Stockley Park in Greater London is an epicentre of high-tech corporations; a mass sprawl of metal, glass, and green space where the likes of Adobe, Apple, and Sharp root their UK presence. It's here, amongst fishless water features (the seagulls have long since filled their stomachs), that the European HQ of the world's second largest third party videogames publisher can be found; it's also where TVG recently found ourselves getting a piece of Wii action courtesy of said publisher, Activision. So what was on the menu? Well with just under three weeks to go before Nintendo's so-called 'New-Generation' is launched across Europe and the UK, we managed to get our insanely grubby mitts on Wii versions of Call of Duty 3, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam. Following brief greetings, and then we stood, Wii-mote and nunchuk in our hands, and prepared for the day ahead. First up, it was a return to war torn Normandy in Call of Duty 3...

Call of Duty 3

It goes without saying that Wii doesn't have the processing grunt to run the sort of visual details evident in the Xbox 360 version of Treyarch's Call of Duty 3; instead it's on par with the current-gen Xbox. Whilst some might scoff, the fact is that our experience with various versions of the World War II title has been quite different. The clarity of textures, light effects, destruction, and volumetric smoke adds that extra layer of gloss on Xbox 360, but what Wii has in deep swathes is a tangible sense of immersion. Ever since the First-Person Shooter made the leap from PCs to consoles, there's been a deep (and sometimes bitter) divide between gamers on whether the genre is better experienced through a keyboard and mouse, or a gamepad. With the advent of the Wii-mote and nunchuk, the argument is set to include a third party.

Using the Wii-mote as a pointing device and the nunchuk for character movement, it does take a few minutes to get used to this new way of playing. It's all too easy to describe the pointer as a tad over-sensitive when you first run into battle, but the fact is that it becomes second nature very quickly. Also occurring far too quickly into the Call of Duty 3 Wii experience was the unusual body position that I seemed to take. Holding the Wii-mote in front of the rest of my body as if it were a strange gun/torch hybrid, the game calls for very little arm movement for significant periods of time - so much so that I was even described by one of the Activision team as being almost inanimate at times.

Despite being the same game, there's a greater emphasis on taking cover in Call of Duty 3 for Wii, something that's blatant with the implementation of a peeping ability by twisting the Wii-mote. Playing the game and confronting enemies seems a greater risk than on other versions; whereas perhaps I'd be more easily tempted to run into a room and kill several Germans, on Wii there seems to be a higher sense of self-preservation. Cautious looks around the corners of walls typified a lot of the gameplay, especially in some of the more close-quarter environments. Then again, it could always have been down to the lack of experience with Wii up to that point...

Treyarch's implementation of Battle Actions (the scripted hand-to-hand combat featured a number times during the course of Call of Duty 3) provide an opportunity for more frantic gestures. Trying to wrestle the gun from an enemy's grasp by holding both Wii controllers side-on and making a rapid 'boxing' movement, is much more immediate and engrossing than the alternate tapping of trigger buttons typified on more standard controllers. Finishing off the action by bringing both the nunchuk and Wii-mote together and making a diagonal sweeping motion holds a certain amount of satisfaction too - though it just shows how superficial the Battle Action dynamic actually is in Call of Duty 3. Battle Actions aren't the only mechanisms to benefit from the gestures of the Wii-mote and nunchuk; key transport sequences such as the rowing boat sequence crossing the river sees players combine both controllers as a paddle, whilst the driving sequences in the "Vera" 4x4 has players hold the two like a steering wheel. Like the actual battles, there's greater sense of involvement during these sequences, lifting the player into the game to a degree beyond that done even in the Xbox 360 version.

Having stormed through some of the key battles of the Normandy Breakout, it was then the turn of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance to be put through its paces...

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

Like Call of Duty 3, Ultimate Alliance is the same game that's already on release across a number of platforms, although it's obviously seen the integration of Wii-mote gestures along the way. Also set to make the launch raft of titles for Wii on December 8th, Ultimate Alliance may end up being the most unsuitable Wii title from Activision due to its comprehensive gesture system. Swishing wildly through the air with both Wii-mote and nunchuk a like, as we found our way through Doctor Doom's Masters of Evil was quite fun for a time (especially opening the sliding doors by moving the nunchuk sideways, almost in a "use the Force, Luke" kinda way).

Essentially sharing the same cartoon-like style of the current-gen versions of the game, it's only the implementation of Wii gestures that make Ultimate Alliance on the console different. However, when the game pretty much utilises every gesture type available to Wii-mote and nunchuk developers, such as pushes, pulls, swipes, drops, and shakes, it's no wonder several Activision representatives described playing Ultimate Alliance on Wii as a physical workout. Unlike Downhill Jam, which has been built specifically for Wii, and Call of Duty, which uses the Wii-mote and nunchuk as a very viable substitution for a keyboard and mouse, it's clear that Ultimate Alliance hasn't been developed with Wii-based gameplay in mind. It's only been the process of mapping various gestures to the Wii-mote that makes this version a 'Wii' title, but it's very much in name only and a far cry from Nintendo's desire to feel every game experience...

Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam

Finally, we got another chance to race to the bottom of the hill in Activision's sole original title for Wii's launch, Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam. The only game of the day that didn't require the nunchuk, Downhill Jam is far removed from the main thread of Tony titles such as Project 8 thanks to its emphasis on arcade gameplay. Forget the likes of pro skaters such as Bam Margera and Rodney Mullen because aside from Hawk himself, all of the competitors are wildly over the top stereotypes such as Californian 'It' girl Tiffany, and Brit Punk Mackenzie. The locations for the races are also stylised caricatures of real-world environments from the cobbles of Edinburgh and the ruins of Matchu Pitchu,to the tramline traffic of San Francisco; each with their own hidden routes and shortcuts running through them.

Twisting gestures with the Wii-mote leans the skaters into corners, and a sudden forward shake to activate the speed boost, laying down the groundwork for the main stay of gameplay: downhill racing. Like its loosely related cousins, Downhill Jam's skateboarders have a plethora of moves and tricks to perform on their way down to the bottom of the track including flips and grinds. Booster building combinations do seem to be particularly straightforward to pull off however, and is a far cry from the button-massaging skills that have defined all previous Tony Hawk titles. Not being professional skaters ourselves, we're a bit unsure as to whether punching and kicking form key moves in the skateboarding community, but it's an ability that adds a certain "Road Rash" to the races.

As well as straightforward 'first past the post' gameplay, checkpoint-based Slalom tracks and Trick races are also included, as players try to amass a certain number of points to rank up to the next level of skater. Quite staple racing modes, aside from the Kick-flip heavy Trick races, Downhill Jam also includes a number of Special events, which can be as varied as one-on-one races, or knocking down as many pedestrians as possible. So far it seems that Downhill Jam embraces the frivolous side of Wii, oozing pick-up-and-playability from every pore.