Metroid was a great game, but the controls took me a good while to get used to. I eventually ended up on the high sensitivity option, but I need to rest the remote on my lap to aim accurately.
If you don't like Super Mario Galaxy you don't like video games period, or you are like 10 years old and all you know is FPSs and Guitar Hero.
That, or you have an issue with Super Mario Galaxy's flaws (lack of an interesting story especially when compared to other games on the market, bad camera, so-so controls, etc.).
Lack of interesting story? I was thinking "Do away with the story, I don't care! I just want to play the game, this isn't Final Fantasy"
Most of the AAA games today at least attempt to have an interesting narrative. 10 years ago, it may have been OK to go without one, but I'd like a little more in my games these days. Otherwise, it basically seems like just the same game with new levels, better graphics, etc. (which wouldn't fly with other franchises). Just my opinion of course, and I understand that I'm in the minority here.
quite a bit in the minority actually. I suppose I can understand the story thing I suppose though you must excuse that in quite a few other games, but your other criticisms are pretty far off the mark from most folks. Its too bad you couldn't enjoy it.
I don't really excuse it in many other games, although I can sometimes understand it (puzzle/racing/sports/etc. games don't usually use stories, or at least no one has figured out a way to do so successfully, unlike games similar to SMG). As for my other criticisms, I seriously hope no one liked the camera in SMG. It wasn't much of a factor on the smaller worlds, but it REALLY hindered the game in some of the bigger worlds IMO. Considering the type of game SMG is, it is important that you can see everything you need to see (and have a good, consistent view of it), and that wasn't always the case unfortunately. I know I wasted a lot of time thanks to the poor camera. Maybe it does it better than most other comparable games, but I'm not going to give it kudos for that. The controls thing is probably a bit more personal, and even then, it probably didn't hurt the game too much I admit. Nevertheless, I would have preferred the option to use motion controls in some levels (R&C spoiled me here). Seemed forced rather than an actual good implementation of the technology IMO. I'm not sure I've shared the popular opinion in a while given my opinions on COD4, BioShock, SMG, etc.
SMG cameras were only a problem to me during flying and some worlds. The controls were simple and fine...they know they don't need gimmick waggles to make a great game. I've already beaten Bowser, but I still need like, 30 stars. Woot, more playing time!
Maybe it's related to your general lack of experience with platformers? How far did you eventually get before returning the game? I would hardly call SMG's camera bad. In fact, that it didn't frustrate me like Sunshine did was a big plus for me. God that game's camera pissed me off. I very, very rarely had problems with Galaxy's camera. I also don't think in many of the reviews I read was the camera a huge problem. Not perfect, but hardly game breaking. Had it been bad, the game wouldn't have received the scores it got, I would think. The Wii controls were also quite seamless IMO and pretty widely liked in reviews, as well, IIRC. Also: out of curiosity, did you get a Wii for Christmas or something? Never sounded like you would pick one up.
A game that uses the remote well? Get Elebits. Simple, fun and extensive use of the remote. havent played live, but madden...it is very easy, and i think, much more fun. i only had a camera issue a couple of times on galaxy. So-so controls? interesting story? That's hilarious. It's FREAKING MARIO. Guess what...you have to rescue the princess! Rich. Still the best game out in several years and certainly runs circles around anything on the other current consoles. BUt there always has to be a party pooper that goes against the vast majority.
