I’ve been using Gamefly for a few months now and I love it. It allows me to see which games really suck and which games are really short and not worth the money before I lay down any cash on them. Suffice it to say, I haven’t bought any new games yet (exempting the games I got for Christmas, which were worth the purchase). So I gave in to curiosity and any-news-is-good-news hype surrounding Rockstar’s “Manhunt 2″ for the Wii. I only briefly played the first one and wasn’t drawn into it like the GTA series. In fact, now that I think of it, I haven’t really liked many Rockstar games besides GTA. But anywho… Manhunt 2 didn’t excite me all that much, really. Now granted, I didn’t get too far into the game (it was still giving me tutorial tips) but I think I played enough to get the general idea. While beating someone to death with a sledgehammer is a bit viscerally enticing, the game itself is trapped somewhere between being a GTA shooter and a Splinter Cell stealth game without the elements of greatness from either game. There are many things to love about the GTA series, but the best part about it is definitely the sandbox gameplay. I’ve played other games that tout their sandbox, but it’s nowhere near as open and fun as in GTA (eg, Just Cause). I’m sure there are plenty who will find the game enjoyable, but I just didn’t have the patience for it. I think I might enjoy it a little more on another platform, though, and here’s where I get to the heart of my issues with this game and others on the Wii.
Early console controllers, such as on the Atari 2400, took their design cues from arcade controllers with a control stick and button. Then there was the NES style controller with the direction pad (and additional button!). This has pretty much been the paradigm ever since, with extra buttons and better ergonomics added along the way. Specialty controllers aside (steering wheels, flight control sticks, etc), the Wii remote is a huge shift away from the status quo. Now, while this is not specifically the fault of Nintendo, the Wii remote exposes a problem that hasn’t been too big of a deal until now, and that is handedness. I was fortunate enough to be born a lefty, and although I use a mouse with my right hand I am predominantly left-handed in just about every other facet of my life. I use my right hand for my mouse because the mouse is always on the right side and I just got used to it that way. The same can probably be said for all of those game controllers. If I had grown up with the control pad on the right, maybe I’d be a better gamer now, but after years of finger-training there’s no turning back now.
The Wii changes that, though. Now I have two controllers, one for each hand. Now I’ve reversed my usual setup, with the control pad under my right thumb and the main buttons in the weightier controller in my left hand. Now, plenty of games that I’ve played so far for the Wii either make no differentiation between handedness or have settings which allow you to specify handedness. Manhunt 2 is not one of those games. I didn’t really think about it at first, but as soon as I got a hold of the aforementioned sledgehammer I got a bit confused by the controls. Then I realized it was because when I tried to swing the weapon, in the characters right hand, I had to swing the main controller, in my left hand. It’s something I probably could have gotten used to with further play, but it caused some cognitive dissonance in the time I did play, which only increased with load, such as being surrounded by enemies.
Now, you reading this and being a righty (I assume you’re a righty because probability dictates I’ll be right more of the time by assuming that), you may think that this is simply a silly gripe that doesn’t actually effect gameplay and thus isn’t worth the developer’s time. However, try this experiment for me before making your final decision on this. Try switching hands that you use on a Wii remote and playing that way. Unless you’re of that small class of folks who are truly ambidextrous, I bet you’ll find it uncomfortable. Now try playing a game like Manhunt 2 that is only right-handed and tell me that it doesn’t cause some discomfort trying to figure out the controls. I think this is an issue that is significant enough to warrant some developer attention and I seriously hope more games aren’t marred in this way.
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