Exploring the Nintendo Wii

If ever any proof was needed of my lack of enthusiasm for modern gaming, it would be this post. Remember the 'New Arrival' post here at Red Parsley regarding my purchase of a Nintendo Wii? Well, that was well over a year ago now and it's taken me this long to get around to playing all the games and writing this feature! In fairness though, as I said in the previous post, I was a purchase I kind of regretted soon afterwards anyway - it was more of an impulse buy really, if it's even possible when ordering stuff online, and indeed, I have used it little.

Actually, that's probably somewhat unfair. I suspect the lengthy delay in my Wii-ing (chortle) is as much down to laziness and lack of time as it is indifference - I've not used my Xbox a huge amount more, for example - but as I've said before there is an awful lot of crap on this unusual system and it can be quite off-putting. Finding something that can even be called a video game is a challenge at times when looking through the Wii section of a game store. There are a few diamonds in the rough though, of course, and it is these that I intend to seek out and play. I've actually already sought out a decent number of them - they are sitting quietly on my sizeable game shelf, their majestic white covers gleaming like pearls, just waiting for me to get around to finishing this feature so I can play them! Just playing the titles below reminded me of something else I've often found a bit off-putting about the Wii though.

New Arrival

It's hard to believe the year is now more than three-quarters over. It only seems like a few weeks ago that I returned from holiday and began larking around on my new Xbox, as well as burbling on about it here of course. Now, however, I've got over 50 games for Microsoft's behemoth and had no plans to acquire any other systems for the foreseeable future. Then, however, for reasons I'm still unable to understand, I pretty much spontaneously decided I would buy a Nintendo Wii as well.

Not a bad haul for a grand total of £52 I guess!

Actually, I think it must have been partly because, as a result of my Xbox game-buying exploits, I had discovered how cheap Nintendo's console now is as well, but that alone can't be responsible - I've never really had any interest in it before, after all. In fact, I'd even go as far to say it was the target of some mocking on my part. Just take a look at the Wii shelf in any gaming store (I guess you'd have to go back a couple of years now though) and you'll see what I mean, surely? Quite a sizeable percentage of the titles that no doubt stand before you can scarcely even be classed as 'video games' never mind good ones! Anyway, that's a subject for another time I suppose. Decide I did, and soon afterwards I had duly selected a random example from the extensive list at the mighty fine CEX online store, and for a mere £24 I might add.

First Look Wii #1

Okami by Capcom (2008) - Nintendo Wii

Even after quite a few years of them, there's still very few games that have come close to inspiring me to buy a current console. The only one of the three that I've even used much is the Wii which a friend owns. He's usually showing me his latest Animal Crossing larks and tomfoolery but one day he made me miss my bus to show me... Okami. At first I thought it was some pretentious nonsense that would make me dislike modern consoles even more, but no... Okami, you see, is more a work of art than a videogame which has so much more to it than I've yet discovered. At its most basic you could call it an arcade adventure or action RPG in whose stunningly crafted game world you take the form of a God disguised as a wolf and must complete all sorts of varied quests and solve puzzles. Just look at those graphics though! Cel-shading has never looked like this before. It's an amazing game for certain and I really need to play it some more! Any of you played it? Is it as good as I thought after my brief exposure?

RKS Score: 5/5

I don't usually include video clips but this game has to be seen moving!

Crush Series - Part 6

Alien Crush Returns by Tamsoft / Hudson Soft (2008) - Nintendo Wii

It's scary to think that it's now 23 years since Naxat dreamed up the genesis of the Crush series. There have since been several sequels, both official and otherwise, the last of which was the little-known Jaki Crush, itself now almost 20 years old, but that was it. Until now! Yes, in a move of special magnificence, Tamsoft have resurrected this great series and what better way of doing so than to remake the original? Alien Crush Returns is more of a sequel than a remake really though and they've even managed to tack on a backstory this time! Apparently "an elite squad of space marines sets off to investigate an alien spaceship trapped in Jupiter's gravity" or some such nonsense. Sound familiar? How they've managed to facilitate a pinball game with that story I don't know, but the game includes a story mode, arcade mode, ranking mode and versus mode (1-4 player), and as well as multiple tables, including bonus tables as always, and lots of other sweet features like multi ball, reverse ball, etc.