"Probably the only game you can play with every member of your family - old and young alike."

For the first time since the NES, there is a videogame system on the market that smooth talkers should have little trouble selling to their non-gaming parents, grandparents and significant others - the Nintendo Wii. But what does motion-controlled controllers, a company focus on easily accessible gameplay and a light price tag accomplish without a game that scores hits on all of those fronts? Enter Wii Sports, a free game packaged in with every Wii system outside of Japan, which includes elementary takes on baseball, bowling, boxing, golf and tennis, each game taking full advantage of the Wii's inventive controllers. Though originally considered to be a standalone game as it still is in Japan, it seems as if Nintendo realized that instant playability and tangible gameplay could not fully overcome a lack of depth and graphical flare, making its possible price tag an issue. But by making it the first game to be packaged at launch with a Nintendo system since Super Mario World with the Super Nintendo in 1991, they give every early adapter, along with everyone they share their system with, a glimpse of the future of gaming.

As has been made known numerous times throughout the entire introduction of the Wii to the public, the selling point all along has not been graphical horsepower but the unique Wiimote and nunchuck controllers that detect 3D motions and translate these movements into the gaming world. It is this concept that Wii Sports has been bred for, as the plain presentation the game is constructed around is easily overpowered by the sheer enjoyment that playing it brings. Basic textures make up simplistic environments, characters appear to be digital versions of the Fisher Price Little People toys, while predictable sound effects and overly happy elevator music hardly push the limits of the Gamecube, let alone the Wii.

But while Nintendo has been criticized by many for the lackluster presentation found in Wii Sports, I found it charming. This game does not demand that the Wii be pushed to unknown limits - that's being left for developers such as EA and 2KGames to accomplish with their range of sports games. That's not to say that I'm without complaints however; the pain is eased with the ability to import your Miis - player created avatars that can be both controlled and used as background fodder - into the game, but it lacks a defining look that says, "Nintendo made this." There are countless ways they could have spruced up the presentation and given it personality, such as adding Nintendo-themed ads in the baseball stadium and boxing arena, inviting Mario to once again preside over tennis matches, randomly having Nintendo personalities appear as Miis, and so on. Instead, the closest Nintendo comes to utilizing their star power is putting their logo on a few things, such as the boxing ring.

With the exception of golf and boxing, every one of the sports included in Wii Sports can be picked up and played with only basic knowledge of how to play the real sport. Of all the games, bowling is by far the most accessible, as it is also the simplest. Using only the Wiimote, you bring it up to your chest, just like you would a bowling ball. When you are ready to throw, you hold down the B button. This causes the on-screen player to begin walking to the line. While this is happening, you begin your throwing movement as if you were really holding the ball and when you're ready to release the ball, release the B button. If you want to put a spin on the ball, twist your wrist in either direction while releasing the ball - the harder the twist, the sharper the spin. Expect to take a few throws to get your timing and understanding of the motions down, but after that you should experience very few, if any, complications. Since you don't have to wait for your ball to return, pins to get lined up or become unclogged and wear well-worn shoes that probably don't fit, bowling alleys may be in for some unforeseen competition.

While the tennis game may share more similarities, control-wise, with foosball than it does with the actual sport, is still excellent nonetheless. Unless you have more than two players, each side has two characters on their team, one in the back and one up at the net. The only action these characters execute that is player-controlled is their rackets, which is hard to adapt to at first. By swinging the Wiimote to the left or to the right, you either swing either backhanded or forehanded, depending on which way your character is facing. When you swing, both characters on your team swing, unless one of them is controlled by another player. To serve, you use the Wiimote to throw the ball up, then use it again to swing down on the ball. Much like baseball, this game is based on timing more than it is on how hard you swing the Wiimote. Although the lack of movement hurts the game's depth, it is not detrimental because the responsive controls win you back.

Just as tennis did above, baseball was forced to make some sacrifices to its core gameplay and it suffers accordingly. Each game has been snipped down to three innings. Each team still fields nine players, although there are no extra players outside of these. Hitting consists of making a swinging motion with the Wiimote, just as if you had a real bat in your hands. In-between pitches you can wiggle your bat around and set your bat into any position you want, although the position never appears to affect swing quality. You can't move around in the batter's box though, so emulating professional players beyond bat handling is sadly out of the picture. Pitching is just as self-explanatory; after you select your pitch and location, you simply bring the Wiimote down in a throwing motion. The speed of your pitch is based on how fast you bring the Wiimote down.

