Wii's Best Online Games (by Carl B.)
February 5, 2011, by Carl B. - It has become common knowledge at this point that Nintendo's online infrastructure for the Wii is fairly primitive. Few games support voice chat, Friend Codes are required for games to run on Nintendo's servers, and in the case of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, sometimes the games with the most online potential don't even work. Despite the obvious shortcomings of the Wii's online, there have been some online enabled games that excel even with Nintendo's handcuffs.
Tatsunoko vs Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars
Release: January 26, 2010
Tatsunoko vs Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars features the most robust online mode for any fighter on the Wii. In fact, it's probably the only fighter on Wii that has a working online mode, considering the fact that Super Smash Bros. Brawl's online mode is filled with never ending lag and long connection times. Tatsunoko vs Capcom uses the Friend Code system, but players are also able to register random people they encounter in their Rival Roster. From the Rival Roster they can see if their Rivals are online and can send them match challenges, essentially creating a secondary friends list. Online battles are virtually lag free, which is needed for a fighter as intense as Tatsunoko vs Capcom is.
Goldeneye 007
Release: November 2, 2010
Eurocom's re-imagining of 1997's Goldeneye 007 embraces the current generation of gaming with an online multiplayer component that happens to be one of the most robust offerings on the console with up to eight players in a match. Voice chat with Wii Speak or the PDP Headbanger Headset unfortunately isn't available, but players are able to play against others in a plethora of game modes: Conflict, Team Conflict, Golden Gun, Black Box, Goldeneye, Heroes, License to Kill, Team License to Kill, and Classic Conflict. The game's two best online modes are by far Goldeneye and Heroes. Goldeneye mode has each team trying to take control of and protect five different control boxes. Heroes mode is a variation of Team Conflict, where a super powerful "hero" can be played as by one person on each team. This hero has extra bullet damage, added health, unlimited ammunition, and can heal players that are near them. When the hero dies, another player on that same team will become the hero. Customization is a huge part of the online experience, as players can play with any control scheme they want and mix and match different weapon load outs similar to Call of Duty. Read the review.
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Release: November 9, 2010
In the Wii's first few years on the market third party developers really neglected the platform, opting to skip out on development of big titles that hit the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, and when big name games did manage to land on the Wii, they were stripped down ports of their HD brothers. Whether it be their tendencies to milk a franchise for all its worth or good business practices, Activision released Wii versions of every Call of Duty game excluding Modern Warfare 2. World at War had a decent online offering, but the ante was upped considerably with Modern Warfare Reflex. When Black Ops released, it instantly became the Wii's best online shooter. Every game mode from the PS3/360 versions are included in the Wii version of Black Ops, except for a few kill streaks and the game's zombie mode only featured one map. To top it off, the game made use of PDP's Headbanger Headset for voicechat and players could send friend requests to anyone they meet online, which basically removed the need for Friend Codes. Read the review.
Mario Kart Wii
Release: April 27, 2008
Mario Kart Wii was the first game that showed how great online Wii games could potentially be even with the use of Friend Codes. Mario Kart Wii features 12 player online races with leaderboards, a player points system, unlockable racers, and fantastic presentation values to boot. Weekly tournaments take place via the Mario Kart Wii Channel, extending the game's already high replay-ability.
Monster Hunter Tri
Release: April 20, 2010
Monster Hunter Tri features the most robust cooperative online multiplayer found on the Wii. The game features four types of servers for players of differing skill levels, which are further split into "cities" that house different rooms that support up to four players at a time. Every player has a Hunter Rank that starts off at one and dictates what quests they can take. Players can increase their Hunter Rank by completing quests online, a process that takes hours at a time. The best part about Monster Hunter Tri's online play is that every change made to the player's character offline affects the player online, and vice-versa, giving players the option to play the game exclusively online. There are online-only monsters as well, and while there are five tiers to quests offline, there are six tiers to online quests. Monster Hunter Tri also makes use of a text-chat system that lets players use an on-screen interface or USB keyboard to chat with friends and random players alike, along with WiiSpeak support for chatting with friends. Online play doesn't use Nintendo's Friend Code system, instead using a username system that's standard in the other consoles' online offerings. Capcom releases regular DLC support for Tri in the form of periodic online event quests, giving even more replay-ability to a game that will have players going for hundreds of hours already. Read the review.
