PixlBit

I ripped through three Wii games today and watched and played Star Wars Clone Wars. Oh yea, and there was a football game I watched one half of.

Wii:

Far Cry Vengeance: Actually not too bad. It’s a little different from the first Far Cry game, maybe very different with regards the missions. I know the first mission in the original game was not what I played here on Wii. There seemed to be less stealth options too and no traps that you could make, at least in the hour or two that I played it. I got a little tired of holding the Wiimote at a steady angle to keep the crosshair on the screen. If you let you hand rest, the whole view would be as if your character fell asleep and let his head droop. Other than that, the controls were good. Movement is on the nunchuck as well as grenade throwing, healing and activation of your special powers, everything else on the Wiimote.

Facebreaker: K.O. Party: Sometimes a game on the other consoles was actually better on the Wii. I think that’s true in this case. I couldn’t get a handle on the fighting in the PS3 version, but here I did pretty good with it. You use the motion controls to punch, which will put a lot of strain on your arms after a while. This is a very arcade style, cartoony boxing game, just like the Ready-2-Rumble series or even Punchout. It’s not in first-person though like Punchout. I really enjoy this zany style for my sports games, as long as they play well. This played better than the PS3 version, but I still found it tricky to block effectively. Fights end up being all out button mashing (in this case arm waving) punch fests. I like the strategy in boxing games, so I need to block well. This doesn’t cut it. But it was fun for an hour or so smashing away and seeing some of the special “facebreaker” moves. The characters' faces actually deform at the end of the fight, often in very ugly ways. I was excited about this game on PS3 back in 2009 or so because you could put your own face on the character with the EyeToy. It didn’t work very well though. Your face looked very low res. It was not funny to see an already broken face get broken more.

Dawn of Discovery: I really liked this game. It’s a keeper for the permanent collection. This is actually Anno 1701, I believe, translated to the Wii. Graphics are cartoony. The design of the menus and overall mechanics is excellent. This is a resource management sim. You build towns that produce an economy and grow from pioneer towns to metropolises. You build on islands. In my play time, it simulated the British age of expansion and colonialization. Maybe there are other cultures you play as though, because you can choose from many different characters from all parts of the globe. I just happened to choose one of the princes of King George. But building your town is very easy with the Wiimote and Nunchuck and the first few missions are excellent tutorials that help you understand how the game works. There’s even a story mode with cut sceens (static ones). Other things you can do are sending ships out to look for sunken treasure and finding other explorers who can help speed up your settlements and expand trade. I didn’t want to put it down, but I had to for now.

This was on the booklet to Star Wars Clone Wars Season One. Very cool.

XBO:

Lego Star Wars III: Clone Wars:  Well, my friend and I watched the first four episodes of the animated Clone Wars TV show as well as played this. I’m still confused as to whether this game covers the events in the live-action movie or the animated tv show. There are characters from the tv show in it, so maybe the tv show then? But the opening level is definitely from the live-action movie. I forget the exact events of the live-action movie. It’s been awhile and the only memorable thing in it to me is the fight between Grievous and Obi Wan. I love Grievous. I want his action figure.

The game is fine but maybe annoying at times. It doesn’t often spell out what to do in a level, and so I fumbled around and wasted a lot of time. It’s generally well done. I just want to play as Grievous though. Ha.

That’s the week for me. I’ve got Sonic Chronicles on my DS with me in case I get any more time. I’ve already played a half hour or so and it seems pretty good. You use the stylus a lot. There was a time where stylus play was a thing on DS. Somehow when the iPhone came out, it was all about the finger after that.