Punch Out - Wii

Punch Out! (Wii) hopes to bring the feel of the classic NES and SNES franchise up to the modern age. Most of the beloved villains of yesteryear make a return in this reboot from Glass Joe, the games iconic first round boxer to Aran Ryan an Irish boxer who demands the player use cunning and perfect timing to beat. In this version  the game play is nearly identical to past iterations, players are required to learn the opponents timings and "give away" moves to duck, dodge and block all the while landing return blows to reduce the other boxers health bar and ultimately earn a Knock Out (KO).

For anyone wondering if this new version has opted to appeal to the casual audience by "dumbing down" the difficulty be assured that Punch Out! (Wii) is still "Punch Out" after all these years. Each boxer has a unique set of moves that you must master in order to defeat them, some requiring precise dodging. While some of the first boxers will present no problems to anyone familiar with the series, once you enter the second circuit prepare to be challenged!

One of the hardest parts of the previous titles has been retooled slightly in this updated version. No longer are you required to start from the very beginning after losing a bout. The game saves your progress after each win allowing you to come back and pick up right where you left off. This may seem like a nod to the casual audience but in reality I believe it ultimately gave the developers room to make each individual boxer harder than their predecessor.

To anyone new to the series, Punch Out's story revolves around up coming boxer "Little Mac" who is just starting out in his boxing career managed by long time friend "Doc Louis". In between rounds Doc will help Mac by offering hints and tips about his opponent and ways to defeat them. While small cut scenes play between circuits in traditional Punch Out fashion depicting Mac and Doc training for the next round of opponents. 

Punch Out (Wii) was developed by Next Level Games with famed producer Shigeru Miyamoto  leading them and was released on October 27, 2009

Call of Duty Black OPS : Wii

Being a consummate PC gamer I would love to start this review off with a good old bashing of console based shooters. How the inaccuracy of the analog stick will never mach the precision of a gaming mouse, maybe talk about TV speakers being far inferior to headsets. Unfortunately if I did so my opening paragraph would not mesh well with the following.

Call of Duty Black OPs for the Wii has to be one of the best games I have played this year. Decent graphics, multiple control schemes and a badass zombie mode make this well worth any gamers cash. Granted I have been playing the Wii version and as such the "worst" looking one I have still become enamored with it.

Having put in some hours using the Wiimote on CoD:Reflex and CoD:WaW I decided to use the Classic Controller Pro, a modified Classic Controller that more closely resembles a Playstation style controller. This gives CODBLOPS a more traditional feel, something like you would see on a PS3 or 360.

Of course not everything is sunshine and rainbows for CODBLOPS (Wii) one of the biggest issues I have with the game is the developer did not customize the game modes to match the reduced player size. While the other two consoles and PC versions can support double the player count in an online matchup the Wii version is limited to 8. Problems arise in some modes because of the reduced number of players. In S&D for instance rounds can end VERY quickly because of the smaller team sizes, coupled with the score limit being set low it can some times feel like you spent longer waiting for a game to load than you did actually playing the game. I would like to have seen a higher score limit to compensate, instead of a team winning after 4 victories move it up and require a score of 7. This would put a single match of S&D on par with the other versions.

A nice change in the way the game doles out weapons has happened as well. Gone are the head shot requirements on guns in order to unlock attachments. Instead you earn "COD Cash" which you can use to purchase guns and attachments. While the guns themselves have level requirements to unlock the attachments can be bought and equipped as soon as you open up the gun. This allows players to use the sough after Red Dot Sight as soon as they get a gun.

If you are strapped for cash this holiday season and can only get one game for your Wii console I would highly suggest Call of Duty Black OPS as it will provide you with hours and hours of enjoyment. Just stay away from the Single Player part of the game, there is a reason I never mentioned it ;)

In an interview with GameInformer.com Shigeru Miyamoto talks about Mario Galaxy 2 and some of the changes that are going into it, as well as why Nintendo decided to do the unusual and release a second major title in a series on the same hardware.

Thankfully my most hated feature has been reworked, gone is the dreaded hub system of accessing levels. In it's place is the familiar over world system first seen in Super Mario World for the SNES, as well as an upgraded version in New Super Mario Bros Wii.