Once you hit a ball, this is where the game takes an unnecessary blow. You cannot control your fielders - the game automatically handles the entire field, with no user input of any kind, using ghost runner rules (one for each base reached by the hitter) for moving runners along. I'm all for boiling down the sport to make it easier for non-gamers to control, but removing fielding from baseball crosses the line of acceptability! At the very least, an option for auto-fielding would have been the easy compromise, giving players a choice. And fielding didn't have to be overly complex; it could have been as deep as the classic Ken Griffey Jr. baseball games from the Super Nintendo days. The computer fielders are decent, but the automated handling of base running just does not work, as you can't even tag up. Team management also becomes a problem if your team gets drilled, as you cannot sub a tired pitcher for another player, not even one already on the field like in Mario Superstar Baseball. If your pitcher is gassed, you just have to make the best, or worst of it. Despite the shortcomings, baseball is still a fun game to play - just be prepared to find yourself wanting to play homerun derby more often than you may have wanted to.

Golf also suffers from being over simplified, but not because of its gameplay. Sporting the second highest learning curve in Wii Sports, it will take a few games to truly grasp just how the controls work. To swing the club, holding the Wiimote like you would a golf club, with the remote facing down, you then go through the motions you would make if you were holding a real club. The follow through is where the game takes your swing power from, allowing you to cut out half the swing motion if you choose to. Being able to generate the right amount of power on a consistent basis requires you to spend a significant amount of time honing your skills, which may or may not turn you off of golf, depending on your feelings on the actual sport. If you stick with it though, it will eventually pay off and make the game that much more satisfying.

The exact opposite can be said for the course selection, which decreases in satisfaction after every play through. The entire game is limited to a measly nine holes, all of which are based on the NES classic, Golf. Was it too much to ask Nintendo to at least copy a full eighteen holes?! Considering how boring and straightforward every hole is, and how golf is only as good as the course you play on, this is a flaw that has damaged longevity to irreparable limits.

Finally comes boxing, the most complicated of all the games. This is also the only game that uses both the Wiimote and nunchuck, as you hold the Wiimote in your favored hand and the nunchuck in the other. These serve as your digital hands and your character moves according to how you move your hands. To punch you simply jab forward with your hand of choice, tilting the controller up or down for a different angle. To block you must hold one of your hands up to an incoming punch. To dodge you tilt your controllers left, right, up and/or down and your character follows.

While moving around and dodging takes little effort, landing punches on a consistent basis proves to be a difficult task. No one time I played was I able to land punches in a natural succession. I tried standing up, sitting down, adjusted my sensor bar multiple times, but nothing outside of the game had any effect. The controls were just not responsive to my actions. With practice I managed to lessen the degree of problems with that, but I'm yet to reach a point where I'm the only one making the mistakes. The potential for boxing on the Wii is huge, but this version proves how easy it can be to mess it up.

Though the gameplay options in Wii Sports are limited in scope, they are deceptively deep and long lasting. Gamers looking for single player action can play any of the five games against computer opponents, raising your Mii's skill levels to pro stature, honing your skills using Training modes mini-games and Fitness mode, which gives you a daily Fitness Age, like Nintendo's DS hit Brain Age, based on your scores in three different mini-games. Multiplayer is the real attraction here, as every game (as well as every Training mini-game) can be played against other people. Other than golf, none of these games take very long to complete, allowing for a winner-stays round robin to move things swiftly in a party environment. Since anyone in the room can, and should, play any of the games, nothing gets a party into a frenzy like a Wii Sports competition! The only way this game could receive a higher multiplayer recommendation was if it included online play, which just like every other launch game, it sadly does not.

As it stands, after you have played Wii Sports for the first time, the tenth time, the thousandth time, it will be hard not to be overcome with a feeling of accomplishment, both for yourself and Nintendo. You will have just personally taken part in a historic moment in our hobby that will reverberate for years to come. Despite the shortcomings in presentation and pruning in some aspects of the modes and play, what Wii Sports gets right it gets right with flying colors, showing that what may have appeared as a gimmick - the motion-reading controllers - is actually a revolution. And it's just getting started!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/02/07