18 months in, what are your thoughts on the Wii U Gamepad? Success or disappointment?

[cannonballZ]

I really like the gamepad and find it very useful for certain games like Blacklist and Mass Effect 3 for example. It's easier for me to switch weapons and keep track of inventory in blacklist and being able to map your allies powers to touch screen buttons made it easier to use their powers mid battle. The map on the gamepad also shows a larger area than a mini map on screen.

But overall I am a bit disappointed that very few games outside the ones I mentioned have utilized the gamepad in a way that didn't make it feel useless or more complicated to execute certain moves like Wonderful 101. The pro controller is better for W101.

When games actually use the gamepad for more than just off screen play, it can be very useful and made it hard for me to use the pro controller while the gamepad charges. Resident Evil Revelations, Splinter Cell Blacklist, Mass Effect 3, Batman Arkham City, Deus Ex, Assassin's Creed 4 and Unepic are games that make the gamepad feel essential to the game and make great use of the gamepad. Sadly, Nintendo hasn't done anything special with the gamepad. Ubisoft has done a terrific job of making the gamepad more than just a screen for off tv play. Also, for games like call of duty I hate doing split screen multiplayer. The gamepad offers a great solution, one on the screen and second player uses gamepad.

Ubisoft IMO found a great formula for multiplayer in Zombiu but unfortunately only made it local mutliplayer. RTS vs FPS was a brilliant idea and is a lot of fun to play even though it's only local multiplayer. Doing the same thing or concept with two pro controllers wouldn't be the same for local multiplayer. The second screen feels essential for that multiplayer.

My biggest gripe about the gamepad is no analog triggers, that was a bad idea. I would have to say I like the gamepad and would rather Nintendo make better use of it than just get rid of it. I wouldn't exactly call it a success just yet, but it's not a complete disappointment either.