I doubt it. I'm pretty sure I've played enough games with platforming elements (GOW, Uncharted, R&C, BG&E, even some FPS games, etc). I used that as an excuse early on, but I'm not sure exactly how much influence it really has (I'm sure it has some, but I was probably overstating it). Something like 65-70 stars IIRC, and I beat Bowser (got to the credits). If you had any problems with the camera, then I'd already call it flawed. I probably only died or took damage due to the camera maybe 3-5 times (although there were several near-misses), but that was enough to get me frustrated. One example that stands out in my mind is the one level with the floating platforms and Thwomps (with holes on one side that you have to get under) moving around. I was running along the platforms, and for some reason the camera decided to show only 2-3 feet of space in front of me, but everything behind me. Because of that, I only had a split second to dodge the Thwomp that was coming my direction. Had to start the level over because of that. There were also several moments where I guess I threw off the camera because I backtracked a bit. I think Nintendo made sure that no enemies would spawn in certain "blindspots" during normal play, but all rules are off if you do a bit of backtracking (to get stars, coins, whatever) that they probably didn't think much about. Won't even get into talking about the flying/underwater aspects of the game, or the moments where I would simply prefer a better camera (just because you don't die doesn't mean the camera is doing its job). I had bad feelings about the camera as soon as I played the game and realized that you couldn't really control it. Well, you could technically switch to different viewpoints with the d-pad, but it seemed like that was disabled half the time (or made the camera worse). I sorted of looked out for problem areas because of this, which probably isn't fair. Nevertheless, I think a game like this needs a 3D controllable camera, at least for the majority of the game. That, or it needs to be flawless so that the player won't be blaming the developers/game for his/her frustration. I think others are just being more forgiving than I am, which I suppose is understandable given that I had little interest in finishing the game (so the camera's flaws hurt worse). Perhaps bad may not be the right word, although I think that if you're going to go with this sort of camera system, it is either perfect or bad. Nothing really in-between. Even then, I can't really recall having near as many issues with the camera in most of the recent games I've played, so I would tend to think the camera in SMG would at least be below average (again, maybe it isn't as terrible as similar games, but I'm not giving it kudos for that). FWIW, the camera didn't kill the game for me. As I sort of mentioned, if they had made it interesting to actually play and finish the game for me, I probably would have enjoyed the game (don't exactly hate it as is, just didn't love it). The camera would probably have to be centered and zoomed in on Mario's foot for it to be game-breaking, or something like that. I didn't really have much problem with the standard controls (they actually were pretty good IMO). I just didn't like some of the levels that forced you to use the motion controls. The Ray racing and Monkey Ball-esque levels stand out to me. I've seen worse implementation of this kind of thing, but these implementations didn't really improve control IMO (sometimes made it worse actually IMO). R&C had similar implementation IIRC, which as in SMG, I didn't really have too many problems completing, but they didn't really enhance the gameplay (and probably made it slightly worse). Playing w/o motion sensing improved the gameplay in some of these aspects of R&C IMO, and I would have liked that option in SMG as well. The controls for swimming and flying seemed a bit more complex than they had to be (compared to other games), although I can't recall if it was the camera or the controls that really bothered me. Either way, it made me try to avoid levels that involved this kind of stuff. BTW, I don't particularly care what the common opinion was in the reviews for the game. As I mentioned, I've already disagreed with the majority of reviews for many other games this year (except for maybe Yahtzee's BioShock review...I think maybe he's having a bad influence over me ). Probably would have been better had I just not played it. The game obviously wasn't for me (I barely care about the things it does "right", and I have issues with the things it does "wrong"). It's technically a "family gift" from my dad for Christmas. My two sisters each have familes (2 kids each), and we all meet up at my parents' house a lot. Why did it sound like I would never pick one up? I'm pretty sure I expressed interest in getting one in the past. Pretty sure I even said something about getting a PS3 and/or Wii by the end of 2007 actually. I don't like a lot of things about the Wii (or Nintendo's philosophies I guess), but I still had some desire to get one for some of the games that would be releasing on it. Plus, I wanted to get the family into games, and the PC/PS3 isn't quite as good as the Wii in the category. I personally would have preferred it if my dad waited until 2008 to get one since he overpaid for it though. Or at least he could have let me known about it ahead of time so that he wouldn't have to overpay for it.
I thought the monkeyball and mantaray surfing were fun because they were a lot more challenging than just using your thumb on a stick again for the millionth time. I didn't know that the point of the Wii remote was to make things easier, I thought it was to try something new and different.
