Well now that I've spent a couple more hours with it I have to say I am in love with it. Not because it is the greatest game ever, or a AAA title out of the blue, I acknowledge is has some flaws. The camera could use some work for one, I mean it's not horrendous but in todays day and age cameras should be a big deal anymore. The graphics can be a bit sparse, but I'll be forgiving coming from a new developer that has really implemented some good concepts, and done them pretty well. The dragon battles can seem a bit long sometimes (fighting for 15-20 minutes and then dying makes it seem like a real drag when you start over from the beginning of the fight). But overall the good definitely outweighs the bad.
Something new I noticed is you can adjust the sensitivity of your wiimote and nunchuck (separately might I add), which I turned it up a bit, and it's actually helped with my accuracy of moves. If you want to have some real fun, turn it all the way down so that you actually have to swing your wiimote like a sword for it to recognize the movement (it's a workout after 10 minutes, let me tell you)
The stages are all replayable from the overworld map so you can go back to earlier levels with new powers. This is also useful because there are permanent powerups hidden in levels which I just found out. Each level has a shard of dragon armor, collect enough and you get a whole peice of armor that effects Dal's look, and increases his defense. You can also find stones that if you plunge your sword into they will permanently increase your health or fire power. So don't just run through the stage mindlessly killing everything, be sure to check all the branching paths to get all the goodies.
Furthermore you get awards at the end of each stage for enemies killed, hits taken, time completed, and items destroyed. So there is a bit of replay value to each stage, in addition to going back to find loot you missed the first time. You can try to top your fastest time (where combos will really come in handy since they increase your speed), or be a completionist and defeat every last enemy and destroy every last object. I don't know if you get anything for the medals, but I don't have very many yet so I couldn't say.
Really I love this game for one main reason. It's fun. I'm having a blast. There is something very very very, very satisfying about having two gigantic flaming arms and clapping your hands together in a big motion and watching the chaos that ensues. The combat is well done, and varied enough to keep you on your toes, difficult enough to keep it interesting (and sometimes frustrating), both qualities keep it from being mindless. And also, because the wii needed this. Just a good quality action game that shows what you can do with the wiimote. Actually putting your hands together, lifting them over your head and dropping them in order to create a massive shockwave generating hammer blow is far more satisfying and fun than pressing a button to do it. I can really see myself playing this game for a good while even after I've beaten it, much like Resident evil 4. It's fun, and the stages are broken up well so that you can sit and play for 20 minutes and feel like you've kicked some ass.
I really hope this game does well enough that D3 feels like it was a success and not a bomb.
You can find me on facebook as Markus Van Rijn, if you friend me just mention you're from VGchartz and who you are here.
