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The Year Ahead: Wii Games
Sin and Punishment 2
Treasure
Nintendo
US Release: TBA 2009
UK Release: TBA 2009
While it may be too early to gauge the full promise of Sin and Punishment 2 (with a 30 second gameplay montage being only source of information at this point), Treasure’s standing in the field of arcade shooters provides enough encouragement that the title will deliver.
Early footage has shows the kind of controlled frenzy that you would expect, with screen-filling bosses punctuating each densely-populated level. Interestingly, this time round your character is largely airborne, allowing freedom to navigate the entire screen much in the same way as any scrolling shooter.
And though the Wii’s pointer controls the player’s reticle, the game’s early branding as an ‘on-rails shooter’ is somewhat misleading. To its credit, Sin and Punishment 2 is difficult to pin to a genre right now, and hopefully this will remain so. There’s a genuine resemblance to the original, but Sin and Punishment 2 could be a unique enterprise for Treasure altogether.
Punch-Out!!
Next-Level Games
Nintendo
US Release: TBA 2009
UK Release: TBA 2009
The Punch-Out series has always been immune from the repeated shortcomings of boxing simulations, in that it has never tried to replicate a sports genre which has – to this day – struggled to translate the unforgiving immediacy, brutal tempo swings and psychological substance of a professional boxing match.
Instead, the NES and SNES editions of Punch-Out crafted their own game; an accessible and satisfying blast of dodge ‘n thump, made even better with a motley crew of memorable cartoon characters.
Things are not so straightforward this time round. Nintendo has confirmed that Punch-Out will use motion control, which places much accountability on the manner in which it is implemented. As the immediacy and precision of a d-pad looks likely to be out of the equation, a big question looms on whether the Wii Remote’s often clumsy accelerometers can fill the void.
Next-Level Games, the studio behind Mario Strikers Charged, clearly has a large task ahead of it. But if the team have been as thoughtful with Punch-Out’s control scheme as they have with its presentation, then Nintendo may have found its new undisputed champ.
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Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court 30 Monmouth Street Bath, UK BA1 2BW
England and Wales company registration number 2008885
Yeah, the term hardcore is pretty vague. I think it just means a game that isn't too simple, its complex with at least a moderate difficulty, somewhat of a learning curve, and a story line at least trying to be more than "The Princess gets kidnapped by Bowser again." RPGs, FPSs, Fighters, 3rd person shooters/action games I think we can all agree are more for the "hardcore" crowd. The mom that bought Wii fit or the kids who only play Nurato wouldn't be able to get through the first 15 minutes of Fallout, but the "hardcore" would pretty much have no problem with most genres if they put effort forth.
I think of hardcore as people who have been gaming for a long time, people who grew up with the Atari, NES, were there for the SNES/Genesis console war, saw 3DO, Jaguar, CD-i come and go, remembered there one friend who had a Neo-Geo at his house and bragged how the games were all 100 bucks, played Bonk on their Turbo Graphics, flipped our when Nintendo refused to allow Mortal Kombat 1 to have any blood or gore, only to get psyched when they did allow it for Mortal Kombat 2, we remember when Nintendo told us to play it loud, or when "SEGA!!!" told us the Genesis had blast processing, or when Star Fox used the Super FX chip, we remember when Square Soft was developing an N64 version of Final Fantasy before they pulled the plug due to too low storage of the N64 discs, we remember when N64 used to be referred to Ultra 64 until a lawsuit made them change it. I could go on and on. We hardcore are out there, and we take pride in gaming (maybe a little too much).
That is pretty much what I consider hardcore as well and that is why I had so much trouble understanding what was meant below. Under this definition, half of these games would qualify as "hardcore"
I must say it looks like this will be an excellent year for the Wii. Madworld looks excellent, very pleasantly surprised that the newest trailer has revealed it will have more than 1 genuninely memorable character.
Deadly Creatures could be interesting. I have to agree that The Conduit's status as a must-buy rides on it having inventive level-design and good A.I., it's one hell of a technical achievement for the Wii but that's not enough to carry it to success. If Overkill keeps it short and sweet then its a likely purchase for me. Oddly enough I could do with a spattering of small bite-size games, its a real shame when games compete for disproportionate amounts of your time...Umbrella Chronicles being a good example (despite being far above average for a light-gun game).
Very interested in Fatal Frame too, not least because of the involvement of one of the most exciting game designers around today.
As a final note, I hope and pray that Sin & Punishment is at least half as inventive and thrilling as the original.
again, quite an exciting year for the Wii really.
Wii Sports was and still is the number one reason to buy a Wii (if you haven't already) and i have little doubt that the sequel will have the same appeal.
Deadly Creatures is very appealing, the Conduit could be good if it can recreate the better moments of Red Steel, which, rubbish sword fighting aside, was actually a lot of fun and far more natural to play with the Wiimote & Nunchuck than the usual twin sticks. Mad World will probably be another No More Heroes, loved by Edge but not by me :D
Monster Hunter especially - Fatal Frame, Madworld... enough titles to keep me interested. Also fun to see how much they can squeeze out of the machine.
I really hope Nintendo has a few tricks up its sleeve. as a 'hardcore' gamer, my Wii hsa been gathering dust since smash brothers came out...
So none of the "hardcore" games on this list appeal to you? What are you looking for then?
Aside from Wii Resort and maybe Punch Out and Deadly Creatures, this list seems to be standard "hardcore" fare.
"Hardcore" isn't what comes to mind to describe these games. "Quirky," maybe. I'll maintain an open mind to the new IPs, which is especially impressive for a 'top ten' list...but it would be nice to have a guaranteed experience here or there. The problem with experimental projects is that they tend to fail.
Also, I'm still angsty about nintendo's casual-only approach of the past year. Granted, that's the cost when they deliver 3 hardcore punches in the span of a single year (Mario, Zelda, Metroid). It was helluva lot of fun at the time, at least!
I guess I don't understand what you mean by "hardcore" games. At least half of thee games come across to me as "hardcore" and they all come across as "quirky" to you. I guess I just don't understand. Sorry.
Hardcore is a silly bloody term. It just means people who are dedicated to games, and hardcore games are just games for that crowd. This can mean anything as games can have so many options in. Some hardcore players want to perfect a game, some want to complete it and collect all the stuff in it, some want to get the fun of the experience. Some people appreciate a sense of identity and style, some appreciate innovation, some want violence and conflict- it goes on and on. So we really can't divide ourselves into groups of n00bs or not. When people complain about lack of hardcore on the Wii though, I think they are just saying lack of big good experiences, or whatever satisfies them.
Here's a blog about all this that's pretty constructive. N'Gai Croal recommended!:
http://insultswordfighting.blogspot.com/2008/01/new-taxonomy-of-gamers-t...
I just want a 360 that has wireless keyboard and mouse, a browser and a Microsoft Word application. I could bond with that shit, and actually buy it. In the mean time it's just PC TF2 for me
Casual generally means 'easy to get into' and 'mainstream.' I would take hardcore to mean the opposite of this. It's the difference beteween Harry Potter and War And Peace; Transformers and 8 1/2, Britney Spears and Chopin. I ain't bashing mainstream experience -- whatever floats your boat -- but some of us just want something deeper.