Adam (from GI) isn't an idiot. He just doesn't like the new Wii controls.
Sorry, but someone who confuses pointing at the screen with "gimpy waggle interface" is, in fact, an idiot if he's meant to be reviewing video games and not indifferently deriding them.
A gimpy waggle interface would indeed have harmed the game. (As it has harmed MANY games.) But here, in the Trilogy...yeah, I think they redefine the earlier games for the better. Like warioswoods above, they feel like entirely new experiences. Adding the pointer controls make the platforming SO much easier, but they make the enemies more difficult. (You can no longer lock on, close your eyes, and press "fire" until you hear the congratulatory music.) You'll also notice a lot of additional enemy behaviors you probably wouldn't have triggered on the GC with the (very necessary) steady-lock.
The new controls make the game come alive in a new way. If he doesn't like that, that's okay. There's all kinds of things I don't like, too. I can live with it.
But "gimpy waggle interface" is such an inaccurate definition for what it even IS that I don't think his opinion is based on what he does / doesn't like at all. It just upfront dismissive. It would sort of be like me claiming that Annie Hall is the worst cartoon I've ever seen. Sure, certain people dislike Annie Hall...but if that's my reasoning, you're going to question how much time I really spent with it...
I'll give you this much, "gimpy waggle interface" is a terrible choice of words. And trust me, I'm not making excuse for him, but he was writing the smaller review. He only had a few lines to work with and he wanted to say that the motion controls (waggle) aren't that good (gimpy) to control everything that needs to be controlled (interface). I'm not defending the guy, but don't call someone an idiot just because their opinion is different then yours (I'm not directing this at anyone in particular). My only point was that I don't consider the Wii controls to be perfect, and I think a $50 price tag for a game with nothing new in it (great value or not) makes this hard to review. Personally, I think the price will drop sooner than usual and this will be a steal at $30 next year.
I think a $50 price tag for a game with nothing new in it (great value or not) makes this hard to review. Personally, I think the price will drop sooner than usual and this will be a steal at $30 next year.
Words of wisdom. Game reviews are difficult to begin with, but reviewing games that have already been reviewed years prior is even more difficult. I will probably pick it up one day when it's much cheaper, too. No point rushing to empty my wallet to buy games I have already played.
I think a $50 price tag for a game with nothing new in it (great value or not) makes this hard to review. Personally, I think the price will drop sooner than usual and this will be a steal at $30 next year.
Words of wisdom. Game reviews are difficult to begin with, but reviewing games that have already been reviewed years prior is even more difficult. I will probably pick it up one day when it's much cheaper, too. No point rushing to empty my wallet to buy games I have already played.
I was hoping you'd at least rent it, Adam, as I was looking forward to you opinion on the redone MP1. Didn't you say you actually liked that one? (I may have been hallucinating.) I've noticed a tremendous improvement in game quality just from the new controls, and I was curious to see your conclusion as well.
Adam (from GI) isn't an idiot. He just doesn't like the new Wii controls.
Sorry, but someone who confuses pointing at the screen with "gimpy waggle interface" is, in fact, an idiot if he's meant to be reviewing video games and not indifferently deriding them.
Phil hit the nail in the face with a semi truck on this one. Why the entire world feels the need to knock every pointer/waggle-based control scheme regardless of quality I'll never know.
-Swerd Murd
(check my tunes out at www.soundcloud.com/swerdmurd)
I was hoping you'd at least rent it, Adam, as I was looking forward to you opinion on the redone MP1. Didn't you say you actually liked that one? (I may have been hallucinating.) I've noticed a tremendous improvement in game quality just from the new controls, and I was curious to see your conclusion as well.
I don't even know where a Blockbuster is in this city right now, and I have such a ridiculous amount of stuff to do that the games I have right now are more than enough to entertain me. The past couple days I've just played two or three levels of Disgaea 3 and that's all I've been able to get to. Plus, Demons Souls is around the corner. There's simply not enough time to play through two 20+ hour games that I've already played through probably about one and a half times each.
I actually liked both MP1 and 2. But even if I waited until next summer, there's a strong likelihood that another big game will be out by then, like Galaxy 2, Other M, or Mod Nation (PS3). Modern adventure games are just too darn long to replay, which is why I stopped buying them, so I certainly can't justify wasting time and money on games I've already bought and played, even if the new versions are probably quite a bit better. Oh well.
I definitely do think of it as an FPS. It is in the first-person perspective (obviously) and the game is split between combat and puzzle solving, with "shooting" being the primary mode of achieving both. Heck, you even need to shoot to open doors. There are brief respites from shooting-as-puzzle-solutions, such as the morph ball sections, but that doesn't really change anything. It's still an FPS with an additional feature. Bioshock featured plumbing sequences to hack terminals, but that doesn't change the fact that the game itself is an FPS.