Hmm. Never had that problem. I only mentioned your lack of experience with platformers because you stated such. If your last real experience with a platformer was Mario 64 - which was pretty much the first 3D platformer - then I'd say it has been a while. I really wouldn't say the 'platforming elements' in those other games really qualify though. Most of those simply come down to making a jump or not. I just didn't have many of the problems playing (and having to restart in) the game you seem to (neither did the majority of folks, I guess). No big deal, some games just aren't 'for' some people, as you said. Yeah, I don't agree with that at all, particularly in a game with so many different elements/experiences. Agree to disagree I suppose. And I wasn't a big fan of the manta stuff, but the Monkey ball like levels were spot on. Amazingly precise, in fact - I went in expecting them to be a pain in the ass but the controls are excellent. Made me wish all monkey ball type games used that control. In any case, good to see you at least have a different system to play around with nowadays.
Hmm. Never had that problem. I only mentioned your lack of experience with platformers because you stated such. If your last real experience with a platformer was Mario 64 - which was pretty much the first 3D platformer - then I'd say it has been a while. I really wouldn't say the 'platforming elements' in those other games really qualify though. Most of those simply come down to making a jump or not. I just didn't have many of the problems playing (and having to restart in) the game you seem to (neither did the majority of folks, I guess). No big deal, some games just aren't 'for' some people, as you said. Yeah, I don't agree with that at all, particularly in a game with so many different elements/experiences. Agree to disagree I suppose. And I wasn't a big fan of the manta stuff, but the Monkey ball like levels were spot on. Amazingly precise, in fact - I went in expecting them to be a pain in the ass but the controls are excellent. Made me wish all monkey ball type games used that control. In any case, good to see you at least have a different system to play around with nowadays.
How anyone can have a problem with SMG is beyond me. I've got just over 100 stars now, and I still feel the game is as addictive and fantastic now as it was when I first started. Oh well. Different strokes for different folks.
Ideally, it would be both. I think early on, developers certainly embraced the idea of using motion sensing to give us something new and different. But most of those implementation weren't very fun (see "swinging" the Sixaxis as a bat in MLB2K7). I don't necessarily mind developers trying these things, although I'd prefer the option to choose in most of these cases. I usually prefer implementations that shake things up, but make things easier overall. Some implementations in SMG were like this (like the spin-move in most cases), and other games use similar implementations (liked Folklore's Sixaxis implementation especially). So far, Metroid seems to be the case as well...actually, it might be making things slightly more difficult, but I sort of enjoy going through the motions. Hopefully it stays that way. Thinking it might have been bad timing on my part (not that this excuses the camera though). I think the next time I got to that part of the level, the Thwomp was further along and not hidden by the camera. Of course, I knew then where it should be, so I might be remembering wrong. I tried to use that as an excuse since I couldn't really explain at the time why I wasn't really enjoying the game. In reality, looking at the list of decent platformers released since Mario 64, the ones I probably only really missed out on were Sly Cooper and Pychonauts (yeah, I'll get to it eventually ). I didn't really love them, but I played a lot of a few R&C/Jak games on the PS2 (didn't beat them though, so I don't normally say much about them...that and I played more of Jak than R&C). I also played a lot of platformers after Mario 64 that I thought were released prior to it for some reason (Spyro, Crash, Gex, etc.). Not that most of these are that memorable though, which is why I tend to say Mario 64 was the last real platformer I played. I felt as though the manta levels were much worse, so in a way we might be somewhat in agreement here. I'll admit that I haven't actually played much of the SMB games (or clones) including the Wii version, so I don't know how those controlled. I didn't really have a problem with the implementation in R&C, but I felt slightly better without it. I'm just assuming that would be the case in SMG as well. I'm starting to lose faith in using motion sensing for controls like this though. That probably doesn't help keep me 100% impartial on things like this (I'll generally not be in favor).
