Publisher: THQ

Developer: Yuke’s

# of Players: 1-4

Category: Sports

Official Game Website

Having grown up during the ‘90’s, wrestling has always been a big part of my life – that was up until about seven or so years ago when the spectacle lost its luster and when the WWE’s rival, WCW, was bought out. After that, wrestling has seen its fair share of ups and downs with only one company competing against itself with a few other smaller organizations trying to step into the spotlight to become a legitimate competitor.

In fact, this year WWE wrestling games received its first true challenger with Midway’s own TNA! Impact challenge for the rightful claim of best wrestling game on the next-generation consoles. Surely enough, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 steps up its game and proves to be the better wrestling game this year as no other wrestling title has yet to come close to providing a real threat in terms of quality in recent years. The Nintendo Wii’s iteration of Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 has received bite-sized changes to help improve the overall package to compete with its HD-console version (Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 versions).

The main single-player mode offered is Road to Wrestlemania mode that gives you the chance to choose from playing as Triple H, Undertaker, Chris Jericho, John Cena, CM Punk and the option to play as Batista and Rey Mysterio in a tag-oriented mode. As a huge fan of storyline modes, Road to Wrestlemania delivers a satisfying story arc that, while seemingly short, will hold you over until you have friends over to play multiplayer with. It’s incredibly more interesting than last year’s Main Even mode, so props to Yukes, the developer, for pushing forward with providing an entertaining single-player game mode.

Create-A-Superstar mode makes its triumphant return and it’s with good measure too as this is one of the biggest attributes of wrestling games: the ability to create. Outside of creating your own fighter, players can also enjoy the luxury of Create-A-Stable, Create-A-Entrance and even the ability to edit current fighters already introduced into Smackdown vs. Raw 2009. Having the ability to customize and change things on the go, these features add hours upon hours of replay value as you can create any wrestler from your childhood and use them online and offline.

Yes, online is included, which is - in fact - the biggest addition for the Wii version. Having the ability to play against your friends online is sure to draw many back to Smackdown vs. Raw franchise. You can play with up to four players online in any matches found in single-player. On top of that, there’s an online and friends leaderboard to help increase friendly competition with a rating system for match-to-match standings. As you win matches online, your legend status will increase to provide you bragging rights. The major letdown is that it’s a friend-to-friend system, so there’s no matchmaking of any kind to pit you in matches against a bunch of strangers.

The gameplay is basically the same with the general requirements of wearing down your opponents and draining their health until they enter the “danger” mode to which you can pin them. It’s not an intricate system that will have you scratching your head, rather it’s one that is easy to pick up and play with ease. There are few hiccups that I’d like to see addressed next time around such as adding in the ability to run, better interaction with objects, more time motion controls, and two-handed maneuvers.

First off, there’s no running allowed inside the ring, only outside. Yukes needs to add in the ability to constantly run in the ring until you become tired or are attacked. Next up, with the Wii-mote/nunchuck combo, it’s difficult at times to interact with objects in the game world. This can be a nuisance due to many of the times you will want to hit your opponent with a chair but will have a hard time picking it up thus causing your opponent an opening to recover and attack. While the Wii-mote allows for grabs and throws, don’t expect a thorough system that is overly complex. There’s no use of the nunchuck in coordination with the moves, so it’s important that Yukes implements more interaction with both controllers next time around. Lastly, it’s too sad that there weren’t more timed motion controlled maneuvers since only the finishers require timed motion. You’d think that developers would take full advantage of the Wii motion controls, but alas, there’s hope for Wii MotionPlus to provide that when it releases Spring 2009.

There are more than three dozen types of match types to bask in, so be prepared to compete in TLC - hell in the cell, cage, royal rumble and much more are included.  The only concern with so many options is that not all of them are in-depth like you may want.  With the ladder match, when an opponent is climbing the ladder, your only chance of getting him off the ladder is to climb the ladder itself rather than knocking it over as it’s too difficult to pull off.

This being the Wii version, it’s expected that the graphics wouldn’t look as good as its next-generation partners. The crowd is terrible; and when I say terrible, I mean before the Playstation 2 kind of terrible. The camera isn’t favorable to the gamer when participating in matches; too often it’ll pan too far out and isn’t changeable in game. The animations, particularly the mouths of the wrestlers, are stiff and aren’t executed properly. The list goes on, but Wii gamers should already be used to the downgraded graphics portion of their multiplayer forms. The overall graphics aren’t pretty and are on par with the Playstation 2.-gamezone

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Publisher: EIDOS Interactive

Developer: Backbone Vancouver

Category: Action

Official Game Website

It is hard to find decent games for the Nintendo Wii. The majority of the games released by third-party publishers have been very sloppy ports of other games or a cheap knock off of popular Wii games. Ever so often a game gets released with very little fan-fare and it turns out to be a true diamond in the rough. Monster Lab can be placed in this category. There has very little advertising for this game, and the box art is not the greatest either. When players pop in this game they will find out that it is always better to look beyond their first impressions as they will be in for a nice surprise.

