Rated “T” for “Teen”
Coming packaged free with Nintendo’s Wii Zapper is Link’s Crossbow Training. A game set in Hyrule where Link forgoes the Master Sword in favor of a crossbow…maybe one too many fairies floating around in someone’s head. Guess Link has been through a lot in one year.
There isn’t much to this “game.” You have 3 modes of play: Score Attack, Multiplayer, and Practice. Of course Practice isn’t a true mode of play, but more like training…for your training.
And in the little you have to choose from you also have a little variety of game types.
- Shooting targets/enemies while on a rail.
- Shooting enemies coming at you from all sides while staying stationary.
- Shooting enemies while going through familiar dungeons.
They vary up the types of targets and enemies to take down and keep true to the theme of Twilight Princess. But once you’ve played each type of shooting gallery, you know what to expect throughout the rest. Each stage lasts about 60 seconds and there are 3 levels per stage. 3 minutes multiplied by 9 stages is a good half-hour. Not much crossbow action.
Link’s training with a crossbow is a great way to show off how the new Wii Zapper works. But as always with most Wii games, if you really don’t have mileage with the Wiimote then you may run into some difficulty with this game and others. Even though the Wii Zapper props your Wiimote to feel more like a gun (or in this case, a crossbow), you have to get used to how your cursor flies through your screen. The Wii Zapper serves as a great guide to feel more natural while shooting.
As for the game itself…it serves more as a demo. No story, no princess to save, no true tasks to do other than shooting things that appear on screen. It’s short, it’s simple, it works. If you want to blow off steam and just shoot stuff, this is for you.
3 out of 5
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Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo Wii)
Rated “E” for “Everyone”
If you really need to know, this game gets a 5 out of 5. Now to tell you why.
Mario will always have adventures. As long as Princess Peach gets kidnapped, as long as Bowser has plans of domination, as long as Shigeru Miyamoto creates bigger and better games, Mario will be there. On his first true outing on the Wii, Mario soars through the galaxy to stop Bowser in his biggest plot ever; rule the galaxy with Peach by his side. As Bowser keeps upping his game, so does his foe for life, Mario.
If you played Mario 64, then you will feel right at home. Just don’t forget that your home also has a ceiling to explore. Take all the game play you enjoyed from Mario 64 (and Sunshine) and add zero gravity and you have a new world explore. From 2-D to 3-D to upside-down 3-D, Mario goes anywhere and everywhere he can. The first few times going upside-down may throw you off, but it soon becomes simple and second nature that you won’t think twice about it.
The Wiimote capabilities aren’t forced upon you so much like in most Wii titles. You do have to twist/shake your Wiimote to make Mario spin to attack and also shoot from planet to planet. There are a few parts in the game that make you use the Wiimote in innovative ways, but the core of the game is obviously in the platforming.
There is a 2-player option where you can get a friend/sibling to just point the Wiimote around to collect starbits so you can concentrate on moving Mario around. Not the best feature, but it’s not the worst thing to happen to Mario.
The story is small like in most Mario titles. Save the princess and stop the evil. Rosalina tells her story throughout the game through storybook chapters that she reads to her fellow Lumas. It’s a small way to tie up the galaxy theme with the world of Mario.
One of Nintendo’s weaker points in the current generation of console wars is in graphics. While the graphics are not super-realistic, they do shine brighter for Mario. Everything is full of color and sparkles with life. Small details seen just on Bowser (flowing hair, scales) show how far Nintendo has come. And of course with bigger and better graphics come bigger and better worlds. To some they may feel smaller since most levels consist of multiple small planets to jump around to. But the scale of the some of the planets combined make and the distance Mario travels is pretty vast.
Oh yeah, bigger and better bosses also. Can’t forget them.
Throw in an array of new power-ups (Bee Mario, Boo Mario, etc), a new female lead (Rosalina), tons of fan service (remade classic Mario music, returning characters, familiar themes and stages), 120 Stars to collect, a brother in green, a princess in pink, and a hero in red…there’s very little to dislike in this title. Just the simple display of Mario flying in at the beginning of every level shows you that he’s a hero that will remain throughout generations.
5 out of 5
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