Wii Sports Resort

8.0

Format Nintendo Wii

Developer Nintendo

Publisher Nintendo

Genre Sports

15 Comments

Reviewing one game that consists of 12 games isn't the challenge here - it's being able to type properly after swinging my right arm around for hours and hours over the past week. Honestly, real physical strain here.

Don't pity us though, because it's been bloody good fun. A team-bonding experience even. Wii Sports Resort has, for us, already totally succeeded at doing exactly what Nintendo intended - get a bunch of gamers around a TV shouting, laughing and having a good old time. And we're paid to do this.

We've had it for weeks. Are we bored of it yet? Absolutely not. On the contrary, we can't wait to get the game home so we can smash our mates and mums over the heads with plastic sticks in Swordplay, ace them with our now-killer top spin in Table Tennis and slaughter them with our epic Archery skills.

Those are easily the three best new games in Resort, so we'll start here. Swordplay is the game we all imagined we'd be playing when we first saw the Wii Remote. It's that Lightsaber game we all wanted, only without the Lightsabers.

Holding the controller two-handed, like the handle of the sword, the game picks up every last movement, swiping either vertically down on your opponent's head or slashing horizontally.

Hold B and you can block incoming attacks by positioning your sword in the path of the incoming strike. A deflection stuns the attacker, giving the defendant a moment to counter attack. It's actually got strategy.

There are three modes within Swordplay. The one-on-one Duel mode (which Nintendo previously showed off) is fast - if a little cumbersome - against a human, but a good laugh. Speed Slice is like something out of WarioWare, with random items like tree stumps and watermelons appearing in front of players, who have to slice them in the indicated direction before their opponent to get a point.

Showdown mode, though, is what we're all about. There are ten levels, each full of enemies and a final boss character and you thwack them all in the face shouting (if you're anything like us) plenty of four-letter bleepers as you go. Or just "HAVE SOME" if your mum's in the room.

Table Tennis, while not as violent, is equally as visceral. It demonstrates how well the Wii MotionPlus works. With the bat mimicking your every move, the ball does everything you want. Hitting the ball out will be commonplace at first as you get used to it. But you get to learn the mechanics of the game, and putting spin on the ball is as natural as doing it in real life. Top marks there.

Archery is just superb, too, because it gets you moving just like you're doing the sport. You hold the Remote vertically towards the screen, as if it were the bow. Gripping the Z trigger on the Nunchuk in your other hand, you draw back to get tension on the string, aim and then fire by releasing Z.

You judge the height and angle of your shot to compensate for the differing wind speeds and the arrow's trajectory arch. It's not baby stuff this. Testosterone-fuelled rivalry is what commences.

Those are our most played games, with a definite skill factor to them - perfect for us proper gamer types. But Wii Sports Resort has 12 games that cover all the bases.

If you're a little girl at heart you'll probably take more of a shining to Frisbee, in which you throw a Frisbee for a dog to catch. Nintendo's Cammie Dunaway loves it. There's Frisbee Golf too although, despite its cuddly looks, actually throwing the Frisbee in a straight line is so hard to master it'll probably send your little sister into a depression before she works it out.

Canoeing has you rowing the Remote like a paddle in races or timed speed challenges, which is a novelty for a few days, but tiring and not particularly thrilling thereafter. The same could be said of Cycling, in which you shake the Wii Remote and Nunchuk alternately and at differing speeds to peddle your bike in endurance races. As far as we're concerned, gaming isn't exercise so bugger that.

We really don't get Basketball - you can either shoot for the hoop in a three-point contest, which isn't bad but it's short-lived, or enter a three-on-three game. You don't move the players, you just pass the ball by hitting the button that's indicated over the desired player's head, bob the remote up and down to bounce the ball and swing it for a tackle.

But it's a complex ball sport oversimplified to the point where it feels random and fluky, and sits at odds alongside the many other games in the package that suit the MotionPlus so much better.

Air Sports and Power Cruising will have Pilotwings and Wave Race 64 fans teeming with nostalgia-fuelled excitement for a while, even if they aren't quite the full-fat sequels we still want. Air Sports gives you control of planes, simply by holding the Remote like a toy plane.

Here you can you fly over Wuhu Island collecting info markers placed in awkward positions near landmarks (we found one by flying into the island's volcano, which was cool).

Or you can face another player in a dogfight, shooting each other out of the sky. Again, very good - imagine having this when you were five years old, when you used to run around the house with little plastic planes making "neeeooww" sounds with your mouth. Toys were so rubbish back then.

Power Cruising has racing and slalom courses to burn around, with you holding the Remote and Nunchuk like the handlebars of a jet-ski, which is cool, with impressive water physics just like Wave Race.

And you can throw the first game in the bin too because the golf and bowling are back in this one, only they control much better now with the MotionPlus support. The bowling ball is far more obedient, with no random spin, and Golf reads the smallest of motions, so subtle taps during short putts are no longer an issue.

The only game in there that's utter turd is Wakeboarding. You tilt the remote left and right to steer your little man towards the wake of the boat and flick the remote up to do a stunt. That's it. Sometimes you land fine, sometimes you don't - we could never figure out how to avoid duff landings. And we're not sure how it uses MotionPlus at all.

Ignore that one and you otherwise have a package of brilliant games in here, some great for single-player, but most designed for maximum laughs with a bunch of (preferably beered up) mates in one room.

New-age Nintendo's slant towards mainstream gaming has left many of its games like Wii Fit, Wii Music and Brain Training, feeling plain and shallow. Resort is the exception.

Unlockable Badges (mimicking Achievements/Trophies) and countless quirky Easter eggs (secrets like hidden fruit targets in Archery) tucked away in every sport add depth and charm in the same way that finding secret rooms in Super Mario Bros. gave you that sense of satisfaction. Especially when you're crowned the "Ring King" in Power Cruising.

Also like classic Nintendo, its vividly coloured yet detailed visuals achieve that playful, fun look without being overly babyish - in fact it's rather impressive compared to most Wii games.

Far from the simple pack-in that Wii Sports was, Wii Sports Resort warrants the £34.99 price tag with a more substantial and fun offering of games (even if only half of them will keep your interest past the first week), more polished controls (thanks to the new peripheral you get in the box), top-tier visuals on Wii and another brilliant party (or after-party) game to break out with the Doritos.

Just bear in mind that its multiplayer-focused gameplay will up that £35 bill another £25 for a second Wii MotionPlus (or £17.99 from Play). Or a lot more if you're going hardcore with four players.

Buy Wii Sports Resort: Play / Amazon

Mike Jackson