The Surlaw Reviews - 7/1/21 - 2021 Mid-Year Update

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Tue Jun 03, 2014 3:24 am

Kind of let down but this is still a solid game.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 3:19 am

We've got a whole discussion thread about this one, go there to comment: http://www.slimesalad.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6133

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 12:30 pm

The Wii U had an unofficial price drop when bought directly through Nintendo ($200 for the Deluxe unit versus $300 in stores) so with Mario Kart out now and Smash out later this year, I figured I'd pick one up.

Some brief thoughts:

-Hardware and OS are pretty terrible. I couldn't log in to my Nintendo Network account until after I ran a system update, it just kept giving me an error message until then.

-Downloading and installing the system update and transferring save files/old games from my old Wii took a total of about four hours. The transfer process was not intuitive, but it had a great Pikmin animation.

-You have to switch to Wii Mode when you want to run or buy old games. The system should just be designed to switch for you when you select a game, but instead there's a whole second layer here.

-As far as I can tell, like the PS4 there's no way to organize games into folders, so the start screen gets very messy.

-The tablet looks really nice and it's fun to play on it while the TV's doing something else, but neither of the games I've spent time on (NES Remix and Dr. Luigi, still waiting for Kart to come in the mail) make it feel essential.

-I was hoping its effective range would be a little better so I could use the tablet in my bedroom, but it doesn't seem to work at all past 20-30 feet from the system.

-The eShop is pretty barren. Having to pay to upgrade your old Virtual Console games to use the new WiiU features (save states and being able to control using the tablet) is unfortunate, but not as unfortunate as the fact that there are less than 1/4 as many VC games available here as there are on the original Wii. NES, SNES, and Game Byo Advance are represented; Genesis, Master System, Turbografx, and arcade titles are totally absent this time around.

-Miiverse is great. It's basically Twitter plus MS-Paint with a little posting community for each game. It's great on the 3DS and great here, I love seeing all the hideous drawings people post.

-Hardware and OS issues aside: The two games I've played are very, very good, I still haven't tried Nintendoland, and I know I'll love Mario Kart 8. Nintendo's good at game software, but they still bumble their way through everything else.

-Dr. Luigi contains three play modes: A standard Dr. Mario game, a version of Virus Buster (a game first introduced in Brain Age on the DS), and a version of Dr. Mario that uses L-shaped capsules instead. This new mode makes the game a lot harder!

-NES Remix is a spiritual successor to Wario Ware, more so than the system's actual Wario Ware title. Players go through 2-60 second long mini missions in various NES games ranging from "defeat 15 enemies in Mario 1 under the time limit" or "play through stage 1 of Donkey Kong with a spotlight to guide your way and the rest of the stage darkened." Its interface is clunky, but it's a pretty wonderful game.

-As of E3 2014, there's finally enough interesting games coming out to make the system worthwhile, but it's still probably worth waiting until 2015. This system should not have launched when it did or at the price it did, but they're slowly moving in the right direction. I'm hoping they ever release a game that makes including the tablet seem like a good idea.

Fenrir-Lunaris · Post by **Fenrir-Lunaris** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 8:15 pm

My next console will in all likelihood be a WiiU. The only game on PS4 that remotely interests me is Kingdom Hearts 3, and there is NOTHING on the Xbone for me.

NOTHING.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 8:45 pm

I just want an open world Waluigi game.

Nearly everything worth owning a PS4 for is also available on PC aside from Square's upcoming non-FF14 games. It's a far cheaper option than buying a PC good enough to run these games at the same level, but if cost and convenience isn't an issue a high end gaming PC is a way better investment, and I say that as someone who doesn't even play games on my PC.

Fenrir-Lunaris · Post by **Fenrir-Lunaris** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 10:00 pm

My experience with last console generation has led me to the realization that the PS3 had more games on it that I was interested in than the Xbox360. Between the two of them, only the HD remakes of Okami, Final Fantasy X, and Kingdom Hearts HD were enough to gather my attention, and those came LATE. I've spent FAR more time on the Wii than either of the other systems JUST for Megaman 9 & 10. I will admit that PS3 makes for an amazing Netflix player though.

