Far Cry: Vengeance Review
A cry for help?
Version tested: Wii
If you've ever played any of the Far Cry games on other platforms - like the fantastic PC version - you'll be aware of certain key things that define the series. Number one is definitely fantastic graphics; ever since the glorious island environments of the first game, developers have built on the powerful engine to create ever more impressive visuals. Second to that, undoubtedly, is the AI of your opponents, who work as groups and intelligently utilise the cover provided by jungle environments. A third pillar, added more recently in updated versions of the game, is excellent multiplayer support.
Those are the three things you expect to find, simply as a baseline, in a Far Cry game. They're not obscure expectations - they're simply what any player would see as core values after a few hours on any of the existing titles.
Which leads one, rather uncharitably, to wonder how much time the developers of the first Wii title in the franchise have spent playing previous Far Cry titles. Here we have a game that features utterly dreadful graphics, consistently stupid AI and multiplayer that'll be singing in the boy's soprano choir long after puberty. It's set in a jungle, at least, so we have to grant that at least the team did look at the back-of-box screenshots and go "ah, palm trees!" - a key revelation which forms this game's main stylistic relationship with the rest of its franchise.
That sounds overwhelmingly negative, and don't get me wrong for a single second - it is. However, there's one shining good point to be dropped into the whole affair, for which many ills are going to be forgiven over the course of this review. Far Cry: Vengeance, for all its many, many faults, is the first Wii game to get first-person shooter controls absolutely, totally right.
The Crying Game

Sneak up on low-polygon men, but try not to cut yourself on the badly textured plants!
In other words, what Red Steel and (arguably) Call of Duty 3 failed to do, Far Cry has managed. The game utilises a simple control mechanism that moves your crosshair around in the middle of the screen and then allows you to move further in any direction to tilt the viewpoint. Movement forwards and backwards, and strafing left and right, is on the control stick of the nunchuk; to jump you flick the nunchuk, to throw a grenade you hold in the trigger on the nunchuk and make a tossing movement (watch it), which Far Cry actually interprets as a throw with strength varying according to the motion you make. Pull the B-trigger to shoot. Marginally more complex - but surprisingly natural after the first few tries - is the zooming motion, which requires you to poke the Wiimote towards the screen, with a second poke pulling back. It sounds awkward, but it actually works.
That's it for the basic controls - obviously there are more for weapon selection, locking the viewpoint and so on, and a slash of the Wiimote at any point tugs out a machete for a quick hacking motion - and here's the crux. They work. Whatever unkind things we may say about the developer's other efforts, the chaps designing the control system deserve a hearty pat on the back, because they've created a system that works reliably and is genuinely fun to use. The crosshair doesn't drift about because your viewpoint is moving unintentionally while you try to shoot; circle strafing and quickly moving the view are simple and easily mastered; the simple act of shooting enemy soldiers is suddenly fun again in a way that wouldn't have been possible with an analogue control stick. From the point of view of pure interaction between the player and the game, Far Cry is a joy to play, and that alone will drag you through several hours of the game.
I say "drag", though, and I mean it. Unfortunately, aside from the well-conceived and extremely well polished control scheme, the rest of the game is a haphazard and unfinished rush-job whose shoddy nature is genuinely eyebrow-raising at some points. The high point of the presentation is some nicely designed menu systems, which make good use of the Wii controller as a pointing device. Sadly, it's all downhill from there.
Makes Baby Jesus Cry

Whizzing around on a jetski is a high point. Everything else in this shot is not.
When you launch a new game - and occasionally at key plot moments, in so much as the game has any semblance of a plot - Far Cry decides to treat you to some rendered video sequences. These look for all the world like placeholder art; they have been created using in-game models, but bizarrely compressed into video that's lower quality than in-game graphics by a substantial margin. It's muddy, ugly and looks as though it's travelled through YouTube's hideous video system a few times - it's no exaggeration to say that we've seen better full-motion video on the Nintendo DS recently. In fact, it's positively a relief when you're dropped into proper in-game graphics - they look great by comparison to the awful video.
