Month: March 2014

Wii Sports Club

This past weekend, Nintendo had a free trial period which allowed Wii U owners to play Wii Sports Club at no cost. Wii Sports Club is an updated version of Wii Sports, which was the pack-in game for the original Wii. The game uses the motion controls of a Wii Remote Plus for each event. I spent about half an hour with Wii Sports Club on Sunday night.

Wii Sports ClubI was disappointed to see that it only included three events: Bowling, tennis, and golf. The original Wii Sports also had baseball and boxing. Anyway, I tried bowling first. I’ve actually been playing some Wii Sports bowling lately, but that actually hurt me more than helped. The Wii U version is much more sensitive to putting spin on the ball. By being used to Wii controls, I put so much spin on the ball that two of my first three rolls were gutter balls. I soon adjusted and my game improved. I played two games, bowling a 148 my first game and a 171 my second game.

Wii Sports Club BowlingIn addition to updated graphics, Wii Sports Club also has Miiverse support and online play. I didn’t use those online features directly, although Miiverse posts from other people will pop-up on-screen after each frame. It may be something related to what you did (“Keep those strikes going!”) or completely unrelated (“I’m a doggy!”).

Moving on, I next played some tennis. Tennis is one of my favorite Wii Sports events, and I enjoyed this version as well. But I didn’t notice any significant changes over the Wii version. The graphics are slightly better and the announcer’s voice is different, but that’s about it. I easily won my match against the computer, which is to be expected since your ranking starts out at zero and the early opponents are very easy to beat.

wsc-tennisAnd then there was golf. I’m not a big fan of golf in general, and I rarely played the Wii Sports version. But golf seemed to get more of an upgrade than tennis and bowling did. There are more courses, and it uses the Wii U gamepad in a unique way. You place it on the ground in front of you; you’ll see the ball on the screen, along with the head of your club. So you can actually look down at the ball as you swing, instead of up at the TV. It’s a clever idea, even if it is just another gimmicky use of the Wii U gamepad.

From what little I played of golf, it seemed harder than the Wii version. The game is sensitive to the slightest movements during your swing, and it would probably require a fair amount of practice to get good at it if you’re like me and don’t know what you’re doing. 😀

Wii Sports Club golfWii Sports Club could provide hours of fun for most people. But it would be hard to recommend it to anyone who already owns the original Wii Sports. Online play could be a major selling point for some people, but otherwise, the upgrades are relatively minor. And it’s missing baseball and boxing, which were included on Wii. Even though I enjoyed Wii Sports Club, I don’t plan on buying it.

Changing gears a bit, I just want to point out that I’m also blogging about Disney Magical World for 3DS now. Nintendo has provided me with an advance copy of the game, and I’m providing updates every few days. I considered posting the entries on this gaming blog initially, but I ultimately decided to make a separate section. So check it out if you’re interested: Disney Magical World Blog.

DKC: Tropical Freeze Impressions

I recently bought Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze for Nintendo Wii U. It’s the fifth game in the Donkey Kong Country series, which started with three games on SNES and continued years later with Donkey Kong Country Returns on Wii. As for this latest addition, I tend to abbreviate it as DKC5–even though that’s not an official name or abbreviation. I began playing through the first world of the game today.

The first thing I noticed was that the loading times seemed a bit long. And it’s not just that they were slow to load, but the loading screen animations themselves seemed to stop and restart; as if the loading screens themselves were paused to load. But fortunately, loading seems to be limited to menus, as I didn’t notice any delays during gameplay.

One complaint I had about Donkey Kong Country Returns was that it didn’t have any underwater levels. But mere moments into the first level of Tropical Freeze, I found myself swimming. Even better, the music switched to a subdued version of the underwater music from the first Donkey Kong Country–which is one of my favorite game tunes of all-time. A scuba-diving pig taught me how to do an underwater spin move, which can be used to take out some enemies.

dkctf-underwaterThis underwater section of the first level was extremely short, but I’m sure there will be more in the stages to come. Another thing I noticed about the game is that if you choose to play on the TV screen, the gamepad screen shuts off completely. To me, I think that’s a good thing. It’ll preserve battery power of course, but not every game needs a second screen all the time. It’s good to see a Wii U game treat the gamepad as just another controller instead of forcing some gimmick on us. Speaking of forced gimmicks, I’m glad we don’t have to use motion controls for special moves like we did on Wii.

