Christmas Round Up = The Wii U

So in my last post, I forsaked the chance to talk about my newly-acquired Wii U to rant about how The Lorax is a terrible film. Understandably, you'll be feeling quite depressed by me slagging off a film so close to the new year, and no doubt I'll have earned some negative karma points for it. So in order to balance the books and cheer you up, I'm going to go ahead and talk about the Wii U anyway, because I just got one and I'm overdue for my Christmas Retrospective, anyway.

So here we go! =D

For those not in the loop, the Wii U is Nintendo's latest console, and as the name implies it's the direct successor to the Wii. Boasting features such as a new touch-screen controller, Wii game backwards compatability and acces to things such as YouTube and Facebook, the new console sets to break boundaries this year, mostly by being the only new console released in a while - already it has an advantage over the competitors. Bold claims are being made about it, such as having more graphical and processing power than the XBox 360, and people are getting hyped for the games looming over the horizion, such as Rayman Legends and an upcoming Super Smash Bros. title.

But speculation and hype can only do so much. Say you have a Wii U right now - what can you expect?

The Console

Well, I'll tell you this right away - if you got the Standard version, which comes as a bone-white console with 8GB of internal memory, then you're an idiot. You have basically handicapped yourself by buying a gimped version that can't hold as much save data and other features on it, and you will end up regretting this when you have to delete save files to make room for the next hot title. For the record, I ended up with the glossy black Deluxe edition that comes with 32GB of memory - sure, it's more expensive, but it's worth it when you can hold more games and software on it, so you can lord it over those who couldn't afford it. I am, after all, what is known as a bad winner.

"Deluxe" in this case means "Better".

Right out of the box you get the console and GamePad, the AC adapters for each (one to charge the GamePad), a HDMI cable instead of the previous, inferior SCART cable for HD glory, a Charging Cradle that works on the same principle as the 3DS's charging cradle, a copy of Nintendo Land and special stands. You also get a sensor bar so the console can read the movements of the GamePad and what Wii Remotes are synced to it, but I simply recycled the sensor bar from my old Wii and got pretty much the same results, so I'm not sure why Nintendo felt the need to include it. The stands for the console are to be used when you place it on it's side - which I pretty much had to do, owing to the fact that the only elegible place to put it was in the special shelving unit I bought for the Wii which only allowed for the veritcal configuration. A bit annoying but I can live with it.

The main feature of the Wii U is the GamePad. Not only does it have the same motion controls as the original Wii Remotes, but it also boasts a camera and built-in touch screen that serves different purposes - these will be elaborated on later, but for now it's best to know that on the home menu one uses the pad to make choices. The GamePad can also be customized to act as an external T.V. Remote, just in case you really want to show off or want to switch to BBC One so your brother can watch Doctor Who while you play your games. For those worrying, fear not - the screen of the GamePad shows the same high-quality, HD video that your T.V. will show, with only a minor difference in brightness to worry about.

The Wii U boasts the same Mii creation facility of the Wii and 3DS, as this all ties in to the big Nintendo Network thing the company is making to catch up with XBox Live and the PSN. I won't elaborate too much about this, but the basic concept is that it's kind of what happens when the Mii Maker, the Shopping Channel and Facebook adopt a baby and can't decide on the name - a mix of game purchasing, interacting with others and having a good old time. At the time of writing, however, my Wii U is unable to connect to our internet for mysterious reasons, so this feature is somewhat unavailable to us until we find a fix for it. Sad times. I did, however, succeed in importing my Mii from my 3DS, so that's something.

My only quibble about the console so far is the lack of out-of-the-box backwards compatability with past Wii games. For reasons unknown to me, Nintendo have forced consumers to perform a system update in order to access this feature instead of simply making it available from the get go. I vaguely remember technical issues were involved, but surely delaying the release by a month or two wouldn't have mattered if it meant fixing this issue? Were Nintendo really so desparate to rush the console out and get ahead of Microsoft and Sony? The fact that I have to transfer my old Wii's save data onto the new console to access the games is also kind of annoying, but since I can't get the system update due to connectivity issues, it's kind of a moot point.

So far, so good. But what about games. Well, rather than go over the already impressive libary of choices, from Tekken Tag Tournament 2 to Darksiders 2, let's take a brief look at the big four titles pretty much everyone will have when they get this thing.

Nintendo Land

This needs to exist in real life.

In the same way that Wii Sports was created to showcase the Wii's potential, Nintendo Land exists to prove what the Wii U and the GamePad can do. Bundled in with the Deluxe edition of the console, this party game is set in a Nintendo-themed amusement park (which needs to exist, seriously) and contains various mini-games themed on the various Nintendo franchises, from competitive ghost hunting in Luigi's Mansion to co-operative hack-n-slashing in the land of Hyrule. The game boasts five-player shenanigns with four Wii Remote users and one GamePad user, and rewards every playthrough with coins that can be spent on prizes, such as a jukebox that lets you listen to awesome tracks from the attractions.