I think the "first person adventure" thing is marketing more than anything. Playing Fallout 3 now, I see that THAT is a real first person adventure, because you don't actually need to combat anything at all, unless you choose to. You can chart your own course through the game and accomplish quite a lot just by playing the game, exploring, talking to people, running errands. You can't do EVERYTHING, of course, but you can't do everything by attacking and killing either. You get the choice of what type of game you're going to play.
Metroid Prime doesn't give you the choice. You have to fight, and you have to fight a lot. There is only one real objective in the game, and it involves shooting everything (in the first-person perspective) that stands between you and it. Which, when boiled down to that fact, doesn't really separate it from most other FPS's.
The Zelda Hack'n'slash example is decent, as I know what you're getting at, PM, but the fact is that there's so much else to do and accomplish in Zelda that doesn't require hacking or slashing at all. (You can even get through most of the combat without using your sword.) In MP, there's almost nothing that doesn't involve shooting. So...yeah. Can't side with the "first person adventure" crowd on this one.
Now Morrowwind: The Elder Scrolls, now I'd definatly think that qualified as a FPA( Did it have rpg elements? Been a LOONG while since I played it. Don't you think?
What's with niggling over which pigeon hole it fits in, ew! It's a first person shooter/adventure, as it has shooting and adventuring/re-traversal. It deserves a pigeon hole of it's own it's that good.
EDIT: The first & best FPA ever in my mind was Deus Ex, and it's a lot more fun to play than Fallout3, which I think is broken in places, and cheats!
Now Morrowwind: The Elder Scrolls, now I'd definatly think that qualified as a FPA( Did it have rpg elements? Been a LOONG while since I played it. Don't you think?
From what I understand, yeah, but I've never played Morrowwind. I HAVE played Oblivion though, briefly, and I plan on picking up a copy for my shiny new XBox to dig in. Oblivion is CERTAINLY an FPA, as proven by this hilarious (and now sadly idle) blog about one man's attempt to spend his entire time playing the game as an NPC.
@Chicken Brutus- Yeah, I loved that The Elder Scrolls. Think I put in somewhere around a hundred hours(unless I'm mistaken). I never finished it though. I got to a part where I needed to do something and this man wanted me to give him a kiss for his help. So I tried to see if there was another way to do it, but while traveling, the game froze up(guess I'd been leaving too many items laying around the world). It was a sweet game though.
*Edit- I wish I could play that new one, but I don't have a 360.
I definitely do think of it as an FPS. It is in the first-person perspective (obviously) and the game is split between combat and puzzle solving, with "shooting" being the primary mode of achieving both. Heck, you even need to shoot to open doors. There are brief respites from shooting-as-puzzle-solutions, such as the morph ball sections, but that doesn't really change anything. It's still an FPS with an additional feature. Bioshock featured plumbing sequences to hack terminals, but that doesn't change the fact that the game itself is an FPS.
I think the "first person adventure" thing is marketing more than anything. Playing Fallout 3 now, I see that THAT is a real first person adventure, because you don't actually need to combat anything at all, unless you choose to. You can chart your own course through the game and accomplish quite a lot just by playing the game, exploring, talking to people, running errands. You can't do EVERYTHING, of course, but you can't do everything by attacking and killing either. You get the choice of what type of game you're going to play.
Metroid Prime doesn't give you the choice. You have to fight, and you have to fight a lot. There is only one real objective in the game, and it involves shooting everything (in the first-person perspective) that stands between you and it. Which, when boiled down to that fact, doesn't really separate it from most other FPS's.
The Zelda Hack'n'slash example is decent, as I know what you're getting at, PM, but the fact is that there's so much else to do and accomplish in Zelda that doesn't require hacking or slashing at all. (You can even get through most of the combat without using your sword.) In MP, there's almost nothing that doesn't involve shooting. So...yeah. Can't side with the "first person adventure" crowd on this one.
Points well made. Still, those same points can be made for Super Metroid - would you call that game a run n' gun? I really wouldn't call either of these games shooters. Yes you shoot, and you shoot a lot, but the primary focus in both games is adventuring and exploration.
You can avoid enemies in Prime just as you can in Zelda - I do it quite a bit. If Zelda forced you to swing at doors to open them, would you call it a hack n slash? To be honest, I view the arm cannon as more of a tool than a weapon in the Prime series. You use the different beams to trigger various objects in the environment, just as Zelda used weapons (the hookshot, bow, boomerang, etc.) to solve puzzles. I will admit that there's far more combat in Prime than in Zelda.
And correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought Fallout 3 was considered a first person RPG?
Edit: I think I'd call it more of a First Person Action-Adventure game, based on the points both Chicken and I made.
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