WiiSports Resort

[I2ed3ye]

Yesterday, we got WiiSports Resort for the Nintendo Wii. With almost 40 copies of the box art on the shelf and on displays, I doubt it was one of the few purchased that day. For $50 you get the game and an extra Wii MotionPlus. Resort is the sequel to the top-selling, Wii-selling, WiiSports. It is also the poster child to drive the new MotionPlus. The MotionPlus is a new Wii Remote attachment with an accelerometer promising precision tracking of your hand movements such as the subtlety of a twist and turn. This was going to be a a review judging the "new Wii experience" within the scope of WiiSports Resort with the WiiMotion Plus, but I ended up getting swallowed up just by the game.

When you first plug in a MotionPlus you're forced (I couldn't find a way to skip it) to watch a monotonous, although well-made, instructional video on how to attach the peripheral and properly run the Wiimote strap and Nunchuk extension cover. This really kills all the hype of bringing home a game, putting it in, and wanting to play. Although the woman's hands are rather sensual, it's not enough to actually watch. You're just begging for it to be done with.

You finally get to start WiiSports Resort after what seems like an eternity. But then you're bamboozled again. A Mii not of your choosing (I think the most recently created) is tossed out of an airplane and you control it for a sky diving session before landing on Wuhu Island, the locale of [the] Resort. And let the games at last begin.

First of all, you'll realize that this is a huge expansion over the original WiiSports. There are 12 gametypes, 10 of them new to the series. You'll notice that Boxing and Tennis are no longer available. Albeit replaced by much better version through Swordplay and Table Tennis. Golf and Bowling are back again but more on that later. The main screen shows each gametype along with a notification tab above each one to tell you if you have something new unlocked, what the most popular game is, and a game recommended to play.

In order to play variations of a gametype, you have to unlock them. Think of it as a combination of the WiiSports training program containing three different practice routines and the regular game. Inside each gametype are achievements collected through a stamp system. They mostly range from an easy stamp you'll probably get the first time you play to a perfect score stamp. The point system is back as well as the pro status and an added superstar status. I haven't noticed any aesthetic upgrades for reaching pro (which are much easier and faster to achieve) but they may be hiding in superstar. Another cool feature is if you let the game idle for awhile at the main screen, it'll go through each game and show you the top/most recent competitor along with a ticker telling you information about their scores and achievements.

The first time you play a game, you have to calibrate the Wii MotionPlus by laying it on a table. This is rather frustrating because it requires you to do it sporadically and always when you have the Wii Remote strapped to your wrist. This frustration is compounded by the fact that you have to juggle the Wiimote from one hand to the other when changing gametypes and unplug/plug-in the Nunchuk.

Bowling is mostly the same. You have your regular game, 100-pin game, and spin control. A welcomed change is the approach. You actually bring the ball to your chest before you start. This little change really fleshes out the realism in bowling. You're also given the option of having a manual or automatic ball release. This is also a great idea as many people whom bowl have much longer approaches and struggle with the timing of the WiiSports release timing.

In Golf, they changed the mechanics up a bit in swinging. Your swing is proceeded by a back swing. You also have the ability (or the challenge) of slicing in you swing, not just when it is overpowered. You have six sets of holes with the ability to play a 3-hole game, 9-hole game, or 18-hole game. Three sets are new for the Resort and three are classics from the original. The new swinging mechanisms make some strategies easier now that you can do it and some harder. A great addition was the inclusion of a back swing by flicking your wrist, so you're not always trying to master the bounce.

Swordplay is a tremendous upgrade over Boxing. You aren't limited in how often you can attack, your attacks actually register and you perform the ones you want to. Blocking comes rather natural. Although it's a bit touchy on which side you're block depending on if you're left- or right-handed. Yet it's extremely forgiving if you're remotely blocking in the direction you're being attacked from. The dazed effect from being blocked is just perfect. It slows down your thinking just enough to make you think about every swing. Duel is the starting game, where you against one opponent and try to knock them off a ring similar to the main event on Gladiators. A variation includes speed slice, where a referee throws you and a challenger an object and an arrow tells you which way to slice it. It can be a little frustrating because sometimes you'll slice through the object in an attempt to get to the other side to start your slice, but can be somewhat avoided by keeping your sword pointed forward in a neutral state between slices. The other variation is showdown, which is fairly neat. A mass of opponents are attacking you in a scripted, Kung-Fu movie manner and you're to get to the end with taking less than three hits. Bosses and mini-bosses take multiple hits. Targets are picked out in a numerical sort of order so if they get in the middle of others, you can expect to fight your way through a lot of blocks.