Perhaps that's the point, because the in-game graphics don't look anything other than completely bloody awful by comparison with anything else out there. By showing you crap video first, at least your standards are lowered so that the game's visuals don't feel so much like someone has started injecting liquid faeces into your eyeballs - a shielding effect which, sadly, wears off after a few minutes. Far Cry: Vengeance, in case you haven't got the message yet, looks awful. It looks dreadful next to every other Far Cry game; it looks dreadful next to the PS2 games I've been reviewing recently; it even looks utterly dreadful side by side with some of the better GameCube titles out there, as a housemate's current adventures through Eternal Darkness reminded me. On a system significantly more powerful than the Cube (best estimates place it somewhere north of the original Xbox on the chart), it's laughable.
While the draw distance is relatively long, the sole saving grace of the graphics, items and foliage pop in right in front of your face. Everything is blocky and chunky, and the shadows of buildings look so unlike shadows that at one point I stared at a net-like object on a beach before realising it was meant to be the shadow of the suspension bridge above. The water, usually a Far Cry high point, is a pixellated texture; swimming in it is so murky that it feels like playing Turok on the N64 - while wearing a pair of fogged up sunglasses. Enemies, meanwhile, are pretty much carbon copies of one another for the majority of the game; the generic and borderline racially offensive soldiers you encounter early on, who shout loudly in voices clearly recorded by someone aiming for a midway point between Charlie Chan and Rambo's hapless foes, will still be your main cannon fodder many hours later.
Cry Me A River
However, at least introducing the cannon fodder to the cannons is quite enjoyable, in a fairly basic sense. The game sports a large arsenal of weapons and isn't stingy about handing you new toys to play with on a fairly regular basis; to top off the weaponry, there are also quite a few vehicles that you can drive around, including both land and sea craft. It's not quite the "if you can see it, you can drive it" freedom we'd like, but opportunities to wreak havoc behind the wheel (or handlebars) of a vehicle are liberally peppered around the levels, and once you work out that fixing the viewpoint is the only way to drive around without hitting every tree in the jungle, they're a fine addition to the game.
These amusing asides become all the more welcome when it becomes clear just how thick the enemy AI in the game is. Much like the graphics, the AI is a throwback to a bygone era; here we have enemy soldiers that just stand around while their comrades are being shot down right next to them, who stop in the middle of firefights and stare at you for ages, begging to be shot down, and whose best response to an enemy threat is to run at it shouting tired old catchphrases with all the Rs and Ls mispronounced. Never mind more recent advances in the genre like Halo, Half-Life 2 or even Far Cry itself; this is like the original Half-Life never happened, and the last major step forward in FPS gaming was Duke Nukem 3D. Still, at least shooting them in the head is still fun; perhaps you could enhance the fun-factor by playing a mental game where you pretend that the reason they're all so stupid is because the island's soldiers are entirely recruited from the readership of the News Of The World.

My god! Identical twins! Actually, their mother was a pretty busy lady if the rest of the game's enemies are anything to go on.
The other hook of the game is the Predator mode, which was introduced in earlier Far Cry games but is sadly introduced here as though everyone should already know what it is and how it works - a critical misunderstanding of the Wii's target audience, we can't help but feel. That said, it's rubbish anyway. The lovely control system breaks down utterly in Predator mode, which pulls out your field of vision so you feel like you're running around like a loony and totally out of touch with the control system. Besides which, the melee kills in Predator mode are far less fun than just shooting people in the head. Perhaps in recognition of this, the developers left in a handy use for your "Predatorine" (a gauge that fills up as you fight) that doesn't require using the annoying Predator mode; shake the nunchuk from side to side and you use up slots on the gauge to regain health.
