Welcome to another installment of the Wii Retrospective! This time, we’ll be looking at adventure games. What qualifies as an adventure game is very subjective, but I feel there are several games that most accurately fall into that genre, vague as it is. My working definition for this article is games with a large emphasis on exploring, an open world, or large non-linear levels. The games must also not be completely overwhelmed by another genre’s gameplay style. Even within this criteria, many games will be debatable, so if I leave off a game you love, I only ask that you wait to see if it shows up in a future article before thinking I ignored it. With that said, let’s get to the games!
The Big Nintendo IPs:
There are two franchises that come to mind regarding adventure games on a Nintendo system, the first being Zelda. The Wii had two Zelda games on it and they were as different as night and the dawn of the final day. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was a launch game for the Wii, arriving with the hype of spending years as the GameCube’s most anticipated game. Arguing about the game’s quality would require its own article and a military campaign, so I’m going to focus on what the Wii version offers over the GameCube version.
Hitting that tiny red target is a lot easier with the Wii controller.
People have claimed that the Wii version only adds the shaking of the Wii remote to use the sword, but don’t let that fool you. The true advantage of the control scheme is the IR aiming for items; this incredibly accurate control style makes every item it affects exponentially fun to use and deserves to be praised as much as Wii Sports for showing off what the Wii remote can do. Even if you own the GameCube version, all Wii owners should give Twilight Princess a chance.
Motion controlled sword combat made fighting enemies a lot more interesting.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was the exact opposite of Twilight Princess, as previously mentioned. It would have been the last major Wii release, had the Operation Rainfall games not received their infamous North American releases. Skyward Sword had bright, cartoony graphics, an emphasis on overworld exploration, challenging combat, and a huge emphasis on the Wii Remote MotionPlus controller for sword combat. It was the exact opposite of Twilight Princess‘s realistic graphics, dungeon focus, light difficulty, and minimal use of motion controls.
The motion-controlled sword combat worked extremely well after the initial learning curve and the segments of Hyrule accessed from the sky may not be as open as the fans of the series are used to, but are still wonderfully designed. While neither game on the Wii does everything perfectly, both use their strengths exceptionally well and are some of the best games in the series — if you don’t go in expecting an impossible level of perfection.
The other Nintendo series everyone associates with adventure is Metroid. While Metroid: Other M’s more linear setup justifies addressing that controversy magnet in a future article, there is another Metroid for the Wii that this article can cover. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is one of the most underappreciated games on the Wii. While the perfectly executed IR aiming led to more FPS elements than previous Metroid Prime games, there are still plenty of adventure elements in Metroid Prime 3.
Like all games with a heavy emphasis on aiming, IR controls made Metroid Prime 3 much more fun to play.
The game is divided up into planets instead of one interconnected world like other Metroid games and offers multiple gigantic worlds filled with secrets, different environments, and puzzles. It possesses a difficulty that hits a sweet spot between the somewhat easy Metroid Prime 1 and frustrating Metroid Prime 2, as well as the best combat the series has ever had courtesy of IR aiming and the long overdue introduction of teleport points via Samus’s ship. Metroid Prime 3 is one of the best games in the series, even if it doesn’t follow the classic formula in every way.
Traditional Adventure Games:
The Wii’s IR pointer made it better equipped to handle the traditional point-and-click adventure genre than any previous console and there were games that took advantage of that. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories isn’t a point-and-click game in the most traditional sense, but the complete absence of combat and minimal presence of enemies makes it far closer to that genre than its predecessors.
No combat and less jump scares, but plenty of puzzles and atmosphere.
An alternate take on the original Silent Hill’s story, the game has great puzzles, customized settings based on your actions and psychological test results, and a twist that uses what you assume about video game formats against you. The chase sequences with the only enemies in the game can be annoying, but fans of the series and old-school adventure games should definitely look into Shattered Memories.
The Wii also received some entries in long-running point-and-click series. Despite some unfortunate technical problems, the Wii received compilations of the episodic Sam and Max games in Sam and Max: Season One and Sam and Max: Beyond Time and Space. While how detrimental the technical problems are is up for debate, few would deny that the games themselves are prime examples of humor-based point-and-click adventure games. The Broken Sword series also had a Wii entry, a director’s cut of Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars that should satisfy craving for a more traditional adventure game setting.
Action-Adventure Games:
More common than pure adventure games on consoles, the Wii had its share of action-adventure games. Two of the best were, unfortunately, last-gen ports. Okami’s drawing-based combat system was an obvious choice for the Wii. There was some controversy on whether the controls worked well, but the game was still a solid Zelda-style adventure with a unique art style that resembled traditional Japanese paintings.
Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, however, was definitely the best version of one of the sixth generation’s best games. The IR aiming made it impossible to go back to the old style of aiming and it had the better graphics of the GameCube version with the extra content of the PlayStation 2 version. It really was a shame that the Wii never got a mainline Resident Evil game of its own.
It may be a port, but it’s the best version of the best game in the series.
The Wii had some lesser-known adventure games that are worth looking into. Lost in Shadow was a late release that combined puzzle and platforming elements with a deceptively massive and explorable castle setting. Using shadows and perspective in unique ways, blending 2D and 3D gameplay and not falling into the “there is exactly one way to do this and anything else will kill you instantly” trap, Lost in Shadow is underrated and deserves more attention.
Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop was often dismissed as a vastly inferior port of the original Dead Rising on the Xbox 360, but it was actually a very different game. Basically Resident Evil 4 using the setting and story of Dead Rising, it is worth looking into for those disappointed by the lack of a new traditional Resident Evil on the Wii.
Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon was a survival horror/RPG hybrid. Loved by some for its atmosphere and inventiveness and disliked by others for clunky controls and unrealized concepts, it is often viewed as a cult classic and definitely deserves a look.
Hey, what’s fraj-gee-lay mean?
Ghostbusters: The Video Game is completely different from the HD versions. Arguably better-looking thanks to its very fitting cartoony graphical style, hunting down ghosts is varied and enjoyable with plenty of treats for fans of the franchise. While the Wii version is also on the PlayStation 2 and PSP, the Wii controller was made for the game and ensures it easily has the best version.
Conclusion:
As vague and debatable as the adventure genre is, the Wii had solid entries in many of the genre’s forms. The Zelda and Metroid series are the standouts, as you would expect on a Nintendo console, but there are some underrated gems that can be found if you dig a little deeper into the library. As with RPGs, Wii adventure games have plenty of variety and merge with several genres. Shooters, platformers, RPGs, puzzle games — you can find almost every genre made into an adventure on the Wii. The greatest adventure of all, however, is finding the games that will let you get the most out of the Wii’s life and that quest is far from over. Stay tuned for more genres as the Wii Retrospective continues!
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