Table Tennis is to Tennis how Golf was improved, except for a much faster pace due to the distance of volleys. You can put extreme spins on the ball and the way you hold the paddle will move you to either side of the ball as opposed to having to hit it back-handed. They also included power hits by reaching farther back in your swing. Aiming the ball is a little harder in this go-around but it is fairly realistic. You can actually aim for the top of the net in this rendition so you're not stuck wondering why the ball got stuck in the net randomly. You also have the return challenge to see how many volleys you can make in a row.

Archery is the main stay here. You hold the Wii Remote up, hold A to ready your stance, bring the Nunchuk up and hold Z, pull back, and release Z to loose the arrow. A focus reticule comes up about the size of the beginning target. Three different difficulty sets of ranges, from 15 yards all the way back to 45 yards, moving targets and obstacles, and wind that can get up to 10 MPH. They actually did a pretty good job on making the locales of the ranges interesting and unique. One fault is that I feel they shouldn't give you the ability to lazily hold the Wiimote when readying your stance. You should have to bring it up like a real bow every time; one of the points with the Wii MotionPlus was to make it more realistic and not just doing gestures for actions.

Frisbee starts off with Frisbee Dog. You throw a frisbee at a certain location to have a dog catch it. The closer the dog is when he catches it, the more points you get. Balloons also show up giving you the ability to earn extra points on the throw if you pop them in the toss and the dog catches it. Frisbee Golf is unlocked and it's just like the real game except playing on the courses designed for Golf. It's just as frustrating as the real game, too. One bad throw will set you back three strokes.

Basketball consists of a three-point contest and pickup game. The three-point challenge is disheartening at the start because it doesn't really tell you how to sink the shot. Just how to play. We were lucky to sink more than five shots out of twenty-five our first goes. You reach down, press B to grab a ball, bring the Wiimote over your head to jump and flick your wrist to shoot. The pickup game is pretty cool in that you're three-on-three on a street court. The shots are a lot easier (probably because you're closer), you can steal by swiping the ball (fall down if you swipe too hard), and can block shots. You can ever slam dunk but it's similar to Double Dribble in that the game takes over and you watch to see if you make it or not. Slamming would have added a lot to the whole experience.

Wakeboarding is a sampling of fun. You hold the Wiimote like handlebars, carving in and out of the boat's wake. Upon hitting the wake, you pull down on the Wiimote to do a trick. I like how you have to carve hard to pull of a jump from the wave. The variety of random tricks you do keep things interesting but after the hundredth jump in succession, it does get old. They do add obstacles with difficulty to spice things up but it feels like too little to make it a good investment of time.

Cycling follows the same general disappointment. You pedal by moving the Wii Remote and Nunchuk up and down like feet. For two minutes long. It adds a Zelda touch by losing hearts for pedaling too long and too fast. You can also draft behind other racers for a break. The courses are pretty, varied, and dotted with detours. You start at the end of the pack and try to work your way to the front. It's a pretty tough challenge trying to weave through all the competitors, with the annoyance of knocking in to their bikes with crosswinds being somewhat unpredictable. Steering while pedaling is an even bigger challenge.

Power Cruising (jet skiing) consists of a course with random break waves that shoot you in the air. Instead of having a throttle, you steer and turning the Wiimote gives you a quick speed boost. They call it slalom, but it's much more like a time trial. You go in between timed gates with a countdown while going through a smaller ring in the gates gives you extra time.

Air Sports consists of the starting air diving (but included are pictures that are taken along your descent), Flying, and Dog Fighting. Flying involves you flying an airplane all throughout scenic Wuhu Island in an attempt to gather information icons featured atop various building/objects/etc. It's pretty relaxing and you see how great of a job they did fleshing out the whole island. It gives Resort that extra touch. Dog Fighting has you shooting another person with what looks like water bullets. It seems like they added this as more of a jab at PlayStation 3 for its release title, Blazing Angels, with six-axis controller. The action just isn't there to have fun dog fighting with these types of controllers.

Canoeing is straight-forward. Row to a certain point in the course, advancing means rowing further distances each time. Rather boring but challenging.

My biggest fault with the game is that you can't play with one controller with the packaged MotionPlus for games where players take turns. You're already taking the Wii Remote on and off playing the games by yourself, it would have been a great idea to take turns with one controller in one-player based games. The Wii MotionPlus is good for what it is. For $20 (or free with Resort), you get a ton more functionality out of the Wii Remote. But it is a huge pain in the butt to have to calibrate it every now and again when either a game makes you or you've realized half the screen is dead to you.

The bottom line is, you get a whole lot for the price you pay. Nintendo continues to give casual gamers what they want at extremely modest prices. It's not the best performing/reliable peripheral, but it is the cheapest I've ever gotten.

[Se7eN]

Excellent review of the game!
Me and my gf were thinking about getting it, she needs to read this

[S3VYN]

I love when you do this.

And I agree that the table tennis is an awesome step forward. I've only played it a few times but it's so freakin' addictive!