The final factor which we listed as missing in action is the multiplayer mode of the game, which was satisfyingly comprehensive in other iterations of Far Cry. In this case, it's not actually that it's missing in action - it's turned up for duty alright, but it's missing quite a few vital organs and limbs. In fact, multiplayer here is restricted to a rather sad two-player split-screen mode which is even more flawed than the single-player offering - not least because it adds crippling framerate issues to the already tragic roster of graphical flaws suffered by the game.
Vengeance Served Cold
The Wii has one great FPS game to its name; unfortunately, that game is spread out over three distinctly disappointing titles. Combine the look and feel (and swordplay) of Red Steel, with the atmosphere, superb presentation and wonderful level design of Call of Duty 3, and pull it all together with the perfectly honed control system of Far Cry: Vengeance, and you'd have an amazing game. Right now, though, this is a mess. It's terribly badly presented and utterly lacking in the areas which make the Far Cry franchise great - but through all of that shines a genuinely good, easy to learn and downright fun control scheme.
In deciding on a final mark for Far Cry, it would be easy to weigh up all the things which the game gets wrong and decide that they balance out harshly. However, it's impossible to escape the fact that playing the game was actually quite compelling, in a sense; at no point was it an unpleasant game to play, it's merely completely retrograde in several key areas and lacking any sense of presentation or style. It's an ugly game, but one which, crucially, works as a game at its most basic level - which, to my mind, weighs heavily against the problems it has in most other areas. Be warned, though, that the just-about-average score is not even a particularly cautious recommendation - rather it is a tip of the hat to the key things that Far Cry does right, and a note of hope that better made games in future will learn from its successes rather than falling foul of its failures.
4 / 10
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Comments (110) Latest comment 5 years ago
Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!
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Roll on Far Cry PSP !!!
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ROFL!
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Wii is teh doomed....etc etc....
That said, what is the next FPS scheduled for the Wii?
I can't think of one...
Seems like they've all been rushed out, although I'm rather enjoying Red Steel at the moment...
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Anyway, as soon as the Wii controller was revealed I instantly thought of FPS - Ninty are squandering this opportunity unless they get a decent shooter out soon...
edit: maybe it's just nostalgia, but I'm sure Goldeneye's graphics were actually better than that. Maybe it looks better in motion... :/
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nice controls, crap everything else.
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Heh heh - worth doing a review just to include that single line. :-D
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I forgot about metroid!...
Ok, but if we consider that an FPS...What other FPS' are coming out?
Just imagine: Goldeneye on VC with Wii controls...Could be huge...
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"maybe it's just nostalgia, but I'm sure Goldeneye's graphics were actually better than that."
It absolutely is nostaliga.
http://uk .gamespot.com/n64/action/golden...
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Still, shame, would have been nice if it worked...
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Is it just that the calibration/tweaking feels better, or is there something more that improves it.
I don't have any intention of playing Far Cry on Wii, but I do have an interest in how FPS games in the future are going to work on it so I'm quite curious as to the specifics of how this controls better.
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From whats been seen of MP3, it still has lock-on targeting. I understand it probably is for the best in the case of metroid, but i dont think it'll be the standard for other FPS.
I certainly hope it wont, otherwise whats the point of, erm, pointing, with the remote?
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"It absolutely is nostaliga"
Aye, but it absolutely is shocking too considering the 10 years difference
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Oh for sure. I'm generally not as concerned with gfx as many others, but even I was a bit shocked at those screens.
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Best quote ever!
/awaits News of the World lawsuit
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Interesting comment about the "one perfect FPS spread across 3 games" thing. This makes me hope for the future of FPS games on the Wii, even if I'm not sufficiently impressed by the present to buy one. All it really needs now (other than a single good FPS all at once, natch) is some way to customise controls.
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I believe that Edge or gamesTM gave this game 3/10 so it's clearly a bit rubbish...
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Oh and for those who say this looks worse or is worse than Goldeneye - take those damn rose tinted specs off for once, sorry but goldeneye really wasn't that good.
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Wii sports is brilliant because its about gameplay rather than the polygon count. And no amount of HD glory will disguise the fact that the likes of CoD3 requires you to aim using your thumbs...
