Good Wii U games?

[Drascin]

A lot of this is personal preference. I generally find TBS games (particularly those without a hard grid system) vastly easier with a keyboard and mouse, anything with extensive menus better with a keyboard and mouse, and anything involving a fair amount of aiming better with a keyboard and mouse. There are also some platformers clearly made for arrow keys that are better with a keyboard (e.g. Dustforce). FPS and RTS are two examples where it really stands out. Flight simulators also tend to have lots of buttons and work better with a keyboard and mouse, though a keyboard and joystick is better yet.

Man, far as I'm concerned Dustforce was made for playing with a d-pad. Playing it with a keyboard just sounds painful.

Thankfully I have my Wii Classic Controllers, which have wonderful d-pads where my Xbox controller is absolutely ****ing terrible at d-padding!

[Avilan the Grey]

Anyway, again... which platformer:
Donkey Kong, 3D World or Mario New U?

[Knaight]

Man, far as I'm concerned Dustforce was made for playing with a d-pad. Playing it with a keyboard just sounds painful.

A d-pad also works pretty well for that game. It's just very much not made for an analog stick. At all.

[Avilan the Grey]

Oh and what about older titles from 2013? Like Need For Speed?

[BeerMug Paladin]

I'd recommend Donkey Kong if you're looking for something with a hefty challenge. The main game isn't too overwhelming, but the hard mode is ridiculous. One hit and you're done, plus no checkpoints.

New Mario U is pretty standard 2d platforming. Also, playing this one multiplayer tends to be versus even if you're not trying to fight each other, because people will move around unexpectedly and block each others' jumps and such.

Mario 3d World has slight differences among all the characters and encourages the players to sort of fight each other during the levels. Since there's more room to move around in, you tend not to get in the other players' way as much unless you try.

Both the Mario games are pretty solid. Go for whatever kind of platformer you'd rather have. But if you want something hard, go for DK.

[banthesun]

A d-pad also works pretty well for that game. It's just very much not made for an analog stick. At all.

Just quickly, it is possible to play it with an analog stick. I got myself too used to playing with it to make switching much fun, but I've managed to SS everything except Yotta just by working hard on my precision. I wouldn't recomend analog to anyone though.

[zilvar]

No mention of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate?

I am the sadface. All of the sadface.

Monster Hunter 3 on the Wii U is spectacular. One of my family has it and I am green with envy when we're doing local multiplayer. Almost envious enough to buy a Wii U just for that.

[danzibr]

No mention of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate?

I am the sadface. All of the sadface.

Monster Hunter 3 on the Wii U is spectacular. One of my family has it and I am green with envy when we're doing local multiplayer. Almost envious enough to buy a Wii U just for that.

Ooookay. I have a question for you. I bought that game thinking it looked cool, then was totally underwhelmed by the combat system. Tried archery and a big sword. Seemed way too clunky. Only got a couple hours into it. Does it get better?

[Hiro Protagonest]

Only got a couple hours into it. Does it get better?

Yes.

Unless what you're looking for is a Bayonetta/Devil May Cry/Metal Gear Rising fast-paced beat-em-up, in which case no.

There are a lot of weapons for a reason, and there's also a lot of moves which you'll really have to keep trying button combos to find. The combat doesn't ever evolve by your movesets - an Iron Katana has the same swings as a Thunder Saw, Kibamaru, or anything else under the "Long Sword" category. The movesets that evolve are your opponents, although it will take a while to learn all the subtleties of your weapon. But a Greatsword is very different from a Long Sword, or Sword & Shield, or Lance. Greatswords are honestly quite slow; you keep it sheathed a lot and run around and get one hit in occasionally until your quarry gets tired and lets you unleash a big flurry. Granted, that is kinda how the game works because this is a hunt, not a straight fight, but with Greatswords it's especially true. Ranged combat is... weirder. Never even bothered aside from testing out the bow and bowguns on weak island creatures. Hear it's not very good for solo play.

The first couple hours are the worst. "Go gather this" "Go gather that" "Go kill these weak herbivores" "Go kill these small predators". Your first big monster, the Great Jaggi, has the most boring moveset of all the monsters.

Of course, I've clocked in at 160 hours and I'm not even on G-rank quests yet, and have burned out on the game twice (still haven't gone back to it again). Still, that's worth my money even if I never do pick it up again.

[zilvar]

Ooookay. I have a question for you. I bought that game thinking it looked cool, then was totally underwhelmed by the combat system. Tried archery and a big sword. Seemed way too clunky. Only got a couple hours into it. Does it get better?

That depends, really. Try different weapons. I cannot stand hammers or greatswords, but really enjoy long swords, dual blade, and sword and shield. Kinda 'meh' on lances and ranged weapons (to be fair...until I actually learned how to dodge, lances were the only things I could use worth a darn)

MH rewards experience and attention and preparedness more and better than any game I've played (ymmv, obviously). When you learn a monster's tells well enough that you dodge without really needing to think about it, or take down your first H- rank (as high as I've gotten), yeah, it's a great rewarding feeling.

But weapon defines playstyle and play experience. If you are good at anticipating and like getting in the big smashing hit, greatsword/hammer/horn might be the weapon for you. If you like to be quick and mobile and kill with papercuts, try dual swords or sword and shield. If you're somewhere in the middle, try longsword or switch axe.

For me, it got a lot better once I found the weapons I enjoyed. :)

[Drascin]

Ooookay. I have a question for you. I bought that game thinking it looked cool, then was totally underwhelmed by the combat system. Tried archery and a big sword. Seemed way too clunky. Only got a couple hours into it. Does it get better?

Monster Hunter is its own breed of game, basically, which makes it hard to compare to anything else. I can tell you it's not a standard fast-paced action game, though, and so if what you want is to blow off some steam by comboing some suckers you should look elsewhere.

It's very slow and deliberate, and most of the time you will be outmatched against gigantic monsters that hit harder, faster, and better than you do. It's about being prepared, knowing your prey, predicting and baiting, and such. The first time you fight a monster you're probably going to get wrecked - and then a few missions later, after you learn its tells, the way this species shakes its head as a telltale sign before charging and how it always whips its tail twice in a tail slam and so on you'll suddenly find yourself taking down a monster that took you forty minutes the first time in ten.