The Video Game Critic's
Wii Reviews G-L

A barebones racer like this released so early in the Wii's life cycle suggests Ubisoft may have been simply trying to cash-in on the launch pandemonium. As a semi-realistic sports car racer, GT Pro isn't terrible, but it certainly is boring! It's hard to overlook its rudimentary graphics, which resemble something you'd see on the Playstation One - on a bad day! GT Pro's coarse scenery is lined with pixelated buildings, flat "trees", fences marred by ugly aliasing (jaggies), and flat "grass" composed of crude texture maps. For the cars, Ubisoft opted for a simple, cell-shaded approach, which was probably a good idea. There are over 80 customizable cars to choose from, but you'll want to resist the temptation of selecting the faster ones, at least at first. My friends and I made that mistake and found ourselves all over the road. Stick with something slower but with good handling. If you do, you'll find the steering controls to be respectable, with power-slides that result in a pleasant "sling-shot" effect. The black plastic steering wheel provides a comfortable shell for the controller, but it's not necessary at all. GT seems to have a nice "pick-up-and-play" quality at first, but as I advanced skill levels, I was faced with annoying "driver tests" required in order to earn my next "license". I really hate that. Advanced races aren't much more exciting that the early ones - just longer. After a while, racing around the same courses over and over again gets old, especially since tracks like "Thrilling Harbor" were never thrilling to begin with. I gave the four-player split-screen a try, but its degraded graphics and control made it a colossal bore. In terms of audio, GT Pro features some of the worst ever, with goofy background music that sounds like a record being played at the wrong speed. GT Pro may be passable for newer gamers with time to kill, but if you've already "been around the track" a few times, there's no good reason to travel this road. © Copyright 2007 The Video Game Critic.

What a coup it was for Nintendo to snag the definitive version of what is arguably the best game on the Xbox 360! The original Geometry Wars, downloadable from Xbox Live, is an Asteroids-on-steroids 2D shooter that perfectly blends spectacular visuals with classic arcade action. Galaxies expands the game to the n-th degree, incorporating a huge campaign mode that provides almost unlimited replayability. In case you're curious about the graphic quality, the Wii handles the space-bending vectors just fine. You might notice that your ship is slightly pixelated at first, but otherwise the graphics are just as mind-blowing as the original game. Geometry Wars' non-stop action involves blasting hundreds of floating geometric shapes as black holes crop up around the screen and wreak havoc with their gravitational fields. Your insane firepower creates a fireworks display of explosions that are a feast for the eyes. Whenever you destroy something, its point value appears right there on the screen. That's really satisfying, especially when these numbers reach the thousands and appear by the dozens. Galaxies' campaign mode features dozens of "missions" which tweak the game's formula in a number of imaginative ways. You'll contend with oversized shapes, floating barriers, bonus diamonds to gather up, and playing fields of various shapes. Another new feature is a helpful "drone" that floats by your ship, acting like a shield or providing auxiliary fire. There are actually eight selectable drone abilities for you to unlock and power-up to various degrees. Geometry War's pulsating techno soundtrack really helps you get "in the zone". Unlike the 360 version which could only save high scores on-line, Galaxies conveniently records all high scores (with initials) to your Wii. I guess Microsoft didn't have the technology to do that! Since the games tend to be short, trying to top your high scores is fun and addictive. The original Geometry Wars Evolved is also included, along with a number of two-player modes. One thing I can't emphasize enough is that you'll want to use a classic controller with this game, because the default Wii-mote/nunchuck configuration is awkward. The classic controller's dual joysticks make all the difference, although they are still a step down from the Xbox 360 controller. If you own a Wii, you need this game. Transcending time and space, Geometry Wars may be the ultimate pick-up-and-play shooter. © Copyright 2007 The Video Game Critic.