Far Cry's graphics suck because they are lazily implemented on a console which is capable of a lot more. But even that would be forgivable if the game was fun, but by the sound of it that just isn't the case.
EDIT: for spelling.
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An N64 port is hardly the standard of a Cube game. By all accounts it's more powerful then the ps2 as cross-platform games show. It's just that only a few dev's have bothered to see what it could do. And when they did, it was clear that the thing was at an X-box1 level.
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Er... those better Gamecube titles have better graphics than equivalent PS2 games (case in point: Resident Evil 4). The Gamecube is a more powerful console. So, was the sentence just the wrong way round, or just biased? That word "even" was very telling...
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Anyway, I loved reading the review nonetheless!
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I think you're reading rather too much into it. I was simply saying that looking at PS2 games being released now, like FFXII, Far Cry Vengeance looks crap by comparison; and that even when you delve into the Cube library, you find that games on a console with the same architecture running at a lower speed STILL look better than Vengeance does.
Maybe I should have said "also" rather than "even", but I think the intentions are clear anyway. Besides which, isn't it a bit bloody late to be making fanboyish comments about the last generation now? If I wanted to do that, I've missed the boat by about three years
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However, I defenitly found this game better then Rayman, and I am enjoying this more then Red Steel thanks to the controls and huge array of realistic weapons.
The prey mode in 2 player also shows great potential, Its like a zombie MOD but with only one human and one zombie.
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It's still no excuse for graphics that are WORSE than GC games, and even PS2 games.
Plus, maybe you're a millionaire or something but I don't think £200+ to buy the Wii and game itself is anywhere near "cheap".
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Those of us with a HDTV perhaps?
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?
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A HDTV, or a Wii?
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hehe, likewise I'm a long time Nintendo fan. I bought a Wii on launch but was disappointed and sold it to cash in on the crazy Ebay prices in December. As you say there's just no point owning one atm; there's Zelda - which is on GC anyway, a bunch of shallow games like Wii Sports which I was bored of within hours, and a whole heap of shite like Ubisoft have been releasing.
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HD won't make poor gfx look better. The issue here seems to be polycount and texture detail. Displaying low poly models in HD doesn't really make them look better, just sharper.
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Consoles bring us ever more iterations of Far Cry which aren't up to the quality of the original released a fair old while ago now. Whilst on the PC we're looking forward to Crysis. It's the game I'm holding out upgrading my PC for and I can't wait
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Thats how desperate i am. lol
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Strangely I've been on the PSP since the PS1 stuff came out on it. It's been hidden in with the socks for the last year or so. valkyrie profile - really good game worth a play!
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Christ, it's dead simple. Aside from Zelda, what else is there? And don't fucking quote me Wii sports.
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Dabo, what about FZERO?
Personally I think some of the new Zelda looks more like N64 graphics than the cube. It's still a great game though. I haven't seen it running on the Wii though, I can;t imgaine it's too different?
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obviously the gap wasnt huge, but you can't argue it wasn't more capable hardware.
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Madden, for a start, a stunning first attempt from EA. But onto the rest...
I would absolutely quote you Wii Sports. A quick look through my Wii Calendar to see how many hours I've played stuff makes for scary reading, Wii Sports is easily well beyond 60 hours now...and every single one of those minutes has been more entertaining than most stuff I've played in the past 17 years.
Wii Play is also knocking up some huge hours, mainly due to Tanks!, until some full sports titles come out those above will keep me more than happy.
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Bullshit.
Im sorry. But there's NO NEED for HD in games yet. Lo-Def TV looks realistic, do lo-def games? No.
Until my games look as realistic as pat butcher does in Lo-Def - then there's no need for HiDef at all.
And Big suprise, a bad Wii game gets a load of xbox/sony fanboys coming in saying "the wii is t'doomed.. 360 for t'win etc etc etc".. Makes me embarrased to own a 360.
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And the ps3 has.... ?
