In the United States all our Nintendo Wii's ship with "Wii Sports," a game which is five mini-games in one package. Did Nintendo throw in the game just to say the system includes a game? The value of the system is through the roof and people are scrambling to find one - does Wii Sports impact a sale?
Wii sports is a great addition to the Wii games collection but it won't make or break a sale. The value of the system is low compared to other gaming consoles so the casual gamer or "soccer mom" won't hesitate to spend USD $250.00 on a system for a holiday present. However, having that game means you can hand a product to your kids without any additional purchases.
It has been a long time since we could purchase an all-in-one console solution. Although additional controllers are costly, having a full solution to open as a holiday present is always nice. How many presents did you receive as a kid that required batteries and your household had none to be found? Did you steal them out of dad's TV remote and risk an earful of yelling? Some of us did. We like the all in one solution (and yes, the remote comes with batteries!)
What is Wii Sports all about and is it worthy of being your only game? We hope to answer that question.
Fun
This game is creative, innovative in its Wiimote uses and unimaginably addictive. You can play with a friend (or three) in many of the games with additional remote controls or by passing the controller in a few of the titles. There are five unique game titles: Bowling, Tennis, Boxing, Golf and Baseball.
Bowling
The name does not do this game justice. This is one of the most fun Wii sports titles in this collection, if you have some friends along to play.
Bowling is as close to real as you can get with a small remote control. No, it's not a 6 lbs to 12 lbs bowling ball, but it does mimic real life very well. If you have fun bowling on occasion you will find this game too much fun to put down. The newness may wear out over time but we can see this being a great social game - especially after a few drinks.
The game keeps tally of points for you which translates to more time socializing and less time carrying strikes and spares to the next square.
Tennis
You only control the swing, not the movement, but it remains a fun game. The challenge to a new player is great and you'll spend time "perfecting" your swing using skill instead of good button timing. That is key to tennis, you must realize that you play the game similar to a real Tennis game and less like a standard video game.
The matches are fast and furious and you may find yourself getting into the game. If there is one game in the collection that will cause "massive damage" it would be Tennis. You could find yourself swinging like a mad-man trying to hit the ball as hard as possible, sliding to the left and to the right and putting some elbow into it.
The day after you'll know why your a gamer and not an athlete. You're shoulder may be a bit sore, your muscles stiff and your elbow feels like you got hit by a car. There is a reason its called "interactive gaming" - if you want to win a Lawsuit because of broken Wii straps simply record a gamer playing Wii Tennis and you'll have your proof.
BaseballAre you a bad baseball player in real life? That burden may follow you into Wii Baseball. The game is fun, no doubt, but the excitement is not as great as Wii Tennis and not as continuous as Wii Bowling. Pitching the ball isn't a lot of work and swinging takes good timing in order to hit consistent home runs.
If you are a huge baseball fan (some of us are not) this may be more fun to you than many others. It's a good addition but not the best in the collection.
GolfWe enjoyed a few rounds of Wii Golf. Not nearly as intense as Wii Tennis or Wii Baseball but requires more skill than we initially though. Some of us are not so good at golf and that skill level carries over into the virtual domain of Wii Golf.
You may become frustrated when you make a mistake because you know it was your fault and not the fault of the control mechanism. Many golf games require good timing on your button clicks but Wii Golf requires you to practice a swing, move up to the ball, and reproduce your swing with accuracy and a bit of skill much like real life. Of course you can skip any practice swings and go for broke if that's your style.
We think golfers will find this an enjoyable title especially with the bite of winter in the northern areas of the US. You can keep up on your golf habits while sitting in a warm home during a winter storm. Beware, this is a game where skill becomes a factor over old school button timing.
BoxingTake off your sweatshirt, plug in the nunchuck and get yourself ready to sweat. Okay, if you play Wii Boxing like we do you may find yourself getting a bit tired after awhile. Shifting, leaning and blocking requires real mimicked movements or you'll be punched in the face like a bag of sand.
