Techpedition

Penguin United have redeemed themselves.  They have taken this solidly constructed peripheral and corrected its one fatal flaw making it “THE WII GUN” to buy.

- Round2 -

The packaging has not changed so it may be difficult to find the re-calibrated model. The sole difference is that the new packaging now advertises complete compatibility with the Nintendo Wii Motion Plus accessory.  You can also see from a side view that a dongle is now included with the Crossfire Pistol.  On first inspection of this attachment I immediately thought that this is responsible for correcting the previous sensitivity issues, however I have deduced (after testing it with the old pistol) that its sole purpose is to correct the orientation of the Wii Motion Plus.  Speaker volume (adjustable on the home men) is still significantly higher than the Nintendo Wii Remote and the blue lights are bright enough to help you find your keys in the dark. Two small noticeable hitches but not great enough to knock any points off this device.  The overall design of this accessory has not changed at all.  In my previous review I covered the aesthetics of this gun, so for now I will skip that part.  For this review I am solely speaking  on its performance.

- Performance-

This was where the device failed miserably in its previous incarnation.  With the correction of the sensitivity issue I rescind all previous statements on this matter.  This gun now performs remarkably.  Its actually somewhat more stable than Nintendo’s first-party option.  When holding my hand as steady as possible I would normally notice some motion/shakes translated to the screen.  However, the Penguin United Crossfire Pistol’s motion looks like it is mounted on tripod (Perfect for Sniping).

The first game I played was “Wii Sports Resort” to give the motion plus functionality a test run.  I connected a nunchuk and fired up the bow and arrow mini game.  Aside from holding a pistol grip it actually felt somewhat more natural than holding the Wii remote vertical.  I played a couple of expert levels and beat my previous high score immediately.  Next, to see how well all hand orientations were translated I played sky diving.  I must say the game was more comfortable holding the Crossfire as opposed to holding the Wii remote flat.  My Mii leaned and plummeted with grace.  Definitely a joy.  I tested my backhand with table tennis and was still perfectly able to have my patented back spin translated on the big screen.  Finally, my favorite game on the Resort: Sword Play or what I have now dubbed “Pistol Whip Trainer”.  Since the Crossfire’s natural orientation resembles that of a flat Wii-mote it becomes  more of an extension of your arm as opposed to a two handed baton or whatever it is the Mii’s are swinging.  Your  swings are fully translated to every degree.  Over head slashes, horizontal, diagonal, even stabs are picked up perfectly.  Thanks to this peripheral I learned something I did not know the game recognized.  I struck one Mii with a jumping slashing Shin-Sho-Pistol-Ken (True Rising Pistol Fist) and hit the Mii with enough force that it not only did a back from the impact but also took out the two Mii’s that it landed on.  I was pistol whipping machine.

Next I played Metroid Pime 3: Corruption and immediately checked for the speaker issues.  It appears they have been corrected as such audio cues were successfully played from the speaker.  However their is still a low hissing/hum coming from the speaker.  Its loud enough to be noticeable but not enough to be distracting.  Metroid played well with on screen gestures translated well and pointer accuracy pretty steady.  For a game such as this you will definitely use your nunchuk hand to reach the other buttons on the pistol to activate visors and weapons which can be problem is heated battle but is somewhat more close to what Samus does in her idle animations. You get used to it.

-Conclusion-

The Penguin United: Wii Crossfire Pistol can be purchased at Buy.com Marketplace 0r directly from Penguin United.  Is it worth the money?  That’s a “ten-fo” good buddy.  As of writing this there is no other Wii Gun (Literally) or Wii Gun Shell that compares.  If you are an arcade light gun game fan and first-person shooter fan with a Wii and are looking for just a tad bit more immersion, then the Wii Crossfire Pistol is a logical sound investment.  Now we just need to Sega, Konami, etc to get to work porting the old light gun arcade games to Wii and Virtual Console.