For long-time fans of light-gun shooters, a game like this might have you thinking that happy days are back again. Ghost Squad must have been created by the same people who did the Time Crisis games, because it has the same tight controls, mediocre graphics, and preposterous dialogue. You are a soldier in an elite military squad that "doesn't leave a trace". That's probably because all of your enemies disappear after you shoot them! The arcade mode's three missions take you into a villa, a jungle, and aboard a flying Air Force One. In the jungle stage you rescue a guy named Dr. Steve McCoy who looks like he's from the Planet of the Apes. When you rescue the President aboard Air Force One, he actually gives you a high-five! As with all light gun games, your movements are automatic as you view the action from a first-person perspective, although there are opportunities to select alternate routes. Ghost Squad's gameplay is basically "shoot or be shot", but take care not to blast hostages or members of your own squad. Most weapons fire in short bursts, and it doesn't take more than a shot or two to bring down most enemies. It's somewhat comical how a bad guy will slide right in front of you and sit there for a second, giving you a chance to shoot him in the face. Also funny is how 20 enemies will emerge from a small room or from behind a table (the term "clown car" comes to mind). A large aiming reticule is visible by default, but you can turn it off, which I would recommend for a more realistic, satisfying experience. After all, you don't get a reticule when you shoot at people in real life! I like the way you shake your controller to reload. Occasionally the game will prompt you to perform special tasks like sniping, knife fighting, or disarming a bomb. The responsiveness and accuracy of the controls is excellent, but the missions are cookie-cutter in design and you'll want to skip the boring cut-scenes every time. The heart of the game is the arcade mode, but its progression is very confusing. You get unlimited continues - until you reach a boss. Is there any penalty for using continues? Who knows. Your progress is not saved unless you play through all three scenarios or fail to continue. Would it be too much to have a save option between missions? The manual clarifies some things, but an arcade game like this shouldn't be so complicated. Once you begin completing the missions, you'll unlock alternate versions of the stages and comical features. It doesn't seem like Sega put a lot of effort into Ghost Squad, but at its core, it's still the mindless light-gun action we all know and love. © Copyright 2008 The Video Game Critic.

This preschool adventure plays much differently than its Nintendo DS cousin, but is every bit as entertaining. Go Diego Go Safari Rescue is a simple side-scroller with inviting visuals, intuitive motion controls, and a gentle learning curve. It's actually two games in one: Safari Rescue and Safari Racing. Safari Rescue is a lengthy quest in which our young Hispanic hero saves animals in peril with the help of his cub sidekick. You'll rescue lost cubs, feed a hungry ostrich, and save elephants that have been turned to stone by an evil magician. The game begins with simple challenges like running down pathways and jumping over rocks, but gradually becomes more involved. In time, Diego will hop on trampolines, ride down zip-lines, swing on vines (Pitfall style) and even hang-glide over river valleys. The "mud board" sequences even have a slight Tony Hawk vibe (very slight). The motion controls aren't integral to the game, but they make it more involving as you shake trees, bang on drums, and dig holes. A small diagram in the corner of the screen makes it clear what movements are expected. Safari Rescue has ample variety and would probably even be enjoyable for adults if it offered any challenge at all. The characters are rendered as cartoons, but the layered backdrops look like hand-drawn illustrations. The game automatically saves your progress frequently, and there's even an option to let a parent "help out" using the second controller! Now that is a good idea! The Rescue mode alone would have been good enough to warrant a purchase, but then there's the Safari Race mode that lets two players go head-to-head in jeeps, hang gliders, canoes, or on elephants. Go Diego Go was good on the DS, but this slick Wii edition is far more engaging and offers substantially more replay value. © Copyright 2008 The Video Game Critic.

I knew House of the Dead 2 was great when I played it on the Dreamcast in 1999, but little did I know I was playing the best light-gun game ever! It perfectly combines pulse-pounding zombie shooting action, amazing eye candy, and a unique tongue-in-cheek style. House of the Dead 2 is set in an old city with water canals (not unlike Venice), and its narrow walkways and antiquated buildings provide rich, claustrophobic environments. The memorable cast of creeps includes axe-throwing zombies, overweight chainsaw-toting ghouls, and slimy water creatures. Interesting bosses include a headless knight and a leaping lizard whose chest conveniently opens to expose his beating heart. The shooting action is terrific fun, and it's especially satisfying to blow holes in a zombie's head and chest. There are even alternate paths that branch when you shoot strategic targets. The dialogue is absolutely absurd, but it's also one of the more endearing qualities of the game. Memorable lines include "Suffer like G did?", "Don't come! Don't come!", and "Thank you for rescuing me!" House of the Dead 2 has aged like wine, and this Wii edition is dead-on. You can turn the crosshair on or off, and either option works well. House of the Dead 3 is also a fine game, although it can't quite match its predecessor. Its industrial locations are ho-hum, and the visuals look somewhat cartoonish. There are no weapon upgrades like a machine gun, but the default shotgun is pretty awesome. I like how you only have to aim offscreen to reload - not shoot. If only the original House of the Dead had been included with this package, it might have been an A+. © Copyright 2008 The Video Game Critic.

