Publisher: Nintendo
Available On: Wii
It says a lot about the game (and just as much about the other games that have come out on the system) that nearly three years after it was released, “Wii Sports” is still the best game on the Wii. Though overly simple, its versions of tennis, golf, boxing, baseball and bowling are still addictive and, thanks to its use of your limb-less Mii avatars, still funny.
Now, finally, there’s a sequel, and while it’s not as good as the original, it’s still very fun and very funny. Set on a tropical island you parachute down to, the game features a dozen different sporting events of equal simplicity and almost equal addictiveness. Not surprisingly, some of the best are ones that work much the same way as those in the original “Wii Sports.” In the two basketball games—one of which is a three-on-three pick-up game, the other a three point shootout—you use your Wiimote to shoot, pass, steal and dribble, but your Mii moves with a mind of his own.
Not that everything will remind you how much fun “Wii Sports” can be. “Resort” also includes some completely new games of varying engagement. On the fun end we have archery, which is a lot more challenging and archery-feeling than “Link’s Crossbow Training,” while on the other there’s Frisbee, which has you tossing a Frisbee down the beach and then watching your dog go fetch it. Now maybe if they had allowed me to bring my beloved pug Gomez from “Nintendogs” to the resort, I might have cared more, but as it stands now, the dog can fetch his own damn Frisbee.
Other events include canoeing (which is just so-so), swordplay (which is an odd event at a resort but still really fun if you play with a friend) and cycling (which is exhausting), all of which are that much more entertaining if, like me, your Mii looks just like you.
The game includes, and employs, the new Wii MotionPlus, an add-on you stick to the bottom of your Wiimote, which gives the controller better accuracy (it’s also available separately, and will work with other games, such as the recent “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10”). As a result, you have more control over the balls in golf, bowling and table tennis here than you did in “Wii Sports.”
Still, even with a free Wii MotionPlus and the fun new events, “Wii Sports Resort” won’t make us forget “Wii Sports” anytime soon. But then, neither will any other game on the Wii, or any game on another system, or even Katy Perry bribing us with a back rub after she writes a song about us if we promise to never speak of it again. It’s just that good. But if you play the right events (table tennis, basketball, archery, swordplay), have a funny-looking Mii and a friend to play with, “Resort” can be a fun vacation.
Bottom Line: We’ll have fun, fun, fun 'til our daddy takes the Wiimote away.
Please log in to comment