Age rating:

3+ (PEGI)

What is it?

A Mario game - 3D-platformer.

Is it fun?

Yes.

Is it worth the money? £29.99

Yes.

Why?

I’ve always been rather indifferent when it comes to Mario games until I played Super Mario 64, which was brilliant. Unfortunately the GameCube’s Mario extravaganza (Super Mario Sunshine) was well, total poo to be honest. However, I’m pleased to say that Super Mario Galaxy tops even the great Mario 64 for sheer enjoyment. I can’t even complain of the total lack of imagination shown by Nintendo when it churns out the same games for each generation of Nintendo console when this incarnation of Mario is just so much fun.

The graphics look great (by Wii standards) and complement the game wonderfully. Sure there are some iffy looking textures and a few jaggies, but I didn’t care as the whole game is amazing. The sound is a perfect mix of chirpyness and classic Mario sounds and themes. It also has a brilliant, brilliant music track for the Battlerock galaxy that I challenge anyone to play this galaxy and not have a giant smile on their face.

I loved the whole playfulness of Mario’s new galaxy environment. Flying, flipping, gliding, jumping and catapulting between all the planets on each of the levels is just awesome. The attention to detail that the designers have lavished on every planet, however small is a joy to behold. I loved the way that seemingly simple puzzles were brought to life by splitting them over lots of mini planets and great use of the Wii controller. This is probably the first game after Wii Sports where the control method just feels right. From rolling around on top a giant ball, to flying through the air as a little bumble bee, the Wiimote and nunchuk make controlling Mario something to be enjoyed.

Bad points. Well, swimming underwater takes a bit of getting used to. The camera has a habit of choosing the worst time to change its viewpoint, which usually happens when you’re negotiating a really nasty sequence of platforms.

It took me just over 14 hours to get to the end of the game and finally beat Bowser, but that still leaves me with another 55 power stars to collect. Then I’ll have finally completed the game. So Lordy knows how long that’s going to take with some fiendish and very dexterous puzzles lying in wait.

In summary:

A wonderful game in every way. Mario is the easily the best game on the Wii.

Screenshots:

Test system:

• UK Wii Console - set to 60 Hz 4:3 screen mode
• Sony CRT TV (handles 60hz mode)
• RGB SCART lead
• COMPONENT lead - For CARNIVAL game test
• Wii FreeLoader - EURO version (£9.99 from Play.com)

Games tested and results: (GameCube unless otherwise indicated)

• PIKMIN (JAP) - Works fine
• PIKMIN 2 (JAP) - Doesn’t work
• PN03 (JAP) - Works but has squashed display
• SUPER MONKEYBALL (JAP) - Works fine
• METROID PRIME (US) - Works but with some pre-game menu issues (in game ok)
• ZELDA - WINDWAKER (US) - Doesn’t work
• ZELDA - WINDWAKER BONUS DISK - OCARINA OF TIME (US) - Doesn’t work
• RESIDENT EVIL 4 (US) - Works but has squashed display
• WAVERACE: BLUE STORM (JAP) - Works but with thin flickering band near the top of the screen. Gameplay unaffected but flickering band is annoying
• VIEWTIFUL JOE (JAP) - Works but with squashed display and playback issues with pre-menu movies
• DOBUTSO BANCHO (ANIMAL LEADER) - Works but has squashed display
• CARNIVAL (US - Wii Version) - Works but need to use COMPONENT lead otherwise the colours are all screwy (red and black)

As you can see, most of the games tested worked, but a number suffered some sort of issue. Tikipod didn’t test any JAP Wii games, as he didn’t have any available. According to one of the comments on the Play.com Freeloader product page Super Smash Brothers Brawl (US) works just fine so you can all rest easy.

Oh, and the recent reports that the latest Wii firmware update (called IOS37) disables FreeLoader is a hoax. However, with all the Wii firmware updates that Nintendo rolls out there’s no guarantee that FreeLoader won’t be disabled by one of them in the future.

Update 24th Mar 08: Carnival is a Wii game, so updated the post accordingly.

Here’s Bully according to the Telegraph:

The game, called Bully, features a shaven-headed pupil who torments fellow students and teachers at his school.

Coz shaven-headed pupil = EVIL, right? Just like kids wearing hooded tops are all gangsters. Please, get over your fashion prejudice.

And no, protagonist Jimmy Hopkins doesn’t torment anyone. He’s tormented by his fellow students. Most of the plot centres around helping other kids who are being bullied. Even if you wanted to, it’s actually quite difficult to pick fights with the prefects, teachers and policemen around every corner.

Players gain extra points by terrorising other pupils with a range of physical and psychological abuse, including dunking children’s heads in lavatories and firing catapults at teachers.

