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| Nintendo's Star Fox Zero on Wii U |
HANDS-ON with Mario Maker, StarFox, Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash and Skylanders: SuperChargers at Nintendo's booth at Gamescom
Super Mario Maker:
I have been sceptical about this game since it was first announced as the idea of a build-your-own levels has been done in Little Big Planet to ridiculous amounts of complexity.
I’m too lazy to build my own levels for a game. I struggle to create a character sometimes.
However, the level creator in Super Mario Maker is very intuitive to use and well laid out. It's clearly a tool for designers and developers to create levels, as well as small children and lazy adults.
You pick an item from a palette option and then place it on to a grid level with the Wii U gamepad. Once your level is created you can share it with the world.
Every level you create you must be able to complete, so you can’t publish automatic death traps. Players will initially be limited in the amount of courses they can upload online, though they can unlock the ability to upload more. The game will also include 100 pre made courses.
You can use palettes and gameplay elements from Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and New Super Mario Bros. U, however you cannot mix them up e.g. no wall jumps on Mario World as this is only in Mario U.
There will be support with Amiibo to allow users to play as different character models such as Link.
The most fun i had with the game was playing other people's levels as their are some great stuff being created by the testers at the moment.
The only bad thing is that navigating other people’s levels is reminiscent of the Wii U store. Which is not the best designed way to find content.
Star Fox Zero:
I need to kill the inner child before this game comes out. Nostalgia could blind me to the truth of this game. The demo was of Corneria, the first level from Star Fox on the N64, and muscle memory helped me whiz through the level. The first part of the level is played on-rails followed by a boss battle which is played in free-mode allowing you to fly all around a large section of the map. The second level was a dogfight level where we had to protect a colony in space.
Graphically it was not that impressive with jagged polygons and not the most polished scenery. However, this was only a alpha/beta so I'm confident that this will be improved for release.
The game utilised the Wii U gamepad's second screen by having a first person view from the cockpit allowing accurate shooting. The gyroscope is used to move the crosshairs around the main TV screen. I have always had a slight problem using the gyroscope in other games, but it works very well in Star Fox and after a while I was shooting down spacecrafts flown by pigs with ease.
They confirmed that the game will support the existing Star Fox Amiibo’s from the Super Smash Bros range, so if you are thinking about getting the game you might want to get them now as they will surely rise in price. They will grant the player extra items and customisation but has not yet elaborated on what this will be.
Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash:
The game plays similarly to previous entries of the Mario Tennis series. Chance shots make a return in the game, with a new technique called the Jump Shot which sends the ball flying down the court. A new feature is the ability to use Mega Mushrooms to grow the characters to give them an advantage.
In two player singles, the Gamepad serves as a second screen.
The game will not contain motion control support so you will not be flailing your arms around the TV.
The Mario Tennis franchise has not been one of the big ones for Nintendo but is a series they have done every generation. I had fun playing it, but like the other games I think it is going to be a very short experience.
Skylanders: SuperChargers:
I have never seen the appeal of the Skylanders series, even though I'm a slave to Amiibo.
The game will introduce a redesigned "Portal of Power", in which the surface will become larger and wider so as to accommodate vehicles, which is of larger size than typical characters. Vehicles are one of the newly introduced features in SuperChargers. About 50% of the game must be completed through driving. Vehicles are divided into three classes, which include ground vehicles, water vehicles and flying vehicles.
The importance of the game for Nintendo is that there is a Donkey Kong and Bowser Skylanders toy figures that can double as Amiibo figures.
The game can also be played cooperatively with another player. However, only one vehicle can be used and appear onscreen, one person will command the vehicle and the other will focus on the enemies.
It plays like a solid 3D platformer with some puzzle elements, it was graphically impressive but I get the feeling the PS4 and Xbox One versions will be greater.
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