Most underated/overated Wii games

Overrated: Super Mario Galaxy

There honestly aren't many overrated Wii games (I'm sure Baha is already typing up his response at this point), because there's a general perception of "if it's on Wii, it can't be that good". Perhaps this stems from the perception that Super Mario Galaxy is somehow by far the best the Wii has to offer when it's clearly not.

Galaxy is actually one of the few Wii games that shows the strains of high budget development, this game has a fairly low volume of distinct content that it reuses a lot. There's probably only about 60 unique stars and the rest simply involve doing the same levels over with very slight changes. This, moreso than the linearity of the game (3D Land proves linearity in a Mario game can work), is what causes this game to get dull quickly.


Underrated: Shaun White Road Trip

Similarly, the majority of good Wii games are underrated. Most of them got little to no advertising, and thus were easily buried under the shovelware games (which are in no way underrated). However, Shaun White stands out not only for being such a good game, but because it actually got NEGATIVE advertising. This game was demoed at E3 2008 (which most people recognize as the darkest moment in Wii history), and Cammie did a great job of making it look like a total farce.

Unfortunately, this is actually an excellent game. In terms of mechanics, it plays like a simpler and faster SSX Tricky (which is generally considered to be one of the best snowboarding games), but where the game really stands out is in its presentation. Not only does it look fairly good for Wii, with a nice cel-shaded style and good environment graphics, but there's also an overarching theme to the game - the titular road trip. The entire game is set up as though it was a snowboarding trip between a bunch of friends, and it does a good job selling it, from the clumsy, home movie-esque camerawork at the beginning of each run to the segments inside the gradually expanding tour vehicle where we get to see which each member of the gradually expanding band is up to. It exudes love for both the development of the game and the sport from every angle.
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http://terosclassicgaming.blogspot.com/ - Watch me beat "NES Die Hard"
http://www.backloggery.com/tero - My backloggery

Anyway, time to counter various allegations because these threads are never very fun without any arguing:


Overated: New Super Mario Bros Wii

I would agree if this was the DS game, which is indeed pretty bad, its only redeeming aspect is the Mario vs Luigi mode, which is a lot of fun but only has 5 short levels to play. Nintendo recognized that this was the best part of the game and expanded it, allowing the entirety of NSMBW to become a battleground for up to 4 players, and the result is one of the best multiplayer games ever made. They also fixed up some of NSMB DS's shortcomings, like the fact that the levels were very generic and too easy, but upping the overall level of difficulty and improving the level design.

This is basically one of the best examples of how to make a good sequel - find what worked well from the previous game and expand upon it, while also finding the parts that didn't work well and improve them. This is also something Nintendo all too often fails to do correctly (look at Star Fox for example, 64 remains the best game because they can't properly identify what it did well). As both an excellent multiplayer game and a good example of a sequel done right, this game deserves the moderately high ratings it has achieved.


Overrated: Xenoblade Chronicles

You can make a case for Xenoblade being overrated in that it's one of the only Wii games to be rated highly, thus if you agree with my preceding statement that "most good Wii games are underrated" you can argue that it is comparatively overrated. However, this does not justify calling Xenoblade the MOST overrated game, because it's not the most highly rated Wii game, Super Mario Galaxy is, and I think you can also argue that Xenoblade is a much better game than SMG and thus deserves that rating more.

For one thing, in the Galaxy section I brought up the issue of volume of content. This is certainly not an argument you can make against Xenoblade - it has easily among the most content of any game ever made. Of all the RPGs I have played (and that's 100+), this game takes easily the longest to reach the postgame, and it does so by a margin of 1.5 times over the next highest contenders. The world in this game is gigantic and every nook and cranny is packed with stuff to find and battle.

But of course, size doesn't go a long way if the game is not engaging. Xenoblade also does well here, boasting one of the deepest customization systems in any game, yet it is also intuitive enough not to feel overwhelming. Beyond this, it features generally excellent production values, with great graphics for the system, excellent music, and quality voice acting (and no, being British doesn't instantly make it bad. The vast majority of lines are delivered well and there's a lot of them). The end result is an incredibly ambitious and well-polished RPG the likes of which hasn't been seen for a long time. The comparison to Chrono Trigger is an apt one, as it's another incredibly well-rounded RPG that has held off pretty much all other challengers with its high level of polish. Xenoblade is one of the only games that can stand against CT without looking poorly made and offer up some significant advantages over it.
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http://terosclassicgaming.blogspot.com/ - Watch me beat "NES Die Hard"
http://www.backloggery.com/tero - My backloggery