Recommend Some Wii Games for Me

[HeyHomie]

I'm buying myself a Wii (and Guitar Hero) with my fantasy football winnings.

Since I've never owned a Nintendo product in my life, I'm not at all interested in the Zelda or Mario Brothers franchise.

I like to play what I call "solving" games; games where you have to complete a series of tasks, in a series of levels, to achieve an ultimate goal. When I had a PS2 I was into Tomb Raider, Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, the Suffering, and similar franchises. However, the REALLY thick & heavy fantasy titles (like the Final Fantasy franchise) don't really appeal to me.

I may buy a few sports games down the road, but they aren't at the top of my list right now. I'm definitely not interested in fighting games like Mortal Kombat or similar franchises.

Anything off-the-wall that utilizes the Wii remote in a clever way (like Carnival Games) would interest me as well.

Any recommendations?

[interface2x]

I don't know if it would appeal that much to you but I thought it was a blast and it was really cheap, so I recommend Resident Evil 4. I was never all that interested in the franchise, but decided to pick it up on a friend's recommendation. Definitely a lot of fun.

[Edward The Head]

I'm in the middle of playing a game called Okami right now. I've only been playing it for a few hours, but it's been pretty fun though. Since you're a wolf there's no guns, but there is fighting. There's also at least some puzzle solving.

[Hampshire]

You should really try the latest incarnation of the Zelda series "Twilight Princess".
You don't really need to have played any of the others as they all seem to be the same story retold with newer graphics and puzzles.
It's less platformy than a Mario game and less RPGish than a Final Fantasy game.
Don't knock it till you try it.

[Swallowed My Cellphone]

Can I get a recommendation too? We're renting a Wii for the holidays and want to try some of the fun athletic games ("athletic" meanng the games that require you to move). Is there a boxing game that will let me beat up my sister?

[stpauler]

Trauma Center is a linear game where you do surgery and follow a story. Although, for me, it's a game I don't like to put down once I start as I didn't remember all of the steps to complete a surgery.

Lego:Star Wars is hours of amusement with replayability too.

Any of the Rayman Raving Rabbids series and Wario Ware:Smooth Moves are great fun using the Wiimote in clever ways. RRR3 has a great dance game which is hilarious if you've got 2 or 3 friends/family playing along.

Originally Posted by Swallowed My Cellphone

Is there a boxing game that will let me beat up my sister?

Wii Sports has boxing which, imho, is the best out there currently. Avoid ShoTime's boxing game which is complete crap.

[Swallowed My Cellphone]

Oh, Trauma Center sounds cool too!

[Ferret Herder]

Boom Blox usually gets recommended in threads like this, and from this review sounds like it might fit the "solving games" criterion, though more towards the "puzzle" than "story" end of the spectrum.

You might also like Sam & Max Season One - it's more of a point-and-click game but has some weird puzzle-solving (what object to use in a slightly demented fashion), and if you've encountered Sam & Max before, the humor tends to be seriously funny and weird.

[BigNik]

Ooh! Yes!

The Adventures of Sam and Max - Series One. An old-style, Lucasarts-before-they-realised-that-they-could-put-out-any-old-crap-with-a-Star-Wars-licence point and click adventure game!

Otherwise, the first or third in the Rayman Raving Rabbids series are great party games if you've got a group of people and want to waggle some controllers, but they aren't single-player games.

Alternately, try Rock Band or Rock Band 2.

But you'll probably find that after a while the only time the Wii gets turned on will be to play Wii Sports.

[Cat Fight]

Other than Mario Galaxy (best game ever), Bully: Scholarship Edition is my favorite game on the Wii. While it wasn't developed for Wii, it uses the remote and nunchuk quite well (aside from the boxing matches, you can beat up anyone anywhere at any time). It's an amazing game with a huge world– several neighborhoods that include an amusement park, cemetery, insane asylum, not to mention the school grounds (where you attend classes and play mini games). It's all delightfully clichéd, like a million '80s movies in one. I'm surprised it's not recommended more.

[Larry Mudd]

Originally Posted by BigNik

But you'll probably find that after a while the only time the Wii gets turned on will be to play Wii Sports.

Are you kidding?