In Monster Lab, players take on the role as an apprentice in the prestigious Mad Science Alliance (MSA). Player’s goal is to become a full-fledged member by mastering the three Mad Science disciplines: Mechanical, Alchemical, and Biological. Once players have mastered these sciences, they will be able to create the ultimate monster to do their bidding. Once players have done this, they will be able to take on one of the MSA’s former members: Baron Mharti. This scientist has “gone off the deep end” and is using his ultimate creation to plug the world into chaos. It is up to the players to face off against the Baron and put his evil schemes to rest.

Many players will love this storyline, but will be severely disappointed with the way the developers followed through with it. Even though the premise is great, the developers did not place too much emphasis on fleshing out the story. Most of the story is given through cute cut scenes with over-the-top acting, but the real meat of the story is still lacking. The game feels like it is empty, as players are not given a real reason to keep pushing ahead to defeat this madman. Instead, players will only continue just to get better parts to upgrade their creations. This is a shame. If the story was woven more tightly in this game, the experience would have been much better.

Monster Lab is broken up to into several pieces, creation, exploration, and combat. The majority of the game focuses on the creation of monsters. At the start of the game, players are given a simple monster with that has a few spare parts to complete the mission. In order to build a better monster, gamers will have to complete various puzzles, mini-games, and quests to obtain better parts to upgrade their monsters with. The deeper players get in the game, the better parts are unlocked. If players cannot defeat a certain monster they can go back into creation mode and make their character stronger to ensure the next time players will be victorious. Players also have the option of either upgrading their existing monsters or creating new ones from scratch. There are hundreds of parts available for players to choose from, to create their ultimate monster.

Most of the actual gameplay is done though various mini-games. The problem with this is that eventually players will have played them all and get sick of them. For instance after each battle players have the option to go into the field repair mode. All players have to do is move the Wii-mote in a circular motion and the faster they move it the more damage gets fixed. The problem with this is that this mini-game takes up a lot of time, and obviously gets old since players will want to repair after each battle. It would have been different if this mini-game was changed up periodically, but since this one is central to the game. Gamers will grow more annoyed each time it loads. This is the same with each of the mini-games; they get really stale and redundant after a while.

When players are exploring a level, they will often come face-to-face with another monster which shifts the game into combat mode. The combat in this game is all turn-based, which gives players ample opportunity to create new strategies based on what their enemy is doing. When players get into a battle they will have their monsters information on the left and the enemy’s information on the right. There are four key body parts on a monster: head, torso, arms, and legs. When it is the gamers turn, they must select a body part and then choose one of the two actions, then target a body part of their enemy. The problem is that each action requires a certain amount of energy to do. Soon players will be low on energy, so they will have to either choose to recharge (give full battery but might take damage from next attack) or dodge (give partial energy and avoid the next attack) during the enemies next turn. The ultimate objective is to destroy the enemy’s torso, but players can be cruel and destroy each key part then finish the monster slowly but surely.

Monster Lab also includes a multiplayer mode where players can log in to the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection to fight against friends or random people. The game still remains turn-based, but now more strategy is involved since players will be fighting a human instead of the computer AI. It is up to players to use their most powerful monsters in each battle to see who has collected the best parts and put them together in the most efficient way.

The various monsters that players will create look great. Players will be amazed when they see their creatures in action. The developers paid a lot of attention to the detail of each of the body parts. This is made apparent when a monster is formed and players see how it animates. Each creature reacts fluidly with its environment no matter what parts are attached to it. The lighting and special effects also make each battle look great! The camera always shows the best angle during a fight, which is always a good thing since players want to see how the latest parts will behave. The only problem with the game’s graphics is the actual environments that players will transverse look bare in comparison to the monsters.

The music for this game is really good, and matches whatever players are doing at the moment. The sound effects are also decent. What really takes the cake is the over-the-top voice acting. Even though it can get a little annoying at times, players will find that it really fits in well with the rest of the game.-gamezone

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Publisher: Ubisoft

Developer: Ubisoft Paris

Category: Classics/Puzzle

Official Game Website

I have to be honest I never played the previous two Raving Rabbids games for the Wii. I’ve read great things about both games and heard from friends that the games were a blast to play. I finally decided enough was enough and I had to get the newest version to hopefully find out just what I was missing. Well, TV Party might not reinvent the party gaming experience for the Wii but it’s still a blast to play, this time either solo or with friends.

