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Wii Sports

Wii Review

By Conor Smyth - 24th December 2006 23:34

"Wii Sports isn’t meant to be a final game: it’s a distillation, a metonymy."

Packaging in Wii Sports with the Wii is one of the most important things Nintendo has ever done. And Wii Sports may yet prove to be one of the studio’s most important pieces of software, a bare bones game that in its own right is as spectacular as any blockbuster.

Nintendo’s guiding philosophy with the Wii – of producing a console that appeals to everyone, and can be accessed by everyone – is a laudable one, but one sometimes in danger of drowning of rhetoric. What it desperately needed was a figurehead and an emblem for this, something to grab the mainstream imagination and showcase the potential of the new control interface in an easily explainable way. Wii Sports does this.

As a conventional sports game the game is limited to the point of being broken. The five sports included – Tennis, Golf, Bowling, Boxing and Baseball – are cut down versions of their real life counterparts, and come up poorly in comparison with other sports titles. The visuals are, obviously, laughable when placed against not just sports games from this generation and the last, but all contemporary console games. It’s My First Sports Title, constructed from blocks of squares and triangles, and washed in simple primary colours. All things considered, it looks like something Iwata’s people cooked up during their lunch hour. And with the skimpiest selection of play modes and options, it’s not like they stuffed the disc with multiple activities for our time.

But that’s sort of the point. If Nintendo are to construct an appreciation in new gamers to games, the first thing they need to do is tear down the artifice of traditional gaming. The Wiimote does that to control schemes, destroying the ridiculous button setup that has tyrannised us for generations: Wii Sports expertly complements that with a look and a feel that allows it to bypass normal gaming expectations. Wii Sports isn’t designed to impress the online boards crowd: an obvious point, but one that some have missed in all their caps-locked hissyfits. Complaining about its lacklustre presentation is about is like shouting into a hurricane.

Wii Sports entire raison d’etre is to fashion a playing experience that’s free from the signpoints of normal gaming, a creation of a sort of blank slate on which the general public can build their own new experiences. The sports motif is an excellent one, providing players with nearly all of the information they need, and lending itself extraordinarily to the motion-based control scheme. Swing the racket, throw the bowling ball. It’s the game that needs an instruction manual least, and it’s the perfect concept to explain how the Wii works to parents.

The console’s motion sensitivity and the simplicity of the sports lend themselves to easy and fun playing experiences. ‘Playing is believing’ reads like a marketing suit vomited all over his keyboard, but it rings true with Wii Sports. Blasé and unexciting on paper and computer screens, but spectacular in practice, Wii Sports’ power becomes apparent in the looks of astonishment on newcomers’ faces when they swing for the first time, and the crunching of their mental machinery at the concept of button-free mechanics. Wii Sports proves itself not in in-game moments, but in the atmosphere it creates, the potent attraction it has for passers-by and the joyful experiences it hatches. My roommate has never played games before, but she was having a coronary screaming at Wii Boxing. My mother barely knows what a ‘Nintendo’ is, but she was still flinging her arms and laughing like some sort of insane woman. The virgin stories are cluttering the online conversation. At times like these Nintendo’s wild aims seem to crystallise in the air.

It succeeds in various degrees obviously, through the sports catalogue included. Wii Tennis and Boxing are the undisputable highpoints of the title, promising rompous sessions on the sofa, and easily the sports with the most depth. Baseball, Boxing and Golf are great, but somehow throwaway. Boxing can be clumsy, but otherwise is amazing, like duelling with phantoms. Tennis is world-shattering in its own regard: it’s a bit rough around the edges, with movements not always correlating properly, and the noted lack of player movement control, but it’s easy to forgive it. Other studios will eventually improve upon this – Mario Tennis on the Wii gets the blood pumping – but we’ve no problem with Wii Tennis’ limitations. Giving the player control of the tennis player would’ve confused the impression it gave. Wii Sports isn’t meant to be a final game: it’s a distillation, a metonymy. Haters throw the tech demo accusation but it’s a label that Wii Sports wears with pride. Like the best tech demos, it succeeds not because of what it is, but because of what it represents and the possibilities inspires. And when the tech it showcases is so exhilarating and inspiring, you can’t help but be moved.

Twilight Princess is unquestionably the game that has got fans’ keyboards chattering at the Wii launch, but it’s in Wii Sports that the console finds a particular kind of champion. Just as a Nintendo 64 without Super Mario 64 was unthinkable, so too is a Wii without Wii Sports. It’s one of the most perfect launch games we’ve seen.

Comments

Sunshinelad Says:
December 24th, 2006 at 18:38 \|\| Total Comments: 114

Agreed. For me Wii Sports is up there with Mario 64 for sheer genius. But instead of it being a solo experience, it's not. It's more than that. It's a way of life...Overnight it changed my families, girlfriend's and friends opinions of games and more importantly perhaps, Nintendo themselves. Everyone I know adores this game and the way it's "personalised" via your own high scores. Genius. Just pure, Nintendo genius.

Nanolucas Says:
December 25th, 2006 at 02:57 \|\| Total Comments: 4

For introducing the Wii to other people, Wii Sports is by far the superior choice of any games currently available. Wii Tennis is a fantastic game and watching people get into it for the first time is great.

Bowling is awesome, especially the Power Throws training game.

Baseball is very touchy and hard to play well, Golf is good but hard to control power-wise and is ultimately rather slow.

Boxing can be rather fun, especially when playing with females, their arms flailing all over the place, but it also seems to be the game least responsive to your physical actions.

All this said, especially with the Wii Fitness and Training games, it is one of the best games i've played in a long time.

With tweaks to the games, additions of some new ones, many more training games and a high scores/statistics screen available for each Mii, i will be more than willing and very eager to get into a Wii Sports 2.

Jammer Says:
December 25th, 2006 at 07:56 \|\| Total Comments: 169

I reckon they should pack this in with the console or something, sounds great!

Tic Says:
December 25th, 2006 at 10:06 \|\| Total Comments: 37

lol @ jammer. im guessing you are being sarcastic with packing wii sports in with the wii from your dean learner avatar ;)

Syxoed Says:
December 25th, 2006 at 13:50 \|\| Total Comments: 297

"A sarcasm detector. That's a REAL useful invention.."
*Beep, beep, bep, bep, bebebebe..* *BOOOM!*

GCTonyHawk7 Says:
December 27th, 2006 at 16:38 \|\| Total Comments: 174

I actually beg to differ on the graphics. I've been playing it with a friend on his 50 inch plasma with components cables, and it is one of the prettiest games I've ever seen. It is not meant to look real, and it doesn't. Although, for it's style, it is really something to awe at.

Just my opinion.

Fierce_LiNk Says:
December 28th, 2006 at 11:41 \|\| Total Comments: 541

The graphics seem to be a bit of a talking point.

They are basic. There are odd moments of brilliance, such as seeing water reflections in the lake in Golf, or seeing the reflections in the lanes in bowling.

In my opinion, they weren't going overly complex with this one. It was meant to be simple, but it's also meant to look clean and crisp. I think the job here was done.

What I don't get is, how do you go about rating graphics such as these, that are being basic or simple on purpose. Tough call.