Nintendo Land

Intended as a colorful and welcoming invitation for new Wii U owners, Nintendo Land succeeds as a broadly enjoyable tutorial on the myriad features and abilities of the console and its unique GamePad controller. [Dec 2012, p.72]

Nintendo Land's defining quality is how it teaches the Wii U system to the player without making it complicated. This unfortunately also means depth is sacrificed.

Nintendo Land offers a unique gameplay experience which benefits from the new Wii U controller. The play value for single players is quite short, but you can spend hours in the different multiplayer attractions.

Nintendo Land is exactly what it set out to be: a mini-game compilation to show off how fun local multiplayer can be with two screens. None of the mini-games is bad; some are but a tutorial to the GamePad, not really interesting, others are pure genius.

Could Nintendo have made similar cuts, sliced out singleplayer, and left us with the perfect party game? The shadow of missed opportunity occasionally looms over Nintendo Land, but as with any good theme park, there are moments where you'll yell, scream and laugh yourself silly. Just add friends.

When the game works, it's one of the finest party games on offer, but Nintendo's confusion in what it wants to achieve with the Wii U GamePad results in an erratic compilation short on hits

Nintendo Land epitomizes the minigame-compilation genre - occasional flashes of brilliance surrounded by things you just don't want to exist.

It manages to do a lot with the system without, I believe, even scratching the service of what more focused and dedicated videogames could achieve. It's a game meant to excite you more about the system you just purchased, and that is what it does. Well worth checking out, at any rate.

Although I had an absolute blast playing Mario Chase for a few rounds, I'm already bored with it. With only a few similar standout games, the collection doesn't captivate as much as it could.

Non-fans will be confused by references to little played NES and Game & Watch games. Oppositely, Nintendo fanboys will enjoy the references, but won't like settling for imitations of games like F-Zero and Zelda instead of the real thing. In spite of all that, Nintendo Land is great introduction to the Wii U, even if it lacks the longevity of Wii Sports.

It's hard to see Nintendo Land becoming anywhere near the sensation that Wii Sports was. It requires too much equipment for the modes that last, and the rest can be quickly milked of their entertainment value. It proves that Nintendo is capable of creating addicting one-dollar games, but at 60 bucks, it's not priced to sell. As a pack-in for the deluxe version of the console it's a nice extra that shows what the Wii U is capable of.

It's certainly a game that can be fun with a group, but as a single player experience I found it lacking. It does a great job of showcasing new system elements, but also comes up short in fully realizing that theme park look Nintendo was going for.

In the end Nintendo Land can't fascinate as Wii Sports did when Wii launched. From time to time it shows what the new touchpad controls have to offer, but most of the time it is more reminiscent of WiiPlay. And if you don't have friends to support you in the few minigames that are actually fun, the entertainment is short lived.

Nintendo Land is charming in concept and execution, but it's also a game that doesn't have the depth or gameplay offerings to really reach its full potential. As a pack-in game, it's great; as a $60 retail game, it's horribly overpriced.

This is an interesting, but inconsistent mix of twelve mini-games that are meant to teach you how Wii U works. Nintendo Land is up to that task, however, the game is not entertaining enough.

Nintendo Land isn't a bad game, for free. As something that is included with the system, as long as you bought the deluxe model, this makes for an interesting tech demo, letting you and your friends try out different methods of how a game can be played on the Wii U. There is some fun to be had, but it's short lived, mainly due to lack of content, and not all of the content will be fun to everyone.

If you're likely to get together with at least two friends and have the required extra hardware, there's enough here to warrant a purchase - just know that you're essentially buying the game for three incredibly fun party games. If you're going to be playing solo, there are better options available for the Wii U.