Following on from yesterday's Leipzig spectacular, the show opened up for players to come and try out the various games!
Nintendo of Europe's team were there to try out the Wii's two newest offerings...
Mario Strikers Charged (temporary name)
When we first heard that Mario’s newest Wii announcement was a follow-up to Mario Smash Football, we imagined strapping the Wii Remote to our leg and making wild kicking motions at the screen. Thankfully, you don’t have to be Peter Crouch to play Mario Strikers Charged.
With the Wii Remote in one hand and Nunchuk Controller in the other, you can make powerful passes, supersonic strikes and stupendous saves, even if you have zero footballing talent (luckily for us).
We opted for the one-on-one multiplayer mode (the final game will also hook up to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection for worldwide tournaments) with our captain Mario and his team of Toads facing off against Donkey Kong and his Dry Bones squad.
Player movement is controlled simply with the Nunchuk’s analogue stick, while the Wii Remote’s A button passes the ball and the B trigger shoots. If a team captain has the ball, holding down the trigger builds up your power gauge and lets you unleash a Mega Strike. Mario’s Mega Strike sees him shooting up into the air, Superman-style, and blasting the ball; splitting it five ways. It’s then up to the opponent, seeing through the eyes of their goalkeeper, to save the incoming balls by using the Wii Remote to guide the goalkeeper’s hands. It’s not easy, as our opponent could tell you.
Like Mario Smash Football, Mario Strikers Charged is all about not playing by the rules. For instance, another new move you can make is if an opponent is trying to tackle you; you can shake the Nunchuk and give the attacker a firm shove out of the way. Plus, the ball is made out of metal which can be charged up to make it harder for the goalie to stop it.
Speaking of stopping it, it was time we let someone else have a go, and we move on to…
Battalion Wars II
Snappily titled ‘BWii‘, this sequel to Nintendo GameCube’s tactical shooter brings players back into a world ravaged by war, with new and improved ways to control your troops using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk.
The Games Convention demo gave us control over a squad of Solar Empire troops (there are a total of six different races rattling the sabres this time) on a mission to escort the ‘Staff of Power’ deep into enemy territory where it could be used against the army’s mortal enemy, Lord Ferrok. For us, that meant leading a battalion of troops across a war zone rife with soldiers and tanks, with bombers circling ominously overhead.
Like Battalion Wars, you command a whole squad simply by moving the character or vehicle of your choice; the rest follow under computer control. The Nunchuk’s analogue stick moves your character, while aiming and firing is handled perfectly well by the Wii Remote‘s pointer and B trigger. To make targeting enemies even easier, pressing the Nunchuk’s Z button locks on to whatever you’re pointing at.
Navigation is easy, as you simply follow the waypoints indicated by Gold Stars along the route, letting you concentrate on keeping the onslaught of enemies at bay. Battalion Wars II improves on its predecessor by giving you even more tactical abilities, such as being able to command troops anywhere on the map, not just the ones under your direct control, and also to spawn new troops by capturing enemy buildings, Advance Wars style.
Another improvement Battalion Wars II brings is an online multiplayer mode. We got a taster of this by playing the computer in a one-on-one campaign; with us defending a base while our CPU opponent attacked. To win, we had to hold out for five minutes while the enemy sent wave after wave of tanks and infantry our way. We can tell from this brief taster alone that Battalion Wars II has all the hallmarks of being a great online game, with a massive offline mode to boot.
