Monday, May 15, 2006

Post-E3 Thoughts: Games (Nintendo)

Let's get down to it, starting with the:

Nintendo Wii

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Nintendo/Retro Studios, Launch): it's official, this is a launch title for the Wii and it's looking pretty good. From all indications the controls are pretty nice with the Wii controllers. I was never a big fan of Prime's reliance on scanning, but I am a big Metroid fan at heart and can't see myself not picking this up at launch.

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo, Launch): Big Zelda fan and Nintendo can really do no wrong with this franchise. There will be two versions of this game, one for GameCube (and its controller) and one optimized for the Wii. I don't know if the graphics will be different, but from all indications (and facts put out) the Wii graphics will not be that much greater than the GameCube.

Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo, Within 6 mo. of launch): This will be the late release out of the big 3, but chances are that Miyamoto will create a great game. It looked pretty cool in video form and since the controls have always been a staple of the series I can only believe the Wii controller will be used correctly.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Nintendo, 2007): I'm not a big fan of the series and have never understood its appeal to be honest. The addition of Solid Snake is interesting, but I still doubt I'd touch this with a ten foot pole. I know there are a lot of people out there that swear by this series, I'm just not one of them.

WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Nintendo, Unknown): The twitch game that set the GBA and DS world on storm is back and this time using the Wii controller to do a number of things (lift barbells, slice watermelons, swat flies, etc.). This game will sell like wildfire if it is anything like the others.

Wii Sports (Nintendo, Launch): This will consist of the tennis game shown off at the pre-E3 conference, a golf game and a baseball game all packed into one. Obviously this title is there more for the multiplayer aspect and overall use of the Wii controller than anything else. The graphics aren't spectacular, but I bet the gameplay is on all the games. This is more of a family release and I think it will be very popular when it comes out.

Red Steel (Ubisoft, Launch): I was pretty big on this game before the show given the preview in a recent Game Informer. Many sites are saying the game is not all it is cracked up to be. Now, this would usually be a problem if this game was the top of the heap for launch, but the two games above easily trump this game in importance. This game could be good, but it sounds like it isn't as "free flowing" (from a controller perspective) as it could be. Take a wait and see approach on this one I think.

Madden 07 (EA, Launch): The only reason I put this here is because the whole control element sounds very interesting (and somewhat tiring). If EA Tiburon doesn't do a half-assed job like they did with Madden 06 on the Xbox 360 I think this could be a great pickup for someone that wants to experience football in a way they never have before...except on the field.

Nintendo DS

Many may have laughed at the DS when it was first announced, but it has built up a strong user base of people that want to play something different from the regular path (sound familiar?)

Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo, Q4 2006): The first Zelda game for the DS. Chances are this is going to be great. The graphics come right from Wind Waker (which some people did not like the look of, I personally did) and the dual screen use sounds intriguing.

StarFox DS (Nintendo, September 25): StarFox once had its day, but this may not be it. The game doesn't look great from the movies I've seen, but you can't judge a game just by its graphics. I'm sure the gameplay is there and the promise of online play is a big plus. Maybe it can create the magic of the first game again.

Yoshi's Island 2 (Nintendo, Q4 2006): The beloved Super Nintendo game finally gets a sequel. Given how awesome the original game was chances are this will be great as well.

Final Fantasy III (Square-Enix, September): The only FF game to never grace these shores with an English version. Instead Square-Enix is going to give it a 3D facelift and bring it out here. This game was the introduction of the job system that was used again to a larger extent in FF V. This should be a big game for any FF fans out there since many have not played this game at all.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (Konami, Q4 2006): Konami has had a great run with portable Castlevania games and I expect this one to continue the trend. No word as of yet how the stylus will be used, but they probably went back to the drawing board after the last DS game.

Next post is Xbox 360 offerings...