The first half of our Nintendo impressions from E3.
Measure Up
This was my first experience with the Wii U controller and it made use of the touch screen and stylus. The game was two players and had each draw lines and shapes with their hand as close to perfect as possible. When I picked up the stylus and attempted to draw a 2 inch line, I eyeballed the distance and ran the stylus smoothly across the screen. Afterwards, the demonstrator who had had tons of practice at the same proceeded to draw a near 2 inch line. Once the drawings were completed, the game scored us based on the straightness of the lines and proper length. It did the same for the rest of the shapes including a circle and triangle. At the end of all the drawing, it totaled up the score and found the other person the victor. The experience reminded me of using the uDraw Tablet and playing Pictionary in a way.
Shields Up!
Not being a fan of the Rhythm Heaven series, I was expecting to dislike Shields Up! The game uses the Wii U controller’s built in motion controls to have you use it as a shield against attacks. First, you’ll point it at the captain of a ship who commands his lackeys to fire plunger arrows at your person. This is done so you can hear where he’ll be sending the attacks. Once the commands are given, it’s up to you to position the Wii U controller in the appropriate area, center, over, right, or left to block. At first it’s pretty simple and easy to understand, but then the music aspect comes into play. Now you’ll need to time your blocking with the beat and hope you’re in time. I found the first few barrages easy to block, but once it started getting more complicated, I was finished. Strangely even though I couldn’t figure out the timing and positioning towards the end, this put a smile on my face, even with D for an overall score.
Chase Mii
One of the more versatile games that shows off the Wii U controller and Wii Remotes playing together was Chase Mii. To begin I was handed the Wii U controller and was in charge of Metroid heroine Samus’ ship. To steer and accelerate, you use the circle pad, while pointing the controller in whatever direction will aim your guns. At first, the controls are a bit disorientating and you’ll find yourself bumping into walls before you launch into the sky. That bit of time to adjust to the controls is necessary though because it isn’t 1 vs 1, it’s 1 vs 3. That’s right, you’re up against 3 other players with Wii Remotes and Nun-chuks firing at you, trying to take you down. Luckily you are given more health than the rest to survive. While aiming to attack the Samus figures on the ground, I found it to be quite intuitive, even if I was still having issues working out the thrust and brakes in a timely manner. Once my ship was taken down after a few minutes of play, I switched to be a Samus helmet wearing character.
On the ground and with the Wii Remote, the game controls similar to that of a shooter. You move around with the Nun-chuck while aiming with the Wii Remote pointer. This made shooting at the ship in the sky much easier. It also made picking up the random power-ups strewn across the board much more accessible since I could dive out of the way of any attack.
Both perspectives were enjoyable and I actually didn’t mind switching off from the Wii U controller to the Wii Remote. The game showcased just what one Wii U controller coupled with Wii Remotes could unlock in the way of gameplay on the horizon for Wii U.
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When I grabbed a hold of Kid Icarus, the only gameplay I’ve ever seen of it was the E3 reveal last year. I was shocked when I saw the fast, fun action in front of me. Before I jumped into the meat of the gameplay though, I was presented with a weapon selection screen that provided the following options: Blade, Claws, Bow, Palm, Cannon, Orbitars, Arm. Not knowing what any of these meant, I just randomly picked one on the screen. Then I was off on a flying 3D adventure with Kid Icarus attacking foes. The steering was done with the circle pad while the aiming was done on the touch screen. It may sound awkward, but it worked out perfectly and felt extremely fluid. Once the flying portion was over, I was on the ground attacking foes through corridors, seemingly hopping around. Unfortunately my time was cut short, but what I did see visually impressed me. The 3D didn’t seem to be thrown in for 3D sake, but made sense, especially when maneuvering around corners. What I didn’t care too much for was the voice acting, but this was a minor gripe. Kid Icarus is shaping up to be one of the software titles I bought their Nintendo 3DS for.
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Star Fox is one of those franchises I haven’t played any of the newer versions that’s available. Generally I preferred playing either the SNES or N64 version. With Star Fox 64 3D, it makes that preference even more with the wonderful upgrade to graphics and addition of stereoscopic 3D. When I began playing, I used the circle pad, which wasn’t exactly like using the analog stick of the N64 that I remember, but it moved the Arwing in whatever direction appropriately. This was decent, but what I enjoyed was moving the actual system around to steer. Although if you get excited during certain portions, this can become troublesome, most firing operations made this a joy. Avoiding buildings and flying underneath falling pieces of debris was a breeze with either controls. When using the 3D with moving the system around, you’ll need to be careful where you position it in conjunction with your face so you don’t lose the 3D image. The 3D added depth that gave shots a sense of traveling through the air, which combined with the controls made it more engaging. Sadly there was a detractor to this enjoyment in the fact that it was nearly impossible for me to perform somersaults and U-turns. Minor gripes aside, this isn’t a bad port or remake, however you’d like to look at the title. It’s been given a bit of new life and has nearly enough to keep me interested, minus the lack of Wi-Fi.
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With the demise of Hudson Entertainment, we get one of their last efforts in the latest Tetris offering for Nintendo 3DS. The game has a revamped menu that’s circular and offers many more modes than before. The Game Mode section offers what you might expect out of the standard affair of Tetris with Marathon, Computer Battle, Fever, and Survival. In the Party Game Modes are the more non-standard varieties of Tetris play including Stage Racer Plus, Shadow Wide, Jigsaw, Tower Climber, Capture, Fit, Bombliss, Sprint, and Master Mode.
Out of these I was able to try out Stage Racer Plus, Jigsaw, and Tower Climber. Jigsaw is pretty much how it sounds, you have a board of Tetriminos with missing spaces and you’re given pieces that need to fit in a certain way. In 3D, although it doesn’t do much for the gameplay, reminds me of what I had hoped V-tris for the Virtual Boy would have been. The pieces look solid and give a sense of fitting once placed into the appropriate spot. After I played Jigsaw, it was onto Stage Racer Plus. At first this didn’t seem all that much different to previous versions of Stage Racer, but then it introduced the ability to gain jumps so that my L piece would hop over hurdles. It added an interesting dynamic to get down the course faster. Lastly, perhaps my favorite out of the modes I tried was Tower Climber. Unlike the previous versions of this, it took place in a tower environment that is cyclindryical. Your goal is to get the little climber to the top without squishing them, placing pieces to climb up. Placing pieces all around the tower made my brain think differently than with the older version of the mode. It’s in 3D and although it wraps around, you need to be aware of what’s on the left and right. The minor downside to this mode was that the little climber no longer makes the quaint little squeaks and noises it used to. This doesn’t detract from much and is a personal preference however.
Other modes of note Augmented Reality Game Modes: AR Marathon and AR Tower Climber that I’m told will use the camera to change your environment of play. There’s also multi-player that features 2 to 8 players with Marathon, Fever, and VS Battle. On Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection you’ll be able to battle 2 to 6 players on 3 variants of World Battle. The game will also use SpotPass so that you can get items for Fever mode.
This is looking to be one of the more feature packed Tetris games. Former president and current Tetris Online, Inc. president and CEO Minoru Arakawa was right when he said, “Tetris for Nintendo 3DS delivers an experience that you have to see to believe.”
