I’m all too aware that I’m in the minority of people that actually enjoyed the Wii-U. At the same time I will admit that the system was completely underutilized. I did find the premise to be very tempting, and when executed correctly, games could be extremely unique. Nintendo Land for me was a lot of fun to play. Not only because of the fact it was a couch game for friends, but because of all the different types of games available.
To be fair, I mainly only played the competitive games, not the cooperative ones. I really liked that you could have one person on the gamepad while the others worked together on the TV. It changed it up because now with the second screen, you could have some very neat game modes.
For example, Mario Chase had one person (on the gamepad) running away from the others who were on the TV. You could hear the plotting, and if they were honing in on you. Which in turn would ad some panic for you. But it would also help you figure out your next move. It was unfortunate that there were not more courses to choose from. I don’t believe the game did very well, and they never revisited the potential of these mini games.
The bulk of these games were very family friendly, which I liked. In fact, I’d go as far as to say someone older like a grandparent may be able to play some of these games with grandkids which would probably make everyone happy. Even if you aren’t good, it doesn’t necessarily mean you loose. I also found these games created a lot of teamwork and were great to show how well some people work in a thrown together situation.
Admittedly, I found this game was particularly fun with a couple drinks (if you’re old enough). Especially if you are the competitive type, adding some tipsy fun to the mix would level the playing field a little. Except once my friend got really drunk, and it was the ghost game, him being the ghost. Somehow beat everyone on the hardest level for him, like it was cake. It was infuriating, but mind-blowing at the same time.
My favorite mini-game is the one pictured above, your goal is to collect candies while the one with the gamepad has to use both thumbsticks to control two people. It really took some brain power to control both effectively. However, as I stated about enjoying a couple adult beverages while playing, if you were to accidently cross your two characters together, everything would get confusing fast. I never shied away from a challenge though. It was always fun.
I really wish that Nintendo would have done more with this game. More levels, or new stages and mini-games all together. However as I mentioned, I know I was one of the few who enjoyed the system, and this game.
EK Creates 