Should I get a Wii ? - Concerns

[themadride]

I'm very impressed with the concept of a Wii, but I am wondering about the execution of the final product. I have a few concerns before I purchase. I'm hoping a few of you can chime in and help me out.

1) Remote Control Motion Precision.
I'm concerned about the precision of the controls. When playing games like "boxing" or "tennis" does it recognize the subtle changes in your motions that would constitute the difference between a cross and a jab, an upper-cut and a body blow, etc. Or is it simply "he who swings like a madman the fastest wins". I'm using Boxing as an example. Please feel free to apply the idea to whatever games you play.

2) Poor game choices for adults.
When I browse the game section at walmart most Wii games seem to be designed for 11 year olds. Some of my favorite games on my old PS2 (last game system I had) were Soul Caliber II and God of War. I didn't see anything that was comparable in style. On my computer I have recently enjoyed Witcher, Half Life, Gears of War, Doom, Fear, etc. I didn't see many games at all that seem geared to the adults like those I enjoy. I did see 1 or 2 games, but I am concerned about spending the $$$ to play Lego Circle Jerk. (can I say that?)

3) How effective, realistic, and fun is the ability to play a FPS game with the remote rifle? Are we talking Duck Hunt 2.0 here or something better?

Thanks very much for any help and opinions you can give. The idea sounds good, I'm just wondering about the bank for the buck for an adult male without kids to consider.

 

[jeanniepep]

1) Remote responsiveness can depend on the game. Some pick up your movements incredibly well and some are terrible at it. IGN reviews in particular have been helpful in determining which games are more responsive and which are the arm-flailing equivalent of button-mashing. A remote add-on called Wii Motion Plus is due out this year which should make many games even more responsive (although shovelware will continue to suck).

2) Based on the games you reference, you probably would enjoy Resident Evil 4, Metroid 3, MadWorld, and others along those lines (I am not any good at those so the others on the board will have to advise you on that). It is a relatively common complaint that despite a few good M-for-Mature titles, there isn't yet a big selection of them for the Wii. However, the new control styles have made for some very innovative games that may not be violent but are fun for adults (Boom Blox and De Blob come to mind). Just because a game isn't violent doesn't mean it has to be Party Babyz. Though there sure are a lot of dumb kids games to wade through to get to the good ones.

3) I do like the arcade-style light gun shooting for the Wii. I'm a big fan of rail shooters rather than FPS though, so all I can tell you is that House of the Dead: Overkill and Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles are SO FUN (the Link's Target Practice game that comes with the Wii Zapper also kept me entranced for weeks but I can't even tell you why - it doesn't SEEM exciting but it's hard to put down). Some of the more complex FPS style games require using the buttons on top of the remote, rather than just the trigger on the underside. If you're not using a snap-on gun attachment, that wouldn't matter anyway.

If you're more interested in a wide range of "adult" titles and aren't totally sold on the Wii remote motion concept, you might be happier with an Xbox360. We have both, and my husband generally plays with the 360 a lot more than the Wii (I play the Wii a lot, but I'm not what they call a "hardcore gamer"). Graphics are better and there are a lot of titles that he's pretty fired up about. I'm happy to let him play "my" Wii (lol) but there just aren't any games that he cares about.

 

[jeanniepep]

2a. If you're only looking for games at Walmart, keep in mind that they pride themselves on being a "family" store and won't even carry NC-17 CD's and DVD's, so they will probably have more of a ratio of kids games to adult games than other stores that cater more to gamers.

 

[wdoublei]

I would tell you not to double post jenniepop, but ur an old lady.
Anyway I would say play it at a friends house and see if you like it.

 

[raisinghelen]

1) Remote Control Motion Precision.
2) Poor game choices for adults.
3) How effective, realistic, and fun is the ability to play a FPS game with the remote rifle? Are we talking Duck Hunt 2.0 here or something better?

1) This depends on the game. Titles such as Wii Sports, Trauma Centre, Zack & Wiki, PES, MP3, Godfather, Mario Kart, MOH:H2, COD:WAW etc use the controls very well. Other games tend to just have senseless waggling replacing button presses. With Motion Plus coming out this year and several games already announced that will incorporate it (most notibly Tiger Woods 2010 and EA Gland Slam Tennis) the Wii should reach a level of unparraleled control (1:1 tennis or golf will be awesome).

2) There are plenty of adult orientated games. Madworld (possibly the most stylish and violent game ever), Metroid Prime 3, COD:WAW, HOTD: Overkill, RE:4, Tenchu, Godfather, Scarface, No More Heroes, RE:UC etc. Certainly not as wide a range as on the 360 but more games are appearing. There are a lot of games that anyone can play though, such as Mario Galaxy, SSBB, De Blob, Okami or Mario Kart. Just because these games do not feature gallons of blood or swearing doesn't make them any less fun to play.

3) Wii remote beats the hell out of dual analogue for FPS, at least IMO. It is faster, more realistic, more accurate and more fun. The only thing is there are not a whole load of good FPS's on the Wii, only Metroid Prime and COD:WAW really stand out. The Conduit releases this year though, which looks to fill the generic alien type shooter gap (tons of these on 360 but rare on the Wii). I don't particulary like the 'Wii Zapper' but there are lots of third party gun attachments, although personally I think that the remote on its own is enough like a gun.

If you like to play games on your own then a 360 might be a better choice as it has a bigger catalogue of M rated titles. If you have friends that come around to play then you'd find the Wii a lot of fun though.

 

[travZEman]

judging by the list of your favorite games, I would say a 360 would be a better choice for you, or a PS3 if you dont mind paying a bit more.

 

[Shadowking]

The execution of the Wii isn't great. It has amazing potential and I have had very few problems with precision, however developers tend to stray away from the Wii because it has less memory than the other two and as such very few good games come out for it.

 

[CantGetAWii]

1. Wiimote precision - is great for Nintendo games and most third party titles. Some games you can tell they were tacked on last minute and others feel very tight and get you involved. Boxing works well, you punch straight up you uppercut and straight out is out of course. At least I've had a good experience and noticed this.

2. Games for adults - plenty, depending on your preference. Casual gamers obviously have a slew of titles to choose from. But there are also many titles for mature or core gamers. Just got to look at the right genre etc.

3. FPS - they are Wii's bread and better..urm...they should be but we have few of those games. Metroid Prime got it right and a game coming out titled The Conduit appears to take it further. Again the controls are there and work well if implemented well.

 

[themadride]

Thanks for all the responces and consideration.

I'm starting to come to the conclusion that I should just hold off for 6 months or so before I decide on a game system to see what other products come down the pipeline for the Wii. Maybe between now and then someone I know will buy one and I can test it out at length. Thanks again.