The premise with TV Party is that the Rabbids are stuck inside a TV and they start re-enacting the shows in their own unique wackiness. All of the games are actually episodes based upon shows you might even recognize today. For example, you get a Dancing with the Stars knockoff that has you competing in a dance competition with the Rabbids as the judges. Then you get a COPS-like show where you’re trying to escape from the police. Each episode/game is presented in the crazy humor that the previous Rayman Raving Rabbids games have been known for.

The overall structure of the game is played out in a TV guide presentation. There are certain blocks of time made up of three hours that you have to play through. Once you select a block you then are presented with the channel guide to pick the show you’re going to play.  During the games you’ll have to earn a specific score to unlock the next block of time and the next day. Honestly no one should have a problem scoring enough points to keep the game moving and unlocking the additional blocks and days.

The games do a solid job of keeping you entertained without feeling like you’re being swallowed up into a real game. The games are all short mini games that last no more than a few minutes. You get a decent variety in different genres from racing, light guns, dancing and even a music game. The controls felt solid and responsive in most of the games with only the music game being the exception. You have to wave your nunchuk and Wii-mote to match the onscreen scrolling chart. For some reason the Wii-mote waves had a problem being registered by the game. It was never enough to cause me to really screw up but it did cause some minor headaches.

What seemed to be the big difference maker, to me anyway, with TV Party and the other party games on the Wii is using the Wii Fit Balance Board. TV Party uses the Balance Board in many of the games and even pokes fun at Wii Fit by including a fitness game with huge out of shape wrestlers for you to follow. You get several different control setups depending on the game you’re playing. For example, some games will have you sitting on the board and leaning left or right to steer. Another game will have you putting your feet on the board while sitting in a chair and using the board as a gas and brake pedal. Other games have you using the board like a surfboard or using it as a dance pad to make moves. The nice part of the game is that you don’t have to use the Balance Board for these games. You can still play them with the Wii-mote and nunchuk. Yet if you own a Balance Board TV Party is a great reason to break it out and use it.

Even though the games are fun there still seems to be a lack of variety in the games. After playing for a few hours you start to notice that you’re playing the same games over again. You’re progressing to different parts of those games but the actual experience is still the same. So you’ll find yourself having to play what feels to be the same games over and over again. But this is the similar curse of other mini-game collections for the Wii. You only get so many mini-games before you start playing the same ones over and over again.

For multiplayer you do get a Party Mode that can support up to eight players. Sure, the system might support up to four Wii-motes and nunchuks but TV Party allows you to rotate the controllers among all of the players. The Party Mode offers Sabotage moments that allow gamers sitting on the sidelines to interfere with the players currently playing. You can have to look out for these moments since they show up only briefly before disappearing. There are also even smaller mini games that resemble game shows or news bulletins that will pop up from time to time after playing a game in Party Mode.

For me the best part of the game was the humor. This game is a riot to watch. There are plenty of funny moments with the Rabbids acting completely absurd at all times. The overall look of the game does a great job of replicating the feel of the craziest and wackiest television programs you’ve probably have ever seen. My favorite was the Dawn of the Rabbids light-gun games, based on the Dawn of the Dead zombie movie. You shoot not the zombies but the Rabbid chickens running around the set trying to ruin the movie. It was a great tongue in cheek type of moment that I loved.

Overall TV Party is another fun and entertaining collection of mini games that we’ve come to expect from the Wii. In my opinion this is one of the best looking and most humorous games you’ll find for the Wii. The Rabbids are just plain silly and absurd which is the overall vibe of the game. The graphics keep the cartoony look intact during all of the games which fit the tone of the game great. If only we had more variety in the actual mini, then the game would definitely score higher. But even then TV Party is still what a game should be: fun!

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Publisher: Atari

Developer: Humongous Entertainment

Category: Sports
With EA Sports dominating the simulation football market, some companies have made a name for them self by turning to niche areas. Atari is certainly one company which has had success doing this since they have just released their seventh Backyard Football game. And Backyard Football ’09 for the Wii doesn’t try to deviate from the formula which has helped it to gain a foothold in the gridiron video-game world.