Or indeed.. what BWILLIANT games did the 360 have 2 months after it's launch? (apart from obcrapion?)
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Does nobody else thinks its AT LEAST as good red steel and/or COD 3?
Why am I the only one to think Rayman was worse then each of these other 3?
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Artistically, perhaps, but most certainly not on a technical level. The textures, anti-aliasing (or lack thereof) and frame-rate of SotC are utterly terrible.
I will admit that the engine does a very good job of rendering distances, hair/grass and horses though
Smelly: "Bullshit.
Im sorry. But there's NO NEED for HD in games yet. Lo-Def TV looks realistic, do lo-def games? No.
Until my games look as realistic as pat butcher does in Lo-Def - then there's no need for HiDef at all.
And Big suprise, a bad Wii game gets a load of xbox/sony fanboys coming in saying "the wii is t'doomed.. 360 for t'win etc etc etc".. Makes me embarrased to own a 360. "
Honestly, this "only geeks and hardcore AV users have HD TV's" thing is getting old. Loads of people have HDTV's. They're getting cheaper by the day. Nintendo have made a big mistake.
Heck, they're not even selling CRT TV's in most places anymore. Get out of the house and into Currys or Dixons or somewhere, Smelly.
Or do you believe that literally every other AV company in the world has it wrong and Nintendo are the only ones that have it right?
And there is a need for HD in games, it makes them look better. End of. Do you have a problem with making games look better? What's with the anger?
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TBH i've avoided ALL the eidos launch games, as they all seem to have been done on the cheap.
In fact so far i've only bought 4 wii games.. The most recent being warioware which seems like it should keep me entertained for a long while..
BTW, anyone who touts that a game needs to be hidef and realistic to look stunning REALLY needs to look at Warioware. Which (to me) is one of the best looking games i've seen in a long while. I love the style and crispness of it all.
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I'd have loved to have seen an immaculate conversion of FarCry for the Wii - one with better visuals than the Xbox version.
The control system has been done properly - so the game could have fulfilled one element of the Wii's potential - to fix first person shooters played on consoles in the living room. So many of us hate playing with 2 analogue sticks.
But no. They had to rush it and ruin it. So now I still have no reason to even attempt to buy a Wii. Those developers should now be kept away from any franchise with a decent reputation. Every other version of FarCry is a decent game.
Fools.
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Hmmm.. Dunno if that's necessarily possible.
The wii IS more powerful than the xbox, and CAN push more polys/more textures/etc etc. BUT it doesnt have programmable shaders, so a lot of pretty effects from the xbox arent as easy.
Thats NOT to say they're impossible to do, as, due to the extra power, you should be able to do them with clever techniques (smoke and mirrors).. But that requires a team with talent...
And most of these eidos ports seem to have been given to teams to do "on the cheap"
I'd imagine if the wii continues to sell as well as it is doing, then companies will be more willing to spend decent amounts to make the games look nice.
BEGIN RANT:
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But what I DONT understand is why everyone insists on using the pointer to control fps games!!! Surely a MUCH better way of doing it would be to use the tilt functionality of the controller to look around (keeping your reticule on the centre of the screen), in effect using the controller as a mouse. It's worked for pc games all these years, gawd knows why they're trying to re-invent it.
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Quote of the year. Put THAT on the back of your packaging, Ubisoft.
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Sounds about right!
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Whoops.. thats what i meant
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......
Maybe when it hits the bargain bins I'll buy it and then waste an afternoon on it.
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......
Maybe when it hits the bargain bins I'll buy it and then waste an afternoon on it"
Fancy that! My philosphy on the Wii in a nutshell!
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You started it
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If they'd got the AI correct, as the PC version did very well, then I'd have been quite happy to get this game, poor graphics or not.
Still, I'll probably get it 2nd hand or in a sale, just out of sheer curiosity.
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seriously everything, graphics, ai, sound, controls, physics contribute (with some to a greater extent) to the enjoyableness of game. you cant neglect one component and expect it to sell well.
