Perhaps two of the most well known and highest rated ports on the Wii are Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (Japanese box art pictured above) and The Godfather: Blackhand Edition. Both of these games have received very high scores from some very picky reviewers (The former even gathered a 8.0, 9.0, 9.0 from EGM). I can verify myself that The Godfather is an extremely well-made Wii game. I've had it for over a month and I still play it! As for Resident Evil 4, I played it through once or twice on the GameCube, and I loved it both times! These games are quality additions to the Wii's rapidly growing game library. However, some games aren't so well-made...
...and possibly the most infamous of the bunch is Ubisoft's Far Cry Vengeance. This game had terrible, terrible graphics, sloppy controls, borderline retarded AI, ubiquitous bugs and, to make it all even worse, the game was already available for both the XBox and XBox 360 for over a year at the time, meaning most interested gamers have already long finished it. It is undoubtedly the worst port ever to violate the Wii with it's presence.
It isn't the only one, though. Other crappy ports to hit the Wii are Splinter Cell: Double Agent, GT Pro Series, Bionicle Heroes and Monster 4x4 World Circuit. But have developers learned their lesson? It wouldn't seem so, since Data Design Interactive is shoveling over their crappy PS2 budget software over on to the Wii, 30 games at a time! This load of crap includes "gems" such as Billy the Wizard, Action Girlz Racing, Earache: Extreme Metal Racing and Myth Makers Super Kart GP. Many of these games are just re-skinned versions of eachother, and they didn't even do well on the PS2. But oh no, Data Design believes we Wii owners must "experience" the "thrills" of their "all-star" lineup of software (Probably should've quoted that word, too, considering this junk barely qualifies as software). Gee, thanks, Data Design, I don't know what I would've done otherwise... Stab my face with a pitchfork, perhaps?
But, there is a silver lining to this thundercloud the size of Russia. A lot of the developers are learning what does and doesn't work on the Wii, which will lead to higher quality games down the line (Hopefully). So, for now, we'll just have to put on a smile, get down on our knees and eat some manure. But there'll always be a nice piece of high quality chocolate mixed in with the rest of the mess, and you'd better be sure to enjoy it. Eventually, we'll have gone through the manure, and it'll be nothing but fine chocolates from then on. Unless Data Design decides to take another nice steamy dump on our plate...
The Duck Has Spoken.
1 comment:
At this stage, I see these ports as a way to bridge the gap between more conventional systems like PS2 and Wii.
Obviously, especially in Far Cry's case, many of these ports shouldn't have happened. However, as you mentioned, ports like RE4: Wii Edition and The Godfather are excellent.
Plus, if the rumors of Killer7 hitting Wii are true, then Wii has a previously underappreciated gem added to its library that now gets another chance at success.
Thankfully, some ports on Wii have reduced price points, i.e. RE4. I think these price points definitely add value to these ports, and so not only is Wii getting more support through them, but they are also a value to the consumer who may have missed them previously.
At the same time, however, these price points also give the crappy ports another chance at commercial success. Despite this, however, at this point, it seems that the more titles, the merrier. That isn't to say I support half-assed ports, but they certainly do add more diversity to Wii's line-up, and I think that's most important at this stage.
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