The Wii has a huge amount of accessories at its disposal. All kinds of third-party manufacturers develop these for the console. For example, an arsenal of attachments in the form of guns is also available for the shooters. Big Ben has now marketed a gun for such games, but is this a useful thing?
The third-party accessory manufacturers are busy with it. The Nintendo Wii offers all kinds of different games, which can be played with a different accessory. For example, there is the Nyko Wing for classic games and an attachment in the form of a steering wheel for racing games such as Mario Kart Wii.
Titles like House of The Dead: Overkill and Ghost Squad require the player to point the Wiimote at the screen and press the B button to shoot, but this doesn’t always prove to be very useful. That is why all kinds of manufacturers have set to work to develop an accessory that is as beautiful as possible, and above all as easy as possible, for these types of games. For example, Nintendo soon released the Wii Zapper, which accommodates both the nunchuk and the Wiimote.
Compact and handy
A disadvantage of the Wii Zapper could be that the attachment has to be held with two hands. Third-party accessory manufacturer Big Ben has now released a one-handed version of the Wii zapper. The Shoot Active Gun, as this accessory is called, is made in the form of a hand gun.
The beauty of the model can already be seen while it is still in the packaging. It is not overly large and the Wiimote actually disappears completely into the top of the gun. Big Ben has also taken into account the shape of the handle, because on both sides of the gun a section is provided with ribs, so that this attachment will not easily slip out of the player’s hands.
When the player has finally taken this gun out of its fully sealed packaging and holds it in his hands, the pleasant feeling of the handle immediately becomes clear. The fingers of the player have been taken into account. Big Ben has made three waves at the front of the handle, where the ring finger, middle finger and little finger should be placed. The thumb must be placed on the side above the handle, as with a real gun, and Big Ben has also set up a special place for this on the attachment. Furthermore, the gun can still be called very light, but then of course the Wiimote is not in it yet.
Safe and complete
In addition to the comfort for the player, Big Ben has also taken into account the damage that a flying Wiimote can make. The player snaps the Wiimote into the top of the gun, where there is a connector normally intended for the nunchuk. There is a notch in the front of the barrel where the B button will be located. At the end of the barrel is a rotatable part that the player can turn over the Wiimote when the Wiimote is placed in the attachment. As a result, the Wiimote can no longer shoot out of the attachment. All this is very easy to do, with no prying or wringing involved.
If the socket for the Wiimote’s nunchuk is occupied by the Wii Gun, you naturally wonder where the nunchuk should go. Big Ben has come up with a very easy solution for this. A connection has been made on the underside of the handle, to which the nunchuk can be connected. This allows the player to easily plug it in when needed, and remove it when the nunchuck is not in use.
This can be very useful, but also annoying in some games. There is still a cable between the gun and the nunchuk, because there is no room for a transmitter for the wireless nunchuk. Unfortunately, Big Ben has not taken this into account.
Handy and yet not
The Shoot Active Gun has, in addition to the external connection for the nunchuk, another handy solution, which should give the player a more realistic experience while playing. Because the B button, as mentioned earlier, falls into a kind of hole in the barrel, it connects to a sliding system. This is then connected to a real trigger, which you also encounter on a real gun. So when the player pulls it over, he’s actually pressing the B button on the Wiimote. In most shooters such as House of The Dead 2 & 3 Return and Ghost Squad, this button serves as a shoot button.
Because the trigger connects seamlessly to the B button, it works as smoothly as the button itself and only makes the playing experience more real. The only pity is that there is no extra button on the rifle, with which you can change weapons or reload in the meantime. These keys are located on the Wiimote, which is actually located at the top of the gun. The player will therefore have to use his other hand for the time being to operate these keys. This can be very inconvenient in some games, but hey, the gun remains an attachment and not a controller. And with most shooters, reloading is done by shaking the Wiimote, which means that you now simply move the gun back and forth.
Bang!
Big Ben has released a very handy attachment with the Shoot Active Gun, which makes playing games like House of the Dead: Overkill a whole new experience. This is mainly due to the built-in trigger, which connects seamlessly to the B button. The connection for the nunchuk at the bottom of the model is very easy, but the winding cable of the nunchuk can sometimes be annoying. Those who like shooters on the Wii and are still looking for a good accessory, do not have to think twice for the seven euros that this accessory costs.
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The pluses and minuses
