OT: Wii's Star Trek game

[gregebowman]

I'm giving my family a Wii for Christmas. I just recently discovered that there is a Star Trek game for it. From looking at the back of the box, it sounds like something similar to Space Empires. Has anyone played this game? If so, I'd like to know more about it before I buy it.

[Ed Kolis]

I have never played it but from the reviews I have seen, your family would probably rather be eaten by tribbles than play that game! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

http://wii.gamespy.com/wii/star-trek-conquest/

There are a few gems out there amid the crap that's available for the Wii... basically anything actually published by Nintendo is bound to be good* (Super Mario Galaxy, Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3, etc.) - oh, don't forget Super Smash Bros. Brawl! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

* With the possible exception of Mario Kart Wii, which I personally don't think is all that bad, but Fyron seems to hate with a passion... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[dumbluck]

Hey! I LIKE Mariokart Wii. I think it's fun!

[Fyron]

SNES Mario Kart was fun. N64, a bit less so. Mario Kart Wii? Total garbage, along the lines of the Gamecube version. But hey, if you like it, more power to ya.

[Combat Wombat]

lol Fyron Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart Double Dash were great games much better than the pseudo-3d of Mario Kart for the NES

[Fyron]

So you base your opinion on shallow graphics?

Tell me how a combat mode where you cannot do anything but 8 vs. 8 teams does not suck. Tell me how a combat mode where almost all of the maps are based on that stupid ice cream cone level design from Mario Kart DS (where the level consists of a giant set of ramps in the middle, with the item blocks up in the air) does not suck. Tell me how ruining the shell mechanics is a good thing (3 shells offer almost no protection from incoming projectiles, shells held behind the kart have a really tiny bounding box). Etc.

[Xrati]

Fyron, sounds like you've spent quite a lot of time "playtesting" this game!!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[President_Elect_Shang]

Yikes! That one does sound like a real nightmare... the Federations only option is to glass every world? I'm glade I didn't pick that one up.

[gregebowman]

Ok, sounds like I'll pass on this game. I'd rather pick up the new Star Wars that's coming out anyway. At least that looks promising.

Another question about the Wii. since I haven't actually opened the box yet and read teh booklet, how does their internet thing work? I know you can download games for their "virtual console", but how do you connect to their system?

[Ed Kolis]

The Wii connects to the Internet through an 802.11b (at least I think it's "b") wireless adapter built into the console, so you'll need a wireless router to connect. Connecting is pretty straightforward - you go to "Wii Options" or some such on the main menu, then find the "Internet" settings and tell it the SSID and WEP key (if you have one). (It might also support WPA, I'm not sure.) If you have a DS, you might recall that the wireless reception is pretty bad; that's not the case with the Wii, so you won't need to put the Wii in the same room as your wireless router or anything!

[Fyron]

The Wii's got a Mitsumi DWM-W004 WiFi 802.11b/g wireless module. Getting actual b parts would probably have been way more expensive when production started, due to complete obsolescence. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

The Wii supports WPA. Its only the DS that is limited to WEP, and it sadly gets no firmware love.

[gregebowman]

Most of what you said is greek to me, but thanks for the info. I don't have a DS yet, but we're thinking of getting one also. Why my son wants both a PSP and a DS, I don't know. I'll try to figure it when I can actually read the booklet that comes with the game.

[Fyron]

Why my son wants both a PSP and a DS, I don't know.
Probably because the available game libraries are mostly orthogonal.

[gregebowman]

I'll bite. What does orthogonal mean?

[Fyron]

orthogonal (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/orthogonal):
5: statistically independent

Outside of geometry, it generally means the two sets (DS games and PSP games) do not have much in common.

[gregebowman]

Thanks for the clarification. You learn something new every day.

[dumbluck]

So you base your opinion on shallow graphics?

Tell me how a combat mode where you cannot do anything but 8 vs. 8 teams does not suck. Tell me how a combat mode where almost all of the maps are based on that stupid ice cream cone level design from Mario Kart DS (where the level consists of a giant set of ramps in the middle, with the item blocks up in the air) does not suck. Tell me how ruining the shell mechanics is a good thing (3 shells offer almost no protection from incoming projectiles, shells held behind the kart have a really tiny bounding box). Etc.

