Wii Game Reviews

Medal of Honor: Vanguard, released on March 26 2007, is one the latest entries in EA's popular WWII first person shooter series and the first game of its kind on the Wii.

The graphics are passable but that's about the best thing I can say about them. They certainly can't hold a candle to the Medal of Honor games on the other next-gen game systems, but then again, the Wii was never meant to be a graphics powerhouse so I can forgive that. The soundtrack, I'm happy to say, is much better, featuring solid music and excellent sound effects and voiceovers.

The game play itself is a mixed bag. For the most part, Vanguard doesn't do much to differentiate itself from any other WWII shooters. My Vanguard experience was comprised of the usual activities that fill these type of games, planting explosives, destroying enemy vehicles, shooting a ridiculous number of Nazis, and the like along with my questionably helpful AI controlled teammates. Nothing wrong with that but some originality wouldn't hurt. Same thing with the story.


There's really nothing wrong with it but it's pretty similar to the plots in most of the other WWII games. Getting past the sameness and the moronic AI (which also seems to be fairly common these days), I did have some fun playing Vanguard, shooting Nazi's, even really dumb ones, never quite gets old. The real highlight is being able to aim weapons by pointing the Wii remote, which is a lot better than using a normal controller.

Unfortunately, some of the motion sensitive commands don't work quite so well and I occasionally found myself accidentally performing certain moves because I made the wrong motion. The main campaign isn't all that long but there's also a decent multiplayer mode that supports up to four players and adds some replay value.

Would I recommend buying Medal of Honor: Vanguard? Maybe. There are better WWII FPS games out there but not for the Wii so if you're a big fan of WWII games and need one to tide you over, or just want to see how well the Wii remote works for first person shooters, Vanguard may be worth a look.



Get Medal of Honor: Vanguard and draw your own conclusions.

The Nintendo Wii has an interesting advantage over every other console and that's the necessity of designers and publishers to cater their games to fit the Wii's hardware, no matter how many consoles they plan on releasing their game for. The SSX franchise has long been a major brand with amazing levels and stellar snowboarding game play and now with the release of the Nintendo Wii, EA Big brings us an entirely new way of playing it as well with SSX Blur. Released in February of this year, the game is clearly an early entry in the Wii library, with tweaks to be worked out, but an amazing step forward and a promise of great things to come.

Graphically, the Wii isn't as powerful as its fellow consoles. SSX Blur looks quite similar to the later outings on the Xbox, without the smoothed textures and crisp frame rates of the next generation. However, sound wise SSX has always been on top of things, as usual bringing EA's signature ability to license big name tracks and up and coming alternative tracks for its sports games. While the lack of customized soundtracks means eventual tiring of the same old music, you'll still be more pleased with SSX Blur's round of music than many other games on the market.


But it's the game play that makes or breaks a game on the Wii these days and SSX Blur is no different. There has always been a worry that the Wii controls might be too complicated with some games and with Blur they almost are. Cruising the mountain is a blast, operated smoothly with the nunchuck attachment. However, when you start performing tricks, you'll find that the boarder does not do exactly what you thought you did with the remote. Uber tricks are even worse, with complicated arrays of movements that often don't work at all.

While, regular tricks can be faked, just randomly moving your remote around, the uber tricks are vital to getting the higher scores and beating the more advanced levels, and the lack of control can be frustrating. Similarly, a lot of the giant level design and obscene sidetracks and shortcuts are missing from this entry, as though the game has been streamlined for the inclusion of Wii remote functionality.

You're basically replaying a lot of old tracks in a streamlined fashion without much new content and a control scheme that doesn't make the game any more fun than the PS2's dual shock. For that reason, the game doesn't offer any compelling reasons to play it if you already own and have enjoyed the PS2's SSX Tricky or SSX 3 games, both amazing in their own right.

However, for those looking to check out Wii remote functionality and put yourself to the test with your control of the remote, it's still good fun. My recommendation is for previous fans of the series to wait for the next fully fledged entry. If you've never played SSX before, then pick SSX Blur up now. EA still makes the best snowboarding game around.

Disney's Meet the Robinsons, released on March 27 2007 by Disney's own Buena Vista Games, is a sci-fi action adventure game based on the movie of the same name and is sure to entertain fans of the movie, especially the younger ones.

Meet the Robinsons, the game, follows the plot of the movie but mostly focuses on what is going on behind the scenes so it didn't force me to sit through a bunch of stuff I'd already seen in the theater. The graphics didn't blow me away but they're very true to the movie and that's what really matters. The music is also quite reminiscent of the film and it sounds like most of the original voice actors are back as well so I didn't have anything to complain about there.

The game play is part Zelda and part Ratchet and Clank, among other things. I got to control Wilbur Robinson on his quest to stop the evil Bowler Hat Guy's nefarious plans to change the future. As Wilbur, I spent a lot of time exploring dungeons, solving simple puzzles, and fighting off evil robots with the help of Wilbur's gadgets. There are five gadgets in all and each one is both useful and fun to use.

There's also some mini games thrown into the mix from time to time and I always had the option to revisit previous levels to search for some useful power ups and unlockable knick-knacks. The controls are easy to pick up and use and the Wii's motion sensing abilities get used a little here and there but don't really add much to the experience While there's nothing really deep or original about the game, it is rather fun and I'm sure kids would love it.

So would I recommend buying Disney's Meet the Robinsons? If you loved the movie, or have a kid that does, go ahead and buy it%u2026 Just get the Gamecube version instead of the Wii one, the motion controls aren't worth the extra $20.

So, why don't you Meet the Robinsons now!