Another new exclusive Sonic game for Wii is in the works, Sonic and the Black Knight is the second game in the storybook series that started with Sonic and the Secret Rings. Now that wasn’t very good, and let’s face it, neither has any sonic game in the last few years, but this one could be different. I’ve never imagined Sonic becoming a sword wielding Knight of the realm but hey, if Sega think they can pull it off I’m might interested in seeing the results. So far there is only a very vague Sonic and the Black night release date of spring 2009.
Strangely this is Sega’s second Olympics release over the past 8 months - their first one being Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. This is the official game of this year’s Olympics and in fine tradition will have you waggling the analogue stick or mashing buttons until you develop RSI and, if you’re from the US anyway, try to sue. Brits will just complain quietly to the person next to them.
The game covers all 38 disciplines including the standard track and field events but also table tennis, judo, archery, cycling, weight lifting and swimming.
If you’re old enough to remember, this game takes ideas from both Konami’s Track and Field and US Gold’s Winter and California Games. Games are a mix of hitting buttons quickly and timing stick rotations , as well as matching button sequences as quickly as possible.
The game’s at its best when things are simple - waggle or mash to run and press buttons at the right time to jump and set your angle for jumps etc. Stupidly there’s an annoying charge system for running off the blocks which often leaves you doing a false start or leaving behind the pack and trying to catch up - absolutely useless if you’re doing the 100 metres.
It’s also annoying having to skip through all the animations before getting into a race or event. Games like these need to be instant especially if you’re playing with 7 others and taking it in turns. You can also play with 3 others online - and of course there’s online leaderboards for you to smash if you’re that obsessed with getting to the top of the tables.
This game’s like a Western - there’s a mix of good, bad and downright ugly and it’s all a little too disjointed. About ten of the events are enjoyable and for me that’s not enough to warrant buying this game at full price. Still, if you want to get into the spirit of the games and you want to rent it when they start on the 8th of August, then be my guest.
Dead Rising’s coming to the Wii. This isn’t the sequel but a version of the original on the 360. Let’s hope they’ve changed the save system or there will be a lot of Wii remotes being hurled through windows.
Animal Crossing Wii City Folk controversially appears to be Nintendo’s big Christmas title, looking similar but more detailed to the to the Gamecube version, this time you don’t just having your own small town to walk around, now you can now travel to nearby cities and do stuff there too, such as bid on items in the auction house, sell items to raise cash or even visit a beauty salon and get plastic surgery to look like your Mii (not sure what message that sends to kids, but still). Like the DS version Animal Crossing Wii is now online enabled and features many ways to interact with your friends, be it playing games or simply checking out their town to see how it compares with your own.
More interestingly is the addition of voice chat, yes you heard right, voice chat on Wii. The game is compatible with a brand new peripheral called the WiiSpeak microphone, a crescent moon shaped device which plugs into a USB socket and by default sits upon your sensor bar - though it probably could sit anywhere around the TV. Unlike the 360 and PS3 this microphone isn’t a headset but a community microphone, Nintendo say the microphone is sensitive enough to pick up a whole family’s chatter so they can all interact with your online buddies.
Nintendo haven’t told us if the Wii Speak microphone is backwards compatible with other online Wii games such as Mario Kart and Smash Bros but somehow we doubt it is, having said that it would technically possible even on the Wii, imagine the WiiSpeak software not being hard coded into each game you buy but installed as a Wii Channel that can run in the background before you load a game, much like a VOIP application such as Skype does on your PC.
The much delayed Wii Music is finally near completion, featuring around 60 instruments that you play by moving the Wii Remote and Nunchuck around in the air and hitting the buttons, watch your Mii’s copy out your movements on screen with their big smiley faces. Not really designed to be a challenger to the big music games of the moment, instead you and up to three friends have fun playing as a group messing around all sorts of wacky instruments just mashing around trying to get everything to sound right.
It does look fun and graphically pretty good however it seems to be lacking the challenge factor of other music games and downloadable content but perhaps this could be just the ticket for those of you overdosed on Guitar Hero and Rock Band. We must mention graphically this game is superb, a big step up from the other Mii orientated games and its well worth checking out the Wii Music trailer on the official WiiMusic page.
Nintendo struck an early blow to Microsoft big day on Monday by announcing Wii MotionPlus, as small add-on for the Wii Remote which contains a motion gyroscope, this combined with the accelerometers already inside the controller promise to upgrade the current Wii Motion controls to 1:1. In simple terms, as you move the controller in the air it will be able to track your movements with absolute position and angle detection. So an obvious example would be the Star Wars Lightsaber game that we all want on the Wii. Even though you could argue that this technology should’ve been inside the original controller since launch, but seeing as most Wii developers aside from Nintendo themselves haven’t managed to get a decent control scheme with the current Wii Remote let alone a more complicated version.
Prepare yourself for another dose of Wii Sports elbow, Wii Sports 2 (Wii Sports Resort) is heading to Wii with loads more games to play in all their motion sensing glory. So far we have seen Jet Ski’s, Sword Fighting and Frisbee throwing. WiiSports 2 will also be bundled with a free MotionPlus Wii Remote upgrade for a much more immersive Wii experience, expect Nintendo to show off 1:1 controls as best they can to spur third party developers into some sort of action.
I haven’t seen the new The Incredible Hulk movie, partly due to the fact that I found the Ang Lee one really boring and partly because I’m not sure why we need another movie. Well, another film means another official videogame - but what is there to do with the big green bogeyman that hasn’t already been done?
Once again this game puts you in a free environment similar to the Ultimate Destruction game. This time you’re in the Big Apple as you play loosely through the plot of the movie and do lots of other missions along the way. Just find the icon on the map and press a button to activate the mission. Completing missions and other objectives gives you more points and new abilities with which to smash stuff up with. Standard punches and grabs will do for most enemies but you can also fill up your rage meter by smashing stuff up and go proper ballistic on your approaching enemies.
And smash things up you do - a lot. Everything in the game can be destroyed and it’s great fun leaping from building to building, picking up taxis and throwing them at people, or picking up people and throwing them at other people. If Nico Bellic from GTA 4 were big and green, he’d be in this game.
Unfortunately, it’s just not quite as much fun as Ultimate Destruction. You can’t rip taxis in half or surf down the street on buses, which is a great shame. You can however knock down buildings and there are ones dotted round the city which give you a special token for doing so - you’re like an incredibly angry tourist at times.
When it comes to presentation the game really doesn’t look like it’s playing on a next-gen console - I’ve been playing it on the 360. The Hulk has quite a bit of detail but even characters in cut scenes look a bit ropey and Tim Roth and Edward Norton providing the voices of the main characters sound like they really couldn’t be bothered.
In all it’s a pretty average action adventure game based on a movie. It’s not terrible and it’s always fun smashing stuff up - especially when it’s as fluid as this. An average game gets an average score so The Incredible Hulk video game gets 5 out of 10.