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How about the Sun's, and the Mirror's? and Sky News viewers?
The Guardian (and elitism) FTW.
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I was a little worried though, about the insinuations that the GC was less capable than the PS2, but those were dispelled with that comment you added, clarifying your intentions... ammm... I think...
Are we all agreed then? The Gamecube surpassed the PS2 graphically? Yes? Excellent.
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BUT : Who cares?
I do find it quite amazing that a shite game has got this many replies (mainly from microsoft/sony fanboys trying to justify their purchase - by saying "oh goodie.. The wii has a bad game, that must mean ALL games and the console is shite.. Yipppeee!!! I can go jerk off over pictures of the ps3 im going to be spending a small fortune on in a few months time".
Sigh!
It's amazing you dont see this level of comments for every shit 360 or ps2 game isnt it? Gawd.. in the case of the ps2 if we had this many comments for each one, we'd bring down Eurogamers servers!
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You would think people are used to this by now.
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Agree. Maybe someone should've told Nintendo that when they were hunting round the bargain bin for Wii components...
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Well yes - but given it is so close to launch there is understandable curiosity about each new title.
I was about 80% toward buying a Wii, but have pulled back again based on the lack of good games which use themes which I enjoy. I had a N64 and a GC, but for both of them I just did not enough of a buzz from the nintendo stuff in isolation, and I am not willing atm to take the plunge on Wii.
If however Nintendo style of gameplay/themes is too your taste then I am sure it will be an excellent purchase.
And so I think that third party lack of quality and quantity which has been held up as a big failing of the game cube, is a realy important issue and is bound to draw comment.
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Very interested in reading about the control system, looks like they have got it spot on. Being a PC Gamer and having tried playing an FPS on anything other than a mouse keyboard to date has been terrible. The wii looks like it could potentially be better!
I suppose if you were a fanboy of MS or Sony you'd be going a bit bonkers over the Wii's mainstream appeal, /me shrugs.
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----------------
But what I DONT understand is why everyone insists on using the pointer to control fps games!!! Surely a MUCH better way of doing it would be to use the tilt functionality of the controller to look around (keeping your reticule on the centre of the screen), in effect using the controller as a mouse. It's worked for pc games all these years, gawd knows why they're trying to re-invent it.
"
@smelly
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this. Why must the developers be such idiots. The tilt response on the wiimote is very accurate, this would clearly be the ideal way to play, and would mean you don't need to use the pointing mechanism, and all this dragging your view around pushing the side of the screen BS.
Cross hair should be fixed in the middle, left and right, up and down tilting should rotate view point.
I signed up to agree with you on this and I just hope and pray someone with a half a brain gets round to making an FPS on the wii because it *should* be the ultimate FPS solution..!
ps. No one has mentined Medal of honour coming to the Wii - which it is. Perhaps EA will get this one right?
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No, god no! That's a terrible plan - at least without some major tweaking - because it means that in order to remain pointing at the same part of the screen, you'd have to keep your hand rock-steady. Which simply isn't possible, as CoD3 on the Wii proved by using an over-sensitive control system.
You've got a proper pointing device there, use it! Using the tilt functions alone would be a complete pain - it would be a fine approximation of PC controls, sure, but that's not what the Wiimote is designed for, or good at. Shoehorning mouse functionality onto a device with a 3D accelerometer would be disastrous.
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I'm not too sure about that. When I say titlt I really mean rotate left and right and up and down. Ie essentially you would be moving it as if you were pointing and that would rotate viewing angle with fixed crosshair.
But You wouldn't need to keep your hand rock steady - its when you use the pointer it has to be steady and have toi worry about correct tracking which I dont imagine is suited to hectic gun fites.
The view rotation would be relative in the same way as a mouse for FPSes. You dont point and click on heads on PCs, you aim - same deal for Wii imo. Have to add I hacven't played any of the FPSes on the Wii yet.
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Thats the point.. you dont point at the screen at all... you just tilt the controller.
You hand wouldnt have to be totally still as (just with mice) you could tweak the sensitivity.
