit longer to come I’m sure.
Something else that will longetitify Formula One 2009 for Wii is the inclusion of what is probably the best multiplayer F1 experience to date. The chance to compete with another player in a full season split screen on your Wii; yes I know this would have been a much better online experience but that’s a criticism to come later. What makes this a real treat is that unlike past multiplayer F1 games I’ve played in my life, this one has a smooth framerate attached. As you can imagine having to draw and calculate two F1 circuits and up to 39 cars on screen at once (well almost) is a big task of any platform let alone Nintendo’s humble Wii with a relatively slow CPU and GPU pairing. Right enough of the geek speaks for a moment, time to get back on track (pun not intended).
Another nice feature of F1 2009 is that you have a whole host of control options; those who love the Mario Kart Wii Wheel will be pleased to hear that they can certainly have a go at motion F1, traditional gamers can stick to the Wii Remote and Nunchuck or Classic Controller setups but real core drivers can shell out on Logitech’s official Nintendo force feedbacked steering wheel for the ultimate realism. I don’t have the fancy Logitech Wheel but do have the rest and came to the conclusion that the Remote and Nunchuck felt the best even though the classic controller offers analogue acceleration and breaking. Sadly the awful shoulder buttons of the classic controller spoil what would have been my first choice of controller (why no Gamecube pad support though). Whatever your flavour you should be able to handle an F1 car like a pro and if not, you can turn on a number of helpful driving aids which will result in a much easier car to drive.
While I mention how easy cars are to drive I would like to give the game credit on being fun yet fairly realistic. Once you take away the driving aids and raise the AI level things become mush trickier and winning a race becomes a much harder prospect indeed. Real F1 teams may recall that 2009 saw the introduction and subsequently the end of KERS; this was described as a push to pass system which would allow a driver 3 seconds of extra speed per lap. Even though only a handful of teams actually used the system and all but two managed to use it well, every car now has access to the boost button here. In short this means that when you come to overtake a car you can hold the C button for an extra bit of oomph, yes it feels like cheating but if everyone else is doing it – you need to too!
Because this review is heading into ridiculous word length I should come to some sort of conclusion and rather quickly.
F1 2009 for Wii is the best Formula One game I have ever played; now whilst they sounds like high praise it isn’t actually quite that grand. This is because I haven’t played very many good F1 games at all, however there is a lot to like about F1 for Wii. Firstly it plays pretty well and that makes enjoying it a whole lot easier, secondly being able to experience a decent racing game besides Mario Kart on the Wii is a bonus. Thirdly the game for the most part looks great, obviously detail is quite low to keep things smooth on Wii but every track is recognisable and when you bump or go up/down a hill you really feel like you are. Also it’s great to finally have a go at driving around some of the new circuits such as the Singapore night race, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.
Yes there are a few issues; the menu screens are annoying and bland, the music is awful and the Pit Stops are CPU controlled and seem to take much longer than the pit clock suggests. Worst off all though is when in single player mode you notice slowdown issues even when no other cars are near you. Some of the circuits and stadiums appear to be too detailed for the Wii’s own good and cause the FPS to drop down at times. However this happens rarely and isn’t that bad, it’s just very odd that in multiplayer the slowdown disappears; it must have something to do with the huge drop in graphic quality, resolution and car detail in two player mode.
Overall I’d say this is a must by for Wii owning F1 fans, 360 and PS3 owners who don’t own a Wii can probably wait until next year when F1 2010 is scheduled to be released on all formats.
I award Formula One 2009 for Wii a competent 3 out of 5 and praise Codemasters for a good first effort at F1 gaming, however this grace is short lived because I expect a solid 60FPS, 480p and online mode in next year’s edition if I’m not to be disappointed.
Get Formula 1 F1 2009 for Wii now
New: Buy Formula 1 F1 2009 for Wii from Amazon.com
Rental: Rent Formula 1 F1 2009 for Wii – free rental trial from Gamefly.com
Offers: Use our Gamesweasel January 2010 Godaddy coupon to save money on web domains and hosting – watch the GoDaddy promo code video for more details, use the CCS coupon ‘AFGAME15′ to get 15% off orders over $75 and ‘AFGAMEFS’ to get free shipping on orders over $30, use the Squarespace coupon code ‘WEASEL’ to get 12% off for the lifetime of your account.
Related: Mario Kart review, MySims Racing
Tags: Formula 1 F1 2009 for Wii, Formula 1, F1 2009, Wii, driving, racing game
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Formula 1 F1 2009 for Wii review
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Virtua Tennis 2009 review
The Wii was made for Tennis. It is a sport that comes as naturally to the Wii’s control system as it does a racket and ball, and for many avid Wii gamers it was the first game they ever experienced on the system. While Wii Sports was an eye-opener and revealed to the world the beauty of motion controls, its version of Tennis was simple and failed to offer much to anyone who knows their stuff. Upgrading to a more serious title seems inevitable for any hardened pro, but is Virtua Tennis 2009 the right title for them?
