‘Nintendo Land’ is a digital park worth visiting

Nintendo’s latest console is off to a slow start.

The Wii U only has one real flagship title with "New Super Mario Bros U," and with "Pikmin 3’s" release date still unknown, the console is still working to find solid ground.

Still, there are games worth trying out, with "Nintendo Land" leading the pack as a tease of things to come.

"Nintendo Land" is a digital theme park based on some of Nintendo’s largest properties, such as "Legend of Zelda," "Super Mario Bros." and "Metroid."

Each series features its own section in the park, where there are minigames with a unique style of gameplay reminiscent of the virtual world that inspired it.

There are three kinds of modes as well, depending on the world selected: co-op, competitive and solo. Co-op and competitive allow for multiplayer action, while the solo attractions are all single player.

The solo areas of Nintendo Land, while entertaining in small doses, can get old fast. The real meat and potatoes of this game is playing with friends.

For example, the "Legend of Zelda" section of the park plays like a rail shooter where players take on the role of Link, the hero of the series. They must defeat as many monsters as they can on their way to rescue the Triforce, each level featuring a new area and foes to defeat.

This, among other levels, doesn’t contain a real story, but if you have a few other friends, it can be a lot of fun as you work together to save the day.

The competitive games are similar in that most people will work together, but in each of them, one player will play the role of the villain.

In Luigi’s Ghost Mansion, an area inspired by "Luigi’s Mansion," one player will take on the role of a ghost while the others rip off "Ghostbusters" with Mario characters, hunting that one player down and trying to avoid being spooked by him.

It makes for a lot of anxiety, rage screaming and fun.

"Nintendo Land" requires only one player to use the Wii U’s tablet controller, allowing everyone else to use Wii remotes. This does give the tablet user an edge over everyone else, but when it comes to the competitive games, they need it.

Still, it seems like "Nintendo Land" doesn’t take full advantage of Nintendo’s properties. There is no "Pokemon"-inspired world, something that seems like it could have had a lot of potential, especially since the solo areas could’ve been jettisoned in exchange for it.

Still, "Nintendo Land" comes free for those who bought the Deluxe version of the Wii U – honestly the only version worth buying right now – so to not take advantage of that would be a shame.

Until a new "Mario Party" gets released, this is definitely one of the best ways to play video games with friends.