Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

So, first off, I want to tell you a bit about why I got the Wii-U. I looked into the Wii-U beforehand, I knew exactly what I was getting in comparison to Xbox-One and the PS4. Currently I own a PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360. I don't play any of those anymore, I have a gaming computer. In fact, my gaming computer outclasses the Xbox-One and the PS4. I should also mention that I was never exactly taken with the Wii's style of gameplay, in fact it was more of a turn-off for me. Still, I am a die-hard Zelda fan, and I have played every Zelda up until now (excluding Zelda and Zelda II ... Still wanna play those btw.). So, when I heard about the Zelda Windwaker bundle, and the fact that nintendo was going to have a lot of 1st party releases soon, I decided to get the bundle and give the Wii-U a shot. Now, when I got my Wii-U, first thing I did was I took out my zelda controller and admired it. It looks epic, there's zelda symbols all around it creating a gold trim, my inner zelda fanboy was going wild. - Here's the low part of my review, whenever you are setting up your Wii-U, it makes you use the controller to set it up. This was a bit of a pain, but it wasn't too bad. I just had to go through a lot, including setting up a nintendo account to get access to the online Zelda Windwaker content. I can understand why they want you to do that, but really I just wanted to jump right in. Instead I was stuck waiting for about an hour for the Windwaker to download :(. So, fast forward an hour and I am about to play the Windwaker in HD. At this point, I am thinking to myself that this controller is going to ruin everything. It was heavier than a normal controller, it was bulky, and I wasn't too taken with the screen. To be honest though, now I kind of like it. The controller isn't really distracting during gameplay, and it is convenient to have a map and an inventory you can quickly access on your controller. The only real complaint I have about it now is the way the buttons are set up. For me, the fact that the "R" button is way on top of the controller is completely counter-intuitive. For a while I was mistaking the "ZR" button for the "R" button and it kept messing me up. At one point it almost killed me in the game. Still, this is just something to expect with a new controller, at this point I have gotten used to it. Now the controller, even though it is still a bit heavy, reminds me of a gamecube controller with the way the buttons are laid out. For the system I don't have any complaints at all. A few things took me by suprise, like when I explored the "chat" app and looked down to see my face on the wii-u controller. The hardware seems to work quickly though. I haven't had any issues with load screens, the graphics look FREAKING AMAZING, and everything in the game flows very smoothly. Must say I am enjoying this new, better looking Windwaker. As for the Windwaker itself, nothing has really changed. Just better graphics and some new stuff. I have noticed that the boat is a bit different, it keeps messing me up when I look for treasure. Also I have gotten the bombs and it looks like they have a new system for aiming. For new players, that's a good thing, for me, it's a bad thing, because I learned how to aim with the old system really well. It just keeps messing me up, it's hard to tell if it's the projections that are throwing me off or if the cannon moves faster. I might just be getting distracted by the projections is all :P. So, in short, is this system worth it? I can't tell you that, it depends on your situation. I don't know how the Xbox-One is, or the PS4 for that matter, and I don't plan on getting either of them. I might get the PS4 though if the price drops and Kingdom Hearts 3 is out on it :D. What I can tell you though is this, even though the Wii-U's specs might not be on par with the Xbox-One or PS4, it still plays games very well and in HD. I don't know what Nintendo does, but for some reason a lot of their games come out looking amazing anyways, even without HD (i.e. Twilight Princess). If its graphics you are after, the Wii-U might be a step below the competition, but by no means are they bad. Another thing I feel I should mention before anyone writes the Wii-U off for its poor specs in comparison to other gaming machines is that, as mentioned before I have a gaming computer. My current gaming computer outclasses the Xbox-One and the PS4. I have no game I cannot play in maximum graphics and I have never had a game mess up on my computer. I have to tell you this, graphics don't really mean much. If the gameplay sucks, then I just tend to give up on the game. One thing I can say about Nintendo is that they always tend to have good games to play. Sometimes it can get a bit redundant, for instance, in Zelda it's always "Go to these temples, get these 3 stones, get the awesome sword, power up the sword, and go save the princess!". That can get old, but the one thing that keeps bringing me back to Zelda games is the feeling I get when exploring a new dungeon or adventuring. I love solving the puzzles in Zelda, it always makes me so happy when I get through the frustration. I do hate it though when it's something simple you wouldn't think of, then you have to refer to a guide (a.k.a. wind temple, getting the short violin guy). Look, my point is, it's not all about the story, it's not all about the graphics, gameplay is probably the most important thing when it comes to hunting new games. It's for that reason I got the Wii-U. So, if you've actually read all of my review, well done sir, and I hope it somehow helps you out in any troubles that you have. Best of luck. EDIT: I forgot to mention this. Don't buy the Wii-U here. It's overpriced, go somewhere else. 2nd Edit: Okay, so I have to add this. Earlier while I was playing my Wii-U, my roomates came back to our apartment. I already knew that using the Wii-U controller, you could watch TV while waiting for a download. What I did not know though was that if you keep the Wii-U on and use the controller, you can actually play games on the controller while watching TV. Earlier I was playing Windwaker on the gamepad while my roomates were watching football, I was able to hang out with them and still play Zelda! Then I turned it off whenever Breaking Bad started. :D. I just wanted to share that too, I didn't know about that feature until tonight.