With a new console comes new experiences. It’s a great opportunity and excuse to try playing games that are new to you or that you wouldn’t normally play, so having picked up a Wii U on launch day there was nothing else for it but to play Mass Effect 3: Special Edition on it.
And you know what, taken as a single game it’s better than the PS3 version I’ve sunk literally hundreds of hours into. And the multiplayer on a Nintendo console works brilliantly, you can use people’s names and everything so it’s no longer like being in a strangely deserted Welsh seaside resort being chased by white spheres.
I’ve also been playing the downloadable titles Little Inferno and Puddle on the Wii U. You’ll be able to read more about them in the coming days but I’ll say for now that Little Inferno is a curious game that I’m not sure I’m enjoying playing, but, burning stuff is strangely compelling.
I took a couple of friends on a tour of Nintendo Land at the weekend and for two people initially dismissive of cutesy Nintendo titles, especially party games, there was an awful lot of highly competitive enjoyment had in Mario Chase and Luigi’s Ghost Mansion. Grown men shouting “He’s blue going green!” or “Over here I’m vibrating!” is not a common occurrence in my experience. Bite size local multiplayer perfection.
I did manage to stop playing ME3:SE for long enough at the weekend to play some Mass Effect 3 multiplayer on my PS3 and tick off the, now weekly, weekend challenge and keep my challenge score and N7 rank ticking upwards. I’ve downloaded the Omega DLC but was too busy playing ME3:SE to play it.
Dan has also picked up Uncle Ninty’s latest console creation and has been playing New Super Mario Bros. U. He found it tough to review as, “whilst it does everything well, I just can’t shake off the feeling I’ve played it all before”. That’s not likely to be the last time that’s said about another iteration of Nintendo’s core franchises.
To counter the cheerful surrounding to be found in NSMBU Dan turned to ZombiU. When asked how that went all he would say is “Terrifying. Don’t wanna talk about it.” For yet more Wii U entertainment he’s also been playing Trine 2 which he says is “ace, with the added benefit of being able to play it on the loo”. Too much information Dan.
His initial impressions of his new toy? “Overall I’m absolutely loving Wii U at the moment. It definitely has a few issues that need resolving, but I’m impressed.”
Skyrim now resides atop Tuffcub’s ‘finished’ pile. His summary of the epic game is “mostly enjoyable with some stand out moments”. He gives no clue as to what those moments were, instead choosing to note something else: “having my Skyrim husband as my companion was a little creepy as he was always addressing me as ‘My love'”.
He’s started playing CoD: Black Ops 2 but it has left him “horribly disappointed”:
I really liked BlOps but so far they seem to have made the same mistake Infinity Ward made between MW1 and MW2… LETS MAKE EVERYTHING EVER EXPLODE REALLY LOUDLY AND SHOUT LOTS. Also I have no idea what’s going on story wise; a recap of BlOps 1 would have been handy as I don’t recognise any of the characters, it has been 2 years since I last played it and everyone looks like generic fighting man.
Peter’s had a varied week thanks to the Wii U’s launch. First playing Tank! Tank! Tank! for our review as well as short blasts with New Super Mario Bros U and Nintendo Land. “The console itself is quite impressive”, he says, “it’s no generational leap but it does some entertaining things with the GamePad and it looks great”. He did comment earlier in the week that the slow loading times of some of the console’s OS features but I haven’t caught up with him since the midweek patch to see if he thinks that improved things.
[drop]The other “exciting” hardware development in the Chapman household is the fact that he has hooked his PC up to a big TV. “So those games I picked up in Steam’s autumn sale can now be played from a comfy seat with a wireless gamepad.” Perhaps suggesting he needs a more comfortable desk chair.“So far, I’ve tried Skyrim and Far Cry 3 on it and both look gorgeous. Some of the Skyrim mods add breathtaking visual detail to the game. The only problem now is that my PC needs an upgrade!” And he’ll be able to play the Skyrim DLC long before us PS3 players…
Kris has been fiddling. Luckily for all concerned it was only with his Wii U. He’s tried out the FIFA 13 demo, which “seems ok but feels very complicated”. He suggests that his problem may be that he’s “trying to use the normal controller control scheme mixed in with the touch screen controls” and should train his fingers to use one or the other. “Using the touchscreen for passes or for selecting your shot is pretty fun though.”
Nano Assault Neo has also been getting some TV and Gamepad screen time. “It’s a great twin stick shooter”, he says, “absolutely gorgeous with lots going on”. He’s found it to be really good fun, if “a bit tricky in places” and thinks that “the shop mechanic could do with being deeper though”.
