Does anyone actually LIKE the Wii controls?

Ok so I've played and finished SoK on the Wii. I didn't think the Wii controls were that difficult to do but every review I see or read goes on and on about how difficult and unresponsive the motion controls are.

I'm not sure how others actually use the Wii controls, but if you hold the Wii remote and actaully move it as the tutorial says it works!

I'm unfamiliar with how Wii technology actually functions but as I understand it, the Wii remote will register movement based on relative positioning. The remote doesn't know that you're holding it by your waist to start with.

• Lets say you swing the Wii remote forward (and slightly downwards) to make Indy jab.

• But you don't move the Wii remote back your starting position soon enough and Indy completes the jab.

• Since the Wii responds to relative (and not absolute) positioning, when you do move the Wii remote back to your starting position it registers the motion as an upwards movement and Indy uppercuts (not what you wanted).

• Then when you try and swing the Wii remote again to punch it doesn't respond as Indy is still doing the uppercut move (again not what you wanted).

• This can thus snowball and create frustration.

• However, this is perfectly within the rules of how the Wii remote works. The Wii remote doesn't know where your original position was. And if you could interrupt Indy in the middle of one of his moves there would be choppy and inconsistent animation.

This principle isn't rocket science and with a little bit of thinking you shouldn't have any problems.

Does anyone agree with me on this?

I'm not claiming all of the game controls are flawless (the swinging piano and end motorbike chase where just terrible uses of the wii remote), but these constant claims of a non-responsive combat system are just exaggerated.

You don't need to have PhD in Archaelogy to work the remote (but I'm sure it wouldn't hurt ).

So far so good...I especially liked the flying controls. But then again I'm only getting started.

Rocket Surgeon said:

So far so good...I especially liked the flying controls. But then again I'm only getting started.

Click to expand...

You'll love the last level then.

A word of advice, keep the Remote and the Nun-chuck lined up and use small movements. Oh and take lots of deep breaths coz the frustration, like the walls of water, will rise.

The reason people don't like Wii controls is that, by their very nature, they are always going to be less responsive than a normal gamepad--always. Even the most perfectly implemented Wii control setup usually works better on a gamepad, with the possible exception of some point-and-shoot type games. If unresponsiveness is part of the "rules of the Wiimote," as you say, then the rules need to be rewritten.

I just finished SOK on the Wii yesterday. I have not spent a lot of time playing the Wii, so there was a bit of a learning curve for me at first. I tended to over exagerrate my moves which definitely hurt the responsiveness. Once I figured out that I didn't actually have to perform a full uppercut or roundhouse swing, things got a lot better (and I didn't get so tired from playing). You just have to use smaller, slighter motions. I actually enjoyed the controls in the game once I mastered them. For some reason, I still have trouble swinging objects that you pick up though (like the shovel, wrench, etc)

Overall I thought the controls worked pretty well. Sometimes they were unresponsive and they got tiring after awhile, especially in the larger fights, but it was neat to have an Indy game that at least tried something different and really utilized the Wii controls.

The only times when I found them to be difficult was in the flying and driving stages (and that crappy piano level, but that's an entirely different rant).

OK, so I'm REALLY bad at video games. I've only had the Wii since March and I've done OK with some of the games I have, but not great. This is going to sound crazy, but I haven't gotten past the flying part at the very beginning. I started getting the flying part down (more or less), but to try to fly and to fend off pursuers is too much for me at the present. The problem is, obviously, I haven't played much of the game because I can't advance! I was extremely frustrated when I started, but since have managed to play calmly and this has helped me get a it further, but it's still stuck. I guess this might not be a great day to start with for a novice like me.

Lambonius said:

The reason people don't like Wii controls is that, by their very nature, they are always going to be less responsive than a normal gamepad--always. Even the most perfectly implemented Wii control setup usually works better on a gamepad, with the possible exception of some point-and-shoot type games. If unresponsiveness is part of the "rules of the Wiimote," as you say, then the rules need to be rewritten.

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You're right, game pad controls are more responsive. However I think the idea is that the novelty of using the Wii remote (i.e. actually swinging your arm to punch) is meant to compensate for the slight lack of response.

My argument is that it doesn't take much consideration/practise to get over the response issues, such that the novelty of "being more like Indy than every before" far outweighs any response problems.

Ultimately this falls on everyones individual opinion and I can certainly see where you're coming from.

For the record I think they are "rewritting the rules" by introducing new sleeve-type Wii remotes that actually use a more absolute motion system, however I'm not sure if that's true or not.

chr0n0naut said:

For the record I think they are "rewritting the rules" by introducing new sleeve-type Wii remotes that actually use a more absolute motion system, however I'm not sure if that's true or not.

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You're probably thinking of the Wii Motion Plus, which is definitely coming soon and is supposed to be even more accurate and responsive than the current controls.

I've certainly had fun with the Wii at various friends' houses and such, and I enjoy it for what it is. I don't personally own one, but I've played enough games on it and read enough reviews of games on it to have formed a pretty valid opinion, I believe. The main thing that bugs me about the Wii is that, no matter how you slice it, the controls just don't work the way they were advertised to work before the system came out. I'm hoping Wii Motion Plus will help correct this, but even if it does, I personally think it's really obnoxious that Nintendo expects people to purchase a brand new peripheral to make the system work the way it was supposed to work in the first place (i.e. true 1 to 1 motion controls and not just poorly implemented miming that is constantly less responsive than normal buttons.)

As a long-time gamer since the Atari days, I personally also take issue with the increasing focus of once-great companies like Nintendo on such bland and substanceless endeavors as "casual gaming." I mean, if you stop and look at the Wii's library, it's chock so full of bottom-of-the-barrel junk that it really is just pathetic. There are definitely some stand-out games for the platform, but they are so few and far between, and a lot of franchises (Indy is probably the most relevant example here) that were once known for at least attempting to make constant improvements and innovations in their games are taking giant leaps backwards in things like gameplay and depth, and it's all because of designing the games with the Wii, and more specifically, the "casual gamer", in mind.