Ennichi no Tatsujin Playtest

[wraggster]

via ign

With Bandai Namco's Ennichi no Tatsujin, I've at last played all 16 of the Wii's Japanese launch titles. I'd like to say that I saved the best for last, but that's definitely not the case. In fact, looking just at all the mini game collections in the launch, I started off with Wario: Smooth Moves, then went on to Wii Play, Crayon Shin Chan, and Tamagotchi, in that order, before finishing off today with what appears to be the worst of the bunch.

Crayon Shin Chan and Tamagotchi aren't all that great, but at least they attempt to put some fluff around the mini games. Ennichi no Tatsujin makes no such attempt. The entire game involves selecting a mini game and playing through a series of challenges.

As detailed in our early preview, the mini games include 10 events you might find at a carnival. On the plus side, you'll find some events that you won't find in any other mini game collection. I was excited about the idea of making crepe and takoyaki and folding balloons.

Some of the games offer some interesting ideas. The balloon game, for instance, plays somewhat like a slow Taiko Drum Master, only you twist and bend the controller and nunchuck when prompted, creating balloon shapes.

Most of the mini games are poorly implemented, either with bad controls or boring ideas. The takoyaki game requires that you move and twist the Wiimote in order to pour out batter and flip the little takoyakis, but problems with the motion recognition make this frustrating. The crepe game has you spread batter over a hot plate, wait for the wrapping to heat up, then add toppings, taking care to not include anything on your customers' bad list. The batter controls might work okay, if you weren't twisting the Wiimote around in the air.

Ennichi no Tatsujin shows some of the growing pains Japan seems to be having with the Wii. Button placement is confusing -- instead of the standard B button to cancel and go out to menus, or even the + or - button that's used in some games, you're required to hold down the 2 button for a couple of seconds. You'll find no load times once you get into one of the ten gaming areas, but actually moving between events requires a few seconds of loading both on the way in and on the way out.

With its barebones presentation of ten mini games, Ennichi no Tatsujin reminds me of Nintendo's Wii Play. Only minus the fun, and the bundled Wiimote.