Overall, I'm not thrilled with the selection of games available for the Wii, but I find that Medal of Honour, Star Wars: Force Unleashed, and Sonic: Secret of the Rings hold up well enough for occasional play. Wii Sports is beyond lame; I can't imagine anyone going back to that well many times.

[Hampshire]

Originally Posted by Larry Mudd

Are you kidding?

Overall, I'm not thrilled with the selection of games available for the Wii, but I find that Medal of Honour, Star Wars: Force Unleashed, and Sonic: Secret of the Rings hold up well enough for occasional play. Wii Sports is beyond lame; I can't imagine anyone going back to that well many times.

I'm going to agree with you on this one.
Wii Sports was more like a Wii system demo disc. I didn't really think anyone actually played any of those games for more than 5 minutes.

[Justin_Bailey]

Wasn't this in The Game Room this afternoon? Did it somehow get moved to CS? Or am I in my own little world again?

As for Wii games, I second Resident Evil 4.

[Least Original User Name Ever]

I've heard good things about Trauma Center and Boom Blox. Really, the dem CD that comes with the Wii is garbage after you first play it. Your parents might want to try it out, but it's a shiny coaster.

[wunderkammer]

If you'll be connected to the WiiWare store, you should download World of Goo. It's a physics-based building puzzle game with a surprisingly compelling and mysterious plot. Reviewers seem to love, love, love it, and I (an infamous non-gamer who sticks to Tetris most of the time) was up until the wee hours of the morning for several days trying to finish it.

Warning: I've only played it on a PC, but if it's just half as amazing and addictive with Wii controls, you will not be able to stop building with goo.

[Tamex]

A game that sounds like it's right up your alley is Zack and Wiki. It's a point-and-click adventure game where you have to solve each level. You also use the Wii remote in a variety of ways.

My favorite Wii game is Mario Kart Wii. Best multiplayer game ever. Fun to play online, too.

[uncle squeegee]

Originally Posted by wunderkammer

If you'll be connected to the WiiWare store, you should download World of Goo. It's a physics-based building puzzle game with a surprisingly compelling and mysterious plot. Reviewers seem to love, love, love it, and I (an infamous non-gamer who sticks to Tetris most of the time) was up until the wee hours of the morning for several days trying to finish it.

Warning: I've only played it on a PC, but if it's just half as amazing and addictive with Wii controls, you will not be able to stop building with goo.

I second wunderkammer's nomination. Replayabilty is not great but it's cheap (15 bucks) from the Wiiware store. It's a lot of fun to figure out the various levels.

[BigNik]

Originally Posted by Hampshire

I'm going to agree with you on this one.
Wii Sports was more like a Wii system demo disc. I didn't really think anyone actually played any of those games for more than 5 minutes.

You're joking, right?

The Wii has a large number of games that are better on other systems (pretty much anything not designed for the Wii from the ground up is made worse not only by the graphics but also by the inclusion of whatever waggle mode they've got), and as such the only time it gets turned on is to play an exclusive game.

Now pending the arrival of my Sam and Max, the only time my Wii's been fired up in the past twelve-months-plus is when either there are a group of us that want to play something mindless (i.e. a Rayman game) or when we want to play bowling or baseball on Wii Sports.

I'm not saying that the Wii's bad for casual gaming, but Wii Sports is the one that you keep coming back to when you're looking for something that's casual, mindless and quick.

[Cisco]

The fascination with Wii Sports is beyond me. The only people I've met IRL who like it are little kids and 40+ housewives. In other words, people who wouldn't otherwise play a video game. It was a demo disc as far as I'm concerned.

The golf was kinda fun but ends as soon as you start getting into it.
The tennis can be mildly fun with 4 people if the mood is right, but otherwise lame
I've never not bowled a strike on the bowling, so I don't understand how this is fun unless you have really low self esteem
The baseball was just hitting. Boring.
I cannot figure out the boxing and neither can anyone I've played with. Can you move your guy? Why doesn't he punch when I punch?

My favorite Wii games so far have been Mario Galaxy (no need to have played Mario before to enjoy this), Mario Kart, and Mega Man 9 from WiiWare.

[Justin_Bailey]

Originally Posted by Hampshire

Wii Sports was more like a Wii system demo disc. I didn't really think anyone actually played any of those games for more than 5 minutes.

