You couldn’t remake it up

Despite not being as powerful as the PS3 or Xbox 360 or the fact that half its games are celebrity/show/product endorsed party mini-games, I still like the Wii. For the many people complaining about how Nintendo have negleted the core audience with casual games and cynical releases that capatilize upon this (Wii Fit and especially Wii Play), I would normally point to titles such as Resident Evil 4, the Metroid Prime series and No More Heroes as my defense.

Admittedly, it’s not a brilliant defence but I at least feel that dispite the cynical releases and lazy titles on the Wii, there are still quality games for it and that Nintendo hasn’t completely sold out and forgotten about the gamers who bought the SNES, N64 or Gamecube. But even my goodwill has a limit if pushed far enough so step forward Super Mario All-Stars (which for purposes of laziness I’ll abbreviate as SMAS).

Before we go into what’s wrong with this release, allow me to provide some background info. SMAS was released on the SNES back in 1993, presumably because the SNES wasn’t backwards compatable with NES games and Nintendo wanted to give games who missed the NES generation a second chance to expecience the classic Mario Bros series.

While fundamentally the same games, (Mario Bros 1, 2, 3 and the lost levels which was the real Super Mario Bros 2 but wasn’t released in America or Europe due to its high difficulty), the graphics were updated and minor tweaks were introduced making it a better and more complete experience.

Since Mario reached that 25 year mark, someone at Nintendo thought it’d be a good idea to commemorate this. You think fair enough, why wouldn’t they! From a business point of view, it wouldn’t hurt the balance sheet and gamers who missed playing these games could do so again. Yet you think with working on SMAS all those years ago and seeing the success that came with it, they would do the same with this, add small improvements to existing games and make it a must have collection. Unfortunately things didn’t work that way.

The part that bothers me greatly about this release, it’s the sheer laziness behind it. Nintendo had this fantastic opportunity to add in games like SM World, Yoshi’s Island, SM 64, Mario RPG, SM Sunshine to this and yet squandered the chance. It’s not like they had the excuse of too little space as they could have easily fit it onto the CD if they bothered to do so. When you compare it to other companies like Sega who have released far superiour compilation games on Xbox and PS3 this gripe is only highlighted further.

SMAS Wii is effectively the same game, only difference is that its on a CD and not a cartridge. So in case you haven’t gotten your head around that this is a 1993 remake of games released back in 1985,1988 and 1991 that’s been rereleased in 2010. That’s a 17 year gap since SMAS original release and the opportunity for innovation and improving the product was clearly there even if the idea was thought up of only a few months before release. Yet as well as not updating the collection, the best selling point they could come up with was “Play with just the Wii remote” (refer to picture above if you don’t believe me).

The worst part about this is that you can get each of these games without getting off your couch through Virtual Console. Roughly all NES games (and that what they are!) are 500 points which comes to €5. At the time of writing, Super Mario All-Stars  costs €30. So for a downgrade in graphics you can play the exact same game for €10 cheaper and €15 if you omit the lost levels which doesn’t do anything majorly different from the first game.

Nintendo had a brilliant chance to remind gamers how they got to the place they are now. Instead they’ve just reminded us what they’ve become.

Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (PC, PS2, Gamecube & Xbox – 2002)

Hitman 2 is by definition a puzzler disguised as a stealth action game. Sounds odd but not when you think about it for a moment. Each mission is practically a brainteaser as to how you complete a mission without raising suspicion. It’s like a really brutal rubik’s cube puzzle. There’s normally three or four ways to compete the mission, the proper stealthy way by not being noticed by anyone (solving it by yourself) picking off the numerous guards that get in your way one by one without anyone noticing (solving just one side and neglecting the rest) or resorting to pure wanton violence (slamming the rubik’s cube to the ground and telling it to go to hell).

All good stealth games require planning of some sort. Before each mission, you’re briefed as to what you need to do, being supplied with the appropriate documents and images needed to carry out the kill as well as a satellite map to work out guard routines and civilian placements as most missions take place in public areas.

In theory you could just get a machine gun and wade in taking out all who oppose you yet chances are you’ll be overwhelmed by guards in a few seconds. You could get a sniper rifle, climb to the top of a really high building and pick off your target from afar. But chances are the building will be surrounded and swarming with guards (getting the picture yet?) within moments making escape almost impossible. In these instances, a different approach comes into play, mainly concealment and disguise.

Sneaking up behind someone with the fiber wire is one way of silencing guards or potential witnesses

People will be suspicious of the shady bald man in a black suit if they were standing 20 feet away from them but won’t if he’s dressed up in guards or civilian clothing. Therefore when killing or knocking out a guard or civilian, taking their clothes is sometimes the only way to get into areas you couldn’t access by yourself.

The first level is a perfect example of this: there’s a mansion that you need to enter to kill a mafia leader and free a hostage. The main gates are being patrolled by guards, the first side entrance has a guard normally coming through to ‘relieve’ himself every now and again, there’s a postman nearby having a cigarette and there’s a courier delivering food to the kitchen.  One of the possibilities is hiding your weapons in the food and stealing either the postman or courier’s uniform and walk straight into the premises after being searched, collecting your weapons in the kitchen and wrecking havoc from the inside. There are many others options and methods but it all depends on how you approach the situation and what happens when you do.

Common sense comes into play as well when you obtain these disguises, you can’t be close to certain personnel otherwise they’ll discover you and wearing guard uniform is a no no if your face is visible. If you’re out of place, they’ll suspect you but only if you stay within their field of range. Pressing forward normally allows you to bypass  this unless you go into an area that’s out of bounds in which case you’ll be greeted with machine gun fire.

Obtaining disguises are normally a good way of getting through security. Just be sure to actually hide the bodies.

Also guards don’t suffer from Solid Snake syndrome (everyone suffering from collective amnesia when you’re out of sight for ten seconds), when you’re spotted, you’ll need some powerful weapons and a good vantage point to get out alive. They won’t forget you or your disguise and will search every nook and cranny until they find you which normally leads to some of Hitman 2 most thrilling moments.

But the greatest thrill is simply going in unnoticed disguised or otherwise, getting past security, performing your kill and getting out unnoticed. Trying to achieve the perfect kill is a mixture of tension and exhilaration as you carefully make your way through each situation without blowing your cover.

But the real joy is approaching each mission the way you want to, the game doesn’t penalize you so long as you complete each task, directly or indirectly . To be honest, there’s something liberating about breaking the rules and massacring an entire army because you didn’t want to hide in the shadows for half an hour but that’s missing the point. For those who want to break away from the norm and the Metal Gear solid definition of stealth, they’ll find themselves playing a thoughtful and clever action puzzler.