The BIG Wii Voting Thread, Voting Wii-kly: Thanks For Voting!

No More Heroes

Points: 11
First places: 0



You say:
"A real gamer's game that just celebrates fun, never really cares about being appealing to the wider audience, it knows it's market and it sticks with them through to the end. Some of the most interesting characters you'll ever see just a shame roaming around the city was a bit dull."
"Stripped-back, super-stylish greatness. Watching my mate play my copy at a party and seeing the whole room look on in shock as he simulated having a tug to recharge Travis’ lightsaber remains my weirdest Wii memory."

I say: A sixth place? Is he mad!? Well, perhaps; but this got the same number of points as our fifth place offering, only losing out through lack of a first. Besides, it's a great, crazy game and my fifth: the assassins are bonkers, the combat works well enough, and the dullness of the outside world (grass-cutting, coconut hitting, and a suspiciously empty city) only serves to highlight that.

Bully: Scholarship Edition

Points: 11
First places: 1



You say:
"Ironically, Jimmy Hopkins was usually fighting for the benefit downtrodden classmates, despite what the game's title (and the press at the time of the PS2 release) suggests. A big environment to explore, loads of things to find, and a wonderfully realised, almost nostalgic simulator of school life through the eyes of a mischievous child from a troubled background.

The teachers were just as troubled as the students, the script was amusing, and it was great to break free of lessons to explore forbidden areas or simply run around and cause a bit of mayhem. Pity it didn't do great business for Rockstar in either of its incarnations."
"There are games that resonated with me far more deeply, but my main memory of this was just how much fun I found it to be. Brilliant on PS2, better on 360, a supernova of amazingness on Wii."

I say: Free-roaming GTA-esque gameplay isn't my sort of thing, and the aesthetics put me off; but I can understand the joy of being able to re-enact the trials of cliqueyness at secondary school as a videogame, where you can take them on and win, and can think of no one better suited to the challenge than Rockstar. Shame about the silly controversy though. It's like some of the journalists hadn't even played the game! Who'd have thought?

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption/Trilogy

Points: 22 (6 + 16)
First places: 0



You say:
"Honestly, if a few things were changed about Prime 3, it would get my top spot with no hassle. With the shooting aspect of this tightened up, it played like a dream. It felt great blasting Space Pirates out of the sky. For the most part, it kept that sense of isolation: exploring snowy ruins, Pirate infested bases, derelict spacecraft - it was all there. ... a solid solid game." (Corruption)
"Great value for money, The visuals are great and addition of Wii controls for all of the games included is a nice touch. While each game had a weakness, the combined forces of all three one one disk makes for a happy customer." (Trilogy)

I say: A tricky one to deal with, this. Had I been dealing with MP3C alone, it'd have got fifth place if that. The sense of immersion was shattered by the NPCs, bounty hunters and others alike (see dishonourable mentions); and puzzle solving and exploring were frequently shafted in favour of aping the Halo series. As it was, Trilogy ported the infinitely superior original and the still superior Echoes over as well. I've never played it, but I've played its component games, so it got my fourth place. Would have been higher were they not ports.

Okami

Points: 22
First places: 1



You say:
"You realise what sort of a generation of consoles it's been when this is only in my opinion the third best game of its genre. It reminds me a bit of Sky's naff period in the late 80s, when they used to show crappy kiddy cartoons produce in Japan (I don't know if you'd call them animés) - the countryside always looked so nice. And you need the Shinshú Field music."
"See wolf run. See wolf star in one of the most beautiful and complete games on the Wii. See red when the control issues made the console crash."

