The Nintendo Wii U is a powerful beast. The potential brought about by having motion control, a separate screen and a full set of controls on one machine will no doubt result in some stunning titles when it hits the shelves next year, but as it stands we only have a mention of games yet to come.


Wii U games: Upcoming titles include:
Assasin’s Creed, Baman Arkham Asylum, Tekken, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon, Darksiders II, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Dirt, Metro: Last Night, Ninja Gaiden 3: The Razor’s Edge, Madden, Battlefield and fan-favourite Super Smash Bros.
 

Each of technical demos we played in our exclusive hands-on are designed to showcase both the HD graphics and the possibilities opened up by the new controller. Here’s a rundown of what we saw:



HD Experience 1:
A couple of birds fly around a colonial Japanese garden, eating blossom, flying over carp ponds and generally looking stunning. This wasn’t anything we could really ‘play’ as such; it was more an interactive movie comprised of real-time, in-game footage that let us move the camera around on the touchscreen by moving the controller this way and that. The HD graphics were top notch; when it rained in the garden the birds’ feathers were soaked, and the water even reflected in their eyes.

Chase Mii:
Four players with Wiimotes have 2 and a half minutes to chase down the player with the new controller, who has the benefit of an onscreen map. Sounds easy, but it was tricky on both sides. The onscreen map allowed the new controller player to see where in the maze-like arena his assailants were headed, but the chasers has the advantage of both teamwork and and a counter that showed how far away they were in yards. As the name suggests, the graphical style here was ramped way up to 11 on the cartoon scale, but it was bright, challenging and fun, nonetheless.

Battle Mii:
Metroid-style shooting, in which the player with the new controller flies a gunship around an arena, while Wiimote players shoot at it on foot. This was pretty similar in nature to Chase Mii, given that both were designed to show how a player with the new controller could have a different experience to those with the Wiimotes. The Dual thumstickes were used to float the ship up and down and to strafe left and right, while motion control took care of aiming. There was a learning curve to this, but it’s surprising how quickly it became easy. Pulling off a hit from distance by mastering all three control methods gave us a real sense of achievement.

Shield Pose:
This was a simple, cartoony rhythm game built to show how the console utilises the motion control. The object was to lift the controller to use it as a shield against arrows coming at your from distant pirate ships. The game knew when you had the controller up at the screen or flat to the floor, and acted accordingly. The way both TV and touchscreen worked together was impressively fluid, even if we were rubbish at the actual gameplay part. T3 has no rhythm.

Panorama View:
Incredibly impressive demo showing video footage of a car travelling through Tokyo, which played on the TV. The controller’s screen showed the same footage, but moving it around span the camera 360 degrees, Google Street View style. We wouldn’t even know where to begin explaining how this worked, given how fluid it felt.

HD Experience 2:
The final demo and the end of our experience with the New Console was a short clip of Zelda battling inside a gothic castle, with the ‘Twilight Princess’ artistic style. The touchscreen was used to instantly switch between night and day (which affected the lighting to dramatic effect), to change the camera, or toggle having HUD info on the TV or controller. The idea was to show that having maps, health and ammo info on the controller’s screen could allow a clutter-free gaming experience on the TV. Or, should you wish to recline on the sofa, the opposite is just as viable.

Nintendo Wii U video: Hands-on opinion
 

Source: T3 Tech Videos