Games island wii review

Unfortunately, during two-thirds to three-quarters of the game you're flying in a squadron, and this is where the formula breaks down. There are three different formations: a balanced flying V, a speedy straight line, and a maneuverable iron cross. You'll frequently need to switch between these formations to maximize your time or effectiveness in the missions. The problem is that the motion required for switching these formations is too similar to the motions for turning, speeding up, and slowing down.

So you'll frequently be at war with the controls to get your lineup in the proper formation and moving in the proper direction. The situation improves once you figure out that you can double-tap the A button to cycle through the formations, but even then, it still feels like you're controlling the planes with marionette wires rather than from the cockpit.

Passing ships beware: Shell Island is a hotbed for spontaneous combustion. For being an uneducated farmhand or a Podunk fireman, denizens of Shell Island certainly pay well for your services.

But before they fork over the money, they're going to request the job be done--and done well. Missions are timed, and how much time remains, as well as how efficiently you hit your marks, factors in heavily to your overall grade. Even after you've come to terms with the clunky and unsatisfying control scheme, you'll have to perform near flawlessly to see any money. It's quite common to finish a mission with 30 seconds out of three minutes remaining and for whatever reason be awarded only five out of points, which nets you nothing other than opening up the next mission.

The mundane mission designs are more of an exercise in patience than flight skill and will have you inadvertently, then purposefully, throttling into the mountains or nose-diving into farmhouses. For the record, birds can't get caught in your propellers, and any other destructive urges that may arise within you will have little effect on the environment.

Wing Island is one of those games where you beat your head against a mission repeatedly until some unknown force manifests and you perform perfectly. So money will eventually find its way to Junior's pocket, and because Shell Island's entertainment industry isn't exactly booming, you'll have to funnel that cash back into the family business. Each of your planes can be upgraded with better turning, increased power, or decreased weight, which can then be upgraded five times at an escalating cost.

As you careen into bluff mountain walls or nosedive into placid waters, your plane will take damage, and the amount of total damage you can withstand before exploding decreases the longer you go without making repairs. Luckily, repairs are relatively cheap, so fixing your busted jalopy is not really an issue. It's no wonder Gramps needed a vacation, because there really isn't much to catch your eye while flying around the two islands in the game.

Occupying that unhappy nebulous zone between realistic and cartoony, Wing Island looks substandard even by Wii expectations. Your airplanes are typically a single, solid color; mountain textures are bland and nondescript; the ocean looks like a flat sheet of aquamarine; the clouds in the sky are static; and there isn't much sign of wildlife except for the occasional flock of seagulls or the aforementioned wayward bovine.

Aliasing runs rampant as well, creating a jagged effect on darn near everything. Topping things off, the frame rate chugs when you fly by one of the game's few flourishes, which is a waterfall on the second island. This is more than matched by some great menu screens that enable simple game setup and selection.

Time has been well spent to ensure you can easily move from sport to sport with the minimum of fuss. Mario and Sonic at the Olympics could learn a valuable lesson here. This simple intuitive interaction also extends into the game controls proper. Although they are towards the simpler end of the spectrum, the majority of mechanics feel well balanced.

My kids even found the motion sensitive steering use d in the karting and biking to work better for them than Mario Kart. When a third party manages to trump Nintendo's own controls you know they have invested a lot of time into their scheme. The emphasis throughout is fun and simplicity and it's a combination that works well.

Pretty much all members of my family could jump in and enjoy a quick game of something or other. Other controls that work well are the Wii-Tennis style badminton.

Here you can control the flight of the shuttle with the angle of the Wii-mote and the weight of the shot with the amount of motion applied. On top of this the angle of the controller applies a fare degree of directional control. I've played this for a few hours and I'm still discovering additional nuances. Other events apply less imaginative interactions, such as the Ice Dancing Nun-chuck stick directional control and Wii-mote waggle jumps.

But overall there is easily enough here to keep the hardest of Wii-Sports enthusiast happy. While Sport Island may get edged out by Wii-Sports and Mario and Sonic at the Olympics for pure quality, it more than makes up for this in fun and overall presentation. Little visual touches, from the different Mii-like players, to the way the setup screen morphs into the in game scoreboard all contribute to making this feel like a polished experience.

The audio may be a little dancey and repetitive for some tastes but there is nothing to distract too much from the gameplay itself. A little more voice work may have bolstered the characterisation of the different competitors, but even this would have been a big ask. All this publication's reviews. Wing Island is another visual disappointment for the Wii and without the strong foundation of game play; the graphics are even more obvious. Wing Island is classic early console fodder: something that sits on the shelf next to good games and waits for clueless customers to pick the game up before it shows up in the budget bin for more clueless customers to buy because of its price tag.

User Reviews. Write a Review. Positive: 1 out of 3. Mixed: 1 out of 3. Negative: 1 out of 3. Not bad for a game where an adult and a kid can play together or take turns on "missions". It will frustrate you if you think it is a flight Not bad for a game where an adult and a kid can play together or take turns on "missions".

It will frustrate you if you think it is a flight simulator. It is not. You use the Wii remote aim the planes. This game is good family entertainment. And it is on that level that I give it a fairly high mark. Anyone who plays a lot of high end video games will not find this one very challenging or entertaining. A little short, but the game is fun once you understand that you need to be gentle with the wiimote.

I feel the game has been very hard done A little short, but the game is fun once you understand that you need to be gentle with the wiimote. I feel the game has been very hard done by in the reviews I have seen, fixating on why chickens are flying planes who cares - it's on a Nintendo platform what did you expect? The graphics aren't as bad as people make out, jast lacking in that bit of extra detail you might expect.