"A wonderful success for zero quid!"

Review for Wii Sports for the Nintendo Wii
By Daniel Holloway

Many people have their opinions on the Wii and as do they on one of its games: Wii Sports. But in fact, most of these people do not have a clue what they are talking about, since most of these people do not actually own a Nintendo Wii but are just talking about what they have seen on TV adverts. I am here to end all of the pointless speculation about Wii Sports and tell you how it is.

First thing is first, Nintendo have brought out this brand new console, the Nintendo Wii, and at launch there are 12 games on the market, one of which is Wii Sports. Obviously there are far more now, but this is how it was at its launch – I am painting a scene for you. You are going to get this game whether you like it or not because it comes free with your Wii package: whether you buy basic, premium or deluxe Wii packages, you are receiving this game. I don't know about you but the first opinion that comes into my mind is that it isn't going to be a great game if it's 100% free with no catch whatsoever.

However, I find that I am completely wrong. In fact of all the Wii games I either own or have played, Wii Sports comes second in my list of top favourites. The developers at Nintendo have made this simple yet addictive game, and have succeeded so well at making it a good one. When you purchase your Wii and get it up and running, you find the Mii Channel, where you can create your own personal characters that you can design from scratch or make to look like yourself, called Miis, and it is highly addictive creating these creatures. One of the best features to the game Wii Sports is the fact that it incorporates the Mii Channel feature of your Nintendo Wii. You find that you are able to bring your own Miis that you have created (not in the game, but outside of it) and let them play the sports in the game. This is a spectacular feature that everyone can enjoy, yet very few games actually use this, so thumbs up to you there, Nintendo!

This does of course mean that the in-game graphics are very simple and minimal – but this is completely deliberate. This is something that sounds like a drawback to the game, but it actually is completely the opposite. Because the minimal graphics are so fun and interesting, and the idea of someone like you is in the game, the graphics seem maximal in your mind!

Now then, let's move onto the game itself. Wii Sports is a free game, so you don't expect loads, and although you can only play five sports, it is still an amazing game. I will tackle each of the sports you can play one-by-one.

The first sport you can play is Tennis. Wii Tennis is extremely fun and addictive, and it simply works by you swinging the Wii Remote when the ball comes in your direction, in a similar motion to how you would in a real game of tennis. In the same way you can serve, by simply taking the Wii Remote in an upward motion and swinging it to hit the ball. What is so addictive about moving a stick in the same motion over and over again? I honestly have no idea, but I can confirm – it is addictive. It might be the idea of it being like a simulation of a real game, or it might be the feel you get from winning. Anyway, as you progress in the sport, your opposition begins to get tougher (and listen up because this applies to every sport – not just Wii Tennis). You will get experience points every time you win a game of Tennis, and they will add to your total. You need to get 2000 points to be a ‘Pro' and it takes a while to achieve that status. Depending on how easy you make the game for yourself, and on how well you play, and on how tough your opposition is compared to you, and on your current score - your experience points per game can, and do, vary. In Wii Tennis, with an easy game with a small victory, you're looking at about 40 points, whereas a massive victory with tough opponents can give you up to 120 points. With every game, as you reach Pro status, you unlock something special – I won't reveal what those are, but they're good, trust me!

The rest of the games I will summarise in a short paragraph and give you any extra information you might need. In Wii Bowling, the aim of the game is simple. You have an ordinary score card and an ordinary bowling lane. Simply hold the Wii Remote as you would a bowling ball and swing away. Where you aim affects your accuracy, so make sure you are facing the sensor bar correctly! Nintendo succeed again with this sport. Highly addictive and the want to win makes it such a good game.

The three other sports: Wii Baseball, Wii Golf and Wii Boxing, vary completely in how good they are. Let me start with Wii Baseball. This is a simple game of swing the Remote as you would a baseball bat. Sounds boring, but again – it is addictive. The difference between Baseball and the other four games is that you get to play both parts – after your team are out (either be strikeout or by winning rule) you get to bowl. This is a good feature, but I hate to say the bowling part isn't really fun to do. But on the whole, Wii baseball is quite a good game.

Next, we tackle Wii Boxing (you'll see why I leave Golf out soon). This is without a doubt the best sport. Although I have a serious problem with this sport, it is still so good, you can barely notice it. Now, in real-life boxing, my favourite punch is the ‘upper-cut'. This is an attainable move (i.e. you can do it), but it is so hard to do – because most of the times you attempt to do so, your Mii will do something else. This is the drawback, but overall – an amazing sport. This is the sport that the opposition really starts to get tough in – when you achieve approximately 1000 experience points, the opponents you start to face are almost too tough to beat – but on the other hand – we all love a challenge! Oh yeah – and I forgot to mention – this is the only sport in Wii Sports that uses the Nun Chuck.

Finally, we have the Golf. This is a downright awful game, but I have to admit, I do like it in small doses, very, very small doses. I don't mind playing a 3-hole game, as the sport itself is pretty fine. But after a while, it gets a bit tedious and you want to just quit, so playing a 9-hole game is no fun. After about hole 5, you just want to get it over and done with, but you don't want to quit because you have already completed half of the course. So in the end, you end up playing like a zombie, there's no fun in it.

There are two other features to the game, which I won't go into too much detail about. There is the Training mode, where there are three mini-games for each sport (making 15 in total), which are highly addictive and fun to play all round. There is another part to the game called the Fitness Test. This is where you are given three of the mini-games from the Training section of the game – all chosen completely at random I might add - and have to complete them within a time limit, or beat a set score in each one, and at the end of all of your tests you are given a Wii Fitness Age. The aim is to try and improve this fitness age as you go along, similar the Brain Age that you receive as part of Dr Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? when you try and improve your Brain Age there. You can do so in the same way – but rather than activating your ‘prefrontal cortex of the brain' you just practice the training modes of the Wii Sports!

Overall, a highly addictive, highly entertaining, highly great and extremely fun game:
Graphics: 8/10
Addictiveness: 9/10
Controls: 10/10
Value For Money: 10/10
Camera: 7/10
Game Play: 9/10

To conclude, I reward this fantastic game with (based on the scores from above) 9.1 out of a possible 10!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/20/07

Game Release: Wii Sports (EU, 12/08/06)