I haven't checked the Nintendo Channel stats in a while, but I believe Wii Sports obliterates any other Wii game when it comes to average play time.

[Hampshire]

Originally Posted by Justin_Bailey

I haven't checked the Nintendo Channel stats in a while, but I believe Wii Sports obliterates any other Wii game when it comes to average play time.

And I bet Windows Solitaire obliterates and other PC based game.

[Justin_Bailey]

Originally Posted by Hampshire

And I bet Windows Solitaire obliterates and other PC based game.

While this is true, Wii Sports is a disc-based game. Which makes it the equal of any other Wii game and not an always available option like Windows Solitaire.

The only console comparison that would match that would be the Xbox 360's Hexic HD (a seriously underrated puzzle game).

[Least Original User Name Ever]

Originally Posted by Cisco

The fascination with Wii Sports is beyond me. The only people I've met IRL who like it are little kids and 40+ housewives. In other words, people who wouldn't otherwise play a video game. It was a demo disc as far as I'm concerned.

The golf was kinda fun but ends as soon as you start getting into it.
The tennis can be mildly fun with 4 people if the mood is right, but otherwise lame
I've never not bowled a strike on the bowling, so I don't understand how this is fun unless you have really low self esteem
The baseball was just hitting. Boring.
I cannot figure out the boxing and neither can anyone I've played with. Can you move your guy? Why doesn't he punch when I punch?

My favorite Wii games so far have been Mario Galaxy (no need to have played Mario before to enjoy this), Mario Kart, and Mega Man 9 from WiiWare.

I've got Mario Galaxy and it's been sitting around. decided t fire it up today and got the first 4 or 5 stars pretty easy. The Wii controller really feels like a crappy add-on for this game so far. The game isn't bad. I may stick with it just to beat it, but I wouldn't bet on it.

[BigNik]

Originally Posted by Hampshire

And I bet Windows Solitaire obliterates and other PC based game.

Yeah, but to extend your metaphor, the Wii's a PC that's optimised to play Solitaire and Peggle and to make an half-hearted stab at anything more complex.

There might be games down the line that turn it into a full-strength gaming platform, but publishers only started to see the Wii as a potential river of gold a year or so back, and we probably won't see those games coming down the pipeline until late next year or early '10.

[Cisco]

Originally Posted by Least Original User Name Ever

I've got Mario Galaxy and it's been sitting around. decided t fire it up today and got the first 4 or 5 stars pretty easy. The Wii controller really feels like a crappy add-on for this game so far. The game isn't bad. I may stick with it just to beat it, but I wouldn't bet on it.

It's not a hard game (other than finding all the remaining stars after beating the game grumble grumble . . . ), so it's not going to push your puzzle-solving or platforming skills too awful hard. I found the controls to be incredibly natural but I'm in the minority based on the people I've talked to. It may have something to do with my large hands and all other controllers feeling like kids' toys to me (except the original Xbox controller, which was probably the best controller ever designed IMO and got panned and made fun of so relentlessly they discontinued it .) I love the freedom of having half the control scheme in each hand, independent of the other half.

[Least Original User Name Ever]

Originally Posted by Cisco

It's not a hard game (other than finding all the remaining stars after beating the game grumble grumble . . . ), so it's not going to push your puzzle-solving or platforming skills too awful hard. I found the controls to be incredibly natural but I'm in the minority based on the people I've talked to. It may have something to do with my large hands and all other controllers feeling like kids' toys to me (except the original Xbox controller, which was probably the best controller ever designed IMO and got panned and made fun of so relentlessly they discontinued it .) I love the freedom of having half the control scheme in each hand, independent of the other half.

Right. It doesn't seem too hard (I just started the thing, really).

You liked Goliath? I didn't mind it at all, but I preferred the Type-S. Both are much better than any PlayStation controller. I never got used to those things.

[Hampshire]

Originally Posted by Justin_Bailey

While this is true, Wii Sports is a disc-based game. Which makes it the equal of any other Wii game and not an always available option like Windows Solitaire.

Hm, I thought the Solitaire was a good comparison. You buy a PC and it comes with Solitaire on it. You buy a Wii and Wii sports comes with it.
Would people buy Wii sports if it was sold seperately for $50? (not being snarky, just a hypothetical question)

[Justin_Bailey]

Originally Posted by Hampshire

Would people buy Wii sports if it was sold seperately for $50? (not being snarky, just a hypothetical question)

Yes. It's the bestselling Wii game in Japan (the only region where it's not offered with the system).