I say: Speaking of ports, here's one! Back in gen. 6 (I think? GC, XBox and PS2, anyway) there weren't many games I envied other console owners for getting access to, but this was one. And then we got it! With some of the worst controls in a Wii game, especially in combat. But they can't overshadow the story, the beauty, the music, the characters, the epic scale of my second-place vote. Not even having to fight the same boss thrice can do that.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Points: 33
First places: 3



You say:
"Marries the vibrancy of Wind Waker and the feel of Twilight Princess beautifully. I loved spotting the references to previous games in the series - a real nostalgia fest."
"The best use of Motion+ on wii and absolute joy to play like most Zelda games."
"Another good Zelda game, refreshing controls added some new ingenuity however this was to be a double edged sword. Late game bosses relied solely on sword-fighting and were comparably easy to other late game Zelda bosses. You gather up all of these items yet only use one in the final stint! Hero mode does make up for the lack of difficulty."

I say: From worst controls to best controls! Also, beautiful visuals, some great characters, Groose, a real challenge (what are you on about, third commentator?), and Groose. Let down majorly by the lack of exploration and variety, especially later on, and Fi. Brought back up again by Groose, and Ghirahim (Youtube in spoiler), to my third place:

Spoiler:

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Points: 38
First places: 6



You say:

• "Like Wii Sports, I'll forever associate this with some of the finest times I've had playing video games. Waking up on Christmas Day, following a muck-around on Wii Sports, this was what I sunk my teeth into. It's one of the few games I've played with such a strong sense of adventure. From the sleepy village at the beginning and herding goats, to the mystery of Faron Woods, then out to Hyrule Field and beyond, this was Zelda through and through. I don't want to take up too long talking about this - but it's my second favourite Zelda game, and that's more than enough to warrant the top spot here."
  
• "I know Skyward Sword was technically more proficient (the bloom looks outdated), but this, to me, feels more like a Zelda game. Still get goosebumps riding out into the biggest Hyrule Field ever, and it's still nice to see the kids in Kakriko are safe and well."
  
• "When I first played this game, I thought it pretty mediocre. The wolf form was an obsolete idea with no real context, the use of Midna commands to leap up massive structures just didn't seem right, however this is where my grievances end. The rest of the game was a solid outing, best controls over Link in his human form out of any Zelda which was further enhanced by the ability to learn new techniques from gold wolf dude. Oh and my personal favourite addition, the ability to swish your sword around before sheathing if you timed it right upon the defeat of an enemy."
  
• "Turned out to be more epic than it's E3 reveal with one of the more interesting stories in the series and characters such as Midna and Zant. The original elements were great too such as the spinner and ball and chain items."
  
• "Tons of cool gadgets, realistic graphics and some cracking dungeons, this is my favourite Zelda game and probaby my most played Wii game."
  
• "This is the biggie; I haven't played a Zelda game before or since that has the atmosphere of this game. What can I say? Hyrule appeared to be in such a sorry state that it begged to be rescued, Midna blossomed from irritating brat to loveable comrade, Link's arsenal was varied and generally enhanced by the Wii Remote, haring after Moblins on horseback was great fun, and the dungeons are some of the tightest I've seen since 2D Zelda was the standard. Every Nintendo gamer should check Twilight Princess out."

I say: It's ugly. Motion-controlled slashing feels imprecise. Colin. The Temple of Time's boss.

Yep, that just about covers the negatives. To put it simply, this is my favourite Zelda ever, even if I still think that it'd be better off as a GC game (making the graphics seem less outdated and getting rid of the dubious motion controls). Take one massive Hyrule full of characters and character, bring to the boil with a horse to ride over it and horseback swordfighting, simmer with unlockable sword moves making for brilliant combat, sprinkle over some of the best dungeons and items in the series (SPINNER SPINNER SPINNER SPINNER BATMAN), stir in the usual Zelda soundtrack (it's MIDI? Who cares), leave to cook for two years, and garnish with Midna. Result: my top vote. Good work, GNamers.

Cave Story, Endless Ocean, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: the Crystal Bearers, Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon, Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4, Lego Star Wars, Metroid: Other M, Mini Ninjas, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (WiiWare), Rabbids Go Home, Shiren the Wanderer (not released in the UK), Spectrobes Origins, Tomb Raider Anniversay ("make the main character more respectable and give her the voice of the person from Upstairs Downstairs")