Top 10 Wii Games

It's time to bid the Wii farewell and enter the eight generation of console video gaming tommorrow. Before it's successor will arrive, let me put up the top 10 Wii games according to myself. Some runner-ups just missing out are Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Kirby: Return to Dreamland, Disaster: Day of Crisis, Super Paper Mario and Donkey Kong Country Returns.

10.Fatal Frame II

The most haunting experience available for the Wii. Alas, it's a remake, but it remains an impressive horror title with enhanced Wii controls, graphics and new content such as the entertaining multiplayer mode where you are able to scare others manually. Fatal Frame II is not only the most fulfilling scary packed game with varied creepiness, it's also different in how it approaches gameplay.

9.Ōkami

Aesthetical tale from Capcom for all the pessimists out there that do not believe that there is art in video games. An epic nippon journey, Ōkami has very familiar gameplay to the 3D Zelda games, but can easily stand for itself because of its unique attributes to visual detail, great Wii controls and well constructed music. Rejuvenate your surroundings, banish evil demons and bring happiness and peace back as the god of the sun. This long game is packed with originality and satisfying gameplay. The dialogue could had been lessened or sped up though.

8.Punch Out!!

Fantastic re-imagination of the original NES version where Little Mac must once again start at the bottom and eventually reach the top to become the world champion. Only this time, He must also defend that dear title. Featuring pretty much all of the favorite boxing opponents from the original except for the licensed character, Punch-Out!! plays similar, yet feels fresh on the Wii. The opponents get a little bit more personality because they can talk now, and some of the graphic animations are funny. 

Doc, Mac’s trainer offers subtle hints and encouragement during your career and even is able to let you practice upcoming matches with holographic imagery in exhibition mode. The music is although few, pleasant and the gameplay is straightfully true to the original. As for the difficulty, it certainly is challenging, perhaps the hardest one yet because of the title defend matches.

 

7.Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Finale towards a splendid strong trilogy, however it remains my least liked one out of the three. Having said that though, I enjoyed traveling to the several new locations, especially Elysia, and the Command Visor was a nice touch. The involvement of the GF also let that isolement feeling finally disappear, but I can live with that. It's like it's brethren, a first person adventure worth playing. And Metroid's concept just works out great in 3D, even for the third time.

6.Super Mario Galaxy 2

A rare Nintendo sequel towards a Mario game, Galaxy 2 is no doubt more of the same, but with the addition of Yoshi, more new suits, a great soundtrack once again and even more clever level design, this is even better than the first Galaxy. Not to mention a total of 242 different stars await you here, making it one of the largest Mario games out there.

5.Sin & Punishment: Star Successor

This sequel is everything the original was, but so much more, and the Star Fox developers should take note on how to get successful once again by looking at Treasure's Wii treasure. THIS is how you do an arcade style hybrid on rails shooter with excellent bosses, satisfying longevity and brutal difficulty.

4.Super Smash Bros. Brawl

The massive success of the Super Smash Bros. franchise continues with Brawl, which has the biggest content and features yet. Third party characters, online mode, build your own stage, an optimized single player mode, ridiculous amounts of trophies and stickers and a hype train around the world before it's release and after. It's technically the best entry yet, but 64 and Melee have other reasons for remaining must plays for multiplayer matches as well.

3.The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Although Wind Waker and Twilight Princess were pretty good in their own ways, Nintendo really rebounced my thoughts about the future of Zelda with Skyward Sword, which is the first consistent game able to prove that motion control works just fine when speaking of swordplay. It's the longest Zelda game yet, the difficulty had a much needed boost seen in here and it's visually and auditory outstanding. I applaud the dungeon design, some of them were very well crafted.

2.Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

Roughly the tenth entry, Radiant Dawn at first feels like just your average Fire Emblem game. However, the game grasped me with it's story the further you proceeded down the chapters, as level design, music, difficulty and emotional conflicts deepened. And here I was thinking that Radiant Dawn would just be another entry...the story really turned interesting in this sequel towards Path of Radiance!

1.Xenoblade

Monolith Soft's greatest achievement yet, and a very strong new IP to take inspiration from. Xenoblade(Chronicles) delivers the faith towards JRPG's so much back, that it is really hard to nitpick about anything during this genuine epic momentum. With it's flowing gameplay, several effective system features, memorable soundtrack and the most beautiful environments on the Wii, it is for me the best game available. It's so good that it can easily compare towards any classic PSX or SNES RPG.

La-Mulana

Swallowing your pride might surely happen sooner or later the moment you begin trying to explore the sacred ruins of La-Mulana, an independent platform puzzle game that recently got remade for the PC as well as WiiWare.

Playing through La-Mulana made me realize something that is deemed as inappropriate towards approaching this adventure. You are not supposed to be speed running, hack and slashing or trial and error your way through the ruins.

Instead, you are expected as an archaeologist to carefully unravel the many cryptic hints that await you, be it written on signs, tablets, skeleton remains or even more subtle objects or backgrounds. La-Mulana is a thinking man's game combined with action platforming.

Henceforth, it would be best if you started remembering, writing or taking pictures of each hint. Take heed of the advice the quirky gaming elder gives you through e-mails, and especially show your respect towards the ancient ruins of which celestial beings were once occupying these areas. Or else, divine judgment might find your way through those pesky electrical eyes.

Don't believe me? I angered the gods by reading upon a tablet twice which clearly said not to do so, thus activating hard mode. With more enemies spawned everywhere, the game suddenly became even more challenging.