Wii has the potential to be a good fps platform if:
1. Someone develops a good control system for it (it could even be BETTER than pc controls! Thanks to analogue straffing)
2. Someone actually takes the time to make the games look nice.
It IS possible to make wii games look stunning.. You just have to be clever about how you do it.
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Best of a (very) bad bunch?
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I've been playing FPS since it was invented and consider myself to be pretty good (I only ever tackle a game on the hardest setting available) but I found the experience slightly at odds with Nintendo's 'easy access' philosophy.
Granted, I only played for a short time, but I found myself fighting with the controls more than I felt I should have for someone with my background using something that's supposed to 'break down the barriers'. Maybe a few more hours would've helped but I got the distinct impression that the novelty interface was hiding a very dull game.
Oh, and maybe I've been spoilt with HD and Power PC processors...but the graphics on the Wii really are pants. It's like wearing dirty glasses!
Surely Nintendo have set a record by producing a next-gen console that refuses to embrace advances in technology.
Shame.
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Sigh.. yes and ps2 graphics were shit too..
Now we ALL know that ONE game looks shit.. So therefor ALL games on the wii are SHIT!!! Wow.. You guys really have converted us wii owners! We all know now how shit the wii must be because you tell us it is! Wow! Can I masturbate over your console once you've finished?
Hell, there's no need for you to ever post again in a thread about a wii game, as we all now know how shit it is! You dont ever need to post again!! Save your typing fingers!
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Red Steel is the perfect example (in my opinion) why gameplay will always be more important than graphics. I can assure you I would not have bothered finishing Red Steel if I had to use 2 analog sticks. But playing with the wiimote was so much fun I was coming back for the game every time I came home and had enough time. Same goes for Zelda, it is definetly far, far away from 360 or PS3 graphical niveau but the presentation is just beautiful. Enormous draw distance, very stylish effects in the twilight zones and graphics aside a flawless presentation overall.
As smelly said, never take launch titles as reference especially not the graphics. Compare Mario 64 to Banjo Kazooie and you know what I mean.
I myself am glad that the controls work fine. It means that Nintendo did a great job providing SDKs etc. to help getting the controls with the wiimote right. After all this is the most crucial aspect of the Wii. With the controls already tackled developers can focus on graphics, AI, whatever. My biggest worries always were developers struggling too much with the wiimote. But as it seems this is no longer a concern, which is incredible given the fact the Wii is only out for 2-3 months.
PS: Please excuse any weird sentences or typos, I am a bit drunk :/
Edit: About Zelda: I would have played it to death on the cube also. I just don't find it in any way inferior just because it is a cube title and the Wii could probably produce more beautiful graphics. Zelda is a great game and not only because of the Wii controls. Just to be sure and not be misunderstood.
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Sigh the format wars have long raged around the technical merits of one platform over another. It's a side issue, if a platform has a massive user base then developers will simply not ignore it.
The Wii has mainstream interested in it, whilst some may poo poo it's technical ability there is no arguing that it will sell in huge numbers.
I mean from a technical point of view the PC is always stealing a lead there is no way a console can keep up. The reason it doesn't dominate is a bit to do with cost but more importantly it does not have mainstream support. (Too many n00bs
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There will be no such risk taking on the PS3, only calculated and concentrated efforts to produce bankable hits. This will produce some great high quality games but I won't expect to see any innovation (like Parappa or Ico) until very late in the life cycle of the machine.
Nintendo have probably now got a patent on the Wii control system so they can go all out on graphics for Wii 2 if this experiment works.
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I'm not knocking it's games as such as Zelda's great (although I don't go for the whole Mario / Party vibe personaly) nor am I knocking the people who buy Wii. I just can't help but turn my nose up when I see one running.
If they were sub £100, then maybe, but £250 for a glorified Cube and a couple of games?...no thanks. If I want to play Nintendo games I'll pick up a Cube and a couple of games for £50
"Red Steel is the perfect example (in my opinion) why gameplay will always be more important than graphics. I can assure you I would not have bothered finishing Red Steel if I had to use 2 analog sticks."