Causing Chaos in Just Cause 2 has been providing Aran with a lot of fun this week:
[drop2]Because JC2 is just so colourful he turned to Metro 2033 for a bit of a change. He’s enjoying it so far and says that “the atmosphere feels perfect for a post nuclear society”. Even the more mundane chores like having to conserving ammo aren’t getting him down and he thinks that overall it feels “like I’m playing a proper survival horror story”.The map size is ridiculous, meaning I haven’t even discovered most of the towns. I like how there just seem to be so many distractions as well. I may be on my way to a mission but then I see a base so I just have to attack it. Next thing I know is I’m in an aerial dog fight after grappling onto a jet. Also this is the best looking open world game I’ve seen.
Lastly this week we stumble across Josh who’s going back through Lego Harry Potter 1-4 in co-op free-play, “grabbing the various collectables and whatnot”. For some handheld fun he picked up Need for Speed: Most Wanted for his PS Vita and says “it’s probably one of the best Vita games I’ve played yet – it looks great, runs great, and it’s the whole game world on the go; can’t complain!”
How about you lot? Did you pick up Ninty’s latest? If so, what’s your favourite game so far?
Origami Killer
Just a bit of MGS 3, haven’t played a lot of my vita this week, too much stuff going on in Uni. Just had my last lecture for the year though :D
hazelam
i’ve had Dragon’s Dogma for a couple of weeks now, and i love it.
it’s not perfect, there are niggles, the lack of fast travel being one of the main ones.
there is fast travel but you need an item that is very expensive to buy and hard to find even if you have enough gold.
but still, it’s a bloody good game. the combat isn’t quite as responsive as something like Kingdoms of Amalur, but it actually works very well, especially when you fight any of the larger creatures you find in the wilds of Gransys.
the trolls, chimera griffins and then you have the dragons.
or maybe just the one dragon and other smaller versions called drakes or wyrms, i can’t recall which it was, but i know i won’t forget the experience of fighting it any time soon.
i swear, it must have taken me about 20 minutes to kill one of them.
one thing that makes the combat against these huge creatures so good is that you can climb on them and target different areas, like the chimera, that has the head of a lion, a goats head on its back and it’s tail is a snake, each part does different types of damage and they can be attacked individually.
most creatures have a weak spot, often identified by a glowing area, and often to reach that spot you have to climb the creature, a cyclops for example would have its weak spot, as you would imagine, being it’s eye.
the drake, had its heart as its weak point, though you have to find a way to bring it to ground to do real damage, or climb on it when it breifly touches down.
damn though, did i feel a sense of accomplishment when it finally died.
on the whole though this kind of felt like an evolution of the Monster Hunter formula rather than an attempt at copying any existing rpgs.
though it does have all the usual rpg elements, levelling up your character, quests and an open world.
also one thing it does have that i’ve felt was lacking from the Monster Hunter series, and that is a plot.
oh and voiced NPCs.
the whole pawn thing works pretty well too, i do wonder why they went that way and not with a full co-op mode.
but still, the pawn system does work with silver accounts on xbox, so that’s one thing in its favour for me.
it’s cool having these other characters around, seemingly dedicated to you, that’s not likely to be the case with proper multiplayer.
i’m about 30 hours in and i feel like i’m still a long way from the final meeting with that dragon that ate my heart.
the lack of fast travel does extend the playtime a bit though, but i could still see the final tally being a few dozen hours by the time i do finish.
i really hate the harpies though, they’re not dangerous, but they are bloody annoying, being flyers they’re hard to hit.
also, since wednesday i’ve been playing quite a bit of Arkham City.
i almost forgot how bloody good that game was.
i finished the main campaign, and i’ve since been doing the side missions, i’ve caught Zsasz, found Nora, stopped Deadshot, had tea with the Mad Hatter and destroyed the titan cannisters Bane wanted, and surprisingly, since i wasn’t expecting to get the catwoman content, met Ivy, stole from Strange and kicked Two Face’s arse again.
i don’t know if i’ll ever get all the Riddler trophies, some of them seem pretty tough to get even if you do know how, and there are a few i haven’t figured out yet.
Catwoman handles pretty differently than Batman, the combat’s mostly the same, though you don’t have the same gadgets, but the big difference is how she navigates the world, where batman has his Grapple and can glide, Catwoman has to climb walls, or rather bound up them, usually needing a few leaps to reach the top.
it’s harder to get around with her, but she’s still fun to play as.
i’m waiting for Vanquish to finish downloading, my internet was off for most of yesterday and only came back this morning.
the first attempt at downloading it left me with a broken download, hopefully second times the charm.
i honestly didn’t intend to write this much. ^_^
hazelam
third attempt. >_<
still at least it's at the top of the download list, not like the limbo trial which was at something like 380.
Dom El
It’s all been about the Wii U as well for me this week. ZombiU is terrifying, but incredibly well done, and then I’ve been playing Mario U, Sonic Racing Transformed and Nano Assault Neo (I do have Mass Effect 3 as well but I made the classic launch gaff of getting too many games at once). I’ve played more Mario and Sonic on the strength of being able to play on the gamepad which is by far the best feature of a console ever – continuing the same game, with no cross saves or anything to slow the process is fantastic.
Overall I’ve had a great week with my new console!