Well, for starters, you can adjust the rules (at the top of your screen when choosing between balloon or coin battles). There, you can change things like the AI difficulty, whether there ARE AI, what kind of vehicles the AI can drive, who picks the battle maps, etc. etc. etc. This rules-adjustment option is available for races, too, not just the battles.

Considering the mini turbo effects of a good jump, is it really that surprising that jumps are instituted into the default maps? Oh, and if you actually play the game for a while in single player, you will unlock more maps, pulled from several older Mariocart versions. Most of those maps don't have many jumps, if any.

As for the shell mechanics you mentioned, I honestly hadn't noticed. I hadn't experienced any problems with the 3 shells not offering much protection (they protected me just fine, until it was down to just one shell). And I've found that equipping an item behind you is still an effective defense against shells coming from behind you (why would they protect against shells from any other direction?) Besides, these seem kinda nit-picky to me. I was having to much fun playing the game to nit-pick it to death. ;)

[Ed Kolis]

Whoa, you can actually turn off the AI's in battles? Strange that I never noticed that before...

I was kind of surprised at the lack of unlockable battle stages, though - but you say you can unlock more just by playing a lot of battles? Must be why I haven't unlocked them then - my stats show something like 400 races and 30 battles played! :P

edit: P.S. Dumbluck we should exchange Wii friend codes! I already have Fyron's, but I really need more ;)

[dumbluck]

honestly, I don't know if it was lots of battles with my son, or lots of races with my son, or lots of single player races. But yea, there are as many retro maps as Wii maps for the battles

[Ed Kolis]

Oh, the six or so that are there? I could've sworn I *started* with those! :P

[Fyron]

Well, for starters, you can adjust the rules (at the top of your screen when choosing between balloon or coin battles). There, you can change things like the AI difficulty, whether there ARE AI, what kind of vehicles the AI can drive, who picks the battle maps, etc. etc. etc. This rules-adjustment option is available for races, too, not just the battles.
Can't turn off AIs for the single-player battles. ;) You didn't mention anything about the other problems though, the number and the teams. Are there options for that buried in there somewhere?

Considering the mini turbo effects of a good jump, is it really that surprising that jumps are instituted into the default maps?
Yes, it is surprising that every single map features them prominently. All the previous Mario Kart games had a decent variety of maps available from the get-go, but the Wii version has 1 with minor alterations. At least Mario Kart DS only had one of those stupid jump centric maps. The prospect of having to play through crappy maps to unlock old ones, that may or may not be the good ones of the old games, is not very appealing. Especially so if you only unlock old maps, and there are no new ones to the series that are of any merit. At least they managed to have Smash Brothers start off with a half-decent set of battle maps..

As for the shell mechanics you mentioned, I honestly hadn't noticed. I hadn't experienced any problems with the 3 shells not offering much protection (they protected me just fine, until it was down to just one shell).
They were offering some protection, but their bounding boxes seem much narrower than previous iterations, allowing more items to get past them.

And I've found that equipping an item behind you is still an effective defense against shells coming from behind you (why would they protect against shells from any other direction?)
They do offer protection from directly behind, but with narrower bounding boxes, the angle of protection is much diminished. This reduces the effects of defensive items, making the game much more biased towards the attacker than in versions past.

Besides, these seem kinda nit-picky to me. I was having to much fun playing the game to nit-pick it to death. ;)
Completely altering the defense mechanics, making the combat much more offense-oriented, is not at all nit-picky.

[dmm]

The Wii Star Wars game is fun to play and fun to watch your kids play (both them and what's on the screen).

I don't think anyone in my household knows that you can use items in MarioKart to guard your rear end. Thanks, everybody! Now I'm going to use that info on my unsuspecting children. Mwuhahahah!!

[Fyron]

Just hold the fire button down so you don't release them right away.