Saturday, April 28, 2012

Level Up: Wii Sports & Wii Play


How can I even introduce this game? You guys all know about the Wii and how it brought a new audience of casual gamers into the industry (whether you like it or not). With the simple “motion controls”, some of the games offered on it were pretty much accessible to everyone. And when people think of Wii games, Wii Sports will come to mind instantly; it is packaged with the system after all and as of 2009, it’s the best-selling game of all time. If you’re on the fence about getting this system and game, (or have been living under a rock) then listen up; here is Wii Sports for the Nintendo Wii.
Wii Sports is made up of 5 games: baseball, tennis, golf, boxing and bowling (everyone’s favorite). They all use motion controls which make these games very intuitive to play: swing the remote as if it were a racket for tennis, hold the Wii remote and nun-chuck in each hand and make punching motions for boxing, etc… Though there are slight difference (like holding A or B in baseball for different throws), you play most games in a similar manner to real life. After playing a match in each sport, you are rewarded points on your performance, and the more points you have, the more difficult the next challenge will be (except in Bowling or Golf naturally).
The real fun of this game is playing it with other people though. However, if you’re playing on your own, you don’t have to wear yourself out with full matches. There are mini-games designed to train you in some key aspects for each sport. This could mean practicing hitting tennis balls without missing, hitting baseballs in the right direction or dodging some balls to learn how to dodge punches. You’ll also be given a medal on how well you do, so try getting that platinum medal to be sure to beat your friends.
And if that’s not enough, there is still Wii Fitness mode. This mode you can play once a day made up of random selection of 3 of the mini-games. Once all three games are done, you will be given an age between 20 (the best possible score) and 80, all judged on your stamina, balance and speed.
So yeah, Wii Sports is a good package with the system. However, the real fun of it comes when you can play with someone else, but the Wii doesn’t come with a second controller. You can go out and buy one, or you can spend just 10$ more (usual price I’ve seen) and also get Wii play bundled with one. So, let me tell you about Wii Play now.
While Wii Sports is fun, it doesn’t demonstrate what Wii remote can really be used for. Wii Play has the goal to introduce players to most of the other things it can do. You’ll have to point at the screen, twist and tilt the remote around, move it back and forth and *gasp* even press buttons. These are all used in mini-games where you fish, play pool, shoot tanks and ride cows, among other things.
These games all do their jobs, however I found it all less fun than Wii Sports as a whole. Sure there’s more to do here, but nothing lasts long enough. Breaking this out at a family gathering or something is entertaining, as it allows everyone to have quick turns but the novelty will still wear off quickly. It feels kind of like Hogan’s Halley, in that, it’s just there to show what this gadget can do. Still, it gets the job done for something you’re likely to get with a remote you’re going to buy anyways, and it’s a decent and entertaining selection of mini-games.
So those are two Wii games you’re likely to just “get”. Wii sports is as fun as everyone makes it out to be, easily accessible, a good multiplayer experience and has enough to offer to make the single player entertaining. Wii play is more like a toy box: a bunch of short games you’ll get some fun out of, but nothing really to rave about, and it’s a good way to learn how to use the Wii remote properly in many ways (and again, worth buying if you want to get a second Wii remote). Both use the standard Wii/Mii look and the music is the usual elevator style stuff they use too, so no complaints there. If you’re asking me, you can’t go wrong playing either of these with a group of friends or family if you just want to have some quick fun. I give Wii Sport 9 and Wii Play 7 levels out 10.

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