[Cisco]

Originally Posted by Hampshire

Would people buy Wii sports if it was sold seperately for $50? (not being snarky, just a hypothetical question)

I think they could flesh it out into an awesome $50 game with slightly improved graphics, longer and more complex gameplay, more options, etc., but as it is I would not pay more than $10 for it. I hope Wii Sports Resort isn't as simple as Wii Sports.

[Least Original User Name Ever]

Originally Posted by Cisco

I think they could flesh it out into an awesome $50 game with slightly improved graphics, longer and more complex gameplay, more options, etc., but as it is I would not pay more than $10 for it. I hope Wii Sports Resort isn't as simple as Wii Sports.

I'm with you. The only time it gets thrown into the Wii is if a parent wants to play it. Even then, I'l tell them to go and "play some motherfuckin' Halo".

[Larry Mudd]

Originally Posted by Cisco

I think they could flesh it out into an awesome $50 game with slightly improved graphics, longer and more complex gameplay, more options, etc., but as it is I would not pay more than $10 for it. I hope Wii Sports Resort isn't as simple as Wii Sports.

Hell, even the free/bundled Super Action Baseball that came with the Super Action Controllers for the 8-bit Colecovision system c. 1984 gave the players control over fielding, and was therefore enough of a game to keep us going back to it.

Wii Sports is basically proof-of-concept for the user interface - I don't understand how it made it into distribution in its "almost a game" state.

Christ, I'm old.

[Wolverine]

IGN justed posted its top 20 Wii games you should own here.

Not including the games previously mentioned here but on the IGN list, I would recommend SSX Blur. It a sports titles & has fun, clever motion controls (not necessarily ground-breaking controls, but clever).

I also strongly recommend Super Mario Galaxy. It is one of the only video games that my wife has ever played. She loves it, and she never played any of the previous Mario games.

[critter42]

Originally Posted by Cisco

The fascination with Wii Sports is beyond me. The only people I've met IRL who like it are little kids and 40+ housewives. In other words, people who wouldn't otherwise play a video game.

I would argue that assessment. mrscritter and I are both 40+, and we're both firmly in the "video game generation" - IOW, we grew up with video games, spent WAAAAAYYYY too many Saturdays (and waaaayyyy too many quarters) at the video arcade, have owned at one time more than a dozen video game consoles/handhelds (me - 2600, NES, Genesis, TG-16, PS1; her - Colecovision, Intellivision, SMS; both of us - SNES, N-64, PS2, GameCube, Gameboy (original), GBAsp, DS, Xbox360 and Wii), and a completely unaccountable number of carts and discs. Even with all that experience playing video games, we still like popping in Wii Sports and playing a game of Tennis or Bowling. And, as one would expect, the majority of our friends are our age and have the same kind of video gaming background and also play Wii Sports quite often.

Maybe housewives 50+ or 60+ might fit the description (and I'd even argue some of the 50+), but 40+ is roughly the age of the first generation of video game players that grew up with video games as a constant presence (remember, Pong itself is going to be 40 in 2012 - a little less than 4 years from now!).

Getting back to the OP, I would agree with the Bloom Blox suggestion - I am an inveterate puzzle solver, and this was the first Wii game that I was late returning to Blockbuster, and is the next one I'm going to be purchasing (as soon as the Christmas bills are paid )

If Wii Sportsmight be considered a "demo disc" by some, then Wii Play is even MORE "demo disc"-ier. However, since it comes with another Wiimote and is priced at just $10 more than a Wiimote by itself, it's not that bad a purchase and there are still a couple of games on there that are absolutely addicting to me (the game about picking the odd Mii(s) out has had me going for hours at a time - although since you have to start over each time, it may get frustrating for some).

If you've played Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords on one of the other platforms, you may want to skip it, but if not - get it. This has got to be, hands down, the best match-3 type game around, especially since it combines elements of an RPG. You are playing against an opponent (most of the time, there are a few elements that require solo play or solving puzzle boards), can cast spells and get magic equipment to enhance abilities/make trouble for the other player, and other stuff.