The Wii version is the same exact thing as the DS game in many ways. If you don’t own a DS, but you own a Wii, and the information on the previous page sounds intriguing to you, then you’re going to like the Wii game. But remember the things I said about this being a beautiful looking DS game? Not so much on its console cousin.
It appears to have been touched up graphically just a bit, but the textures that are not as noticeable on lower resolutions on the DS are very much apparent on the Wii, especially if you play on an HD set. This is not a pretty looking Wii game-it’s a DS game on the Wii, which looks about as good as you would expect it to. That does not mean that the game isn’t fun, it’s just that you realize what it means to be a good looking console game versus a good looking handheld game when you look at the Wii version.
Thankfully, other than that, the Wii version plays almost as well as the DS one. You use the Wii Mote and Nunchuk to control the character, and it isn’t an awkward transition (unless you happen to be reviewing both games and need a little bit of time to adjust to using analog and a different button scheme). To mimic the dual screen presentation on the DS, the Wii utilizes side-by-side screens that show the same things as the DS. You can shrink or enlarge the two screens though, which is a nice touch, so instead of being two equal size screens you can change the one where you battle to take up half of your television set, while the menu shrinks down until you need it. This is performed with the + and – buttons, and is easily reached when necessary on the Wii Remote.
The Wii and DS versions of the game can interact with each other, and you don’t need Friend Codes to do so. The Wii also has online for play with other Wii owners of the title, incase your friends don’t have a DS (find new friends, okay?). Getting together is simple, too: select multiplayer from a save point, select DS Connection, and then bam, anyone who is looking to play with you within the realm of DS/Wii connectivity shows up as available to join you. It takes literally seconds, and is great to see on the sometimes online-deficient Wii. My one complaint is that the Wii needs to be the host, which means everyone else needs to drop where they are in the story in order to go through the Wii owners version. It’s not a deal breaker or anything, but it’s the kind of thing that I wish had been avoided.
About the only thing I can think of that is missing from the multiplayer/multiplatform arrangement is the ability to import your characters from the Wii to the DS or vice versa. Animal Crossing: City Folk employs the “DS Suitcase”, which allows you to take your character from one Wii console to another in order to play in their town. Seeing some form of this on this multiplatform title-especially considering they use the same engine-would have been a nifty addition. For example, I played the DS version before I played the Wii one, as I reviewed both. I would have loved the ability to import my DS character into my Wii game, in order to play through the story mode there.
The Wii game is not a bad one, it’s just not as good for its platform relative to the DS version. Still, Square Enix deserves some applause for the idea itself, and for its implementation, which does work (even if graphically, the results are not as pretty as we would like). If you don’t own a DS, the Wii version is worth buying-especially since that version is just $40, which is a bargain title on the system. If you do own a DS though, then you are going to want to invest in that.
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