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Top 5 upcoming original third-party titles for Wii
nintendowiifanboy.com — Everyone is always quick to say the Wii has no interesting third-party games. Well, despite commercial failures of the past, these 5 upcoming games are ready to raise a few eyebrows.
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- KnockoutNerd, on 08/12/2008, -3/+1It's quiet in here... can you hear the echo?
- Flame15, on 08/12/2008, -0/+1Not anymore, Nerd.
- chaosblade77, on 08/12/2008, -0/+1Wait, how is The Conduit original? Sure, it's one of the first third party games to really push the Wii and actually have a potential to be an excellent game (not just by Wii standards), but everything about the game screams generic. It's all been done before. In one of the interviews the developers even admitted this, and claimed they took gameplay aspects from several of the most acclaimed shooters of all time and merged them into one game.
de Blob should definitely top that list over Conduit. - ButchersBoy, on 08/12/2008, -1/+2Cut to the chase:
5. Animales de la Muerte
Although the "warped theme masked as a cutesy romp" bit has been done before, High Voltage Software's action packed shooter looks like it'll be great, mindless fun. After all, you can only read so much of Hawking's A Brief History of Time before you need to shoot up zombie animals with bloody jubilation. Indeed, Animales de la Muerte paper-thin plot involves a Mexican zoo infected by a generic zombie virus.
Poised to offend Mexicans and PETA alike, the action-shooter seems to share roots with retro games. The gameplay channels Smash TV, where the goal is to fight off zombie animal hordes with automatic weapons in a frantic battle royale. Animal lovers, worry not: part of the objective of Animales de la Muerte is to save the non-infected animals from the infected ones. While it doesn't look as though it will revolutionize the gaming world, it does look as though it will be bloody fun.
4. Silicon Knights' Unrevealed Project
Have you played Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem? No? Then stop what you're doing. Go to eBay, Amazon, your local GameStop, or wherever else you normally get used games, and snag a copy. Silicon Knights' psychological horror game was one of the greatest titles of the previous generation, and can usually be purchased at a dirt cheap price.
The fact that we've chosen a game which we know nothing about (and which could possibly not come to this system) based solely on its developer should say much about just how awesome Eternal Darkness is. After creating that game, Silicon Knights then went on to further cement their place as an exceptional developer with their beautiful port of the PSX classic Metal Gear Solid. Since that time, they've unfortunately gone multi-platform. Hope remains, however, as their upcoming project has been announced as coming to "all next-gen platforms." Some developers use this term to exclude the Wii, but we'd like to think that given their former connection to Nintendo, they will show the Big N some love.
3. MadWorld
Appealing gameplay? Check. Over-the-top violence? Check. Oozing with style? Check. Destined to be a commercial meh? We sure hope not. It seems as though Sega's upcoming Wii-exclusive MadWorld is fated to follow the same path as No More Heroes: a bold game whose brilliance is rewarded with mediocre sales. It's quite the paradox. Many gamers and journalists -- perhaps stuck in the GameCube era -- bellyache about the lack of original third party titles on the Wii. But when a prominent studio decides to take a risk and publish one a cool, unique game, the audience instead directs its dollars to Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. It's really a shame to see originality go unrewarded. Perhaps I'm being too pessimistic. As MF Grimm once morosely stated, "[I'd] rather be wrong."
MadWorld can't skate by on shock value alone. Unfortunately, not many have had a hands-on session with the game yet. Still, it looks promising. No words can really quite do this kind of obscene(-ly hilarious) violence justice. Check out the trailer instead.
2. de Blob
Super Mario Sunshine is one of the few outcasts in the Mario series. While it is a very solid game, the repetitive island theme and "cleaning up" tasks forces it to quietly commiserate in the corner with Super Mario Bros. 2 at reunions. Meanwhile, Super Mario World gets drunk and sings karaoke while Super Mario Galaxy does can-openers into the pool, much to everyone else's delight. Man, I would so Photoshop that if I had the time.
I digress. Despite a healthy amount of awesome platforming challenges, Super Mario Sunshine's cleaning sections were a bit un-Mario, as they felt more like work than play. And at first glance, de Blob's wall-painting gameplay may conjure similar unpleasant memories. After giving it a closer look, however, one will find that the mechanics appear to be fun and inviting. While painting various parts of a town, titular character de Blob will bounce about, wall-jumping inside narrow passages and coloring the cityscape. And in terms of style, it appears to be summoning a Katamari-esque disarming cuteness. Indeed, gameplay videos do portray the title as being quite charming. Unique 3D platformers seem to be few and far between lately, so we'll definitely be keeping an eye on this one.
1. The Conduit
The gaming press and The Conduit sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. Indeed, blogs around the tubes have been going crazy about the Wii-exclusive FPS. High Voltage Software, who are also responsible for the 5th game on this list, have developed a beautiful shooter that seems to push the Wii further than most other games on the system. This should satisfy the graphics whore inside us all. But as Wii owners have been voraciously shouting in flame wars, visuals alone don't make a game.
Thankfully, High Voltage Software seems dedicated to creating an intelligent shooter. In one demo, the protagonist gets involved in a firefight with a gun-toting alien. As the player demonstrates superior talent and gets close to the kill, the alien intelligently runs away to recover and avoid death. This sounds simple enough, but is surprisingly uncommon in most FPS titles (or most games of any genre for that matter). Usually, an enemy will charge at the player relentlessly and mindlessly, halting only if one of them dies. Unlike graphics, subtle nuances such as this can make a game. Here's hoping that High Voltage Software manages to deliver on the seemingly sky-high expectations. - mmijatov, on 08/12/2008, -0/+1As much as I wanted to be enthralled, excited, mildly interested, I just went through that list and continue to be nonreactive.
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