So far, the game has proven to be a blast. I've failed at being as awesome as Captain Falcon, been hunted down as a ghost, been tackled into mud as Mario and filled knitted Moblins with arrows as Link. The GamePad is intergrated quite nicely into gameplay, and even the neat gimmick of using it to look around while exploring the plaza has a curious charm to it. I have only three minor quibbles to make of the game, and while I'm sure many people won't find them an issue, I found they got on my goat after a bit:

1. Every time you kick up a game, it feels the need to force you into the tutorials in case anyone new is playing and needs an explanation of the rules. You can skip them, which is a bonus, but I'd much rather they only stick to showing up on the first playthrough of a minigame or mode and then never come up again. There is the option to bring up the tutorial by pressing the Minus Button, but since the game forces control explanations on you anyway, it seems a bit redundant.
2. Monita is the latest in a long line of "helper" characters that Nintendo seem so fond of these days. In the tradition of helper characters, she tends to grate on the nerves in her attempts to be helpful, explaining things to you in the same condescending a preschool teachers tells a child about how reading is awesome. But on top of that, her fixed pixel expression of mild surprise and a voice like a female Microsoft Sam actually make her a bit unnerving. I swear she's plotting to murder you, the number of Moblins that get thrown your way in Battle Quest.
3. The box art uses Bauhaus 93. Really, Nintendo?

ZombiU

The undead are somehow scarier in those hats.

On the opposite spectrum to the colourful parade of fun that is Nintendo Land is the grim survival horror game we call Ubisoft's ZombiU, the token launch title to prove that no really, guys, Nintendo can do harcore titles. Set in London after a zombie apocalypse eats 90% of the populace, you play a series of random shmucks who end up being guided by a mysterious voice known as the Prepper in order to survive the undead hordes and hopefully find a cure. The game makes use of the GamePad as a kind of radar and inventory, allowing you to manage your items, ping for incoming zombies and scan the area for goodies, hackable objects and more. Also, it had a really awesome trailer.

Despite my sarcasm earlier, ZombiU actually succeeds in breaking out of the "hardcore launch title" mold by being actually kind of scary and challening. Ammo and medkits are sufficiently hard to find, zombies come at you in droves if you're stupid enough to make too much noise or light and when you get killed you have to find your previous character's corpse and kill it to get your stuff back. It's good at creating tension and panic when the hordes come a-knocking, and the Prepper seems a pretty decent chap for a faceless voice. I've heard people complain about the things I've mentioned such as the lack of ammo and difficulty in killing zombies, to which I say "What did you expect? This is survival horror, not fucking Halo."

Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed



Transformers! Bluer than you think!

Another launch title for the Wii U, Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed is simultaneously a fucking long title and the sequel to the previous All-Stars Racing game developed by Sumo Digital. But while All-Stars Racing was surprisingly good despite being cobbled together to meet a deadline, Transformed ups the ante by centering the game around the mechanic of shifting your vehicle from car mode to planes and boats as the course dictates, like Diddy Kong Racing without the pre-race faffery. The game also has the courtesy to introduce new characters such as Vyse from Skies of Arcadia and Gilius Thunderhead from Golden Axe, as well as Wreck-It Ralph from the upcoming Disney film of the same name as a bonus character.

I was geniunely surprised by this one, because I had expected the transforming thing to be something of a gimmick that didn't add much. My suspicions were proved wrong during the Skies of Arcadia stage, where a sudden battled between airships started ripping the course apart, forcing me to take to the air and traverse a whole different course from the one my wheels had been screeching over two laps previously. The game makes the most of the transforming thing in that you have to think about what routes to take to get the best powerups or stay ahead, and while the difficulty could use a bit of tweaking there's a solid, polished game here that provides plenty of fun if you get some friends together. Plus, there's 10-way multiplayer, and that's worth boasting about.

(P.S.: Get the Limited Edition, it has Metal Sonic. Quickly, before it's sold out D: )

New Super Mario Bros. U

The Mario Bros. Musical Tour was going swimmingly.

Continuing the New Super Mario Bros. formula, New Super Mario Bros. U sees the return of Mario, Luigi and those two random Toads who probably should become regular cast members by now. Bowser's plan this time is just to chuck the heroes across the entire kingdom, basbeall style, and the gang ends up trekking the Mushroom Kingdom to save Peach from being held hostage in her own damn castle, of all places. Gameplay evolutions this time around include the Flying Squirrel Suit to replace the good ol'-fashioned raccoon tails, the return of Yoshi and his inflatable offspring (eeewwww) and the addition of a fifth player who can add Boost Blocks to provide platforms and touch enemies to stall them.

I don't doubt that there's plenty of fun to be had when friends are involved, and one can have a right laugh with items like Yoshi Balloons and the return of Super Mario Galaxy's Ice Flower. But my main gripe is that the difficulty can get a bit schizophrenic. At times levels can be quite easy, and the fact using the Boost Blocks nets coins means it's trivial to gather those extra lives. But some levels take the Rayman Origins approach where you have to time jumps or keep moving to avoid sudden death, and there are situations where Boost Blocks are vital for survivial or getting all the secrets in a level. Whoever said Mario games were as easy as Princess Daisy never had to rely on someone to give them a boostie.

Verdict

As 2012 waves goodbye and saunters off the stage to let 2013 play it's set, the Wii U is most certaintly riding high. With barely much in the way of competition to worry about, Nintendo's new console has all the time it needs to strut down the catwalk and gather up the killer titles it needs to get the sales rolling in, like Super Smash Bros., the inevitable Zelda  title and whatever other installments are planned. And with titles like Darksiders and Tekken already present, as well as a sleuth of online features to keep itself fresh, there's no doubt that by the time the XBox 720 and the PS4 roll into town it's going to take a lot of effort to shove the Wii U from it's throne. Here's hoping that the future is bright and Mario and his crazy gang are leading the way!

Well, hope that cheered you all up after my previous Lorax rant. And with that, I'm off for more shenanigans on Metroid Blast. Happy New Year, all!

And remember, if nothing else...