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Nintendo Wii U

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TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap

TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap

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Excessive handholding, endless backtracking, multiple repeated bossfights, endless fetchquests through endlessly repeated areas just for the sake of drawing it out, the most annoying sidekick in ages who tells you every solution to every puzzle and tells you to take a rest and that your batteries run out and terrible pacing. It takes about 4 hours to get going, then it's pretty good and then it gets tedious and by the time you think you're almost there there's more fetching and stuff to be done.

I got sick of it and gave up even though the finish was in sight. I just couldn't be arsed anymore.

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utopastac

utopastac

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Wait Skyward Sword is shit? I just picked up a copy thinking it was going to be great to play a (new to me) Zelda - what's wrong with it? Is it just shit relative to other Zelda's ?

Divisive. I loved it, minor annoyances aside. It's not a great deal like OOT, so if that's what you're expecting, then it might not work for you. Each area is more like an isolated playground / dungeon rather than a whole overworld - the dungeons blend into the environments. Backtracking / fetching seems to be a bugbear with people on here regarding the game, but I barely noticed it whilst playing. It certainly doesn't take very long to do the times you have to do it.

It has some of the best areas in any Zelda game, especially late on, the swordplay is excellent, it has a great style and is charming as ever.

The things I found irritating were more 'admin', things they should have got rid of - delays when talking to NPCs, people saying the same things through unskippable animations. The kind of thing that's been in all of the 3D Zeldas.

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SMD

SMD

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Wait Skyward Sword is shit? I just picked up a copy thinking it was going to be great to play a (new to me) Zelda - what's wrong with it? Is it just shit relative to other Zelda's ?

It's not shit at all, it just hasn't really progressed much in relation to what people expect from adventure games.

It'll be pretty much what you expect from a Zelda game. At the very least it's tailored for the Wii rather than shoehorned like TP and the art style masks the deficiencies of the system quite well. There's a lot of 'asset recycling' so if that's something that bothers you then it'll make the experience jarring.

For what it's worth, I enjoyed it despite constantly having to recalibrate the Wiimote + and the lack of openness earlier Zeldas had.

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SMD

SMD

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I suppose after two weeks of the Wii U it's fair to give our initial reviews for anyone who's still on the fence regarding a Christmas purchase.

The Console

It's not very big. It's got the same finish as the Wii but the edges are more rounded. The clips to make it stand vertically seem okay, I put them on as soon as I got it and haven't moved the console since.

The Gamepad

I love it. It feels good to hold and when you play a game that mirrors, it's hard not to be drawn to the controller rather than the telly. The buttons and sticks do feel sturdy, it's noticeably different to the 360 buttons and sticks but not in a way that it feels completely different like the PS3 controller. The stylus is great, better than the 3DS one in my opinion, and I haven't had any issues using the touch screen.

The accessories

The cables you get with your Wii U are usual Nintendo quality. If you had a Wii then they're almost exactly the same. The HDMI cable is pretty decent, feels better than your Poundland variety and comes in the same style as Nintendo AV cables, if you're fussy about that sort of thing. Ditto for the charging cradle and power supply for the pad. Haven't really used the stand yet but it's there if you need it. Seems like Monster Hunter will make the greatest use of it in the near future. Sensor bar is sensor bar.

The UI

Makes a mockery of the Xbox Live dash in its current incarnation. No ads, everything is centred around your games and friends. It's not as fluid as the XMB on the PS3 but it's certainly a lot more interesting to look at. The speed of it is certainly still an issue post update, it's not instant to load and if you switch back and forth regularly then it'll be a pain in the hoop. It's also slightly confusing at first what everything does. Miiverse isn't very obvious and two different ways of adding friends is a bit daft if you've not got parental controls on.

The ability to have Miiverse available at any time, as well as the browser or any other permanent facet of the OS is brilliant, though. What it lacks in speed it makes up for in versatility. Nintendo had the right idea with the 3DS but it's actually executed well here.

The eShop

Much derided and deservingly so. Nintendo finally figured out how to sort out the layout after the debacle that was the 3DS offering. Except there's only one demo. And you can only launch it 10 times. Oh, Nintendo. Also the NNID you create upon connecting to the internet is tied to the machine it's created on and there's no provision for what happens if you have more than one Wii U and would like to share your purchases. Also Wii VC and Wiiware games are only available in Wii mode, which means you can't use the Gamepad and you certainly can't guarantee they'll also move across if your Wii U dies.

