Wii Play

"Nintendo makes a great solid outing with Wii-Play!"

Wii-Play REVIEW

After a very entertaining and free outing with Wii-Sports, some Wii-owners have been wanting to play some mini-games that have great multiplayer. Wii-Sports had a decent multiplayer but I really disliked the Split-Screen multiplayer with Wii-Sports. Yuck!! Nintendo is back again with some all new solid mini-games in Wii-Play but does it hold its own ground for a $40 video game? Wii-Play comes packaged in with a Wii-mote. There are 9 mini-games in Wii-Play and some are great while others are terrible. There is PING PONG, Billiards, SHOOTING RANGE (ala Duck Hunt type), LASER HOCKEY (PONG-ish), FISHING, FIND MII (Where's Waldo type), CHARGE! (racing), and TANKS!

Personally, my favorite mini-games are PING PONG, LASER HOCKEY, and BILLIARDS. The others can be fun with others but most of those games have sluggish controls and very boring concepts that just are not my type. I can tell you if you are gonna have some friends over for a night that almost every person will find something enjoyable to play. I myself, I have done some Billiards tournaments with my brother and friends. The included Wii-mote really doesn't come in handy with most of the games on Wii-Play if you already have 2 or more Wii-motes.

Though, never would've thought that I would've played Billiards for 2 hours one night! That is probably the most addicting and solid mini-game I have played in quite sometime on any system! There are some controller issues with Wii-Play on some games. CHARGE! has very awkward controls and they seem very sluggish. In CHARGE! you hold your remote like a N.E.S. controller and you title up/down to turn the bull. There seems to be a half-second delay in the turning from remote to game. Also, Pose Mii has very un-sensitive controls. Thats pretty rare because most of the mini-games in game are more sensitive but POSE Mii seems like its the opposite. Going in full detail about each mini-game would be a waste of time because they are very straight-forward. No surprises here!

Graphically, most games are very bright, and vivid. They are on par with supped up N64 graphics for the most part with a higher resolution. 480p doesn't really help too much with this game. The sound is great and for its “Mini-game” selection, a lot of them sound very good and some even have Wii-mote sounds such as Billiards, Ping-Pong, and shooting range.

This is probably the best mini-game compilation available on the Wii system besides Rayman Raving Rabbids. If you will have some friends over who are not “video game” experts then by all means pick this up for them to play. Wii-Sports, Wii-Play, and maybe Rayman Raving Rabbids or Mario Party 8 will make sure that you have a great party with your Wii. Not a graphical or presentational masterpiece like Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess but the mini-games are very fun and almost anyone can enjoy them albeit some better than others.

Gameplay – 8/10
Graphics – 5/10
Sound – 7/10
Fun Factor – 8/10
Replay Factor – 5/10

OVERALL = 33 out of a possible 50

(7) - ALMOST (8)!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/09/07