Wii Sports is a superb demonstration of the Wii remotes capabilities and the inviting and realistic game play that Ninte
Wii Sports offers various game modes centered around five main sports: tennis, baseball, bowling, golf, and boxing. On the main menu screen, you can choose from a regular game of either one of these sports, or you can select training mode, or complete a fitness test. The game includes heavy use of Miis, allowing you to use any of the virtual people you have created in the Mii Channel.
In tennis, you will hold and swing the Wii remote just as if it were a real tennis racquet. However, you don’t have any control over where your Mii character moves; it just runs up near the ball, and your only job is to swing. Although the Wii remote won’t know how fast you swing, it will recognize whether you are swinging backhand or forehand. Tennis does an excellent job of demonstrating how such simple games on the Wii can be so entertaining.
Baseball only consists of two of the sport’s positions: batting and pitching. Batting can be a blast, due to the use of the Wii remote’s technology in which on-screen movement is matched one-to-one with your movement. In this case, the bat on screen mimics your exact movement of the Wii remote. On the other hand, pitching is rather weak due to its ineffective use of the controls. You merely swing the Wii remote downward while holding the A or B button to determine whether you want to throw a fast ball or curve ball. Furthermore, the Wii remote attempts to distinguish the quickness at which you swing to formulate a real life speed at which the ball is thrown, but it fails to adjust accordingly.
Bowling is easily the most precise and rewarding sport of all. There are no changes to the real sport and it combines all the Wii remotes technology used in all the other games in Wii Sports. It does a great job of replicating the true feeling of bowling, but without the weight of the bowling ball. One-to-one motion sensing is used as you swing your arm back and the simple motion movement, like in tennis, is used when you release the ball. Before you bowl, the directional pad on the Wii remote allows you to change the angle and spot from which you bowl. In addition, to add spin to the ball, causing the ball to curve right or left, depends on how you follow through when releasing the ball. Flick your wrist to the right on your follow-through and the ball will spin the right, flick it to the left and the ball will curve off the left. This technique is essential for strikes. The Wii remote can also judge how fast you are swinging. The more power you put into your swing, the more pins you are likely to knock over. However, if you have only one or two pins standing, you will need to swing softly for more control.
Golf also includes all of the Wii remotes capabilities, but not nearly as effectively as bowling. To play, you grasp the Wii remote just as if it were a golf club. The swinging mechanics are one-to-one for your upward and downward movements of the club; nothing will happen if you attempt to move the club sideways, which is good because it would make hitting the ball incredibly problematic. A power meter off to the side of the screen shows how much power you are swinging with. In truth, it simply is detecting the speed. It isn’t a dramatic change, but it certainly takes away from the true feeling of playing golf. Underneath the “power” meter, you can look at an aerial view of the course, also showing how far the club you are using will allow you to hit. For the sake of simplicity, there are only three clubs to choose from: driver, iron, and putter. In addition to the power meter and course map, there is a wind indicator. This will specify the direction and speed of the wind. Depending on how fast the wind is blowing, it can considerably alter the path of the ball. In order to adjust with the wind, you can change the direction you are aiming using the d-pad on the Wii remote. This is also needed when putting. If made into a full fledged game with many more courses and clubs and fine tuned swinging mechanics, Wii Sports Golf would be outstanding.
Last but not least of all the Wii Sports is boxing. Unlike the other four sports, boxing requires the attachment of the Nunchuk controller into the bottom of the Wii remote. The remote in your right hand acts as your right boxing glove and the Nunchuk in your left hand acts as your left boxing glove. You won’t need to press a single button when boxing; just firmly grasp the controllers and punch! If you lean your body in a ducking motion, so will your Mii. There is one-to-one control of the movement of the fists before a punch, but is very spastic and barely noticeable that it is in fact, one-to-one movement. Using the more simple motion movement, the Wii remote will recognize an uppercut, side hit, or just a direct punch, however it will not distinguish the force of your thrusts of the controllers. Due to the weak sensing issues and fast pace movement of the game, you will be flailing your arms about in an effort to knock out your opponent. When you do get a nice hit, or even dodge what would have been a forceful hit, it can be quite satisfying. Despite the satisfaction you can receive from playing Wii Sports boxing, it can get boring and tedious just after three rounds.
Aside from the main sport selections, Wii Sports also offers two other modes: “training” and “fitness test”. The training mode consists of three mini-games for each of the five sports. For example, the first bowling mini-game is meant to help with picking up spares, second is control and accuracy, and the third is power. Not only do these mini-games help you improve at each sport, but they are also just really fun additional ways to play the sports. The fitness test is a daily test you can take in which you are assessed in three randomly chosen mini-games from the training mode. When you are done, it will give you an age based on your performance, very similarly to the popular Nintendo DS game “Brain Age”.
As a stand-alone game, Wii Sports leaves a bit to be desired; however, Nintendo could not have possibly chosen a better game to pack in with their newest game system. Wii Sports is a superb demonstration of the Wii remotes capabilities and the inviting and realistic game play that Nintendo is striving for with the Wii.