REVIEW
Wii Sports
Wii
Nintendo
Reviewed by Eric Leamen
The Wii has finally arrived, and with it comes Wii Sports - a compilation of 5 sports games that anyone can play. Today, I'm going to take an extensive look at Wii Sports, and give you my verdict on the game. Tennis is the first of the Wii Sports, and the first game showed off at E3 2006.
Tennis is very basic: you swing the remote, your Mii swings the racket. But, you control both people on the court with just one swing, and you must have at least 2 people on the court at all times. 1 player tennis is quite fun and addictive, as is multiplayer. In 1 player mode, you play against computer players trying to raise your experience level. In every Wii sport, 1000 experience points makes you a 'Pro" at that particular sport. 2 player tennis is even more fun, especially when you cream your little brother! Although, the split screen play does look a little "squished" if you are playing on a 4:3 television. The controls in tennis are pretty good, but if you don't swing hard enough, the player won't swing, and so far, we haven't figured out a way to actually aim where the ball goes. To serve the ball, you simply rais the Wii remote, then hit, as if you were throwing a ball in the air. You can also do a power serve, but we haven't figured out exactly how to do it, it just happens my chance.
Baseball is the second of the Wii Sports. It's a very simple pitch and hit type game. In 1 player mode, you start off hitting. A computer player pitches the ball, and you simply swing the Wii remote to swing the bat. However, it does feel a little ackward to stand like you're holding a bat with two hands, and I often just swing with one hand. Once you've successfully hit the ball (which can be challenging at first) you don't have to run, the system calculates how long it takes the computer players to get the ball, how long it would take you to run, and then determines whether the hit is a single, double, triple, or home run. Once you've struck out, you switch and become the pitcher. To pitch, you can simply gesture the remote forward, or even give a light tap. Or, you can use button combinations to throw certain types of pitches. 2 player baseball is much the same.
By far my favourite Wii Sport is Bowling. I am so glad that they announced it at the Sept. 14th press event in NYC. Bowling actually feels like you're bowling. And I'm currently the ONLY bowling pro in my house! Bowling is very easy and extremely fun to play. You simply press and hold the B trigger, swing the remote, and let go of B as your hand comes up. You can move from side to side by using the D-pad. If you press A and then use the D-pad, you can actually tilt your Mii, which allows you to put spin on your ball, and use it to get a strike! Getting a strike is actually not that hard. But, you have to aim in between the head pin and the one beside it. Hitting the head pin straight on barely ever results in a strike. To put a little bit of spin on the ball, simply rotate you hand left or right. Responsiveness is really good in bowling. The only thing I've ever done wrong is let go of B to soon and you get an annoying little error message. One thing that sets Bowling apart from most of the other sports, is that you have to play a few times, just to see how your ball is going to spin, and then you can decide what kinds of adjustments you need to make before you throw. A few neat little features about Bowling: you can through the ball into the audience, which scares the heck out of the other Miis! You can through your ball into someone elses lane, which actually counts as a turn, so I don't advise you do that, and once you become a pro, you get a sparkly ball!
The worst of all the Wii sports for a multitude of reasons is Golf. What seems like it would be pretty fun, which it can be at times, is the most frustrating, and hardest of all the sports. The game allows you to take practice swings before you make your shot. The meter on the side shows you how hard the shot is. Then you press and hold A, swing, and you get a bad shot. What I think Nintendo needed to do, was let you choose how hard you wanted to hit (similar to Hot Shots Golf) and then swing, instead of swinging and then having the game tell you that you screwed up. I have only played 3 hole games, simply because I don't think I could make it through 9 holes. The game does however let you choose which club you would like to use, you can tilt your Mii, and you can "zoom in" to get a better look at how your ball is gonna go. Still, golf could use a lot of improvements!
Finally, boxing. I actually don't understand why they included this in Wii Sports, but they did, and it can actually be good when you really feel like punching someone or something. In an actual boxing game, you simply swing or thrust the nunchuck to punch your opponent silly. The controls for boxing are good, for the most part. The accelerometer in the nunchuck is not very responsive, and I'm still trying to figure out how you should move it to get a punch. However, using the Wii remote to do uppercuts and simple punches is very responsive. I do have one word of advice: don't move too rapidly in boxing, because the remotes won't sense the motion if it's too fast.
I'm not sure if this is the same as Wii Health Pack (probably not) but the included Wii Fitness program is sort of like Brain Age but for your body. You complete a number of tests, ranging from bowling to baseball, and then the system will determine your Fitness Level. It also marks your speed, stamina, and strength. Don't ask me how, it does. You will then recieve the results of your test in the Wii Message Board.
In training mode, you can play a multitude of mini-games that are so fun! Each sport has 3 minigames: Tennis has one where you have to return the balls inside the court, hit the barrier, and hit the targets. Bowling has one where you have to get a strike (but it's not a full 10 pins) and the pins increase and change position each time, one where you have to avoid the barriers, and one where you can hit up to 91 pins! I won't go into detail about the rest of the minigames, but I will say that they are really fun to play!