Virtua Tennis 2009 is one of the first games designed for use with the Wii MotionPlus, and clicking this add-on to your Wii remote really seperates the men from the ball boys. Using the Wii Motion Plus demands a greater sense of attention to where you’re throwing your racket and the accuracy of your shots, while using the virgin remote is a lot more forgiving. There is no requirement to use the add-on, it’s completely optional and the game plays perfectly well without it, but a hardcore player might want to use it to crank up the realism a little bit. Not to mention the difficulty.
Virtua Tennis 2009 for the Wii is a pretty game, full of the bright colours of summer, but the game engine requires some tweaking. It seems to strain under its own weight at times, the animation occassionally jumping or glitching and your avatar misfiring on his shots once in a while. This is irritating because of the laziness it seems to reveal. Does Tennis not require the degree of flawless attention to detail that soccer receives in its FIFA and PES games?
Like Wii Sports before it, Virtua Tennis is best served with a friend by your side, with both of you trying not to knock each others’ block off with your wild attempts at professional shots. Playing online is a decent enough distraction, but the glitching amplifies here when it attracts its loving mate, the Lag, and they team up to provide a whole new challenge. And not a good one, either. The online leaderboard is hard to get excited about, but hey, if you like comparing yourself to the rest of the world, it’s really, really cool.
Of course, some of us can’t afford internet connnections, and it’s not feasible to kidnap someone of equal gaming skill to you and tie them to your tumble dryer so you always have someone to play with, so pretty soon you’re going to have to go solo. You can spend hours pouring over your own character, tweaking their hair and eye shadow colours or whatever, but you’re going to spend even longer playing the Career Mode. It’s lengthy. War and Peace lengthy. It has a gradual sense of increasing difficulty so it will be a long time before any frustration sets in, and how much you will appreciate this will depend on how relaxed you want your gaming experience to be. An experienced player might grow tired of the hours of amateur opponents, while a casual player will probably find the pace and the quality of his opponents enjoyable. Whichever way, you get a lot of game for your money here, and there are tougher cookies later on in the game. Oh, by the way, you don’t have to make your own player if you’re not the creative type, there are plenty of Tennis legends like Boris Becker, Venus Williams and Andy Murray available.
Saving the best until last, we now look at the mini-games. And what crackers they are. Taking the physics and skills required in Tennis and sinking them head-first into a crazy world of arcade-style gaming is genius. Twelve games are available (well, unlockable, so you’ll have to put time in) and they’re all brimming with fun. You can play a wild over-sized pool game, or fight against pirate ships, or feed animals, all via the medium of Tennis. These are great games and are almost worth the asking price themselves.
So, whether you’re looking for an extended Career Mode or just a quick bit of fun with a pirate ship, Virtua Tennis 2009 caters to you. The only problem is that it does not stray very far from the template of Virtua Tennis 3 before it. It’s more of the same, basically, even though it is just that little bit better and packs a superior control system. Is this a bad thing? Depends if you bought Virtua Tennis 3 or not, or if you liked it enough to want a very faithful sequel. Nobody can make that decision for you. For new joiners to the series or those who go “There’s a new Virtua Tennis game out? Cool!”, this game is recommended if you’re after some competent, comprehensive and occassionally crazy Tennis fun. This game receives a score of 4 out of 5.
Get Virtua Tennis 2009 now
New: Buy Virtua Tennis 2009 from Amazon.com
Rental: Rent Virtua Tennis 2009 – free rental trial from Gamefly.com
Offers: Use our Gamesweasel January 2010 Godaddy coupon to save money on web domains and hosting – watch the GoDaddy promo code video for more details, use the CCS coupon ‘AFGAME15′ to get 15% off orders over $75 and ‘AFGAMEFS’ to get free shipping on orders over $30, use the Squarespace coupon code ‘WEASEL’ to get 12% off for the lifetime of your account.
Related: Virtua Tennis 2009, Grand Slam Tennis
Tags: Virtua Tennis 2009, Wii Motion Plus, Virtua Tennis, 2009, Wii
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Manic Monkey Mayhem review
As you have probably gathered from the name, this game features Monkey’s and a whole host of Manic Mayhem. Now unlike other Monkey based games full of mayhem, this one doesn’t just seemingly trap Monkey’s inside giant hamster balls for fun (Super Monkey Ball) and neither does it force you to battle a giant reptile King with the help of a Rhino (Donkey Kong Country). Taking inspiration from Nintendo’s motion controller, Worms and possibly even Steven Spielberg’s Boom Blox, the developers of Manic Monkey Mayhem have tried to create a fun game based around throwing bananas and coconuts. You seize control of one Manic Monkey out of a selection of eight, they all have very distinct personalities but when it comes down to it there is no strength/weakness system so who you choose just comes down to personal preference. Next up you should by rights head into the training missions where you are taught the games controls in a safe environment.
