Review - Wii Zapper
posted 28 November 2007, Wednesday
Wii Zapper
$19.99
After much contemplation and mind changing I bought a Wii zapper. This little peripheral has been subject to ridicule and attack since it was first revealed, and it's probably going to get a lot more - especially if it ends up getting little or no support in its lifetime. Frankly, the Zapper is a mixed bag but not without some potential.
The first thing I want to address is the pricing of the Zapper. Many places, including Amazon, are selling the Zapper for $25. DO NOT BUY IT AT THAT PRICE! The Zapper is supposed to cost $20 and not a penny more. I don't know why some stores feel they can get away with the higher price. It's arguable whether the Zapper is worth a full $20 so don't get fooled into spending five dollars extra.
The Zapper package contains the Zapper peripheral and a copy of Link's Crossbow Training in a cardboard sleeve. The Zapper feels sturdy and is made out of good, hard plastic. It's about a foot long and it feels very comfortable in the two-handed gun position (left hand in front for right handers).
The Wiimote locks in with a grey clip built into the top that is strong and easy to open. However, this is the only thing keeping the wiimote in place so if it breaks or the spring goes bad you'll probably have to throw the Zapper away or tape your wiimote down.
This is the inside of the front trigger, and as you can see there is nothing there. There are no springs which means the trigger relies totally on the resistance of the Wiimote's B button. Surprisingly it feels really good and offers a hair trigger response - something you don't find in third party Wii guns. There is, however, the issue of the plastic scraping on each other and any possible damage that might cause.
This is the plastic clip that helps to keep the nunchuk in place and the cord running through the slot there at the bottom. This is the flimsiest, cheapest feeling piece of plastic on the entire gun. The hinge is simply a folded piece of plastic which means that over time it will inevitably wear down and break if you don't accidentally break it yourself by pulling on it too hard. Thankfully the nunchuk doesn't need this piece to stay in place, but it should have been better.
The Zapper also has a compartment in the center that opens up so you can wind and store the excess cord, but it's hardly necessary. In fact it's more of a chore to have to wind then unwind the cord every time you use it, but the option is there if you want it.
I've found three ways to hold the Zapper. The first and best way is the most obvious - with both hands, dominant hand at the back. This is the basic way that you would hold a two-handed gun. The second way is by using the back end of the Zapper as a stock, holding the front with your dominant hand and folding your other hand over it. With the thumb of your free hand you could quickly hit the A button or any other button on top of the wiimote. Finally you can hold the Zapper like a one-handed gun and have the nunchuk in your other. This method is the worst though since the back end of the Zapper bumps into your forearm. The only major negative I can attribute to the Zapper design is the backwards trigger which is at the front instead of at the back like just about every gun in existence. However, that can easily be remedied if games allow us to use the Z button as the trigger.
You should NEVER, EVER hold the Zapper the way the picture on the back of the box tells you to. It's completely wrong and will only make things harder for you. Why Nintendo promotes using it like that is beyond understanding and reflects their half-assed attitude towards this peripheral.
The Zapper comes with Link's Crossbow Training which is basically a target practice game. It's a pretty straightforward game where you run around shooting stuff or are guided to different areas to shoot stuff. It has three different modes of play, including multiplayer, and some of the levels have little secrets that can add some variety. Though well done it is a very barebones game and would have greatly benefited from the addition of an online leader board or even a reward for each of the medal categories you can earn.
I was totally shocked to see that the game offered a calibration menu, but it's worthless. It doesn't calibrate your wiimote to act like a light gun. Instead it only allows you to slightly adjust the height of the cursor and its speed. I had to move my sensor bar to the bottom of my TV just to be able to get the cursor on screen - even after adjusting the height. In the end the cursor still acted like a mouse with acceleration and never pointed where I was really aiming.
My experience using the Zapper with Crossbow Training was bad. Apart from being imprecise it was sluggish. It was a chore moving the cursor around with the Zapper and at no point did it feel good or intuitive. It completely took me out of the game and prevented any sort of immersion. For comparison I scored about 16,000 points using the Zapper in a practice session, and when I just used the wiimote in my hand I scored 48,000. By itself Link's Crossbow Training is an okay game, but as a pack-in this game is supposed to take advantage of the Zapper, and clearly it does not do that. The calibration options are a joke, in no way making the Zapper feel like a real light gun, and there is nothing the Zapper can do in this game that playing with the wiimote in your hand can't do better.
The real issue with the Zapper is the type of support it will get from developers (Z trigger, real calibration), and if it's even possible for the Zapper to be as precise as a real light gun. Sadly, support for the Zapper has been bad, and even with the best, current calibration methods (Ghost Squad), it is far from real light gun precision. I really hope that Wii calibration methods can improve, but until they do the Zapper will remain a mediocre experience.
I GIVE THE WII ZAPPER A 5/10 [MEDIOCRE]
PROS:
- Hair trigger
- Sturdy plastic
- Multiple ways to hold it
- Crossbow Training is fun
CONS:
- Trigger is at the front
- LCT has laughable calibration options and plays better without the Zapper
- Real support is seriously lacking
- It is unknown if real 1:1 light gun precision is possible on the Wii
- Nintendo doesn't seem to care about using the Zapper as a real light gun
- Zapper box shows you the wrong way to hold it
VALUE:
- With the lack of real support for the Zapper, and the fact that Link's Crossbow Training is better played without it I feel like $20 is too much to pay. If you really want the Zapper I would suggest finding a deal that would drop the price to $10.