While I enjoyed the 3D freedom and artwork in Mario Galaxy 1, I often times found myself at a loss as to where I was supposed to go next. I can remember a couple times, once I made it off the "ground floor", spending 4 or 5 minutes just wandering around the ship trying to figure out where to go next.

Another one of the subjects Miyamoto discusses is the inclusion of Yoshi to this title. Including some examples of controlling your dino friend by using the Wii mote as a pointer to direct Yoshi where to try and eat something, or to spit it back out.

On a final note, my wife will be pleasantly surprised to know there has been some extra camera work done in order to help remove the motion sick feeling some gamers get when playing 3D games. While I suffer from occasional bouts of motion sickness playing first person shooters, Heather will get queasy much much quicker. Hopefully the new camera tweaks pay off so I can try and convince her to be my co-pilot.

For the full read hit up the link below.

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Review: New Super Mario Bros WII

One of a few articles posted on my last blog I felt was worth bringing with me to NcNytes.

New Super Mario Bros Wii, if there was ever a game that warranted everyone in the world owning a Wii this is that game. By and large this throw back to the heyday of Mario games is the single best game made specifically for the Wii that I have played this generation. And as a great bonus, I was able to play through the entire game with my Wife at my side. Being a large Mario fan growing up she was able to instantly join in on the fun. From the new suits to the new game play mechanics, from top to bottom, THIS is the game to play this season if you own a Wii.

With the age old formula intact you start off at a happy go lucky mushroom kingdom festival where moments after kicking off Bowsers meddlesome children show up steal the princess and fly off. Yes you did read that right! The Koopalings are back! The only twist so far is that 2 seemingly random toad people follow Mario and Luigi off to go and save the princess. You are then placed on the world map, which itself harkens back to Super Mario World (SNES) and Super Mario 3 (NES). Each world is separated into two halves, each half ending with a castle. Unlike the other versions you fight the Koopa child in the mid-way castle whereupon defeat the Koopaling runs for the other castle.

Mario and gang get a few new surprise suits this time around of course, The Propeller Suit and the Penguin Suit make debuts in this title. Each giving the player a different ability that will need to be leveraged to uncover coin troves as well as secret areas. Speaking of which, New Super Mario Bros Wii takes secret areas to an incredible new height. Seemingly solid walls give way to a player uncovered coins, power ups, and even secret exits.

No review would be complete without a mention of the multiplayer aspects of this game, I admit I was skeptical on this mode going in. However my fears were soon abolished as I found myself jostling my wife for power ups or to get in the warp pipe first. NSMBW uses the first in first out method for the pipes, whichever player goes in first comes out first, getting first dibs on coin collecting. Surprisingly though, score as well as coin count are shared by all players during normal game play. For coins, whoever gets the token 100th coin earns an extra life. There are two other modes of play though, coin battle where players via for the highest coin count while navigating levels, some levels completely custom for coin battle. And Free play, where you and up to 3 other players are allowed to play through select levels from the game.

While I heap praise on New Super Mario Bros Wii, there are a couple gray points that I need to mention. First the most obvious. During mulitplayer game play whenever anyone dies, there is a very brief pause while the classic “oops you died” Mario music plays. Whenever that pause happens momentum is cut, so if your in mid jump and your friend dies, you are going to fall. I can not believe this made it past Nintendo’s QA team so it must be working as intended. However if anyone at Nintendo reads this, please relay to Mr Miyamoto that “feature” was the most infuriating thing in the whole game.

The other small issue I and my wife had with the game was the difficulty. Now, I should mention that we played through together. Meaning if one died the other could just stand in place and wait while the other floated back on the screen. This created a sense of invulnerability in both myself and my wife. Balanced against the seemingly easy level layouts we were able to breeze through the game within only a few days. This does not mean that we are done with NSMBW, with 3 “Star Coins” in each level as well as kidnapped Toads to rescue there is plenty of things to keep us busy throughout the rest of the holiday season.

While it has its flaws New Super Mario Bros Wii is by and large the best game released for the Wii to date. Combining both solid platformer game play along with a new “Wii Revolution” twist this is THE game for the Wii this holiday season.