Quite a while ago, I promised I had a Wii review coming, and it's taken me a while to get around to doing it, but finally, here it is.
Nintendo's Wii has to be the best game system I've ever played. Not because of its power or graphics, or the extra things you can do with it, but purely because of the gameplay. It is incredibly fun, and social too. I also love the free game you get with the Wii, Wii Sports
Yes, you can have friends round to play XBox or PlayStation, but it's just not quite the same. You know sitting there on a couch staring at a screen and hitting buttons just isn't as much fun as playing a game of tennis together, or boxing, or bowling. It's great fun to see how your characters react to your movements and fall over as you miss time a swing, or jump up in the air to hit that volley. I've owned more "traditional" style consoles such as the N64, and that was nowhere near as fun as this. And so far, I've only been talking about playing Wii Sports. Although there is an absolute multitude of great games for the Wii (Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl to name but a few), I have to say, the one I play most frequently is Wii Sports. This is mostly because there is no end to the game, there is no story line to follow, it's just like going out bowling with some friends or having a round of golf. I love playing this on a rainy day, or when I have 10 minutes or so to kill, it's great, it is also far more active than other games. I regularly work up a sweat boxing, and have had quite a sore elbow the next day after a few hours of Tennis, but I think that is one of the most enjoyable things about it.
One of the other things about it that I love are Miis. A Mii is a representation of yourself, a little character that you can make look kind of like a cartoon-ish version of yourself. You can pick a nose, hairstyle, facial shape, eyes, mouth, eyebrows, glasses, moustaches and beards, and adjust the height and and proportions of your Mii, until it looks somewhat like you. This is one of the best features, as these Miis feature in some (not all) games, such as Wii Sports. So that little person you're controlling while bowling is actually you. There's just nothing quite like having a game of bowling with your friend and seeing each other play while your family and friends are in the background playing other games and wandering around in the bowling alley.
There's also the cool thing that you can download and play classic games from older systems, such as the N64, SNES, NES, and various Sega systems. You do need the extra classic controller for this, so you actually have buttons to hit furiously, (there is very little button pressing in games like Wii Sports, it's mainly for interacting with menus and confirming you're ready to start). The Wii also will play GameCube games, and takes GameCube controllers for doing this, allowing you to continue to play games from that system. There is also an SD port to allow for extra storage for saved games (though I've not needed this as yet), or for viewing pictures or listening to music on your Wii (mp3 and AAC files only though), and naturally enough, it has 802.11g Wifi so you can play games over the internet with other people, download "classic" games, update the Wii software itself (thus allowing new features to be added over time), check the weather or news, and e-mail.
There are a few drawbacks to the Wii however, unlike the PS3 and XBox 360, the Wii does not play DVDs or Blu-Ray Dics and the now defunct HD-DVD, nor is it as powerful or have as good graphics as its two competitors. But, I've never really had a problem with this. The other two consoles offer an evolution on previous systems and their style of gameplay, while the Wii is focused more on HOW you play and the enjoyment of that, rather than the graphics, or how powerful it is. Thus some people may find its lack of power a bit disappointing, but overall, I don't think it matters. The enjoyment from the Wii comes from playing the game itself, and interacting with your friends as you do so, not through the graphics or power of the system. On a positive not though, the size of the console is TINY. If you get three DVD cases and stack them up, that is how big (or small) a Wii is, and it doesn't suffer anything like the failures of the Xbox 360, nor does it get hot enough to heat a whole room as a PS3 does.
So on the whole, I love it, and while it doesn't play DVDs or anything, I don't find that major problem, as I would imagine most households that would be looking at buying a Wii probably already have a DVD player. As a side note, it is also significantly cheaper than the Xbox 360 or PS3 with prices weighing in at $699 for a PS3, $399 for a "Core" 360, $579 for a "Premium" 360, and $799 for an "Elite" 360 or $399 for the Wii (All prices are in AU$). So there you have it, my, relatively brief, take on the Nintendo Wii.
Yes, you can have friends round to play XBox or PlayStation, but it's just not quite the same. You know sitting there on a couch staring at a screen and hitting buttons just isn't as much fun as playing a game of tennis together, or boxing, or bowling. It's great fun to see how your characters react to your movements and fall over as you miss time a swing, or jump up in the air to hit that volley. I've owned more "traditional" style consoles such as the N64, and that was nowhere near as fun as this. And so far, I've only been talking about playing Wii Sports. Although there is an absolute multitude of great games for the Wii (Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl to name but a few), I have to say, the one I play most frequently is Wii Sports. This is mostly because there is no end to the game, there is no story line to follow, it's just like going out bowling with some friends or having a round of golf. I love playing this on a rainy day, or when I have 10 minutes or so to kill, it's great, it is also far more active than other games. I regularly work up a sweat boxing, and have had quite a sore elbow the next day after a few hours of Tennis, but I think that is one of the most enjoyable things about it.
One of the other things about it that I love are Miis. A Mii is a representation of yourself, a little character that you can make look kind of like a cartoon-ish version of yourself. You can pick a nose, hairstyle, facial shape, eyes, mouth, eyebrows, glasses, moustaches and beards, and adjust the height and and proportions of your Mii, until it looks somewhat like you. This is one of the best features, as these Miis feature in some (not all) games, such as Wii Sports. So that little person you're controlling while bowling is actually you. There's just nothing quite like having a game of bowling with your friend and seeing each other play while your family and friends are in the background playing other games and wandering around in the bowling alley.
There's also the cool thing that you can download and play classic games from older systems, such as the N64, SNES, NES, and various Sega systems. You do need the extra classic controller for this, so you actually have buttons to hit furiously, (there is very little button pressing in games like Wii Sports, it's mainly for interacting with menus and confirming you're ready to start). The Wii also will play GameCube games, and takes GameCube controllers for doing this, allowing you to continue to play games from that system. There is also an SD port to allow for extra storage for saved games (though I've not needed this as yet), or for viewing pictures or listening to music on your Wii (mp3 and AAC files only though), and naturally enough, it has 802.11g Wifi so you can play games over the internet with other people, download "classic" games, update the Wii software itself (thus allowing new features to be added over time), check the weather or news, and e-mail.
There are a few drawbacks to the Wii however, unlike the PS3 and XBox 360, the Wii does not play DVDs or Blu-Ray Dics and the now defunct HD-DVD, nor is it as powerful or have as good graphics as its two competitors. But, I've never really had a problem with this. The other two consoles offer an evolution on previous systems and their style of gameplay, while the Wii is focused more on HOW you play and the enjoyment of that, rather than the graphics, or how powerful it is. Thus some people may find its lack of power a bit disappointing, but overall, I don't think it matters. The enjoyment from the Wii comes from playing the game itself, and interacting with your friends as you do so, not through the graphics or power of the system. On a positive not though, the size of the console is TINY. If you get three DVD cases and stack them up, that is how big (or small) a Wii is, and it doesn't suffer anything like the failures of the Xbox 360, nor does it get hot enough to heat a whole room as a PS3 does.
So on the whole, I love it, and while it doesn't play DVDs or anything, I don't find that major problem, as I would imagine most households that would be looking at buying a Wii probably already have a DVD player. As a side note, it is also significantly cheaper than the Xbox 360 or PS3 with prices weighing in at $699 for a PS3, $399 for a "Core" 360, $579 for a "Premium" 360, and $799 for an "Elite" 360 or $399 for the Wii (All prices are in AU$). So there you have it, my, relatively brief, take on the Nintendo Wii.
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