Is this not a contradiction in terms? You're saying that the game's only worth playing with the Wiimote i.e. if you strip away the novelty of the input you're left with something that's rather bland? It's my gut feeling that this philosophy can be applied to the vast majority of the Wii's library (present and future).
At the moment the Wiimote is in it's honeymoom period but it will eventualy become 'the norm' to people who use it. Let's see how you feel about the Wii then, eh?
At the end of the day this is just my opinion based on what I've experienced 1st hand of the Wii. If you're loving it that that's a good thing! I'm pleased for you!
@smelly
"You dont ever need to post again!! Save your typing fingers!"
Pot? Kettle?
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That is exactly what I meant. The game is obviously flawed and lives because of the great controls. And I, too, think that some titles will live or die because of the controls and the game mechanics connected. But that is a philosophy I can live with. If the game plays great then I could not care less about the graphics. I love the bit generations on GBA and also rhythm tengoku, I love WarioWare Touched! and Smooth Moves, and all those games are definetly more about style and gameplay than graphical beauty. I have a 360 and a HDTV and yes games look incredibly good most of the time. I bought Call of Duty 3 for the 360 (haven't played it yet and thus never saw it in action on my TV) and whilst playing Red Steel I had a few moments where I wondered if I should have bought CoD3 for the Wii - because playing with the Wiimote was really fun.
So yes, I think that there will be games on the Wii that will not stand a chance if they don't utilize the wiimote's functionality. But that doesn't come as a surprise, the hardware is far, far away from the 360's or the PS3's processing power and graphical capabilities. Nintendo knew too otherwise they would not have bothered to release the console. It's all about the controls. And for me that's enough, if the games look like on the cube that's fine with me.
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Unwittingly the highest praise for the Wii. Wiimotes or equivalants will be come the norm - just like analogue control sticks, and rumble packs.. (also pioneered by nintendo as I recall, although not relevant I suppose). I fully expect such devices on sony and microsoft systems as well in the future, because the system works so well. How will I feel? May as well ask how I feel about the mouse. Happy that we have another accurate input device that mirrors physical motion I suppose
If you would like to see how wiimote FPS'es would work with only tilt functionality works have a look at this.
[link url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1glVbTcTdo&mode=r elated&search=
]http://ww w.youtube.com/watch?v=w1glVbTcT...[/link]
There is now a mod that uses the crosshair as well. Looks quite decent. Occurs to me that mouse probably will always be more accurate. After all you are resting your hand on a desk. But wii mote is clearly more realistic and fun.
<a href="http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=YMtZ4yBtm7A
">http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=YMtZ4yBtm7A
</a>
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Some sad, scared little manchildren in this thread.
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To me, it's them learning from their mistakes.
N64 more powerful than playstation.. Playstation sells more#
Cube (and xbox) much more powerful than ps2 (hell everything was).. ps2 sells more
Translation: Mainstream gamers dont give a flying fuck about pretty pixels.
" i.e. if you strip away the novelty of the input you're left with something that's rather bland? It's my gut feeling that this philosophy can be applied to the vast majority of the Wii's library (present and future). "
Ahhh.. But if you strip away the novelty of the graphics you're left with something that's rather bland? *cough* oblivion *cough*.
Graphics are a cheap novelty, a controller is your INPUT to the game and makes a game worth playing or not. Case in point. I wouldnt want to play a fps game on a pc just using a keyboard, the "novelty" mouse controller makes it much better. So yet again.. you're talking bollocks.
And to think that 5 posts ago you convinced me that the wii was a pile of shit not worth bothering with...
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The world is divided into two types of people: those who express a logical opinion in a mature and reasoned manner and those that resort to sarcastic schoolground tactics like "you convinced me that the wii was a pile of shit" and "you're talking bollocks".
Shame really.
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Glad I didnt waste £180 now.