I don't think I even need to mention the 18+ shenanigans...

The games

I only have Nintendo Land and New Super Mario Bros U. Both are utterly fantastic. Nintendo Land is great fun in multiplayer and NSMBU genuinely feels like a successor to Super Mario World. Neither game have online multiplayer but the Miiverse integration means you don't feel alone. I've heard good things about Zombi U but alas it'll have to wait. Also on the horizon that looks exciting are Pikmin 3, The Wonderful 101, Bayonetta 2 and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate.

By and large I've enjoyed my Wii U. It's certainly a great complement to the other consoles and with Wii BC, you can catch up on any games you might've missed out on. At £300 for the Premium bundle, it's a little on the expensive side whether it's your main console or to supplement your 360/PS3/PC. The digital revolution still seems to pass Nintendo by and without having any online games, I can't tell you what the multiplayer is like.

The overall package is pretty well done, day one update aside. It doesn't feel cheap or flimsy and in fairness there are a lot of neat touches. It's just that quite clearly Nintendo haven't bothered to ape anything their competitors are doing so they're building on their own lessons rather than everyone else's.

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NEG

NEG

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I'd rather the next WiiU Zelda was more like it than see a remake. I wasn't keen on WW because after the 'darkness' of MM WindWaker was too far the otherway. TP was too big with too little going on and Skyward Sword was rubbish.

Hear hear!

Edit: The most criminal aspects of Skyward is the linearity, no world to explore, re-use of the 3 areas constantly, and the repeat of bosses. 3 times in some cases. When a full fledged Zelda dungeon has the balls to re-use the same boss of earlier, you can't help feel somethings wrong.

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Fatsam

Fatsam

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What's up with fighting bosses more than once?

2 are different each time. Like fighting Baddie Bowser more than once. It's good fun game design. The Imprisoned fights also have that other amazing element to them, that I don't want to mention in case it spoils it for someone who hasn't played the game yet.

And then one other boss is repeated I think, which might have been done to show you how more powerful you are, as I remember despatching it swiftly the second occasion.

The bosses are really bloody excellent. It's an area where both Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess comfortably better previous Zeldas.

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SMD

SMD

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Oh, Nintendo.

If you don't do a system transfer, you can't access any of the Wii channels in Wii mode. Stuff like Internet Channel is pointless but this means no Nintendo Channel, no Mii Plaza, no Everybody Votes, etc.

And no, they're unavailable from the Wii Shop channel. I'd understand if there were Wii U versions making them redundant but they're not out yet so...why?

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Not Thread Owner

Not Thread Owner

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360 and PC have the same dev tools, not the same architecture. Like how you could develop stuff in Xcode for both PPC and Intel Macs.

IIRC, the Wii U/Wii/GC processor line is similar to the 360's PPC one in terms of architecture.

Mind you, so is the PS3 as Cell is related to PPC too...

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gone fishin

gone fishin

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The Wii uses an IBM Power PC processor (Broadway), based on the Gekko power Pc processor used in the Wii. And now the Wii U uses the latest version of the same power Pc architecture.

Basically, Microsoft went to IBM to develop a similar processor for the 360, the xenon, instead of an Intel processor like the original Xbox.

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NEG

NEG

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What's up with fighting bosses more than once?

2 are different each time. Like fighting Baddie Bowser more than once

No, I wouldn't say fighting Bowser the same exact way more then once is brilliant design either.

The point of Zelda dungeons generally is to make use of equipment you got from that dungeon. A fair share in Skyward are simply reliant on sword-fighting. Adding the same visual boss several times into the mix only makes it even less interesting and dull.

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scottcr

scottcr

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No, I wouldn't say fighting Bowser the same exact way more then once is brilliant design either.

The point of Zelda dungeons generally is to make use of equipment you got from that dungeon. A fair share in Skyward are simply reliant on sword-fighting. Adding the same visual boss several times into the mix only makes it even less interesting and dull.

This is not true.

It's also about showing your progress as a swordsman... I thought the first Girahim fight was really really hard because I was trying to play it as a 'press A to swipe'. By the end of the game you're an expert swordsman that's shown not just in cooler things happening when you press A but in how you weild your sword itself.

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