tomhudson's Journal: [Wii] - Lego Star Wars and Rampage

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As promised, we had a bit of a party this afternoon / evening.

The most popular games? Wii Sports Bowling, and Boom Blox.

Funniest remark (and also probably one of the most predictable) - "My shoulder is so SORE!" This is the difference between playing a game on the Wii and sitting on the couch getting Gamers' Thumb. Play 4 rounds of bowling and who knows how many Boom Blox "plumbers' puzzles" and you'll get some exercise ;-0

AMF Bowling is on my wish list for sometime in the next few months, along with pinball ... but until then :-)

Lego Star Wars

We played this, as well as all the other games, in two-player mode, It helped, because I don't think it would have occurred to me to "use the force" to move stuff. We managed to complete the first level, which unlocked all the episodes (instead of just the next one - nice touch).

Pros: "It's Star Wars! It's Lego!" So you'll identify with the scenes. Will we find out who shot first? This is a game you can play without first reading the manual (we didn't). Supports using remote + nunchuk.

Cons: You'll need to be careful with your light sabre. It's kind of lame having a droid with only one leg and one arm (pun intended). Also, some practice in single-player mode would be a good idea first (we didn't bother - hence the lame droid).

Verdict: For the price, it's a keeper. Hopefully the Wii Lego Indiana Jones and Wii Lego Batman will come down in price over the next year ... pr they'll come out with Lego Firefly and Lego Star Trek TOS, and Lego Flintstone, and Lego ...

Rampage

One of the less costly games, and I think I'm "missing the point" with it. Sure, you go around crushing buildings and people, which is great if you're into channelling your inner Karl Rove, but not so great if you want to do more than just mach buttons and swing the remote. If you have an angst-riden teenager around, its probably just right.

Pros: Single to 4 players. Loud music, monster noises, and special effects. Many different kinds of actions possible with the remotes. supports wimote+nunchuk

Cons: Many different kinds of actions possible. You have to read the manual and practice a bit.

Verdict: I'm sort of on the fence with this one. We crushed a lot of buildings, without reading the manual, and I can see how, for a lot of people, being a Dinosaur or King Kong version of the Hulkster could be fun, so, while it's not my cup of tea, we didn't pop the disk out after 10 minutes and go "WTF did we just waste 10 minutes of our life on ..."

How about Lego Sopranos?

[plover]

• "Tonight, he sleeps with the Lego Sharks."
• "That's a nice Lego Car you got there. You got insurance on that car?"
• "Hey, kid, wanna buy some blue Legos? C'mon, first one's free."
• "Agent Brix, how you doin'? We was just thinking about you."

Re:

[tomhudson]

That would probably work ... and get Nintendo a whole new audience ... but I suspct they wouldn't want to tarnish their "family-friendly" image.

Re:

[RM6f9]

They're actually allowing a couple rated-M games - genuine slasher stuff, one guy has a chainsaw strapped to his arm - yay?

Rampage...

[damn_registrars]

Did you play Rampage back in the 80s when it was around the first time (arcade and 8bit NES)? I haven't played it on the Wii, but I loved it back then; I suspect it may be a title that is supposed to particularly appeal to those who were fond of it the first time around.

Re:

[tomhudson]

Actually (the shock, the horror, the shame :-) I never heard of it until I saw it on the shelf. I figured "Why not?" I wouldn't have thought much of Lego Star Wars except that people recommended it, so why not try other "stuff."

Re:

[pythorlh]

I'll agree with damn registrars. We rented Rampage a while back. It was fun for the youngsters, but in general I only played for the feel of the original. In particular, this was one title where I didn't think the Wii controls did the game justice.

was gonna play super smash bros today

[bechthros]

but my wii won't boot.

good thing i still have a month left on that aftermarket warranty.

Re:

[tomhudson]

Wow - that's disturbing news. How old is your Wii? They should certainly last more than a couple of years.

Re:

[bechthros]

dunno the actual age, i bought it used, back when you couldn't really find one new, from gamestop. and i bought the protection plan fr exactly that reason.

Re:

[tomhudson]

Well, if you got it from gamestop, they should be in a position to honour the warranty. Good luck :-)

Re:

[bechthros]

i was actually amazed at how painless it actually was. i was expecting all kinds of fine print, red tape and runaround, but the guy at the store was very nice. we had to pony up $20 to make up for the difference between the used and the new prices, and it sucked to lose all emily's zelda saves (they couldn't be moved to SD). so we now have a brand new wii, with a one year warranty from nintendo. woot! also, the used one didn't come with a nunchuck, the new one does. so we now have one more nunchuck th

Re:

[tomhudson]

$20? Wow, this was your lucky day!

The $5 (500 Wii points) to dl Opera is to encourage people to use the online store.

It's also to encourage people to buy a game bundle off the net from their local store (the bundle includes a game, Wii Speak, and a 2000 point card, so you're getting the point card for half price - I'll be ordering mine next week, and then do the Opera for Devices download (and the SNES Super Mario game as well).

So you're saying avoid Super Smash Bros, right?

Re:

[bechthros]

well, little kids seem to love it. it's very cartoonish. it was not to my tastes. it was a lot more like watching anime than playing a fighting game. i guess i'm kinda old, but i found most of the non-fighting things going on onscreen to be very distracting. demo before buying, at least.