“Wii Sports Resort” Reviewed
Release Date: July 26, 2009
List Price: $49.99
When the Nintendo Wii was released back in November of 2006 they included in the box a game called “Wii Sports.” The game was a collection of five sports– tennis, baseball, bowling, golf and boxing – designed to demonstrate the motion-sensing capabilities of the new Wiimote to players. Simple gestures of your hand registered – you could swing a bat, tennis racket or golf club; go bowling; or have a boxing match against a friend – but the motion was not a true one-to-one translation of your arm’s motion, and the on-screen actions were preprogrammed and limited to what you could actually do.
While this new technology was very innovative, fresh and downright fun, it still left us wanting more. We wanted a true representation of our actions on screen; we wanted to truly feel like part of the game. Well Nintendo has answered our wishes with their latest release, “Wii Sports Resort.”
“Wii Sports Resort” is a new collection of 12 games to showcase Nintendo’s latest addition to the family, Wii Motion Plus. Bundled in the box with “Wii Sports Resort” you get one Wii Motion Plus attachment in a new silicone sleeve which you easily slide on, connect and lock on to the bottom of your Wiimote. They even provide a nice little illustration of how to connect it. It’s something anyone can do no matter how technically impaired one might be. With Wii Motion Plus, Nintendo promises to give you true one-to-one motion control – using gyroscope technology and the Wiimote’s built-in accelerometers – to immerse you even deeper into the game. To show off this new technology and to see how much more control we get from this, Nintendo gives us “Wii Sports Resort.”
· Swordplay
· Wakeboarding
· Frisbee· Archery
· Basketball
· Table Tennis
· Golf (previously on Wii Sports)
· Bowling (previously on Wii Sports)
· Power Cruising
· Canoeing
· Cycling
· Air Sports
Most of the games have multiple difficulty settings or sub-games to them, so there is definitely a ton to do when you play. So how is it? Does it do what Nintendo says it does? Is it worth spending the money on? And most importantly, is it fun to play?
The Good:
12 games!!! With multiple difficulty settings and sub games!!! Much better than the 5 we got with “Wii Sports”. Having this many options of games to play will cause countless hours of fun to pass by.
Archery – Holding the Wiimote like a bow and pulling back on the Nunchuck to fire an arrow at a target with various distances and wind speeds is great. I have spent many nights trying over and over again to get a perfect score on the 3 difficulty settings the game has and still haven’t been successful. This is my favorite game on the disk.
Basketball – The three-point contest is a very close second-favorite of mine. Holding the Wiimote in front of you and making the motion of picking up the ball from the rack and shooting a three-point basket is just fun. It’s very smooth and you actually have to make a good throwing motion or you will throw an air ball. I have spent many hours trying to beat friends and family at this and have no problem wasting many more. This is very fun and quite a competitive game.
Swordplay – This is where you really see what Wii Motion Plus can do. The game has three different game modes but my favorite is the duel. Holding the Wiimote like a sword, you make slashing motions at your opponent to knock them off a platform into the water below. The Wiimote translates one-to-one how you swing your arms no matter the motion and it feels and responds like it should. This is impressive and shows the true potential that future games can now have using Wii Motion plus. This game is great especially after a long day at the office.
Other games that were fun and caused countless hours to disappear were Frisbee golf, table tennis, golf and bowling. While Frisbee was the only game out of these to really show you how responsive and spot-on the controls can be, partly due to them being somewhat remakes of the previous games on “Wii Sports”, the others were a blast to play and I found myself constantly playing them against friends.
Graphics – While Nintendo used the same style scheme from “Wii Sports” for this game, they improved upon it slightly. There is a nice level of added detail and effects to the environments and levels that make the games look cleaner and sharper. Textures and lighting appear to have been improved which adds a nice level of depth. While the Wii isn’t known to be a graphical powerhouse, it is nice to see that Nintendo at least puts effort into making their games look good.
The Price – At $49.99 for a game with so many options that will cause many hours to go by and an added new attachment bundled in the box (which is normally priced $19.99 if you pick up separate additional ones for your other Wiimote), this is a hell of a deal.
The Bad:
No Online Game play – One thing that would have made this collection 10 times more fun would have been the inclusion of online game play. While playing with family and friends is great, sometimes it isn’t an option and the computer opponents you face in some of the games just aren’t very difficult to defeat. It would be great to be able to challenge “the world” to a round of archery or fencing or bowling. Definitely something I hope Nintendo thinks about and includes in future games.
Air Sports – Nintendo included on the disk a few air sports that, while they show off how the new Wii Motion Plus responds, just seem a bit much and not that fun. A good example, Skydiving. Holding the Wiimote flat in your hand, you flip your free-falling Mii all around and try to link up with other falling characters for points. The game lasts maybe a minute or two and just seems like it was thrown on the disk because it seemed like it would be a cool idea. Another is Island Fly Over. In this game all you do for five minutes is fly your plane by holding the Wiimote like a paper airplane and “explore” the Wii Sports Resort island trying to collect point-of-interest orbs placed all over the island. Not much fun at all.
Canoeing, Cycling, Power Cruising – These three games I played a few times and just could not go back to them. For Canoeing, you move the Wiimote in a rowing motion and guide your boat around a track through checkpoints. Not much fun. To play Cycling, you move the Wiimote and Nunchuck up and down in a fast motion and try to race to the finish line. While this at times can be fun due to the competitive nature of it, it just is too tiring to have to move your arms so much to do really not a lot. Power Cruising is a disappointment because this could have been really good. I was hoping this would be Nintendo’s newest attempt at “Wave Racer,” which was a blast to play back in the day. What we get is a somewhat boring attempt and at times a frustrating game to play. The controls were not that responsive and I just could not get into it at all.
Bottom Line:
While there are some games that need improvement or should have maybe been left out, and features that would have made this game a lot better that were not included, all around this game is very fun and is a welcome addition to any collection. Not only will you spend countless hours in front of the TV till your eyes fall out, but there is something for the whole family. The Wii Motion Plus definitely does what Nintendo said it would and shows us that they have yet again brought to the table an innovative and new way to play games. You and your family will enjoy this game. The price is right, and the game play is sure to please. I highly recommend this game to anyone looking to have a fun and competitive time.
Till next time, keep on gaming!
Labels: Gaming, Motion Plus, Nintendo, Resort, Wii
This entry was posted by James Dumas, on Tuesday, September 1, 2009. You can
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June 20, 2010 at 9:37 PM
It is great to know and read some feedback about wii sports
September 16, 2010 at 12:04 AM
It is great to read some of the information and feedback, here. I hope to read more ideas in the future!!!