Wii Sports is a great game, and definately a top notch pack in!
Editor's Score: 7.8/10
Tennis is very basic: you swing the remote, your Mii swings the racket. But, you control both people on the court with just one swing, and you must have at least 2 people on the court at all times. 1 player tennis is quite fun and addictive, as is multiplayer. In 1 player mode, you play against computer players trying to raise your experience level. In every Wii sport, 1000 experience points makes you a 'Pro" at that particular sport. 2 player tennis is even more fun, especially when you cream your little brother! Although, the split screen play does look a little "squished" if you are playing on a 4:3 television. The controls in tennis are pretty good, but if you don't swing hard enough, the player won't swing, and so far, we haven't figured out a way to actually aim where the ball goes. To serve the ball, you simply rais the Wii remote, then hit, as if you were throwing a ball in the air. You can also do a power serve, but we haven't figured out exactly how to do it, it just happens my chance.
Baseball is the second of the Wii Sports. It's a very simple pitch and hit type game. In 1 player mode, you start off hitting. A computer player pitches the ball, and you simply swing the Wii remote to swing the bat. However, it does feel a little ackward to stand like you're holding a bat with two hands, and I often just swing with one hand. Once you've successfully hit the ball (which can be challenging at first) you don't have to run, the system calculates how long it takes the computer players to get the ball, how long it would take you to run, and then determines whether the hit is a single, double, triple, or home run. Once you've struck out, you switch and become the pitcher. To pitch, you can simply gesture the remote forward, or even give a light tap. Or, you can use button combinations to throw certain types of pitches. 2 player baseball is much the same.
By far my favourite Wii Sport is Bowling. I am so glad that they announced it at the Sept. 14th press event in NYC. Bowling actually feels like you're bowling. And I'm currently the ONLY bowling pro in my house! Bowling is very easy and extremely fun to play. You simply press and hold the B trigger, swing the remote, and let go of B as your hand comes up. You can move from side to side by using the D-pad. If you press A and then use the D-pad, you can actually tilt your Mii, which allows you to put spin on your ball, and use it to get a strike! Getting a strike is actually not that hard. But, you have to aim in between the head pin and the one beside it. Hitting the head pin straight on barely ever results in a strike. To put a little bit of spin on the ball, simply rotate you hand left or right. Responsiveness is really good in bowling. The only thing I've ever done wrong is let go of B to soon and you get an annoying little error message. One thing that sets Bowling apart from most of the other sports, is that you have to play a few times, just to see how your ball is going to spin, and then you can decide what kinds of adjustments you need to make before you throw. A few neat little features about Bowling: you can through the ball into the audience, which scares the heck out of the other Miis! You can through your ball into someone elses lane, which actually counts as a turn, so I don't advise you do that, and once you become a pro, you get a sparkly ball!
The worst of all the Wii sports for a multitude of reasons is Golf. What seems like it would be pretty fun, which it can be at times, is the most frustrating, and hardest of all the sports. The game allows you to take practice swings before you make your shot. The meter on the side shows you how hard the shot is. Then you press and hold A, swing, and you get a bad shot. What I think Nintendo needed to do, was let you choose how hard you wanted to hit (similar to Hot Shots Golf) and then swing, instead of swinging and then having the game tell you that you screwed up. I have only played 3 hole games, simply because I don't think I could make it through 9 holes. The game does however let you choose which club you would like to use, you can tilt your Mii, and you can "zoom in" to get a better look at how your ball is gonna go. Still, golf could use a lot of improvements!
Finally, boxing. I actually don't understand why they included this in Wii Sports, but they did, and it can actually be good when you really feel like punching someone or something. In an actual boxing game, you simply swing or thrust the nunchuck to punch your opponent silly. The controls for boxing are good, for the most part. The accelerometer in the nunchuck is not very responsive, and I'm still trying to figure out how you should move it to get a punch. However, using the Wii remote to do uppercuts and simple punches is very responsive. I do have one word of advice: don't move too rapidly in boxing, because the remotes won't sense the motion if it's too fast.
I'm not sure if this is the same as Wii Health Pack (probably not) but the included Wii Fitness program is sort of like Brain Age but for your body. You complete a number of tests, ranging from bowling to baseball, and then the system will determine your Fitness Level. It also marks your speed, stamina, and strength. Don't ask me how, it does. You will then recieve the results of your test in the Wii Message Board.
In training mode, you can play a multitude of mini-games that are so fun! Each sport has 3 minigames: Tennis has one where you have to return the balls inside the court, hit the barrier, and hit the targets. Bowling has one where you have to get a strike (but it's not a full 10 pins) and the pins increase and change position each time, one where you have to avoid the barriers, and one where you can hit up to 91 pins! I won't go into detail about the rest of the minigames, but I will say that they are really fun to play!
Wii Sports is a great game, and definately a top notch pack in!
Editor's Score: 7.8/10
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