Most of the hop-and-bop gameplay of previous games is intact, as are the K-O-N-G letters and hidden puzzle pieces to collect. Donkey Kong’s helpers Diddy and Dixie have returned, and Cranky Kong is also now available. The helpers ride on Donkey’s back and can alter Donkey’s jumping abilities: Diddy has a jetpack that lets you slowly glide back down after a jump, and Dixie’s spinning hair lets Donkey get an extra, secondary height boost. Cranky uses his cane as a pogo-stick, so DK can jump through spike-covered areas.

dkctf-crankyThe fourth stage (Trunk Twister) is one of the mine cart levels the series is known for. These levels are fun and unpredictable. They often require some memorization, so they can be tricky at first until you have an idea what to expect. But being the first one of the game, it wasn’t too bad. But the twists and turns make this an enjoyable ride. Here’s a video of the level:

Even though this first world only had four initial stages and a boss level (although there are at least two bonus levels I have yet to unlock), the levels seemed a bit longer than you’d expect. I’m only beginning my adventure in DKC5 DKC:TF, but I’m definitely enjoying the ride so far. The graphics and sound are also very good. I’ll provide more updates in the future. Thanks for reading!

Buy Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze at Amazon

Super Mario 3D World – World Bowser

It was time to resume my game of Super Mario 3D World, so I headed off to the eighth world, known as World Bowser. It starts off with Spiky Spike Bridge (World Bowser-1). It’s a tricky level played in the rain, with raindrops running down the “camera.” And of course there are a multitude of spiky bridges and dangerous jumps. I must say, I really like the graphical style of these last couple worlds.

sm3dw-b1World Bowser-2 is another Plessie dino-riding level. But instead going down a river, this time Plessie plunges down sand dunes. These Plessie levels may provide a change of pace and some variety, but I don’t really care for them that much.

sm3dw-b2World Boswer-Train: The Bowser Express is a cool train level, where each car of the train has a different type of enemy or obstacle. One car has a spiky trapeze to avoid, another has bullies that try to push you off the train, and one even has an underwater segment. Once you reach the front of a train, a Hammer Brother guards the pipe to the boss fight.

sm3dw-btrainWorld Bowser-4: Footlight Lane has you walking on a series of invisible platforms and bridges. Parts of them become visible as you stand on them, so you can see the area directly around your character, but not much beyond that. The level also has some Thwomps however, and their hard landings will make the platforms temporarily visible. The stage is a bit tricky, particularly in the later part of the level, but it’s not as bad as it may look in pictures.

sm3dw-b4In World Bowser-6: A Beam in the Dark, Mario has an unusual power-up to wear. He essentially puts a flashlight on over his head body and rides moving platforms through a haunted house. If you direct the beam of light onto ghosts and hold it there for a couple seconds, the ghosts will be defeated. This is a unique, creative level and it’s a lot of fun.

sm3dw-b6World Bowser-7: Grumblump Inferno has you riding a rotating block through fields of lava. It reminds me of those challenge levels from Super Mario Sunshine (the ones where you didn’t use the waterpack). It can be a challenge to keep your footing, but it’s also a very enjoyable level.

sm3dw-b7After a couple of encore fights against previous bosses, I made it to World Bowser-Castle: The Great Tower of Bowser Land. You need 170 stars to unlock it, but I only had 168. However, it didn’t take me long to revisit a previous level to get the other two stars I needed. I was then able to enter the castle.

sm3dw-bcastleThe level consists of a huge tower you must ascend. The final boss reveals itself about halfway through. I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t played this far yet, but I’ll say it wasn’t exactly what I expected. In fact, I laughed out loud when I saw what I was up against. I continued my climb upwards, and at the top, I easily beat my opponent in about three seconds flat.

The game started acting like I had beaten the game, but I knew that couldn’t be it. The little rainbow fairy munchkin girls were freed from their bottle, and the path to the flag was right in front of me. I just knew something was going to happen right before I got to the flag. But nothing did. A message said “Course Clear,” so I figured there must be another level waiting for me. And then…the credits started rolling. What? Seriously? There were no tricks, I had beaten the game. That final boss fight wasn’t really even a fight. That was a bit disappointing, although World Bowser overall was quite impressive and fun.

And even though I’ve beaten the game, I still haven’t completed it. I’m going to go back and get all the stars and stamps that I’ve missed. I’ve had a lot of fun with the game, and it’s not over yet. There may still be another blog entry about Super Mario 3D World, and later on, a review as well. So stick around!