Preview: Link's Crossbow Training

Ready for a double whammy article? We got hands on at eGames with both Link's Crossbow Training but also the soon to be released Wii Zapper, the gun type casing from Nintendo designed to allow you to handle the Wii controls more like an arcade light gun.

They both ship together later this year at a bargain price and from what we've seen, there's a lot of promise in both of these. The Wii Zapper uses a slot system to attach the Wii Remote and Nunchuck into a machine-gun Wii like casing with a trigger mechanism hitting the B button for you, and it performs very well.

A couple of my initial concerns was about the Zapper has weight and size. With the controllers slotted in you can aim quite happily one handed and not have your shot thrown off by the weight, and size wise even for the big handed among us (such as myself) it feels quite comfortable to play with. While not everyone is going to love it's look, we thought it was quite cool. The nunchuck C and Z buttons were very easy to access and the trigger was a nice size. At the end of the day, Nintendo has done what a lot of third parties have failed at. Make a light gun which retains a lot of the ease of use of the Wii controllers by themselves. If third party support picks up on the Wii Zapper, this is going to be one of the few alternative controllers that every game should have.

As for the game it's self, Link's Crossbow Training is a mix of many of the classic arcade shooters. From on rail Virtual Cop stylings, to free movement run and gun, Point Blank target practice with Gorons, it's just pure fun. From what we saw the game takes on very arcading approach, based around clearing stages rather than a big adventure like the Zapper's other friend, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles.

Between the masses of enemies on screen, destructible environments (which get you bonus points, and they say GTA teaches bad lessons), power ups also play into the game. The one we had the most fun with was a rapid fire bonus which allowed us to just mow through hundreds of spawning enemies. It was very fun and even got the crowd excited, someone screamed out 'Yeah! Link's got an Uzi, I'd roll with him now!'

Links Crossbow Training and Zapper ships later this year, currently estimated at a retail price of about $50 bucks. The Zapper shows a lot of promise and the game is just pure fun. Combine these into one packages at a low low price and we think Nintendo is going to have a Christmas winner on their hands.

We'll have the full review of both sometime next month.

Tags: crossbow egames link preview

MrWii 17/11/2007

Kudos: 3036  Mates: 76

Show More Info on Link's Crossbow Training