Brilliant Game
For the first time in more than a decade, Nintendo has shipped a console with a pack-in included. The title is Wii Sports and it's actually a compilation of five games designed from the ground up to make full use of the Big N's innovative remote. The disc, which ships for free with Wii in America and Europe, includes pick-up-and-play versions of baseball, boxing, bowling, golf and tennis, and learning the basics couldn't be easier. You just pick up the Wii remote and swing it like a baseball bat to whack the ball out of the park, or gesture an underhanded rolling motion to toss the bowling ball down the lane. These revolutionary controls make the old new again. But Wii Sports is also significant because it is the perfect representation of a new development direction for Nintendo - one focused on simple gameplay controls and uncomplicated, primitive graphics. The title is the result of a company-wide effort to win over the elusive non-gamer -- your mom, your dad, and maybe even your grandfather, too. So, is it all just a pipe dream, or will your girlfriend actually like this stuff?
Awesome
Prior to this review, we asked some of the girls who work in our advertising department to stop by our demo room and play both Wii Sports bowling and tennis. They don't play games and had only a very limited understanding of Nintendo's new console. We armed them with Wii remotes and very briefly explained the basic controls. Within seconds, they were competently going back and forth on the tennis court and knocking down pins in bowling - and they were having a great time playing. In fact, just about everybody we've introduced to the sports compilation has walked away happy, whether they have been a gamer for years or completely new to the activity. It's clear to us that Nintendo is onto something and sure enough, Wii Sports might even truly capture some of those non-gamers.
(As a side note, always wear your wrist straps. One of our ad girls -- Katherine Bowe -- became so engrossed in tennis that the Wii remote slipped from her hand and crashed into a nearby wall at mach speeds; luckily, although the strap broke, the back case flew off and the batteries spilled out, it all worked again when we put it back together.)
Not so awesome
Wii Sports is a particularly difficult game to review because it is so different and also because it's free. We had to ask ourselves, should we cut it some slack because it comes packaged with the system or should we instead weigh the game's strengths and weaknesses individually? We've taken the latter approach. After all, we're reviewing the game and not the package. Furthermore, the offering is not free for everyone, as Japanese players will attest. There is more to consider, though. For instance, exactly who is this title for? If your intention is to play Wii Sports for an hour per day with friends, you will probably love the title, whose bowling and tennis outings are especially addictive. However, if you're the hardcore type who wants a deeper sports videogame, you will find Wii Sports' overall depth sorely lacking. It is our job to consider both potential audiences and make a recommendation based on all the factors.
For You and Mii
When we first set eyes on Wii Sports so many months ago, we thought Nintendo was playing a joke on us. The graphics were so primitive that we couldn't believe this was a game for the company's new generation console - a system roughly twice as powerful as GameCube. Compared to some of today's cutting-edge projects, the visuals in Wii Sports are laughable. They just don't compete. In Wii Sports baseball, the generic and blocky players don't even have legs, for example. The background crowds in Wii Sports tennis are nothing more than different colors - Nintendo didn't even bother to model anything. And yet, the title does feature crisp textures, displays in 16:9 widescreen and progressive-scan modes and runs at 60 frames per second. There are no technical shortcomings to speak of - like it or not, this style was purposeful. If Nintendo's intention was to establish an overall less daunting presentation for the non-gamer - an audience who played Pong and never returned - then it has succeeded. The bare bones look of the title is uncomplicated, if anything. And for that very reason, it's unlikely to wow any of the more discerning hardcore players.
Still, Wii Sports does have its charm, which is largely made possible through the integration of Mii characters. This is the first title to utilize the Mii avatar system, which basically means that you can import a virtual version of yourself, your friends, or your family members into the game. We wasted no time in designing versions of ourselves and some of our creations looked eerily like us. The concept may seem silly, but there is something to seeing a caricature of yourself running around on the tennis court or getting pummeled in boxing. Simple as these avatars are, they oftentimes succeed in evoking giggles from both players and passersby alike. You could say that they bring character (literally, we suppose) to the otherwise straightforward presentation. We're already looking forward to future iterations so that we can how ridiculous our virtual representations appear in different sports outings.