Extra points? Bully doesn’t even have a points system. Unless buying candy for girls in exchange for a kiss is now considered “psychological abuse”, the authors of this article are talking crap. A lavatory-dunking scene wouldn’t surprise me but if the first half of the game is anything to go by, the other kid deserved it.

Rated for children aged 15 and above, the game is being released for the XBox 360 and the Nintendo Wii, a games console on which players have to physically act out the movements they want their character to perform.

Physically acting out the movements… Good lord, people, at least TRY the Wii before you comment. Vaguely flailing your hands about with no resistance isn’t acting out a fight, as anyone who’s played Wii Boxing will know. I haven’t played the Wii version of Bully but it wouldn’t surprise me if the closest it came to acting out real life was the Workshop class on bicycle maintenance where you “turn” the pedals using the PS2 left analog stick.

And the game is rated 15 for heaven’s sake. 15! You know why it’s rated 15? Because BBFC professionals think it’s appropriate for 15-year-olds. If, as Jimmy, you fail to attend your classes, you’ll have fewer skills and abilities to get through the game. Each class is a series of non-violent minigames. Your days are spent collecting rubber bands, solving your teachers’ personal problems, safely escorting geeks through a violent schoolyard and standing up to gangs. Your nights are spent on nefarious deeds like panty raids on the girl’s dorm.

Yeah, I can see how this might undermine a charity’s efforts to stop kids joining groups that pick on others. Showcase a kid who doesn’t conform to the herd, fights for the underdog and stands up for himself and his friends? Heaven forfend…

Sure, Bully does feature weapons like a catapult, stink bombs and firecrackers. You can start fights and throw stuff at people; the only in-game reward is the privilege of being pursued by prefects and having your gear confiscated. Fighting other kids can be an entertaining diversion but without GTA’s validation of FBI helicopters and tanks, it quickly becomes tiresome.

Read the full Telegraph article: Video game glorifies bullying, say critics

Bully: Scholarship Edition (hopefully still featuring Monkey Fling) will be released in the UK on March 7th.

But there is more (and the point of this post!). Next month sees the release of a brand new Dungeon Explorer game. Well 2 new games actually, as it’s coming out on both the PSP and Nintendo DS. Each version takes place at different times in the Dungeon Explorer universe. Actually the DS version is set immediately after the PSP version (wonder if it will contain some plot spoilers?). From the screen shots released so far it looks very much like Untold Legends on the PSP. According to Hudson Soft we can look forward to 3 player on-line co-op hacking, lots of embarking on epic journeys (in a time of heroes, no doubt) and a spot of weapon and equipment upgrading. Excellent.

Dungeon Explorer: Warriors of Ancient Arts is released mid-Feb 2008 on the DS and PSP

Further in, at 1:30 you can catch a brief glimpse of fencing and soon after, a nice clip of the archery section. At 2:30 there are some very strange actions going on. I have no idea what they were doing but it’s all good clean fun, I’m sure.

Finally, at 3:30 you can see that they managed to salvage some footage of of my interview. There’s a highly embarrassing clip of me looking strange and trying to speak coherently in front of a video camera. It’s complicated, I tells ya! But that’s what makes it a great game and, as I said last time, definitely my pick for Christmas.

It’s officially approved by the Olympic committee for the upcoming Beijing games. They had a lot of influence over the gameplay and their input helped ensure that this isn’t the crappy Wii Sports clone it could have been. Wii Sports is a great game but its lack of depth means that we rarely play it unless we have visitors. It’s just not that engaging compared to… well, pretty much any other game we own.

The Game

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games has over 20 different Olympic sports to play. They’ve chosen a good range of them, too. You have the basic track and field events, like hammer throw, triple jump, sprints, hurdles and relays. There’s also skeet shooting, trampoline, archery and a bunch of swimming and gymnastic events. To top it all off you can unlock Dream events which use the skills you learn from the Olympics and drop you into a more traditional Mario/Sonic fantasy setting. And yes, there is a sprint version of Mario Kart so you can get your fix of cheating flinging lightning bolts at your friends.

The proper sports event are much more detailed than Wii Sports. In general, Wii Sports only modelled a small aspect of the games - for Wii Baseball, you didn’t have to worry too much about the game. You just smack the ball with the right timing and you’re off! The game did all the running and fielding for you. In Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (or MSOG as I shall now call it) they’ve put a lot of work into properly modelling the events.

