Nintendo Wii Review - 8/10
The Nintendo Wii will probably go down in history for doing many things, some of these will include beating Microsoft and Sony with such a simple concept, selling the amount of Wiis they have, capturing new audiences and much more.
Controls
One of the many reasons the Nintendo Wii has seen such a high level of success is the WiiMote.
The Nintendo WiiMote with the Nunchuk Attached to the End
The WiiMote is what allows many games to have that interactive feel and the WiiMote acts as many things such as a sword, sports equipment, Gun, A pointer and clicker and much more. However if it was just the WiiMote alone then there wouldn't be as many games so Nintendo released along side the WiiMote the Nunchuk, seen above attached to the WiiMote. The nunchuk is basically an analog stick with two buttons attached that opens the control pathway alot more adding more variety in to games and does have some motion capabilities.
The Nintendo Wii also has several other control methods being the gamecube control that is from Nintendo's previous console the Gamecube but can be used on the Wii for Virtual Console, Gamecube and even some Wii games. Another one is the Classic control which is limited to play virtual console games and the last one being Nintendo's latest release of control method the Balance Board.
Nintendo Wii Balance Board
The balance board which was released with WiiFit basically acts like a super smart body scale that can tell you many things and allows you to do many things. As of now only a couple of games have been released with compatibility but there are more planned for it.
Games
Both Nintendo and the Nintendo Wii have been criticised for the amount of games that have made it's way on to the that are classed as Shovelware. However this shouldn't be the case as both Xbox360 and the PS3 have their fair share of shovelware also.
Both Nintendo and 3rd Party Developers have released some great games for the Nintendo Wii such as Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, Zack & Wiki, Wii Sports, Wii Fit, Resident Evil 4, Guitar Hero 3 and much more.
However the Nintendo Wii doesn't just play Wii games but has a lot more larger library, Virtual Console is another thing that the Wii has that allows gamers to download games through the Net to their Nintendo Wii. These games use the Classic Control and Gamecube Control, the games come from some of the following systems such as the Neo Geo, Sega Master System, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Nintendo Entertainment System and more. These games also stay the original way they were so that people that like playing classic games can relive them or people who missed out on them can now give them a try.
The virtual console method however has received some of complaints also which are the games that are being release shouldn't be released and Nintendo knows what games to release but aren't exactly. Another complaint is that Nintendo have changed some things around in some games such as advertisements and the name of people which some people haven't been happy about.
WiiWare is another of Nintendo's latest services which allows small time developers who can't afford to release proper WiiGames to do it through the WiiWare service which is cheaper and also makes the games cheaper to purchase though it big name developers have also started using it also such as Nintendo with their Dr. Mario Game and Capcom with their upcoming MegaMan 9 game. A problem with the WiiWare though is that Nintendo is really allowing anyone to release a game through the WiiWare service and some of these games fall under the term 'Shovelware' and are known to be really terrible.
The Nintendo Wii also has backward compatibility with Gamecube Games however a Gamecube Controller and Memory Card are required.
Features
So now that we have what exactly games the Wii can play and what they are like and also the controls I will now go on to the features.
The Nintendo Wii features things known as channels that give out many more options for performance that aren't really game based, although some are.
Some of these channels are such things like the News channel that will keep you up to date on the latest news around the world which is a helpful thing another channel is the weather channel that tells you what the weather will and is like.
However it ain't all politics and weather like as some of these channels are actually quite fun such as the everybody votes channel which had me going for quite a while but does get boring very quick with only a limited amount of things to vote on. Then there is the Mii and Everybody's Mii channel, the Mii channel allows you to create little people that can be used in games such as WiiSports, Mario Kart, Wii Play and many more although the Miis can be customised to a certain extent. The Everybody's Mii channel is something where you put your Miis online for people to look at and copy to their own Wii, on this channel you can find a variety of Miis ranging from Darth Vader to P&T of South Park.
Three other channels available are the Shop Channel, used to buy Games, The Internet Channel which allows you to surf the net from the comfort of your own home but the problem with this is it is quite hard to type in websites using the WiiMote if you don't have a USB Keyboard and then there is the Nintendo Channel which is Nintendo's latest and greatest channel and allows many things like if you have a Nintendo DS you place it next to the Wii and can download Nintendo DS demos to the DS to try out and the Nintendo Channel also allows for you to know the latest greatest Nintendo News.
Overall Scores:
Controls: 8/10
With such a wide range of controls to choose from everyone should find a control method they enjoy.
Games: 9/10
Wii Games, WiiWare, Virtual Console and Gamecube Games are all playable on such a little White Machine.
Features: 8/10
With so many channels that add a variety to the Nintendo you shall be kept entertained though some do have their problems.
Hardware:7/10
Although I didn't talk about Hardware Specs the Wii isn't capable as much as the 360 and PS3 are.
Nintendo Wii:8/10
Submitted by jofra01
10/07/2008
150
22
Join MyWii to vote for your favourite story!
More Info:
Nintendo Wii
Other Reviews:
Related News:
Related Videos:
Related Guides: