The Game: Wii Sports

Published by: Nintendo
Developed by: Nintendo
Genre: Sports
Number of Players: 1-4
Release Date:
US: November 19, 2006
Japan: December 2, 2006
Europe: December 8, 2006
ESRB Content Descriptors: Mild Violence

The Premise from Nintendo:

This is what video games should be: fun for everyone. Wii Sports offers five distinct sports experiences, each using the Wii Remote controller to provide a natural, intuitive and realistic feel. To play a Wii Sports game, all you need to do is pick up a controller and get ready for the pitch, serve or that right hook. If you've played any of these sports before, you're ready for fun!

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The Game:

Wii Sports is the first game to be packed in with a Nintendo console since Super Mario World was packed in with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It is a compilation of 5 different sports: baseball, bowling, boxing, golf, and tennis.

Gameplay:

Although each game does its best to represent the sport, they are all simplified versions. For example in tennis, all you need to do is control your tennis racket. The players move independently and run where they are supposed to. Although these simplifications take away from each sport, there are actually quite a lot of options for each sport. The most fun of the 5 games in Wii Sports is bowling. Using the Wii remote is very precise, even too precise for some games. Golf is the game that suffers from the over-precision of the remote. The least fun game out of the compilation is the baseball. All that needs to be done is throwing the ball, and hitting the ball. All the fielding is done for you. It just seems too dull. Where this game really shines is the multiplayer. Some games can be played simultaneously so there will be a need for more than just one Wii remote. Others, like bowling, are played with a turn-based system. Each player has their turn and then passes the remote to the next player. The game also allows for the use of “Miis”, which are caricatures that can be made with the Wii console. Nintendo’s goal for this game was not for it to win Game of the Year awards; it was to offer a simple and fun experience for casual gamers as well as non-gamers. They have indeed reached their goal, as Wii Sports is a great deal of fun, even for core gamers.

The Controls:

The controls for each sport are exactly what you think they would be; a throwing motion to throw a ball, a rolling motion for bowling, a swinging motion for swinging a tennis racket or baseball bat, etc. With the exception of golf, the controls are very user-friendly and intuitive.

Graphics:

The graphics in Wii Sports are terrible. In fact, they are probably worse than terrible. However, this was deliberate on Nintendo’s part. They wanted to create a game with simple graphics and fantastic gameplay.

Audio:

Again, like the graphics, nothing really special here. Simple music and sound effects are used for all the games.

Pros and Cons:

+ It’s FREE!
+ Fantastic for multi-player
+ Mostly intuitive controls
+ Infinite replay value
- Terrible graphics
- Some games are too simple

Overall:

7.5 / 10