Wii Boxing was fun from the start because it takes a genre that has very few titles and spices it up with real life boxing. Fight Night Round 3 makes this game look like a NES title but the controller mechanisms put the title over the top in enjoyment. The game would be even better if we could compete with family members but full Wiimotes and Nunchucks are hard to come by, so we'll have to test the waters in that realm later.
Control
The control scheme of the Nintendo Wii can make or break a game. Wii Sports shows exactly why it shipped with the product: a flawless control scheme. In order to popularize a game that barely has graphics and you have to have a control scheme that is easy to pickup and learn. Wii sports demonstrates this perfectly.
Some have said Wii Sports is more of a Wiimote product demo and with good reason: it proves that the remote controller is not simply a novelty. You can stand to the side of your TV or directly in the center and the game works great. Each game demonstrates how to use the remote in a unique way, with only Boxing requiring the nunchuck expansion.
The biggest problem is being aware of everyone in the room. We may have hit a one year old in the head while playing Tennis (just once). He got over it quickly but we can only imagine how many times this will happen to other gamers. You can shift to the side if your kids are hanging around you but a game of Tennis may get you swinging shots like a crazed Ninja.
Precision is key and Wii Sports will show you just how great a control mechanism the Wii has and justify the additional costly Wii controllers (if you can find them).
The biggest complaint is the Wii strap while playing Wii Bowling. You pass the controller after your round is over, which happens quickly, in the matter of minutes you may have passed the controller twenty times. Putting the strap back on and off and on again gets tiresome and the result is a strap-less Wii gaming experience. Wii Bowling will have you rolling the ball directly at the TV so it isn't surprising a gamer can damage a TV playing 2-player bowling and being careless (read: overexcited).
Lastly, Wii Boxing may get you tangled up if your not careful. Taking hook shots with a wire between your two controllers may resemble a twisted game of jump rope. The wire isn't long enough to trip over but its short enough to whip in your face if you try too many consecutive hooks with your left and right hand.
Graphics
We all know the Nintendo Wii story on graphics. It's game play and fun over graphics. Wii Sports does not try, in any way, to be a graphics powerhouse. The characters are simple almost circular creatures that look very much like a product demo or a 3D graphics program running in "fast" rendering. It's not impressive but you lose track of graphics only moments after your first game.
Sound
Hmm, the game has sound? The sounds in Wii Sports is not much different than that of a Nintendo DS mini-game. Just enough to keep pace with the game but definitely better than 8-bit NES sounds. On par with the GameCube but the addition to the Wiimote sounds - you realize a full 3D depth to the game instantly.
When the opponent hits the ball in Wii Tennis it comes out of your TV's speaker system but when you return the hit the sound originates from your Wii controller just as a real racket would produce the sound of a tennis ball hitting it.
In short, the Wii controller offers true 3D sound by granting you a moving speaker as your gaming. However, the sound that is issued from the system is on par with a loud mobile phone speaker system. You probably wouldn't want to use it to listen to your favorite MP3's.
Additional Games: Fitness Age & Training
You can run through different training exercises to get you in the zone for a the Wii sports games or for Fitness Age. Fitness Age, like Brain Age, will run you through a few Wii Sport "trials" to arrive at your current fitness age. For instance, you will return roughly 30 tennis serves, bowling pre-staged pin configurations and smashing home runs in Wii Baseball.
Fitness Age resembles a mix between Brain Age and Big Brain Academy for the Nintendo DS. Although less comprehensive, it will allow you to run through the training each day to see how close you can get to a Fitness Age of 20. We're currently an 80... shut up.
Overall
This game stands on its own as a real title not simply a few minigames or a game prototype. Although you will learn all the possibilities of the Wii controller, it will only give you a taste of the 3-dimensional challenges using this innovative controller (i.e. Trauma Center: Second Opinion and its creative use of the controller).
If you purchased a Wii for your kids this season you can rest assured that Wii Sports will keep them, you and your guests laughing, screaming and having a good time. For additional degrees of difficulty we suggest, those 21 and older, to play some Wii Sports after a few drinks. Bottoms up!
Rating: BUY (or keep in the case of US Wii owners)
