Over the weekend, I saw a Wii game in HMV with the most awesome peripheral I have ever seen... A Winchester rifle-inspired Zapper analogue. The game is Western Heroes... This posting is basically a review.
I am a fan of lightgun games - everything from Virtual Cop to the latest arcade gunner, though my tolerance for on-the-rails shooters on Wii has been reduced by the sheer number that are just lazily-developed 'Wii Exclusive' versions of proper first-person shooters for PS3 or XBox (Ubisoft, I'm looking at you). I'm tempted to pick up Gunblade NY/LA Machine Guns, just for the nostalgia value and, one of these days, I really will get House of the Dead 2&3. I like Overkill, but it's a different kettle of zombies compared to Sega's 'true' HotD games.
I am also a fan of ridiculous peripherals. Not for me are the lame simulated golf clubs, tennis raquets, and steering wheels (though, actually, the latter might make driving games a tad easier)... But present me with a bloody great Winchester, and I'm all in.
The peripheral is actually pretty darned excellent, if not positively rootin' tootin'. The cocking lever acts as Reload, making its use a truly wonderful cowboy experience in any game (that uses C as Reload). It's large, quite hefty, and seats the Nunchuck both sensibly and comfortably. The trigger causes the same blistering of my trigger finger that does any lightgun... though it felt as though this Winchester did it a little quicker than most, despite being of a more sensible size/shape. Overall, though, it's really comfortable to use, easy enough to aim, and a rewarding part of the Western Heroes experience.
The game itself is pretty good fun, on the whole... just incredibly easy. It's rated as a 12, but I'd imaging even most 12 year olds would be hard pressed to find any challenge in this game. Until the later levels, it's all remarkably slow, with long periods of empty screen in between short bursts of attacking steampunk cowboys... And then, even in the later levels, it seldom matches the challenge of the earliest stages of the original Virtua Cop, let alone the sequel, the HotD games, or any other arcade lightgun game you'd care to mention. I completed the game on my first attempt though, as I shall explain later, I suspect that should not have happened.
Presentation is a mixed bag, with the cartoonish presentation marred by pop-up, patchy textures, the overly-stylised shading, and even a bit of glitching. The characters - Jesse (cowboy), Chava (I kid you not, this is the name of the token female gunslinger), Corporal Jake (token black Union Army soldier) and Qaletaqa (um, yes, he's the Token Injun... who looks eerily like Mark Dacascos) - take to the plains upon the Justice Rider, a horse-drawn carriage capable of outrunning a speeding locomotive, riding out against the criminal genius Professor Molina, and his SteamBane locomotive (described as 'the scourge of the West') and its supposedly devastating warhead.
Perhaps I'm a little twisted but, when I saw the SteamBane, for some reason, I thought it'd end up transforming into a robot... but it doesn't... that I know of... again, more on that later.
It's yer standard shooting gallery game, with some quite imaginative bits to it, but it can all get a bit repetitive (yes, I know all these games are repetitive, but most hide it better). You trundle round for a bit, shooting folks, then you get cornered and stop, then you trundle on a bit more, then you bust up some important piece of the Professor's machinery - always by shooting it once in each of four locations - before heading off for the next stage. Each of these parts is framed by a brief cut-scene - arrival, getting ready, relaxing, moving on, and saluting - every time. Occasionally, there will be two cut scenes with no action - only a brief bit of 'moving on' - between them. The backgrounds and situations change, but the animation (and normally the camera angles) remain the same. Worse still, there's a sign that this is a lazy port of a 60Hz original - the sound isn't synchronised in the cut-scenes. The worst visual glitch came at the end of the river-based level, where it looks as though the heroes' raft has sunk, because their feet are underwater... and, just before the scene fades out, the raft pops up - partially - above the camera. Right behind that is the fact that, on the train levels, anyone shot outside the train suddenly flies backwards - technically staying in position relative to the ground, rather than relative to the train. Oops. Someone didn't know their physics.
Which brings me to 'the bit I've been saying I'll get to later'. I completed the game on my first go but, as I said, I don't think I should have. The final stage is a running battle against the SteamBane itself. First it pops four cannons out of its back while flying suicide bombers buzz around. Then, as you draw level with the train, it uses roof-mounted cannons and Tesla guns, adding mobile side-mounted cannons, which protect two weak points. I managed to shoot out the first of the weak points, but I'm pretty sure I died under heavy fire while plugging away at the second.
The game disagreed.
It briefly showed me my targets, hovering in mid-air with no sign of the SteamBane, then took me back to the rear carriage... even though the train had separated from its carriages by this point. I took out the Professor's footsoldiers (again?), then it fast-tracked (pardon the pun) back to the train... which immediately exploded and ran off the rails. Just as Professor Molina was captured, SteamBane's warhead triggered. The four protagonists ran for the Justice Rider, apparently leaving Molina behind, but then he appears - tied up - on the roof as they ride off. Game over.
Glitch, anyone? Surely taking out those two weak points was only the first part of the final stage? I'm pretty sure the SteamBane's health bar was more than half full, and I hadn't seen any sign of the Professor. Perhaps I'm spoilt by Sega's lightgun games, but that just doesn't seem right.
Still, it was an awful lot of fun, and using the Winchester was a big part of that. I would hope that the game gets harder and throws more targets at you in a multi-player game, but I have a nasty feeling this is not the case.
I picked this game up when I went to get my Resident Evil boxed set replaced, then came straight home. Naturally, I remembered a couple of other things I was looking for later on, so I shall have to go out again tomorrow... There's a bit of local shopping I should probably do also - not least restocking on fizzy drinks - but I think I'll be leaving that as well.
I'd also intended to contact the JobCentrePlus... but I'm no longer certain which number to call for my purposes - all I need is to ensure my National Insurance contributions are covered. I shall check online this evening and do the necessary tomorrow, if I can.
My former boss had lunch today with another former colleague and, while I haven't yet heard how that went, she did call me to ask about high-end clients in one of our last magazines, and then again to tell me she wanted me to look at a website map and quote for putting it together... It's been years since I did anything like that, but she did say it was quite simple. Need to get some more software for all that, though - what I have access too is woefully inadequate.
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