Many of us critics are disappointed in the rotten lineup of Wii titles. The Wii machine itself is revolutionary as an interactive toy. But if you go to the store and browse the Wii wall of games, you'll be browsing a wall of stink.
This week, I thought, "Hey, maybe we're all wrong. Maybe Wii games are terrific fun for casual gamers who don't get paid to be critical." I asked my friends Ched Whitney and Samantha Clemens to Wii at my house. They were very excited when they arrived for game day.
First, they chose Marble Saga Kororinpa, a solid if standard marble game: You force a virtual marble to roll across a board, controlled by the laws of physics, then trick the ball into dropping into a hole.
"What's the point?" Sam asked. "All you do is roll around?"
Verdict: Sam gave it two stars out of four. Ched gave it two and one-half stars. I'd give it two stars. They were losing their excitement.
Next came Mario Power Tennis. It looks like a cartoon send-up of a tennis match, with super-powered overhead shots and such. Sam beat Ched. They both gave the game three stars but weren't emotionally tied to the game. I'd give it two stars.
Sam did say Power Tennis was her kind of game because she can play its "versus" multiplayer. It comes with mini-games: little tennis ball-swatting challenges that are much different than full tennis matches. And she can earn bonus items, like unlocking other tennis characters to inhabit.
Sam, therefore, fits a certain female demographic of Wii gamers. She has played Wii before. She loves the multiplayer, party mini-games of Wii Sports and Rayman Raving Rabbids. Sometimes she likes Wii Play. But watching her brother conquer battle games gives her a headache.
"I can watch roller coasters on TV. But I can't watch my brother spinning around in a cave in a war game," Sam said.
Ched fits a certain male demographic. He prefers the complex, online war game of Frontlines: Fuel of War for Xbox 360 and the offline shoot-'em-ups of Grand Theft Auto games.
So he wasn't a fan of their next experiment, Big League Sports for Wii. It features simplistic, sports mini-games. The football mini-game made Ched slowly drop back in set formation, as cardboard cutouts of defenders slowly moved toward him, and he slowly passed to a cardboard receiver.
"This is Little League sports, not Big League Sports," Ched said.
Sam was aggravated by the mini-game where she swung one arm up high to simulate a field-goal kick.
"That almost ripped my arm off. That's ridiculous. This is such a guy game," she said.
Yet, she gave it two stars, pretty forgiving. Ched gave it one star. I'd give it a half-star.
"Have we liked any of these games?" Sam asked at the end of the day, without prodding from Ched or me. "Pretty disappointing."
Ched agreed. I agreed. The Wii, it has turned out, is a remarkable, exciting invention. But when, oh when, will there ever be more than a handful of good games to play on it?
