The Lack of Minecraft Exemplifies all that is Wrong with the Wii U
Still, it is the girl that Nintendo has brought to the dance. As such, it’s highly unlikely they will be replacing it with an entirely new console anytime soon. After all, they’re not a company on the verge of bankruptcy whose entire future relies on the Wii U becoming the dominant selling system. Not to mention that the 3DS is actually doing quite well, giving them a hardware buoy should they need it.
This Nintendo title can offer lots of fast-paced multiplayer fun for you, friends and strangers. Thanks to Turf Mode, Ranked and Salmon Run, you and others will be able to enjoy plenty of splatisfying action. Because you play with a team of people there’s a need for teamwork and going through tough battles alongside one another bonds can form. While there hasn’t been much new in the last few months for Splatoon 2, there’s still a large amount of users at different levels of skill to make things interesting. You could easily play round after round all day and experience something new each time in each location. Also, maybe it’s time you pick up a new weapon just to change things up. Splatoon 2 keeps things fresh for those in search of online interactions.
Minecraft has been around so long that it’s easy to take it for granted. The decade of its existence has seen it explode from an indie project to financial juggernaut, but at the heart of all minecraft wood the licensing has been a game that’s never stopped growing its list of features. One of the biggest parts of Minecraft’s longevity has been its multiplayer options with endless servers available almost since the beginning. The reason for this is simple — it’s fun to build things with friends. Whether or not that means everyone works together on a massive project or people go off and do their own thing in a communal area doesn’t matter, so long as there’s something new to see. Working with a group where everyone’s online, working alone or just tooling around the world sightseeing, it’s all better when doing it in a shared world. The thing about Minecraft, though, is that it’s become so generic it’s easy to forget how entertaining it is. Over the years I’ve obsessed over Minecraft, walked away for extended periods of time, come back, then left again. I’ve explored single-player worlds and gotten involved in multiplayer servers, and the one constant is that each time I play there’s something new to do. There are endless worlds stretching on forever made of giant blocks that, despite their size, are still enough to suggest the shape of almost anything you want to create, and the nice thing about Minecraft’s ubiquitous nature is just about everyone is already familiar with it. Now may be the best time to dig out an old log-in and see what huge, inspiring, strange, ridiculous, epic creations you and a group of friends can come up with.
Scoffing at motion controls is the well deserved cynical right of any long time gamer. However, for as maligned as the whole idea eventually became, during the glorious, shining moment you first played Wii Sports with friends, it seemed on track to become the inevitable future. Wii Sports was nothing short of pick up and play perfection, with appeal that goes from curiosity to party game phenomenon the moment you actually try it. It used the innovation of motion controls to tap into a primal level of game enjoyment that many of us though we’d abandoned with experience and maturity years ago.
Some may not like the game’s minimalistic art style, but those able to look past its simplicity will find a lot to like elsewhere. It features a strong narrative, solid crafting mechanics, and an intriguing world that’s sure to pull players in. Where it really shines, however, is through its multiplayer mode which helps to provide players with a real sense of purpose and an added significance to all that they
Certainly, this lends itself to some games better than others. It won’t work with any sort of scripted, linear action game, but it’s not much trouble to take a chunk of an RPG or Sandbox world, string together a bare-bones quest line, and set players loose. This allows for demos of the caliber you see with emergent games, where it’s much easier to take a chunk of gameplay and give it away – Civ V’s Demo let you play with a few civilizations on small maps, for instance, while Killer Instinct gives players one free character as a taste. I’m all for anything that allows single-player, structured games to be more competitive, especially when it provides a workable alternative to awful early-access crap.
When there’s a lot of stress or anxiety in the world, it’s nice to take a step back and relax. Animal Crossing is a game that does this well while alone or even better when hanging out with friends. It’s hard to find a title where doing next to nothing can feel rewarding, but in Animal Crossing just running around with friends feels like a fun time. There’s a sense of companionship when sharing items or fruit and rivalry when catching bugs or fish. The core of Animal Crossing’s entire identity is community, sharing interests and differences. New Horizons has players starting from nearly nothing and building their own world along the way. Eventually players can show off their hard work with a fully decorated house or a fantastic visit to the museum. Even just sitting down to take a picture together with silly expressions gives that relief that it’s alright to take a break without thinking too hard now and then. Not even a wasp sting can hurt long when a friend is there to give some medicine or at least laugh over how ridiculous it was.
