Impressions of Nintendo of Japan's amazing summer lineup
by JC Fletcher 
{ Jul 31st 2008 at 4:25PM }
Wired's Chris Kohler, who can apparently afford very fast shipping, has already put a few hours into the whole lineup, and wrote up detailed impressions of both Wario Land: Shake It! and Fatal Frame IV. Both are, basically, in line with their respective series, feeling like they're supposed to and providing the same kinds of challenges, with the addition of sensible motion controls that work well. For example, the pointer in Fatal Frame IV controls the flashlight. As if to prove that it's still Fatal Frame, Kohler says that it isn't scary at first and that the characters move too slowly. Yep, that's Fatal Frame.
Gallery: Wario Land: Shake It
Gallery: Fatal Frame 4
Source - Wario Land: Shake It! impressions
Source - Fatal Frame IV impressions
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dan Davis @ Jul 31st 2008 5:17PM
I'm personally looking forward to Super Sluggers!
danny. @ Jul 31st 2008 5:26PM
Isn't scary at first?! The only one I played was the xbox version and it was the scariest video game I'd even played until you got the camera. Once you could defend yourself it was much less stressful.
Mr Khan @ Jul 31st 2008 5:36PM
Still can't wait for some sort of North American confirmation of Fatal Frame
But in the mean-time, there shall be the glory of hand-drawn 2D Wario
Mr Khan @ Jul 31st 2008 7:24PM
After a bit of research, i've found that 2 of the 3 Fatal Frame games took 4 months to cross the Pacific, while one was done as a simultaneous release
So it could be for us come November or December
ramuji @ Jul 31st 2008 7:38PM
Summer is the season of scary tales and horror stories in Japan, so it makes since that Fatal Frame IV was released here at the end of July. Similarly, it would seem rather fitting for it to reach the US around the Halloween season. Hopefully you'll get a release schedule announcement soon.
ramuji @ Jul 31st 2008 7:34PM
I bought Fatal Frame IV on day 1, but was only able to put in about an hour (in the afternoon) before getting back to work. This is my first experience with a Fatal Frame game, so I have nothing previous to base my impressions on. I've played exactly as far as Chris Kohler details in his article linked to above.
I disagree with him about the scariness; I definitely found it very creepy, and there was one brief event in particular that made me jump. I'm sure playing the game at night (which is how it should be done, right?) will significantly increase the scariness factor.
The controls seem a bit unintuitive to me, and I'm still not sure that I'm completely comfortable with them. The Wii remote is used to move the character's flashlight up and down only. To scan left and right, you use the stick on the nunchuck. (Moving the stick forward and back moves the character forward and back, as expected.) This doesn't seem as natural to me as using the Wii remote to control all vertical and horizontal movement of the flashlight, and the nunchuck stick to control 360-degree movement of the character. The control system as it is seems designed to make quick movement through an area difficult; however, since the young ladies in the game don't seem to run very fast anyway, maybe it is a moot point.
I experienced significant frame rate stutter several times in the introductory level, with only one character on screen. Since the game is paced so slowly (so far, anyway), it hasn't been a big deal and in an odd way kind of added to the horror atmosphere. Still, I'm surprised that Kohler didn't mention it in his article.
8-bit.artist @ Jul 31st 2008 8:44PM
the price of wario land is really going to determine whether i buy it or not. i dont see this game being very challenging or long, so $50 it quite high in my mind.