Mario Kart 8 may be the best one in the series from what I've seen. If they release the N64 battle arena tracks as DLC, I might just empty my bank account right now for it.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 10:05 pm

Unfortunately it looks like there aren't any battle arenas at all, period. Battle mode just seems to be normal racing with three hits before you're out.

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 10:44 pm

Yay, Next Gen Console Talk!

My thoughts on the WiiU is that it's just like all the other Nintendo consoles. You really only get it if you want those Nintendo core games like Zelda, Mario, and Metroid. If they make their core Nintendo games well the system will do well.
As Much as I like the new direction/old direction they're going with the mario games, 1 mario game isn't enough to get me to upgrade yet. However the backwards compatibility makes trading in my old Wii for this new Wii much more likely then trading in my PS3 or Xbox 360 for one of those new ones.

As for XboxOne and PS4, there's nothing on them. The only reason to get one is to be "cutting edge". Kind of like owning that newest iPhone.
All this said, it's funny that the upcoming console game I'm looking forward to the most is actually on Xbox360/Ps3.
Yay Destiny! (I hope it turns out to be good)

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Thu Jun 19, 2014 12:04 am

The reason to get them (if you don't have a gaming PC) is that they've got a ton of cheap indie games that are really good and aren't on the 3/360 so that's not really cutting edge, but more just the result of having a closer to PC architecture. Multiplatform stuff also runs massively better even if its not as good as a maxed out PC. Both systems are also really fun for streaming stuff. It's probably smarter to wait a year at least, but it's dumb to say there isn't anything on either one. "Cutting edge" is putting $1000 into a PC that will look a hell of a lot better than either of these systems will but that's not really in the cards for me.

I spent a few days in the Destiny play test and it's stupidly grindy when it comes to single player/co-op and every boss is a massive bullet sponge, but the core game is still fun with buddies. AI is dumb as dirt, versus is Halo with a bigger focus on grinding for better guns. It's a solid game that isn't anything revolutionary and 6 vs 6 is way too small for some of the versus maps.

The WiiU actually has three Mario games and I'm super pumped to try 3D World. Making good games hasn't helped the system sell so far though, but Mario Kart will help sales a lot. It shouldn't cost anywhere near $300 still. The $200 price for a refurbished unit is a good price.

Edit: Dr. Luigi rules with local play but online community seems to be 100% dead.

msw188 · Post by **msw188** » Thu Jun 19, 2014 5:03 pm

Unfortunately it looks like there aren't any battle arenas at all, period. Battle mode just seems to be normal racing with three hits before you're out.

Whoa wait what the hell WHAAAT? This greatly lessens my desire to buy this game. I've pretty much decided I'll grab a WiiU when the new Smash comes out, and I figured I'd grab some of the multiplayer Mario-themed games. But if Kart doesn't have real battles, why does it even exist? (the Wii one, I think, didn't either, and I never bought that one)

PS: Remember the Kart that had the bomb-battles, where it was first to three and you never died, but bombing one person stole one of their points? That mode was absolutely brilliant. It blows my mind that they got rid of it.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Thu Jun 19, 2014 6:14 pm

The Wii one had regular battle mode and online team battles were incredibly fun. This is the first game to ditch it. I personally didn't play much battle mode but cutting out the traditional arena style is super dumb.

Meowskivich · Post by **Meowskivich** » Thu Jun 19, 2014 9:51 pm

Will the wibbles be partaking and reviewing?! There is a request for The Wonderful End of the World!

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Thu Jun 19, 2014 10:31 pm

I don't have a PC that can play anything more demanding than an OHR game so nope.

msw188 · Post by **msw188** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 1:54 am

I might just be remembering wrong, but I'm pretty certain the Wii one didn't have battle. Like, real player vs player battles. No stupid slime cpu drivers on some kind of team. That leads to all kinds of targets; in fact you can win without shooting the other player once! You might as well be playing one at a time and comparing high scores! Worst idea ever.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 3:32 am

I'm not interested in Steam stuff since I can't play anything but you dudes should probably know Pac-Man Museum's on sale for $5 right now and Pac Man CE DX is $2.50. Get both.