Wii warfare goes Pop!

June 15, 2009 6:54 AM

Despite being a very gentle soul my dad loves Vietnam films and I'd like to get him a first-person shooter game and gun to use with his Wii. I know next to nothing about Wii, accessories or combat-genre games so help would be appreciated!

I've seen Call of Duty and a couple of others but I'm not sure if they'll be apt. He's 62, longsighted and not keen on Reading The Manual so finickety campaigns, complicated weapons or games with steep learning curves are pretty much out, unless they can start slow. Mission options should revolve around 'Kill baddies' or 'Rescue prisoner' type stuff with very basic strategy. Team activities are good too.

Other caveats:

* He's not keen on Zombies/fantasy/horror
* Modern combat in exotic locations preferable to WW1 & 2
* Simple narrative in realistic settings(e.g. not futuristic/space)
* The game needs to work with a WII remote gun accessory
* Options for multiplayer with older grandkids

So, is there something out there that will appeal? Any recommendations gratefully received!

posted by freya_lamb to sports, hobbies, & recreation (7 comments total)

Call of Duty: World At War is WW2, but perhaps the nearest you're going to get. It's compatible with the zapper thing, strategy is simple, controls are reasonably complicated though (in that it uses every button for switching weapons, throwing grenades, etc.).

Graphics are OK for the Wii. I found the single-player game fairly tiresome, but that might be mainly because I've seen it all before. Local multiplayer is limited to one other player being able to do some shooting 'over your shoulder', online play is easy to get into and good fun (yes, he'd sometimes run into a group of expert gamers using glitches and advanced tactics, but there are plenty of novices online and the lack of chat is probably a blessing).
posted by malevolent at 7:34 AM on June 15

I have no experience with traditional shooters on the Wii... I use other game systems for this genre... but what about "on rails" shooters? You know, the arcade style, pick up the plastic gun and shoot at the screen while having basically no control over your movement.

Ghost Squad is fantastic, and despite it's title, it fits your desired theme perfectly. It's basically just "survive through the level killing baddies, and take down the boss at the end". There are multiple paths through levels, some of which get unlocked as you play through the level a few times. You make the path choice usually by just shooting the option when it appears on screen. You unlock new guns, which can make the game drastically easier or harder. Also, you can play with a friend!

I have both the official "zapper" and a Nyko pistol shell and I greatly prefer the Nyko pistol.
posted by utsutsu at 7:41 AM on June 15

Thanks Malevolent. I'd prefer to focus on stuff that stands alone as he won't be using it online.
posted by freya_lamb at 7:42 AM on June 15

utsutsu - I saw Ghost Squad and thought it looked good - wasn't sure though if there'd be puzzle elements or that it would be too hard. Is there a super easy level?!
posted by freya_lamb at 7:44 AM on June 15

Another recommendation for Ghost Squad. It's quite clever with difficulty - you can play any of the levels in any order you want, and as you get better at them, the difficultly level increases, opening up more routes and challenges. I think it has infinite continues to allow anyone to get through the levels and you can always select the easiest forms of the level.
posted by Mattat at 7:57 AM on June 15

Wikipedia has a list of light-gun style games for the Wii, which should hopefully give you some ideas.

One interesting-looking title is Medal of Honor: Heroes 2, which apparently has both a first-person shooter mode with full analog control and a simple light-gun "point at the screen and shoot lots of Nazis" mode. It has reasonable reviews, as well; it is WW2, but there don't seem to be a ton of modern-setting games available at the moment.
posted by agentmunroe at 8:32 AM on June 15

Has to be COD World at War. The Japanese can substitute for the Viet Cong easily enough, but it is the on-line play he will find addictive, if he has never played such before. He will need a decent broadband wifi connection.
posted by A189Nut at 8:40 AM on June 15