I was waiting for my car to get serviced today and decided to walk over to a nearby GameStop. They had just finished installing a new playable kiosk for the Wii. First off, I had to exchange my drivers license for a controller, as Nintendo isnt allowing stores to tether the controller to the kiosk. Oh, and they are only demo-ing the wand, not its counterpart. Once I did that, I started to play around a bit. My first goal was to select what I wanted to do on the main screen, and then enter my information. I call this a goal because it was just that. While the receptor is pretty good at picking up your hand movements, you really have to be careful not to over exaggerate them. I dont see this being a problem on larger HDTVs, but as for the one they had in-store, it was a bit of a pain.
Once I got into the selection screen for Excite Truck, I had to enter in my info. What I didnt know first off was that I was holding the controller wrong. At first, I was holding it like a wand, when I shouldve been holding it more like a traditional controller, with the D-pad on the left and the buttons on the right. They dont tell you off the bat, which made entering my info tough because I was supposed to hit the #2 button to enter my info. This button, when held like a wand, is at the bottom of the controller, which is WAY out of place when held in this position. In general, the controller is ok, much like how my TV remote is ok. It definitely doesn't contour to the shape of your hand, but you already knew that. Just go hold a large Snickers in your hand you'll have an idea of what to expect. Anyways, onto the gameplay.
First off, controlling a game, especially a driving game, with motion sensors is fun....at first. Its pretty cool to tip your controller left and right, up and down and so on. But after a bit, this quickly turned into nothing more than a novelty, and I really just wanted a controller. I asked the clerk if they had the standard controller and she said they didnt, and that this was the only controller they gave the stores. So, left to its own device, controlling a game that relies on precision is definitely something to get used to, and not something that I personally gave a rats a$$ about perfecting. My movements were just too big, even when I tried to tone them down. But, much like how games such as Guitar Hero makes you want to stand up and play, hair metal stance and all, so will the right Wii games.
Now onto graphics. I only had one game to go by, so Ill just go by that. And to that I say yech. I know I know, graphics dont make the game, but after recovering from a week of playing GOW, I cant help but look at this game and think I was playing a first generation Xbox game. Blurred landscapes, pixel-laden bushes, repetitive textures. Ugh. I dont know why Nintendo decided to make Excite Truck the game to show off at its kiosks. And yes, its the ONLY game represented. No other movie or playable demo. Overall, the game looked like it could be fun, albeit simple. Drive on a dirt path, do cool jumps and stunts, crash your car. Nothing I havent seen since Driver, but oh well. Given, the game doesn't allow you to play the actual game, just the tutorial. A big WTF in my opinion.
So, for $250 you can expect to get exactly what you hoped: a visually less stunning system with a couple of cool (and possibly short lived) peripheral hooks, and a bunch of first party titles that are sure to live up to your nostalgic expectations. As for me, Im definitely going to wait until those first party titles are there in abundance. Feel free to ask questions.