Star Wars Wii Ideas

Nintendojo had some interesting revelations of what could be put into the Wiimote for the next Star Wars game…

A long, long time ago, before I remember playing video games, I was commanding a battalion of Transformers and leading my well trained Ninja Turtles against the evil Shredder. I would talk to myself, probably aloud, running the imaginary scenarios through my mind, pretending I was Optimus Prime or Raphael. But for all my toys and action figures, my favorite childhood (and adulthood) dream made me Luke Skywalker, wielding the power of the force and the power of a lightsaber.

 

Star Wars games are nothing new. From the old platformers to the second life that is Star Wars Galaxies, games have featured a lightsaber many times, but none have accurately captured the beauty and precision that lightsaber duels are meant to inspire. At first, it was nothing more than a glorified sword, used for hack-and-slash attacks when a less elegant weapon would have been more practical. Eventually it could deflect blaster shots, which added a much needed element, but sword-styled weapons are just not conducive to console or PC gaming– at least not with the controls available. It makes any Star Wars game with playable Jedi fundamentally flawed. Even force powers are often lacking, as pushing a button to perform a Force Pull doesn’t capture the Jedi essence.

But it’s easy to imagine how Wii’s motion sensitive remote fits into the Star Wars universe, particularly as a lightsaber. With full, three-dimensional motion tracking, the freehand remote becomes the handle of the saber, complete with a speaker for those memorable saber-sounds. The speaker could even be used to “hear” the voices of those far away through the force. The game would lend itself to a story of a Jedi’s entire life, beginning with early training, because players will likely need the training too. Lightsaber controls should be easy to learn, but difficult to master. As long as LucasArts faithfully recreates full and accurate swordplay, any difficulty will not actually be from learning the new controls, but from learning to become a swordfighter; from learning to become a Jedi. The players are connected to the game in a new way, as they make the journey together with the onscreen character.

If you need to sneak past a Storm Trooper with a little Jedi Mind Trick, you could actually wave your hand ever-so-slightly, Obi Wan-style. If you drop your lightsaber, just point your “hand” at it with the remote and use the Force to pull it back. Distant objects could be manipulated in the same way. Players could use the Force to push an incoming group of Battle Droids by thrusting the analog Nunchuck (or maybe a second remote?). It’s the type of game where becoming the character is important, and despite over a decade of attempts, it has never truly been achieved.

 

How many times have you stood in your bedroom swinging a baseball bat or a broomstick, humming the ever familiar lightsaber buzz with each slash? At long last, a system may soon exist that allows creates a real picture from what has always been nothing more than a boyhood fantasy. The game will be made; it needs to be made. How well it will work remains to be seen, but it’s these ideas of total immersion that make Wii a system everyone needs to own– just so we can be a kid again.

http://www.nintendojo.com/fullfocus/view_item.php?1153977861

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