If you purchased a Wii in America it came with the launch game Wii Sports. It's not exactly a big game like the Mario, Zelda and Metroid franchise but it does do one thing well, it shows off what the Wii can do!
Playing Wii Sports will have you off of the couch and up on your feet. Wether you are swinging a racket in tennis or dancing and jabbing in boxing you will be in motion!
Tennis: In this game (up to four players, no wii-mote sharing) you are... playing tennis! Your Mii will move arround the court for you and all you need to focus on is hitting the ball. OK, that might be a little bit simplistic! There is also a timing element in this game. Swing the racket too soon or too late and the ball will not go where you want it.
Golf: (up to four players, wii-mote sharing) I have fun with this one and I even managed to get par on one of the holes. There is not much variety in the clubs you can choose but, it's not meant to be a PGA game. Which begs the next question... Will there be a Mario "mini-golf" Party type game put out for the Wii?
Your club selection is limitted to: Driver, Iron, Wedge and Putter. The game will automatically suggest the best club to use but, you can override that. You use the wii-mote as your club and swing it accordingly. If you swing too hard you may end up slicing the ball! You also use the control pad, prior to swinging, to adjust your aim. It's a very simple game to learn and fun to play.
Bowling: (up to four players, wii-mote sharing) Hands down the best game in Wii Sports. I could play this game all night and not get bored with it. My daughter has some trouble with it because she can't seem to swing the wii-mote without turning it in her arm.
You hold the wii-mote as if it were a bowling ball. You backswing, forward swing and release... the "B" button that is, not the wii-mote! This may be the game that has inspired all of those "the Wii broke my TV/put a hole in my wall/broke my lamp/etc..." stories.
When aiming you can move your aim left to right and change the angle. This game is very easy to learn and just downright fun for the whole family.
Baseball: (up to two players, no wii-mote sharing) In this game you are either the pitcher or the batter. The wii-mote is either your bat or the ball. when you are the batter all you need to do is swing... or is it? You also need to time your swing properly to knock that ball out of the park! Watch out though, those outfielders are good!
When you are the pitcher you use the control pad and the "A" and "B" buttons to alter your pitch. the speed at which you "throw" the ball (don't let go of the wii-mote) will effect how fast the pitch is.
the game only goes three innings but it's a fun little baseball game.
Boxing: (up to two players, no wii-mote sharing, requires nunchuk) Until I played this game I did not realize that the nunchuk also has a motion sensor in it. The first game I played I only jabbed with the wii-mote. Then I read the manual. My second match I knocked the guy out in about 30 seconds by landing a vicious series of left-right-left jabs. After that they started throwing tougher opponents at me.
One problem I did discover though is that the cable on the nunchuk is too short for my arms.
I'm still experimenting with boxing and I have not tried it in two-player mode yet. For some reason the idea of beating the heck out of my daughter or wife's avatars just does not appeal to me...
The fitness test is also fun. I have gone from age 67 on my first try to age 40 on my second.
A few little notes for those who are unfamiliar with the Wii:
With the Wii you are able to create avatars, or a "Mii" as they are known. Using the Mii Channel you can construct a Mii for yourself using a wide variety of pre-built options. Some people have made miis based on famous people as well as themselves. Why even Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report aired a segment on Wii Sports Boxing where he was beating up on a mii that looked a lot like Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi! (You can check YouTube for that one!)
These miis are also used in Wii Sports. So, when you play a game, it is YOU in the game! This is a lot of fun and really helps this system shine. What's more fun, playing tennis with generic video game characters or playing it with people you recognize on screen? It also makes multi-player games so much easier as you can tell, at a glance, who is controlling the other character on screen. I hope Nintendo puts out more games that use the mii characters.
I have also heard a rumor that the next version of Animal Crossing for the Wii will use the miis and allow you to take the stuff you buy in the game (clothing) and have your mii wear it in other games!
I will be adding more Wii Reviews in the future, stay tuned!
