Deadly Creatures
How many games give you control over spiders and scorpions? Exactly! And that’s why you should give Deadly Creatures a chance, even with its cheesy name. In Deadly Creatures (“DC” as I will refer to it from now on), you are given the opportunity to play as both a spider and scorpion via a third-person view. Both creatures feature strengths and weaknesses which force players to utilize different strategies depending on which one is being controlled. The scorpion, for example, is slow but powerful; whereas the spider is the quicker of the two and can also use its web to subdue foes and access out-of-reach locations. The animations of the creatures are also very fluid and impressive. DC even features some impressive talent behind the scenes such as Billy Bob Thornton who provides the voice for one of the human characters in the storyline. Overall, DC should not be overlooked. It certainly won’t win any “Game of the Year” awards for 2009, but in my opinion it’s one of the Wii’s first sleeper hits of 2009 because it focuses on a concept not often targeted in video games and does its well.
MadWorld
Without a doubt one of the Wii’s goriest games yet, MadWorld is like a modern-day, heavily stylized version of “Smash T.V.” The concept is simple but intriguing: You’re a participant in a violent television show and are tasked with killing as many “enemies” as possible. The visual style is coated in black and white except for blood, which shows up in bright red amidst the otherwise colorless world, and there are lots of bad guys and ways to dispose of them so you can expect to see plenty of the red stuff being splattered everywhere. The main character is also armed with a chainsaw that is practically attached to his arm (a throwback to Evil Dead?), so I’m sure you can imagine just how gruesome it can become. Keeping the game fresh will be numerous creative ways to kill opponents, such as sawing them in half and even shoving street signs through their heads. What I’ve explained above is pretty much MadWorld in a nutshell. If it sounds simplistic that’s because, for the most part, it is. But when the game plays well, adds in some dark humor, and offers a boatload of violent entertainment, what’s not to like about it? Prepare to hear from enraged parents this March when the game is released.
The Conduit
You’d figure that on paper the Wii, with its point-and-shoot control scheme, would be perhaps the greatest console out there for shooters. Unfortunately, this hasn’t exactly been the case. It all went downhill from the time Red Steel launched alongside the Wii itself and flopped harder than a catfish jumping out of an airplane, as it not only played poorly but also looked outdated and was not near as immersive as it was made out to be. Thanks to some solid efforts from games such as Metroid Prime and even Medal of Honor Heroes, the Wii’s first-person shooter scene has actually had its successes; but it still hasn’t quite scored the killer app it needs in order to “raise the bar.” At least until now, it seems. The Conduit is one of the most impressive upcoming shooters the Wii has to offer. Not only does the game look fantastic thanks to the fresh game engine that utilizes bump-mapping, depth of field, and other effects, but it also offers tons of customization for controls and even online multiplayer. The customizable controls – right down to being able to tweak the size of the screen’s bounding box and even the location of HUD elements – mean that anyone should be able to tweak the game for maximum efficiency. The impressive visuals and awesome looking alien-ish enemies and weapons are also a breath of fresh air. Finally, the multiplayer component will feature both online play and the capability to use the Wii Speak device in order to chat with other players in-game. There’s far too much to say about this game in a tiny summary such as this, but you should come to expect big things from The Conduit when it releases this year. (As an added note: The game received several first place Wii awards at E3 2008!)
Punch-Out!!
(Box art from the NES version)
It has been a long, long time since we’ve seen a Punch-Out!! game. In fact, since the SNES there have literally been no other continuations in the series up to this point. Later this year, however, this will all change when Punch-Out!! bobs and weaves its way back onto the scene. Just like the NES and SNES versions were played, the Wii version will utilize the same behind-the-back camera angle and even many of the same gameplay elements and foes, only this time the cel-shaded graphical style will make things even more attractive and give the opponents that much more personality. Of course, seeing as how this is on the Wii, the Wii Remote and nunchuck combination will be used to control “Little Mac” as he again takes on Glass Joe, King Hippo, and several other oldschool characters. There isn’t a whole lot to say about Punch-Out!! that isn’t known or hasn’t been stated already. Even with its simplistic gameplay which revolves around figuring out the pattern of opponents and capitalizing on them, I look forward to this as being one of the Wii’s first truly great sports titles and recapturing some great memories from the original game itself. Now where the hell is Glass Joe? I’m ready to dish out another ass-whipping.
The four games above are my most anticipated for 2009, but they’re certainly not the only ones to keep an eye out for. Below is a list of some other titles you should consider checking out and that could possibly become as big or bigger than the ones I’ve listed above. Please allow the following titles to reinforce the fact that 2009 is going to be one of the Wii’s best years yet:
The House of the Dead: Overkill – As of now, this game should be on store shelves. A recipient of many great reviews already, House of the Dead: Overkill is supposedly grittier and more intense than many of the previous titles in the series. Although the light-shooter genre isn’t exactly the hottest around, Overkill appears to be an exception to the norm and should provide any arcade fan with hours of rail-shooting bliss.
Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop – Dead Rising was a big hit on PC and XBOX 360, so having it arrive on the Wii is a pretty big deal. This version of the game will be running on a modified Resident Evil 4 engine; but many of the same gameplay elements will be present even with the graphical limitations and the environments are ported from the previous versions and will still be the same size. Lots of zombies will still be on-screen and the impressive number of weapons will allow players to get their hands on just about everything they can think of in order to blast away, hammer at, and even slice and dice through any zombies that get in the way.
Muramasa: The Demon Blade – A highly stylized Japanese-set 2D platformer that looks to be a sleeper hit. Don’t let the not-so-memorable name fool you, as this game looks incredibly beautiful and engaging. I wish I had more to say about it, but all one needs is to view some screenshots to understand why this one is worth looking out for. Take Viewtiful Joe and mix it with Okami and this is essentially what you would end up with.
Endless Ocean 2: Beautiful Ocean – The first Endless Ocean was one of the most unique and relaxing titles the Wii had ever seen. The simple concept, diving and exploring the ocean to learn more about what lay beneath, provided more hours of awe and wonder than I could have ever imagined. When the sequel is released later this year, my only hope is that more folks will start paying attention to this series.
Sonic and the Black Knight – Sonic’s recent outings haven’t been the most impressive, but I did find Sonic and the Secret Rings a fairly enjoyable game and hope that Sonic and the Black Knight will also be fun to play. Seeing Sonic running around with a sword doesn’t make a whole lot of sense but does bring back some retro memories of Rocket Knight Adventures from the Sega Genesis era and could potentially add some extra flair to Sonic’s combat. We’ll just have to wait and see what the developers do with this strange new take on the series.
Let's Tap – The name of the game isn’t the only strange thing about this one. Let’s Tap is slated to be packaged with a cardboard box on which the Wii Remote is to be placed so that, when it is tapped, the vibrations give the input required to play the game. The visual style is also quite odd, with a bunch of tiny men who resemble Mr. Game and Watch competing in Olympics-style races with outer space backdrops and virtual-reality grid-like track surfaces. Without a doubt, we’ve never seen anything quite like this before. If the gameplay is addicting, expect lots of tap, tap, rat-a-tat-tapping going on later this year when Let’s Tap lands on store shelves.
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