Wii Sports has kept my spouse and I, friends, and family entertained for months, making it reason enough to own a Wii.
Wii Sports replicates five games using the Wii Remote to emulate movements within the respective sport: Tennis, Golf, Baseball, Bowling, and Boxing. Gameplay: The games make a few concessions in accuracy in order to speed the game along and make it accessible to anyone that might pick up the controller. My mother handily outpaced me in her first bowling match. For gaming purists, the difficulty of "mastering" the game might be frustrating. However, I found the ability of my friends and family to join me in something I truly love - video games - to be a rare delight. The games themselves are cartoon versions of the real-life games. However, the controller is highly responsive, requiring careful concentration when putting in Golf or some twisting of the wrist when bowling.
Additional layers of the game appear beyond the top five games as you explore. The training games have their own appeal. There is a bowling training seminar where you need to knock down dozens of pins at a time to score points. A golfing trainer simulates a dart game, only you land the golf ball inside the bullseye rather than a dart. The additional trainers help keep the game interesting and varied. Overall, the gameplay is nothing short of excellent and a prime example of how sports games can be translated in a fun and accessible way to the living room.
Graphics: The graphics are cartoonish, but this is only half-intentional. The limited hardware of the Wii limits its ability to render realistic graphics. This is a shame in some of the games, such as Golf and Tennis, but less of a concern in Bowling and Tennis. The use of Wii avatars (called Miis) makes up for some of the poor graphics. However, the impressive imagery of The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess is evidence that Nintendo could have upped the graphics ante with Wii Sports.
Sound: There are two components to sound: effects and music. The effects, such as crowd cheering and the "thock" of the tennis ball against the racket are good without being intrusive. The Wiimote notifies you that it is your turn with a gentle chime, and the effects generally represent their on-screen actions with accuracy. The music is okay, generally giving the impression that it just wants to stay out of the way. This was a great decision on the part of developers, as the generally calming music gives way to the ambiance of the games. The soundtrack to golf is the sound of the breeze, boxing has a crowd, etc.
Wii Sports is an excellent game with tremendous replay value. It loses some of its appeal in single player over time, but the excitement of multiplayer more than makes up for the single-player game. Single players will also be surprised to find that there is surprising depth to a game that initially appears to be just a pick-up and put-down sports game. Nintendo hit a home run with this one.