For archery, you use the Wiimote to draw back your arrow and aim, much as we expected for Zelda: Twilight Princess but didn’t see. You have to worry about the wind direction as well as keeping your aim steady. For Pole Vault, you don’t just run and jump. You have to run, lower the Wiimote to plant the pole at the right time, struggle to spring yourself up to the right height and flip your body over the bar. Each section has its own control style. Passing a baton between relay runners means raising the Wiimote as you would a real baton; rowing needs you to row with the Wiimote and nunchuck; and trampolining involves swinging the wiimote up and down to bounce you to greater and greater heights. Once you’re high enough you have to pull off a complex button combo to finish the acrobatic routine in time for the next bounce. I played it once. And scored a perfect 10. Click on the picture for photographic proof. I like the trampoline section ;)

As for the characters - you can play with your Mii, though I have yet to see how an armless, legless Mii can cope with trampoline or fencing. You can also choose from sixteen characters, eight from the Mario world and eight from Sonic. Each character has its own advantages. Sonic is, unsurprisingly, very fast while Princess Peach is, more surprisingly, good at skill-based events. It’s still balanced so playing Sonic doesn’t mean you’ll win all the speed events. Shadow is just as quick, so playing with your friends doesn’t turn into a race for the best character. Even playing by yourself is entertaining. There will be online leaderboards so you can attempt to beat everyone’s “Olympic” records.

In Summary

It’s great - a fantastic step forwards from Wii Sports. I fully expect Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games to be this year’s family Christmas title. It will be released in the UK on 23rd November 2007. You can preorder it from Play.com

The Bloggers’ Event

As for the event itself… the Wii flat is nice in a crowded kind of way. If you’re going to use a domestic setting to demonstrate a game to seven people, for heaven’s sake put a futon or sofa bed in the tiny bedroom! Sega also had a video camera and did a few interviews with us. With any luck mine, won’t be uploaded anywhere since I’m not much good at off-the-cuff diplomacy. They asked me what I thought of the event and the only thing that came to mind was “You hired people in Mario and Sonic costumes? Seriously, how old do you think we are? Six??” Thankfully, I didn’t say that but all I could come up with was a slightly confused expression, along with a mildly patronised “It was very exciting”. I’m definitely not cut out for videocasting. And I still posed for photos with Giant Mario and Giant Sonic.

It was good afternoon anyway. A fun game and it was nice to meet up with our fellow UK games bloggers, who are apparently all male. The other woman in the photo below was part of the marketing team.

Other blogs there

• Nintendic
• Zath
• British Gaming Blog
• NTSC-UK
• Binary Joy
• Nintendic
• NekoFever

Aww aren’t Nintendo nice? They are now giving away free jackets for your Wiimotes. Simply enter your Wii’s serial number (found on the back of the console) and personal details here. You can request up to 4 jackets per console.

It kinda looks like a silicon hoodie to me, and it makes the Wiimote look a wee bit chunky. However, I’ve ordered 4 for my Wiimotes and I’m curious to see what they feel like, so I’ll reserve judgement until I’ve tried them out.

From the 2nd October 2007 Nintendo will be including a jacket with all Wii hardware, so you’ll be able to see these jackets on the shelves from mid-Oct (according to Nintendo’s website).

Got a Wii? Then time to get protected. Get your jackets now!

That’s a bit poor. I get that you might require standby for the new feature that displays current weather and news in the Wii main menu, but that’s hardly an essential component. There’s no good reason to require standby Internet access for a weather or news channel that only displays on demand. I call it shoddy coding.

There were a whole load of other updates, including an unsubstatiated rumour that the fan will now turn on if WiiConnect24 is running. This would theoretically address the problem that we noticed last month where WiiConnect24 consoles were damaging themselves, assuming that the rampant speculation of overheating being the cause is true.

You can find a full list of the 3.0 firmware update changes over at Intendo.

After 5 minutes, it bursts back into life as if nothing happened. Following this, we can’t turn off the console using the console or the Wiimote power button. We have to actually pull the plug out of the power socket.

Until now, we haven’t really been that concerned. It’s easy enough to work around. I just did some research to see if anyone had similar problems and found the following bit of news published last week on computerandvideogames.com:

“A number of disgruntled gamers are hitting internet forums saying their consoles have broken after being left on standby with WiiConnect24 enabled for long periods of time.”

Allegedly, WiiConnect24 is causing their consoles to overheat, which may be damaging the CPU. Tech.co.uk and CVG only cite “internet forums” so I don’t know if these people experience the same sorts of problems that we have. I hope our symptoms aren’t signs of imminent failure.

Have you had connectivity or power control problems with your Wii? What happened?

Ok, our Wii isn’t quite as far south as Kiwii (hehe), but we are on there….somewhere in London! Have fun finding us. Oh yeah, before you get all stalker, stalker on us, the actual locations of each Wii are offset to protect everyone’s privacy.

Wow, I’ve not even finished writing this post and someone has already emailed me a friend request via the website. Speedy, speedy.

Related posts:
Wii got one!
Loads of webpages to connect Wii owners[via Joystiq]