Once again, this Backyard Football title is geared towards kids and is meant to be easy. So users won’t have to wade through complicated playbooks and call receiver hot routes in an effort to fool opponents. The games will be played in a 7-on-7 format and there will be both boys and girls on each team; the only exception is when you’re in All-Pro Mode since the players will be NFL youngsters.

Besides the All-Pro Mode, there is also Season Mode, Tournament Mode, and Quick Play. The Season Mode is definitely the most interesting of all these options because players will get to create their own team and take them through the rigors of a Backyard Football season. The rosters for created teams will include neighborhood kids who have different attributes that will determine which position they’re best suited for. After playing for a few seasons, users can upload their team to the game website and see if their coach is worthy of being a hall of famer.

The gameplay for Backyard Football ‘09 is a little more complicated than the titles that have been rolled out for Wii Sports. Picking a play isn’t so bad since you just have to choose a formation and a few different choices will be shown. Once a play is selected the A button hikes the ball and the analog stick will move your player. Passing is where things can get annoying because you have to use the D pad to pick a receiver and then swing the Wii Remote to throw the pigskin to the selected receiver. After the receiver catches the ball, you have to go back to the analog stick to control where the receiver runs.

The graphics are very reminiscent of earlier Backyard Football games since they’re cartoonish and geared towards the tastes of a kid. The players have oversized heads and little bodies while the scenery surrounding the different playing fields is equally as silly. Don’t expect a whole lot in the way of music and sound since there are no NFL pro voiceovers or killer soundtracks in this game.

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Component video adapter

The Wii doesn’t have the graphical horsepower to handle high-def graphics, but it can do DVD-level 480p video, which will look considerably better on large HDTVs. To see the Wii’s games in 480p, you’ll need Nintendo’s proprietary component video adapter, which should run about $20.

Several sites, including Engadget and GamesSX Network, have tips for rigging up do-it-yourself component cables.

Photo by Nintendo

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Wireless access point

In addition to the downloadable Virtual Console games, the Wii offers online “channels,” including news, weather, and even an Opera Web browser (head-to-head online gaming is said to be coming sometime in 2007). You can get online for free via the Wii’s built-in Wi-Fi. To do so, of course, you’ll need a nearby wireless access point or router. Alternately, you can plug the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector (shown at right) into any nearby PC on a wired network, and the Wii–plus your Nintendo DS–will be able to use it to get online instead.

Photo by Nintendo

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SD card

If you’re close to filling the Wii’s built-in 512MB of storage with your Virtual Console games, you can always expand your available space with an SD card. Nintendo sells its own, but any run-of-the-mill card will do. Fairly spacious 1GB cards are available for less than $30–even less with mail-in rebates–and they’ll work in plenty of other gadgets as well.

Photo by SanDisk

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Wii Points

One of the big attactions of the Wii is its Virtual Console, which lets you purchase classic games that originally came from the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), the Super NES, the Nintendo 64, the Sega Genesis, and the TurboGrafx16. By the end of 2006, at least 30 titles should be available, including Donkey Kong (NES), Super Mario 64 (N64), and Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis). To purchase the downloadable titles, you’ll need to use a Nintendo currency known as Wii Points (similar to the Microsoft Points on Xbox Live), which currently have an exchange rate of 100 points per U.S. dollar. You can buy Wii Points directly through the console’s online store, or use prepaid cards available in various denominations.

Photo by Nintendo

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GameCube memory cards

One other annoyance when playing GameCube games: your progress can be saved only to GameCube memory cards, not to the Wii’s internal memory or to an SD card (we’re hoping Nintendo fixes this with a future firmware update). Like the controllers, your old GC cards will work just fine–there are two slots right next to the GameCube controller ports. If you don’t have any on hand (and you want to save your games on GC titles), you’ll need to spring for a $25 memory card.

Photo by Nintendo

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Rechargeable batteries

The Wiimote takes two standard AA batteries. They’re included–with the Wii, and with the sold-separately version of the controller mentioned above–but avid players may find the juice draining pretty quickly, especially if they keep the nunchuk attached (it draws its power from the Wiimote). Instead of buying an endless stream of costly AAs, consider investing in a set of rechargeables. You can score a charger and four rechargeable nickel-metal-hydride batteries for less than $25.

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Extra controllers

Like all recent consoles, the Wii ships with just a single controller (well, one two-part controller: one Wiimote, plus one nunchuk). But the real fun of the system is playing the head-to-head Wii Sports games such as tennis and boxing. To do so, you’ll need at least one extra set of controllers–and again, that’s one Wiimote ($40) plus one nunchuk ($20). The Wii supports as many as four, but just the one extra controller set should suffice–at least for Christmas morning.

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