So, I'll mark my first WiiWare review with a monumental title... Wait, UNO? Well, it's not "monumental", but it's still an odd review. With that in mind, I'll base the quantity and quality on the price. Sure, we pirated it anyway, but WiiWare titles are mostly developed with not nearly as many resources as a full fledged game and are under $20.Anyway, upwards and onwards!
So, UNO is the famous card game from 1971 (well, according to Wikipedia). Since then, it's been crazy popular and really is a simple time killer. With all it's new forms and rebrandings, UNO is one of the most famous card games around. And with all these rebrandings and forms, it's gotten quite a few video game iterations. So, how does UNO's latest outing come out on the Wii? Well, it's pretty damn good. Also, a sidenote for NTSC owners (like me), the game has only been released in the PAL regions. So you'll have to pirate a copy, use freethewads, and install it with WAD Manager. Don't ask me how, you should already know how to if you're a true pirate of the seas.
Let me first start off with this: It's really hard to fuck up UNO. I mean, seriously, you add the game, some decent CPU's, and that's all. It can look like dog feces but as long as it plays a good game of UNO, it doesn't matter. Well, that's the basics. If you want for it to really be fun, you want all the goodies. Any game can be a good game of UNO; only some games of UNO can be great.
Well, UNO for WiiWare is quite full featured. You'll get of course a classic game of UNO, with no special rules or gimmicks. On top of that, you'll get some other optional rules like Jump Ins and 0's and 7's. It's all up to you whether you want it or not. Anyway, the game plays like you'd expect. No unnecessary tricks or shoddy rules, just straight up playing. You point and click to draw or play cards, and for announcing UNO, you click a button that says "UNO". You can also call out people who don't say UNO with the B button. With all these rules, you can play Local Play, Online Play, Tournament Play, and Free Play. Tournament Play is a round of 15 matches of UNO against CPUs with changing rules and stuff like that. It's mainly part tutorial, part unlockable score. The "tutorials" aren't really tutorials but mainly just easier games of UNO. But who cares if there's not a tutorial. Who the fuck doesn't know how to play UNO? Unless you're a little man living in a little hut you'll know how to play UNO. The tournament will take maybe an hour or so to complete, depending on if you get good or bad hands. You'll get some unlockables, like new UNO decks and backgrounds, nothing too special. You can always replay it if you want a long string of matches. Free Play is just a quick game of UNO with the CPU's. It's got quite a bit of customization to play to your likings. While consoles aren't exactly known for their "pick up and play", compared to handhelds, this really does make a nice pick up and play option or just a cool down if you want to get away from blowing up bad guys. Local Play is an unfortunate disappointment, since it's pretty impossible to play this game without sneaking a peek of your players cards. It's like playing poker with transparent cards. I mean, if you really want to take the extra effort to look away from the screen while the other player is playing, which is what your supposed to do, it's quite a playable mode, but odds are you'll see your opponents hand a few times. It's got some rough spots but it's overall very enjoyable.
I felt the need to make a whole section on the Online Play because it's really, really good. Off the bat you'll notice WiiSpeak support, making UNO surprisingly the third Wii title ever (retail and downloadable) to have it, right after Animal Crossing and The Conduit. Of course, you can't use it outside of friends, like the other games, but it's still excellent for a little social and human contact. The game still gets Friend Codes, like 99% of Wii games (with GH5 I think being the only one without them), so I won't bitch about that (although it is a dumbass feature that Nintendo implemented). You can play a random match with random rules, a custom match with custom rules, as well as look at your stats and make private rooms. The game is without lag (I mean, it's UNO, what can you expect?) and runs very fluently. If a player takes too much time making a decision, it'll start a 10 second countdown until he's skipped. It makes the game so much better than CPU's. From what I've played, I got a match almost immediately and got started just as fast. It's an excellent online mode for the Wii and WiiWare in general.
Graphically and sound wise, it's good. I mean, with games like these, you couldn't care less if the game was 8-bit quality with chiptunes. For graphics, you have Mii support instead of choosing crappy, premade Mii knockoffs like some games. The backgrounds are pleasent and the music is appropriately elevator music. The cards could be better animated, but does anyone care? It's nothing impressive, but it wasn't meant to be.
Overall, UNO is a simple, fun, casual game that's just plain and simple fun. While it's got a few rough spots, it will overall please UNO fans and anyone just looking for a quiet, casual game to play. And for just 500 points in Europe, you may as well buy it too.
Presentation: It's UNO. Menus are sleek, the game is fine, and it's full featured. Coolio. 8/10
Graphics: Simple and pleasing. A nice bit of unlockable background and UNO card skins, as well as Mii support. Card animations could be better, but does anyone care? 8/10
Audio: Elevator music with some sound effects. Nothing impressive, nothing bad. 7/10
Gameplay: A damn good game of UNO. Some nice new modes as well as pretty good CPU's. A great pick up and play, causal, or cool down game to play whenever. 8.5
Lasting Appeal: UNO can be pretty timeless, so the lasting appeal is basically how long you enjoy UNO. The Local Play is pretty mediocre, but the online mode is great. WiiSpeak, custom matches, etc. One of the best examples of good WiiWare online play. 9/10
Overall: 8.3/10
Thought it would be nice for a more lighthearted and not-so-serious review. Enjoy!
