Wii Review: Wii Sports

Review by: Pikaboo

"Twas the night before Christmas and all I could see,
was a decently large box that I hoped was a Wii.
I giggled and chuckled at the thought of such fun,
and the console, once ridiculed, was now #1.
The next morning I ripped open the box and my intuition was right,
For when I opened the gift all I saw was a bright, holy light.
Then I saw what I had wished for:
A Wii at my presence and I couldn't ask for more.
I set up my Wii,
my face shining with glee.
I looked all around for a game to be played,
But then I saw Wii Sports, no extra money had to be paid!
I popped in the Disk and began my parade
for this was the 1st Wii game both made and a must-play..."

All right, all right. I know it's lame and it's a little bit too early/late for a Christmas poem but I couldn't help it.

Anyways, when you buy your Wii it should come with a game titled Wii Sports for free. This is a game that showcases the Wii's capabilities and proves most doubts about the console false. This game basically turns your Wiimote into a tennis racket, baseball bat, a golf club, boxing gloves, and... your fingers in a bowling ball. As you can tell there are a variety of Sports you can play from this one Wii game alone. The five sports that are featured are tennis, baseball, bowling, golf, and boxing. It is a great game for both single-player and multi-player.

Wii Sports is a basic package, but all 5 sports provide fun for whatever you feel like playing. You may get so involved in the game, that you actually scratch or even break your TV. Yes, it's happened before. Not to me specifically, but this point is not a negative one. This means that people get so into the game and they actually feel like they are the Mii. Now let's discuss the five sports within the game.

Tennis is, in my opinion, the most amusing of all five games. You start the game by choosing your Mii. This game can support one to four different players at once, making it a great party game. Unfortunately, you can't play a singles court but you shouldn't mind playing doubles. If you are playing by yourself, you can either make your partner a CPU or control both players. The most awkward thing about Wii Tennis is that when you actually start playing you have no control over your Miis. The Miis automatically follow the ball, which can either annoy you or relieve you. To swing the racket, it's as easy as a slight flick or an all-out swing of your Wiimote. The motions are very responsive, which means you don't always have to give yourself the "Wii Arm" when playing Wii Tennis. Now please remember that how fast you swing will not affect the ball at all; it is just the timing in which the racket hits the ball. It is very simple as you cannot control where your Miis walk. Wii Tennis makes for some great single-player options, but multiplayer is where this game really shines.

Baseball is one of the more complex games of the bunch. Wii Baseball supports one to two players at once: You on one team, your friend on another. Wii baseball is basically all reaction time, especially when you're up to bat. When the ball starts coming at you, you have to time your swing at the right time. If you swing too fast you'll swing before the ball even gets to you. To get a home run you must hit the baseball correctly, which, depending on your reaction time, can be a piece of cake or a fistful of crap. Much like Wii Tennis, once you hit the ball, all the action on the field is controlled by AI computers. Once again, you can either like this as it seems more relaxed or hate it because it lessens the intensity; it is all just determined on personal preferences. To pitch, you swing the remote and it calls it out as a strike or a ball. Wii BAseball is a great addition, but most players either hate this or love it.

Personally, these next two sports are the most boring of the five sports given to you; it might just be my dislike for bowling and golf, but many people do seem to enjoy these. The next sport up is bowling and many people do seem to find this entertaining. Bowling can be played with up to four players. You can position and angle your shot manually. To roll the ball, you swing the Wii remote in an upward motion and let go of the B-Button. It's very simple and almost seems like you're actually in a bowling rink. In golf, you can play it with up to 2 players. You have a choice of a beginner, intermediate or expert 3-hole game, or you can do a 9-hole game. You must input your power and then swing. The motion-sensing is incredible with this one. Golf is the most strategic of all the sports as you cannot hit too hard or too light and you have to take notice of the wind.



The last sport, but not least, is boxing. The most interesting aspect of the game is that it is the only one bundled in the game that uses the nunchuk attachment. You hold the Wiimote and nunchuk up and you can do several things involving the motion control. If you tilt left or right, that is where your Mii boxer will tilt. This is used as your basic dodge function. If you hold the remote and nunchuk combo up to your face, then your Mii blocks an attack. You can swing or "punch" your nunchuk to punch with your left hand and swing with the Wii remote to punch with your right hand. Sometimes the motion controls can be unresponsive, which can frustrate even the most down-to-Earth gamer. This game is much more fun with multiplayer (like the rest of the games) as you can beat up your friend instead of beating up some chump CPU.

It should be noted that Wii Sports is the first game on the Wii that integrates the Miis. These Miis basically set the mood for the look of the game. The backgrounds are very simple and probably overlooked by many people. They are nice, but probably isn't the best thing to look at in the game package. Much like the simple graphics, Wii Sports hold some simple tunes that you either hate, love, or don't even notice. The sound feels crisp and it effectively uses the speakers in the Wii remote. It's not something that is truly memorable, but it seems to fit in with the theme of this game.

If you're a fan of sports, I can imagine that you would come back to this game time and time again. If you're a casual gamer, you'll love coming back to this to play with some friends on a Friday afternoon after a dreadful week of school.Though, if you consider yourself a "hardcore gamer", you may only see this game as a "15 minutes of Fame" game despite being one of the best sports game collection ever.