What Wii can do

November 19th, 2006, 01:50 Posted By: gunntims0103

news via mercurynews

EASE OF PLAY FOR NOVICE GAMERS VALIDATES NINTENDO'S CLAIMS
By Mike Antonucci
Mercury News
Nintendo's Wii will be out in stores tomorrow.
NINTENDO
Nintendo's Wii will be out in stores tomorrow.

* Nintendo Wii: The games

Nintendo's heralded new game machine, the Wii, must pass one test above all others:

It has to prove that its much-vaunted ease of use makes it possible for anyone -- absolutely anyone -- to play video games.

The Wii (pronounced ``we'') goes on sale Sunday and features a one-hand, motion-sensing controller. Swinging and gesturing with it is all that's required to play some games.

There also will be plenty of complex games that use the controller in sophisticated ways. But the essence of the Wii is its ability to appeal to novices as well as veteran gamers.

And by novices, we mean totally raw newbies. Handing the Wii controller to someone who regards it as alien technology is the experiment of the moment for Wii reviewers. That's what I did almost immediately after Nintendo provided a Wii I could hook up at home.

I used a family member as my test subject. Any further identification would be cruel, although I have to note that I considered the person to represent an enormous challenge for the Wii. I thought this person might be so far out on the non-gamer end of the population that no controller -- no matter how magical -- would be able to compensate for a lack of, er, aptitude.

I was wrong.

My tester -- who was an exceptionally good sport about agreeing to this experience -- was able to immediately play a full game of tennis. We're talking about the Wii Sports brand of tennis, which boils down to just swinging the controller with the motions of a racket. You need a sense of timing, but the game is extremely forgiving of poor physical coordination. Getting a serve in is all but automatic.

And that's to the Wii's credit. Because the fun was ample, even though the game was anything but sophisticated or realistic.

Based on my own sampling of the tennis game -- and, no brag, I'm reasonably coordinated -- it takes some effort and ingenuity to win consistently. The game is ideal for casual family competition (which means buying extra controllers for the multi-player modes), but the computer controlled opponents are definitely not pushovers in the single-player mode.

Other newbie-inviting sports games include baseball, bowling and golf. They come with the console, no additional purchase required.

As for other launch games, which do require shelling out additional bucks, the two most prominent are Nintendo's ``The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess,'' an adventure fantasy, and Activision's ``Call of Duty 3,'' a World War II shooter. Also highly anticipated: Ubisoft's ``Red Steel,'' which uses the controller as a sword.

``Zelda'' requires an enormous commitment of time I didn't have right now. But based on many factors, including the ``Zelda'' series pedigree, it's almost certainly a four-star game. I don't yet have the Wii version of ``Call of Duty 3'' or ``Red Steel.''

Two games were available that I could sample extensively:

• ``Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz'' (Sega, available at launch). This features monkeys inside balls, which you roll through twisting, sloping courses. I'm simplifying, but trust me, for many adults and children this will be a sensational party game, in part because of the directional waving you have to do with the controller.

Unfortunately, the game highlights how retro -- and not in a good way -- the Wii's graphics can be. Fair warning: I've never played any curving-spinning-undulating ``Monkey Ball'' game without getting dizzy and almost nauseated within five minutes.

• ``Excite Truck'' (Nintendo, available at launch). Although this game has elicited months of raves in preview sessions, it's still surprising how good it is. Playing it at length creates a near addiction.

It's the kind of arcade-style racing game that makes crashing part of the strategy, as well as going airborne at nutty speeds. You hold the controller in a horizontal position with two hands -- a steering bar instead of a steering wheel.

That works so well that it instantly raises a question that probably will become famously repeated among Wii owners: Why didn't anyone do this with a game controller before now?

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