Wii U Review: NY Times Positive on Console's GamePad; Says Wii U Not as Revolutionary as Wii

The Wii U is just a few days away and reviews for the console have started to surface.

The New York Times has released its impressions on the console, most of which is favorable. The publication initiates their review rather bluntly with the assertion that the Wii U does not deliver that same revolutionary experience that the Wii did upon launch. They do however note that the console is more of an "accommodation" of how modern gaming has been altered by tablets and phone.

NYT Writer Chris Suellentrop adds that the GamePad is not as simple or immediate as the motion gaming of the Wii, but that it is far more straightforward that the controllers of the PS3 and Xbox 360. He notes the innovative means of utilizing it in a number of Nintendo Land titles as well as for TV.

"Equally promising, if not more so, are the possibilities the GamePad presents for intensive, single-player gaming," adds Suellentrop. "In Ubisoft's ZombiU, the GamePad transforms, if not eliminates, some of the metaphors gamers are accustomed to: The map is no longer a tiny icon in the lower-right corner of your television, nor a menu that must be reached by punching a sequence of buttons. It is something you hold in your hands and look down at, something that draws your attention away from the world (of zombies) around you."

He makes the same comment on the inventory of ZombiU. Ultimately however, Suellentrop notes that he has no idea whether the Wii U will successfully alter how gamers interact with their games, but says it makes for a nice present.

No other publication has presented a formal review of the console up to this point though early reviews for such titles as New Super Mario Bros U  and Nintendo Land have been positive. IGN gave the Mario title a 9.1 out of 10 and stated that it reinvigorated the 2D Mario titles. The publication gave Nintendo Land  an 8.7 and noted that despite all the mini-games, it had enough depth to keep gamers involved. 

The early reviews are shaping up exactly as Nintendo probably hoped. With the Wii U, the company is looking to continue building on the success of the Wii. If the early game reviews and the console review are any indication, the Wii U's potential is great for the next few years and should have little difficulty carrying the mantle of the Wii.