Fragile Dreams : Farewell Ruins of the Wii
Saturday January 7, 2012 15:23:06

Playing Fragile Dreams reminds me why I originally liked the Wii and how few adventure games there are for the system.

In the game, you use the Wii Remote to point at the screen and direct your character's flashlight. Every time something of significance is illuminated, it may also make the remote's speakers produce a noise. For example, you spend a lot of time fighting ghosts which you can't see unless you hit them with the flashlight. But before they come into view, the remote speaker starts emitting the sound they make. The game is too lighthearted for it to ever feel scary but its a neat effect which makes you think about just how under-utilized the Wii has been as a real gaming device when it comes to hardcore, single-player adventure games.

Another cool feature is that whenever you want to get advice from your computer companion (the game's theme is desolation and loneliness, yet ironically the story instantly pairs him up with a talkative sentient AI) you can hold the Wii Remote “up to your ear” like a phone (i.e. simply point it up anywhere). This reminded me of No More Heroes, which was the last Wii game I ever played that felt fresh and new.

As the Wii finishes its run its sad to think how few robust adventure games there are like this that play to its strengths. Too many games (such as Mario Galaxy) were just the same as they would've been with a game pad, except they required you to randomly shake the remote instead of press a button. Sometimes there were embedded mini-games that briefly changed the controls to be totally different (a good example with Mario Galaxy were those stages where Mario balanced on top of ball and became controlled by the Wii Remote).

After Monster Hunter became popular and gave credibility to the “classic controller” (one of the most uncomfortable gamepads ever designed) it seemed like games stopped even pretending to use the Wii Remote as intended. No More Heroes 2 for example was ruined when they added compatibility for more traditional controls by removing all the neat touches that made the first game great. Then you also had the legions of games which opted to use only the Wii Remote as if it were a classic controller and added just enough BS that using a real gamepad was impossible (Punch-Out!, New Super Mario Bros, and Metroid : Other M to name a few).

Ironically, one of the best “Wii only” games was the port of Resident Evil 4, which played so well it was as if Nintendo had designed the system around it Mario 64 style.

I think part of the blame is owed to the fact the Wii Remote isn't as accurate as anyone would have liked. I heard the Wii Motion Plus improves it a bit, but what I'd really like whenever I'm playing most games on the Wii is to have an accurate way to point at the screen. Light guns have been around forever which achieve this so its frustrating in that classic Nintendo way what the Wii Remote doesn't. Its too bad that the Wii U is centered around using an over-sized, over-priced controller with a big screen on it (which can only be touched with a stylus) instead of further improving the Wii Remote since the potential of the original was never met.



Wolverine Loves Peaches
Sunday January 1, 2012 22:30:13

This might be my favorite YouTube video ever.



Frog enjoys casual gaming.
Monday December 26, 2011 15:21:11

I used to think frogs were really cool, until one day I realized they were just snakes without the long body.



METAL GEAR REDUMBERERERING
Sunday December 18, 2011 22:15:51

After being stuck in development hell for a few years, METAL GEAR RISING is reborn as METAL GEAR RISING REVENGEANCE!

Kojima continues to break bold new ground and will be using this game to take back a word previously used by crazy racists.

It's developed by Platinum Games (Kojima graciously explains in the link above that his younger staff weren't good enough to make a Metal Gear game on their own) and will be an action-packed bloodfest. The new trailer proudly proclaims RETURN OF THE RIPPER! If you remember, in Metal Gear Solid 2, Raiden explained he had suppressed his bad-ass memories of being a super-cool child-soldier who went by that name. This time, instead of being all sad and traumatized by them, he'll use them to his advantage and be like “wassuz Ripper in da house gonna take a sucka's life!” About time, I say!

There's a high chance it will follow the tradition of external company developed Metal Gear games being garbage but I'll probably buy it anyway since I'm like that.





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-All material © 2007 Tim Simpson unless otherwise noted-