If there was one board game that begged for a video game adaptation, it was not Jenga. I've been a fan of the actual game for years, but I've always associated it with rowdy social events and heavy alcohol consumption (not that I would ever condone rowdy social events). The game is played with a stack of rectangular wooden blocks. Players take turns pulling a block out of the tower, placing it on the top. As the tower becomes taller, it grows unstable, and the player who makes it fall is crowned the loser. So what's the point of playing Jenga on your Wii? Well, it's the same reason why people play Chess on their computer - it's the ability to compete against the CPU. You don't need anybody around to play Jenga World Tour, and you can adjust the skill level as high as you want. Even so, reviewing Jenga World Tour required a lot of patience. The controls are so inordinately complicated that I couldn't even make it through the damned tutorial! The B button is used to "tap" loose blocks (which are outlined in green) and A is used to "grab" and carefully perform the extraction. It's hard to judge the depth of your disembodied hand, but you do have full control of the camera via the analog stick. Once I got a feel for it, the game isn't so bad. It's kind of cool how you can yank a piece with a jerk of the wrist, and the game mirrors your precise movements as you set the piece back on top of the pile. When playing the CPU, his moves are executed without delay, so there's never a lull in the action. The World Tour mode provides a steady progression of challenges, and I really dig the scenery and relaxing music. The first stage is set in a high-rise apartment at night, and you can view a beautiful city skyline through the window. An arcade mode lets you play Jenga for score, and it spices up the action with random factors like earthquakes (shakes the tower), ice (no friction when removing block), and vines (locks some blocks into place). Jenga World Tour is not for those with short attention spans, and arcade-minded gamers will absolutely hate it. But if you're looking for a calmer, more relaxing video game experience, Jenga World Tour might be worth a look. © Copyright 2008 The Video Game Critic.

As a fan of Wave Race (Nintendo 64, 1996) and Hydro Thunder (Dreamcast, 1999), the idea of a Wii jet ski game had me frothing at the mouth like a rabid dog in a Snausage factory. It didn't take long to realize however that Kawasaki Jet Ski is another case of Wii shovel-ware - a disposable title if I ever saw one. Do they really think people are gullible enough to spend money on this?! Oh wait… Anyway, I had played Carve (Xbox, 2003) shortly before reviewing this, and believe it or not, that five-year-old game was far more advanced! Kawasaki Jet Ski's graphics are rudimentary, with plain environments and water that looks like glass. Despite exotic locations like Venice and Thailand, the scenery conveys a complete lack detail and imagination. The controls are extremely touchy and the framerate is erratic, resulting in wild oversteering. Upon going airborne, you jet ski floats unnaturally, occasionally stopping and then lurching forward for no apparent reason. When you become stuck in a corner (a common occurrence), you'll need to hit a special button to reset your jet ski, since there's no reverse. Glitches abound in the audio, which is otherwise a headache-inducing din of motors. There's no commentator, but I did hear a voice say "Good!" when I came in last. But the worst aspect of the game is its atrocious course designs. Instead of cruising the open waters of a tropical paradise, you tediously navigate narrow canals with one abrupt 90-degree turn after the next. It's hard to tell where you're supposed to go! And get this - the difficulty levels are reversed, so the "easy" level is treacherous and the "hard" level is slow and forgiving! Kawasaki Jet Ski is a real hatchet job. Adding insult to injury, the loading process makes you sit through no less less than five logo screens. Did these companies really want to take credit, or were they just trying to spread the blame?? © Copyright 2008 The Video Game Critic.

Submitted by RPG correspondent Jonathan Hawk
Nintendo promised an engaging, fresh, satisfying Zelda game, and that's precisely what we got - albeit a year late. Twilight Princess is a darker-themed visit to the Zelda universe - the first Zelda rated "T for Teen". Set in an immersive world and armed with a brilliant storyline, Princess delivers on most if not all expectations. As the story goes, a supernatural "Twilight" plane is creeping across the land of Hyrule, and Link must banish it while seeking powerful relics to defeat the evil Zant. In the twilight universe, Link takes the form of the wolf, and once the twilight is banished from the area, he reassumes human form. Wolf Link cannot use items, but he gains the ability to dig and use extra senses that let him detect scent trails and ghosts. The puzzles and dungeons are expertly designed, and some are very challenging. Boss fights tend to be standard Zelda fare, where you use a newly acquired item in a cunning way to attack the boss' weak spot. A stunning selection of side-quests and mini games are also available if you have the time. For the most part, the Wii controls are intuitive and comfortable. The game retains its lock-on mechanism from past titles, and camera angles are easily adjustable. I like how the camera positions itself directly behind you when you lock onto an enemy. Using the bow, grappling hook, and similar items is a breeze using the Wii remote's on-screen pointer. The only difficulty I experienced was that sometimes the nun-chuck registered a forward push (shield bash) as a shake from side-to-side (Link's spin attack). There are a few differences between the Gamecube and Wii versions, both for better and worse. The graphics, which are perfectly attractive, look almost identical on both systems, so I don't think it's wise to say that this game is a great benchmark for the Wii's capabilities. The art style is brilliant however, even if the graphics aren't bleeding edge. Cut scenes are rendered using the game engine and most are skippable. The music features some old favorites and many new themes. Some audio effects are played through the Wii remote's speaker, which unfortunately sounds a little tinny and shallow. All in all, Nintendo shipped a shining example of how an adventure game should play. If you're ready to invest 50 hours of gameplay to complete eight dungeons and save Hyrule, pony up 50 bucks and enjoy a great addition to the Zelda legacy. Only a few minor hindrances keep this from an A+. VGC Note: The graphics in this Wii editon are "mirrored" from the GameCube edition, so a road that heads left in one will head right in the other. © Copyright 2007 The Video Game Critic.