Your goal in campaign mode for what it’s worth is to complete around 30 levels of (mainly) Banana throwing. This could be a simple one on one duel against another Monkey or even a Deathmatch with up to six other monkey bots. Instead of using pistols you throw bananas at each other in a similar fashion to the aforementioned Boom Blox. You use the Wii Remote as if you were really throwing a banana at someone. After choosing a direction with IR Pointer you then have to hold the A button down and then swing your arm to simulate your throw without forgetting to let go of that A button again at the end of your swing. For all but a couple of the game modes the goal is to defeat the other monkeys by hitting them two or three times with a well-placed shot. Be warned this isn’t just target practice against static targets, the CPU controlled guys will be throwing bananas at you as well as each other. To survive you’ll have to learn to lean away from an oncoming projectile by holding left or right with your DPad but sometimes even this isn’t enough. As other monkeys are defeated you can spring jump yourself over to their platform and then onto another with the B buttion, this can be a great way to dodge a missile or two but while you’re in the air you can’t throw and you certainly can’t defend yourself from a well-timed banana hitting you just as you land.
Now I mentioned coconuts before didn’t I? Well if throwing bananas on their own isn’t fun enough then yes sometimes you’ll also be able to throw the much harder and more damage dealing coconut at you foes. Not only this but if you’re very lucky you can find another special weapon which is in all but name a bazooka that fires bananas, these travel much faster and more direct towards your opponents.
Ok that’s the overall basic gameplay and covers the campaign mode but thankfully there is a bit more to the game than just that:
- The Greatest Ape mode throws you into a battle scenario against all the other monkeys but this time everyone has just three lives and a limited number of bananas from the offset.
- Minute Monkey gives you just 60 seconds to successfully hit as many other monkeys as you can with your weapon, you can jump or dodge as much as you like but you’ll use up valuable throwing time.
- Ape Team is the least exciting and simply splits everyone into two teams, blue and red. Whichever team scores the most at the end wins.
- Pass The Parcel (multiplayer only) sees you throwing a box of lit TNT between each other until it explodes; the last monkey standing wins the game.
Whichever mode you love the most the great news is that you can play multiplayer with up to three other players on the same Wii console or head online and challenge your friends or random opponents. As you can imagine split screen fun is always a laugh but there is something also quite satisfying against knocking someone from the other side of the world into submission, sadly due to this being a new WiiWare game you may have trouble finding random opponents at certain times, hopefully this will change when more people buy Manic Monkey Mayhem.
This brings me neatly onto the controls. Whilst I love the Wii Remote I can’t deny that the accelerometer isn’t a perfect system to track motion controls, after all that’s why Nintendo themselves have added Wii MotionPlus. It turns out that throwing bananas long distances is much easier than throwing them further away. Whenever I tried to gently throw a banana to a nearby enemy I end up either not putting enough power through my arm and it not even registering a throw or over compensating too much throwing it too far. However this is a limitation of the controller and not the game, I experienced much the same in Boom Blox for Wii.
I wasn’t expecting too much from Manic Monkey Mayhem for Wii but I was pleasantly surprised after playing through it. It’s a low budget game created by a small but talented group of people and even without the next gen graphics and sound that some of you would be hoping for, it’s presentable enough with a nice selection of game environments and character models/animations. The main campaign does get tricky and should last a few hours but be careful of arm ache, if you do have some friends to play with then I can see you having fun in multiplayer but don’t be fooled into replacing staple multiplayer games such as Mario Kart Wii just yet. At 1000 WiiPoints I think it’s little expensive for a gamer without anyone to play with but gamers with family or friends may just find themselves spilling out for some fresh multiplayer action.
Manic Monkey Mayhem scores a good 3 out of 5.
Get Manic Monkey Mayhem now
New: Buy Nintendo Points from Amazon.com
Rental: Rent Manic Monkey Mayhem – free rental trial from Gamefly.com
Offers: Use our December 2009 Godaddy.com promo code to save money on web hosting and domains – watch the godaddy discount coupon video for more details, using the December 2009 CCS coupon code valid for December 2009 ‘AFGAME15′ gets you 15% off orders over $75 and ‘AFGAMEFS’ will get you free shipping on orders over $30, use the Squarespace coupon ‘WEASEL’ for 12% off the lifetime of your account.
Related: Boom Blox Bash Party Review, Bomberman Ultra Review
Tags: Manic Monkey Mayhem, Manic Monkey Mayhem, Monkey Mayhem, Wii, WiiWare
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Manic Monkey Mayhem review
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