When The Wii Got It Wight

Whatever sort of madcap technology Nintendo implements into their new machine is likely to cause a lot of commotion amongst the gaming community, but if the trials and tribulations of the Wii has thought us anything, it's that there's no reason to believe that the technology boasted by the machine will play an integral role in the best games that eventually become available on the system.

With that in mind, let's look back at some Wii efforts that really waggled my heart strings.


Zack & Wiki: Quest For Barbaros’ Treasure

A young wannabe pirate sets out to find a mythical treasure and ends up unwittingly resurrecting an evil ghost pirate in the process in a colourful point & click adventure game. No, this isn’t Monkey Island, but it’s hard to be mad at a game that wants to be. The biggest shame here is that the characters are straight out of an anime, I can’t help but wonder how much more involving the game might have been if they had just given them some semblance of a real personality. Instead we are left with a bare-chested little boy in blue shorts who feels the need to perform a celebratory dance if he so much as manages to tie his shoes correctly. Wiki, a permanently grinning golden monkey-bell creature has the ability to transform monsters into useful items, and together the two have to overcome a mess of creatively designed puzzles in order to reach their goal. Many of the puzzles are good n’ clever and you’ll feel a little twinge of delight when you overcome some of the tougher parts.
Also, I like the music that plays during the credit sequence:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9Lu6wub39c


No More Heroes

I never played Suda 51’s Killer 7 but it must have been worth checking out considering the hype that was surrounding NMH before its launch. No More Heroes tells the tale of Travis Touchdown, a character who finds himself on a journey that appears to be parodying those found in all the video games that line the shelves of his shabby motel apartment. Players hack & slash their way through ten different stages as they attempt to defeat the world’s greatest assassins and become #1. Why? Not even Travis seems to fully understand why he’s doing all this. In between levels he’s forced to work tedious day jobs in order to afford his next tournament fee, just so he can get back in the game. The city of Santa Destroy is a huge, sprawling environment that seems virtually uninhabited and players can only access a handful of the countless buildings on display. The whole affair is presented on a cell-shaded colour palette, with menu and icons that look like they were shifted from the 8-bit era and set to an excellent adrenaline-pumping soundtrack by Masafumi Takada.

Does Travis reach his goal and win over the girl in the process?
Who cares? This game certainly doesn’t.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2T0tC6ekqM


House of The Dead: Overkill

The Wii remote allows you to guide a reticule along the screen? Blimey, let’s do a rail shooter. House of The Dead has a good track record, let’s do another one of them. And Tarantino just came out with that awesome new Grindhouse flick too didn’t he? The one with all the blood, guts, titties n’ swearin’? Let’s have some of that!

And so HOTD:O was born, and while it may just be an excuse to point n’ shoot things it’s a damn good one. Remember when Conker’s Bad Fur Day arrived on the N64 and brought with it an absurdly adult sense of humour and made Mario 64 & Banjo Kazooie wet their pants? Well this isn’t nearly as a big a deal as that, but it has a similar vibe and we still love it.
Oh lawdy, that soundtrack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAicftg5U7E


Honourable mention:
Little Kings Story