Indiana Jones is a pretty natural fit for the Lego games. Not only did the original trilogy offer plenty of exotic locations, but Indy usually had a sidekick or two, making it conducive to Lego's brand of tag-team action. The environments themselves are not composed of Legos, and look fairly realistic. From the blowing snow of the mountain stage to the rainy, neon-lit streets of Shanghai, the scenery looks exceptionally good. Casual gamers can breeze right through the three stories, but dedicated gamers will want to uncover all of the hidden secrets in each level. It sounds like a winner, but Lego Indiana Jones isn't as fun as you might expect. The stages are inspired by movie locations, but some are very extended and tend to wear out their welcome. Each room has its own set of puzzles, which often involve repairing machinery, operating elevators, turning keys, and standing on buttons. The game constantly nudges you along, highlighting items of interest with spotlights and white arrows. The platform jumping tends to be forgiving, but there's no camera control and some jumps are very hard to judge. As with the Star Wars Lego titles, you can destroy just about any object composed of Legos. This causes "cogs" to spill out, generating those "tic tic tic" sounds as you collect them. Although fun at first, destroying every last pot or table to maximize your score becomes tiresome after a while, and the constant explosive sounds are headache inducing. The fighting action isn't much fun at all. Unlike the bright laser blasts of the Star Wars games, the bullets here are hard to see, and you'll often fall to pieces without knowing what hit you. There's little technique involved in fighting, and since Indy always regenerates, there's little challenge either. You'd expect the controls to be simple as can be, but I never felt comfortable with them. It's very easy to get the Z and B buttons confused. Z is normally used to manipulate items, but can also attack with your whip. The C doubles as "get in vehicle" and "switch character", and it doesn't always do what you intend. I deliberately purchased the Wii edition of this game for ability to swing Indy's whip via motion control, but the thrill is fleeting. The game's musical score is first-rate, and the mildly amusing cut-scenes try to water down the more graphic parts of the films. There's an auto-save feature, but even when you complete a stage, it doesn't save until you continue, so don't be too quick to hit the power button. I hate to rain on the parade, but I found Lego Indiana Jones to be only moderately fun, and boring at times. It's interesting to see the game's interpretation of the films' scenes, but after a while you feel like you're just going through the motions. © Copyright 2008 The Video Game Critic.

It's amazing how much mileage Nintendo has gotten out of Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess (Gamecube, 2006). First they release a slightly modified version for the Wii with mirrored graphics and motion controls, and now we get a target shooter with recycled enemies and stages! It's all good though, because Twilight Princess provides an excellent backdrop with its soaring waterfalls, serene villages, dusty ghost towns, and haunted castles. Of course the main purpose of Link's Crossbow Training is to introduce the Nintendo Zapper, which is packaged with the game. The Zapper is actually little more than a plastic shell that lets you attach a Wii-mote and nun-chuck (with some difficulty) to form something that looks vaguely like a gun (well it does have a trigger). You don't need the Zapper to play, and I'm sure many gamers will be happy to ditch the thing. Despite the gimmick factor, Crossbow Training proves to be remarkably entertaining. There are nine levels with three stages each, and scoring is key to winning medals and unlocking new levels. The game effectively uses "multipliers" to increases point values based on how many targets you can hit in a row. You'll also score more for hitting the bullseye of targets. It's easy to aim thanks to the large crosshair and fine degree of control. In addition to shooting spiders, trolls, fish, and skeletons, you can also take out pots, barrels, and scarecrows in the background for extra points. There's always something to aim for so there's never a dull moment. In some stages Link is surrounded by converging monsters (tracked via a radar display) and in other stages you wander around freely (using the analog thumbstick) to hunt down a certain number of enemies within a time limit. The game is undeniably fun, but I did notice a slight case of "lag" associated with moving the crosshair across the screen. Also, the multiplayer modes only support alternating turns. Even so, for a game so simple and plain, Link's Crossbow Training is a hell of a lot of fun. You won't want to play it for hours on end, but if you pull it out every once in a while, you'll always have a good time. © Copyright 2008 The Video Game Critic.