Wednesday 15 October 2014

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.

As soon as I placed my order I felt a little regret, however. I knew my wife wouldn't be happy for one thing, and her expected argument would be a valid one - it was cheap indeed, but did I really need yet another console? No, I definitely didn't. I still have dozens of games I've never even played (including lots of recent GOG and Steam 'bargains'), I certainly don't need more stuff clogging up my 'to do' list. Oh well, it was too late by this point so I just waited for the console and the handful of games I also bought to arrive, and they didn't take long.

Look, there's me on the left (apparently)!
Possibly in keeping with these new pangs of regret, or perhaps due to the apathy I felt towards 'modern' gaming generally, once my recent purchases had arrived I felt oddly unenthusiastic about doing anything with them. It wasn't that I didn't actually want to, just that I wasn't really in a hurry. So I put it in a drawer. And there it dwelt for a good couple of weeks. It was actually my better half who forced me to finally make use of it. It had a few bits and pieces missing (no console stand, no sensor bar stand, no controller wrist strap) and was a little grubby, but it was boxed (which is always nice) and, more importantly, it worked! I wasn't sure about that at first as it apparently wasn't able to detect the Wiimote, but it turned out I just had reset it. So, with surprisingly little setting up or messing around of other kinds, I was up and running!

All that remained was to find some decent games to play on it among the deluge of nonsense, and besides Nintendo's own titles featuring their usual characters (which, as usual, hold their value annoyingly well), there weren't actually too many I knew of. I did buy a few along with the console itself of course, a couple of which were just for 'comedic' purposes, and I'll take a look at these in an upcoming 'Exploring' posts here, but longer term? Who knows, but I can't help feeling that unenthusiastic feeling lurking again. Come on Wii, surprise me with your splendour...
 

10 comments:

  1. I WOULD recommend Taiko Drum Master Wii, but that means modding the Wii, downloading the (hard-to-find) game, and buying/importing a set of drums (£80!!!).

    So instead, I'll recommend getting the Zapper attachment and then getting yourself Sin & Punishment, Ghost Squad and GunBlade NY.

    SkyLanders is good too, but could lead to an expensive addiction. Sonic Colours is the best Sonic game in a LONG time, and Murumasa: The Demon Blade is a nice Shinobi-esque 2D platformer.

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  2. Hello sir :) Many thanks for the tips! Muramasa definitely looks like one I'll enjoy but I'll look into the others as well. I already had Sin & Punishment in mind but I didn't realise it was a gun game.

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    1. There's an option at the start to play with the WiiMote or the gun, it's more fun with the gun though, yes it is!

      Ooh, get House of the Dead as well.

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  3. I've actually played House of the Dead before - a friend of mine loves all those horror games and brought it to my house when he visited once, along with his Wii of course. The main titles I'll be looking to buy are the usual Nintendo ones (Mario, Zelda, Kirby, etc) but I'll try to root out some decent third party games as well.

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  4. Sorry to hear you're regretting your purchase a bit, Simon, although at that price I can't imagine you're regretting it too much! I do think you might get a bit more enjoyment out of it if you picked up some better games, though, with Muramasa being one such suggestion. A few others that I personally consider favorites: Boom Blox, both of the Endless Ocean games, Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon, Ivy the Kiwi?, Little King's Story and the Trauma Center games. Also, two games that I picked up due to good word of mouth but have yet to play are Fragile Dreams and Opoona. Just my two cents!

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  5. I don't think the problem is the actual console Bryan - I haven't given it a chance yet after all - I think it's more that I felt guilty really, since I already have to many systems and games. Oh well, it was a great price as you say, and I can always get rid of it again it I want! I'll definitely look into some of your recommendations first though, thanks :)

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  6. I've mentioned it before, but would strongly advise Toki Tori download from Wii ware. It's an updated version of the Gameboy Color game with better graphics. Control system works well on the Wii, you basically tell TT where to go and he figures out his own route.

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  7. Yep, Toki Tori is definitely one to get, I can't wait for more stages with that cumbersome little bird :P

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  8. Wii is an extremely underrated console at this time.
    It doesn't have many big production outside Nintendo games but it's chock-full of hidden gems.
    I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

    Pick up Silent Hill Shattered Memories, it's not really a SH game more like a walking simulator but it's fantastic IMO.
    If you like old Beat 'em up, get MadWorld it's the truest 3D representation of them we ever got.
    The first No More Heroes has the same "punk soul" as Killer7, all the subsequent Grasshopper games lost that sparkle after NMH1 (that said the sequel is more polished).
    And many more!!!

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  9. Hi NeoGaf - thanks for the comment. I'm starting to get the impression that there's a lot of decent stuff for the Wii buried beneath the tonnes of bullcrap. Thanks for more suggestions, I've got a lot of gaming ahead of me it seems!

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