My challenge aspect, of which I once wrote in another post, has faced a different dilemma here. Whenever I was absolutely stuck and clueless on how to proceed, I searched for help. Other than that, I tried my best to navigate, as a token of my respect towards the single designer that created this impressive title.

But, it has to be said. La-Mulana is one of the hardest games I have ever played, and it simply comes from the fact that the game is very non-linear, very confusing and very cryptic on how to proceed at certain parts. Regarding combat and platforming, I'm used towards those kinds of difficulties, but finding a way to progress through this at certain times is mentally challenging.

Nothing beats out the feeling of uncovering a new route by yourself finally though, such a huge reward to experience. A lot of endurance and patience will be needed for these moments. Getting stuck and being unable to proceed, I guarantee that everyone who plays this the first time around other than the developer himself will experience it.

Despite bearing a striking resemblance towards 2D Metroid and Castlevania games(or Metroidvania/Castleroid if you will), La-Mulana is king when it comes to multiple paths being available, as well as of purposeful backtracking.

The complexity of the level design and the obtusity of the puzzle design is compelling. It really is a genuine hardcore title, and also serious competition for other 2D action platformers. Puzzles are not my main interest in general, but the design seen in here is a large driving force for enduring them and continueing.

While Super Meat Boy's precise platforming and Dark Souls's methodical combat are excellent sources for hardcore gaming, La-Mulana uplifts the puzzle element so much, it demands to be played by anyone who is searching for a challenge in an entirely different way other than showing off practiced skills.

One more aspect that keeps you playing through this long adventure is the impressive soundtrack, each of the area's having their own theme. The songs are reminiscent of many classic 2D action plaformer games in the past in the sense that they encourage you to keep playing, and to keep remembering the precious parts.

To sum it all up, let me quote the Destructoid review's paragraph that catches the essence of La-Mulana's core gameplay,:

"If you go into La-Mulana like any ol' action game and don't pay attention to literally everything, you will find yourself wandering the halls lost and confused for hours. You can't take anything for granted, the faintest etchings on the walls could offer some hint as to what item must be used. You must treat every word, every artifact, every structure like it's the most significant thing in the universe. Read those riddles with the same focus you would dedicate towards open-heart surgery."

There are only 3 upcoming new titles left this year for me to experience regarding games, which are Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward, ZombiU and Paper Mario: Sticker Star. If they fail to be even better than this in overall, then I can say without a doubt that this remake of La-Mulana is my favorite and best game of the year 2012.

Rating: 9.0

Dark Souls

Dark Souls is a game that punishes you severely at the most in the early sections. After the tutorial of Northern Undead Asylum, the most ritual part of training for the upcoming battles seems to be Undead Burg, swarming with the undead.

Being able to play this sequel on my PC was a welcome addition towards accessibility from From Software's part. In this Prepare to Die edition, a few new areas and enemies alongside gear are included.

After I created a warrior class based character and ventured into the world of Lordran, at one point I farmed up until 30000 souls, which serves as the game's main currency for leveling up, as well as reinforcing, buying and modifying gear.

If you die, you lose your amount of humanity and harvested souls. But you are able to retrieve these precious currencies at the same spot you died on. However, if you die again before retrieving this, you will permanently lose it, which happened to me after farming that many souls.

Thus, after the emotional breakdown, I started over, took advice and tried a pyromancer now. Overcoming the difficult early parts finally, Dark Souls began to grow on me. Preparing to die means preparing to learn more and get better at a very difficult game that becomes easier the further you come.

Patience is absolutely required to survive, observe your enemies and defeat overwhelming situations. Even the weakest ones are still able to chain combo you to death at all times, leaving you most likely frustrated.

The graphics are stunning, in particular the foggy backgrounds foreshadowing other areas, and sometimes even large creatures. Not only that, the atmosphere is definitely polished here, as ambient sounds, medieval fantasy scenery and dark locations form together to create it.

Soundwise, next to the ambience, just listening towards the creature sounds, the weapons clashing, large objects and even your own character is subconciously ever present, either during or after playing.

However, there is hardly any soundtrack unless you battle bosses or visit neutral areas. But what little there is, surely makes up with it's quality. As for the story, it largely is implied in the background as fragmented hints as to what is happening in the present, with more interpretations available.

Interconnected areas engulf the experience of exploring the world furthermore, stimulating various routes the player could take and lessening backtracking. Unfortunately, I was unable to play this online. But I understand the nature of the player versus player mode involving invading others.

The methodical combat of Dark Souls feels like a fresh experience from the many current RPG's with either turn based or strategic options. As far as customizing goes, it has quite some details, although not as deep as say, Monster Hunter Tri, a similar game which I also played.

Anor Londo is easily my favorite location from this, with a breathtaking sky, beautiful architecture and some of the toughest enemies around. Including Ornstein and Smough, the most infamous boss battle of the game, pictured above.

There's also another online mechanic, which is being able to leave behind helpful messages for other players. And, you are able to make covenants with factions, boosting you in different ways. Co-op is available in the form of either other players, or given the certain conditions, summonable allies.

If you didn't know yet, Dark Souls is the sequel to Demon's Souls of which I will be able to play luckily very soon. They are definitely an example for other developers to take as far as challenges and difficulty go, combined with gameplay that is intriguing and designed well.

We need more of these kind of games. Less hand in hand linear tutorials. More prepare to die editions. I say, From Software, bring on Dragon or Death Souls.

Rating: 8.5

EDIT: Managed to beat Demon's Souls as well. Since the two titles are rather similar, I have decided not to write about the original. But rest assured, both games are definitely worhy!