So, UNO is the famous card game from 1971 (well, according to Wikipedia). Since then, it's been crazy popular and really is a simple time killer. With all it's new forms and rebrandings, UNO is one of the most famous card games around. And with all these rebrandings and forms, it's gotten quite a few video game iterations. So, how does UNO's latest outing come out on the Wii? Well, it's pretty damn good. Also, a sidenote for NTSC owners (like me), the game has only been released in the PAL regions. So you'll have to pirate a copy, use freethewads, and install it with WAD Manager. Don't ask me how, you should already know how to if you're a true pirate of the seas.
Let me first start off with this: It's really hard to fuck up UNO. I mean, seriously, you add the game, some decent CPU's, and that's all. It can look like dog feces but as long as it plays a good game of UNO, it doesn't matter. Well, that's the basics. If you want for it to really be fun, you want all the goodies. Any game can be a good game of UNO; only some games of UNO can be great.
Well, UNO for WiiWare is quite full featured. You'll get of course a classic game of UNO, with no special rules or gimmicks. On top of that, you'll get some other optional rules like Jump Ins and 0's and 7's. It's all up to you whether you want it or not. Anyway, the game plays like you'd expect. No unnecessary tricks or shoddy rules, just straight up playing. You point and click to draw or play cards, and for announcing UNO, you click a button that says "UNO". You can also call out people who don't say UNO with the B button. With all these rules, you can play Local Play, Online Play, Tournament Play, and Free Play. Tournament Play is a round of 15 matches of UNO against CPUs with changing rules and stuff like that. It's mainly part tutorial, part unlockable score. The "tutorials" aren't really tutorials but mainly just easier games of UNO. But who cares if there's not a tutorial. Who the fuck doesn't know how to play UNO? Unless you're a little man living in a little hut you'll know how to play UNO. The tournament will take maybe an hour or so to complete, depending on if you get good or bad hands. You'll get some unlockables, like new UNO decks and backgrounds, nothing too special. You can always replay it if you want a long string of matches. Free Play is just a quick game of UNO with the CPU's. It's got quite a bit of customization to play to your likings. While consoles aren't exactly known for their "pick up and play", compared to handhelds, this really does make a nice pick up and play option or just a cool down if you want to get away from blowing up bad guys. Local Play is an unfortunate disappointment, since it's pretty impossible to play this game without sneaking a peek of your players cards. It's like playing poker with transparent cards. I mean, if you really want to take the extra effort to look away from the screen while the other player is playing, which is what your supposed to do, it's quite a playable mode, but odds are you'll see your opponents hand a few times. It's got some rough spots but it's overall very enjoyable.
I felt the need to make a whole section on the Online Play because it's really, really good. Off the bat you'll notice WiiSpeak support, making UNO surprisingly the third Wii title ever (retail and downloadable) to have it, right after Animal Crossing and The Conduit. Of course, you can't use it outside of friends, like the other games, but it's still excellent for a little social and human contact. The game still gets Friend Codes, like 99% of Wii games (with GH5 I think being the only one without them), so I won't bitch about that (although it is a dumbass feature that Nintendo implemented). You can play a random match with random rules, a custom match with custom rules, as well as look at your stats and make private rooms. The game is without lag (I mean, it's UNO, what can you expect?) and runs very fluently. If a player takes too much time making a decision, it'll start a 10 second countdown until he's skipped. It makes the game so much better than CPU's. From what I've played, I got a match almost immediately and got started just as fast. It's an excellent online mode for the Wii and WiiWare in general.
Graphically and sound wise, it's good. I mean, with games like these, you couldn't care less if the game was 8-bit quality with chiptunes. For graphics, you have Mii support instead of choosing crappy, premade Mii knockoffs like some games. The backgrounds are pleasent and the music is appropriately elevator music. The cards could be better animated, but does anyone care? It's nothing impressive, but it wasn't meant to be.
Overall, UNO is a simple, fun, casual game that's just plain and simple fun. While it's got a few rough spots, it will overall please UNO fans and anyone just looking for a quiet, casual game to play. And for just 500 points in Europe, you may as well buy it too.
Presentation: It's UNO. Menus are sleek, the game is fine, and it's full featured. Coolio. 8/10
Graphics: Simple and pleasing. A nice bit of unlockable background and UNO card skins, as well as Mii support. Card animations could be better, but does anyone care? 8/10
Audio: Elevator music with some sound effects. Nothing impressive, nothing bad. 7/10
Gameplay: A damn good game of UNO. Some nice new modes as well as pretty good CPU's. A great pick up and play, causal, or cool down game to play whenever. 8.5
Lasting Appeal: UNO can be pretty timeless, so the lasting appeal is basically how long you enjoy UNO. The Local Play is pretty mediocre, but the online mode is great. WiiSpeak, custom matches, etc. One of the best examples of good WiiWare online play. 9/10
Overall: 8.3/10
Thought it would be nice for a more lighthearted and not-so-serious review. Enjoy!
