The original Wii Sports was the perfect game to be packed-in with the Nintendo Wii. At its heart, the game was a entertaining demo meant to showcase the capabilities of Wii's motion sensing technology. The five included sports -- bowling, tennis, boxing, golfing and baseball -- each simulated different real-world actions such as batting, putting, punching and rolling. The game was successful for two good reasons: 1) it featured intuitive, pick-up-and-play controls; and 2) at its core, the game was pure, simplistic fun.
Given the immense success of Wii Sports Nintendo had a lot riding on the sequel, especially considering that many veteran Nintendo fans have been demanding deeper gaming experiences practically since the console launched. Let's not forget, as fun as the original title was, the controls weren't very precise, and it was fairly easy to master each challenge. Fortunately, Wii Sports Resort raises the bar in nearly every way imaginable, resulting in a game that offers more variety, more challenge, and more niceties than you'd expect in a five-star resort.
Included with Wii Sports Resort is Nintendo's new Wii MotionPlus accessory, a light-weight brick-shaped add-on that snaps into the base of your Wii Remote. The new piece of technology works with the Wii Remote's accelerometer and the console's sensor bar to provide an experience that gives players an even greater sense of immersion. After several hours experimenting with the Wii MotionPlus, I really felt like this technology should have been included in the original Wii Remote design and not released as an add-on nearly three years later. After experiencing true 1:1 controls it makes you wonder how much deeper older Wii titles could have been such as Metroid Prime 3 or No More Heroes. It's a bit of downer that Wii MotionPlus will not be backwards compatible with any older titles.
While a few games have already incorporated the use of Wii MotionPlus (such as Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10), this is the first game that actually necessitates its use. Simply put, the game will not let you play unless you have a MotionPlus device plugged in. Without question, this is a good thing and a bad thing. On the plus side, all of the included sports utilized the enhanced 1:1 controls and most feel very realistic. Conversely, since the game is clearly designed to be a social multiplayer experience you'll need to pick-up a second Wii MotionPlus if you want your friends to join in on the action.
What Wii Sports Resort offers is a rich, vibrant experience that truly feels polished from the minute you power on. The setting is a fictitious island known a Wuhu that resembles a tropical resort teeming with activity. Before you descend to the island to begin your adventure, you're instructed to suit up into a sky diving outfit, equip a parachute backpack and jump out for some high flying fun. Designed to be a cleverly concealed tutorial, Sky Diving is a neat sport that familiarizes yourself with the added accuracy and maneuverability that the Wii MotionPlus provides.
After you finally descend to Wuhu island you're presented with a menu of twelve sports to select from. There are a few returning activities from Wii Sports including Bowling and Golfing, while other feel like enhanced versions of older sports such as Table Tennis replacing the original Tennis. Of course, there are plenty of new sports offerings in the game and everyone will probably have their own personal favourites. For me, I had the most fun playing Basketball, Archery, Frisbee and Swordplay. These four in particular did an excellent job of mimicking how you would expect these sports to feel in real-life. Not only that but they contained basic elements of fun that made me keep on repeating to myself "just one more game".
There are a handful of sports that also approximate real-life quite well, but that doesn't necessarily make them interesting to play. For example, Canoeing is easily one of the most challenging games and requires you to hold the Wii Remote vertically and paddle left and right as you navigate the winding courses. It sounds simple enough however in practice it's very difficult to steer in a straight line and you need to plan out your turn well in advance. Maybe I'm just out of shape, but wow was I working up a sweat trying to paddle my way to victory. As monotonous as this game was, when you canoe race against a friend it actually becomes tolerable (probably because it's fun to smack into your friend's canoe and send them off course).
Perhaps the signature sport included in the game is Archey. Simply put, this game was amazing. To play, you first need to hold the Wii Remote and Nunchuk in your opposite hands (for example, if you're right-handed, the Wii Remote would be in your left-hand and the Nunchuk in your right). The Wii Remote is held vertically and acts as the bow's grip, while the Nunchuk is used to nock the arrows and pull back the string. Once you do this a circle scope appears on the screen to indicate where you are aiming and gradually gets more focused as you patiently line-up your shot. This is certainly one of the more challenging sports of the bunch and after firing off a few arrows it's hard to imagine playing an archery game any other way.
The sports that do return, golfing and bowling, both have game enhancements and new modes that make them feel fresh. It took awhile to get accustomed to slicing my golf clubs using the more accurate Wii MotionPlus vs. the looser controls found in the original game. It's imperative that you hold your Wii Remote verticle through your swing or else your golf ball with quickly be seen tumbling into the rough. Even a few degrees off and you'll miss your mark -- yes, the controls are that accurate. Similarly, with Bowling you'll need to re-learn how to spin the ball in order to get that perfect curve for the strike. In Wii Sports it was easy to line up your shot near the gutter line, tilt your Wii Remote 90 degrees before bowling and nearly always get the right spin. That luxary is gone in Wii Sports Resorts as you'll now need to start your swing straight and curve your wrist before you exit the motion. In other words - you need to really pretend you're bowling (fancy that!)
Wii Sports Resort features a number of variations of each included sports each of which have their own distinct style. When it comes down to it, I think practically everyone will find at least a few events that really interest them, hardcore, casual, it doesn't matter. There are very few games that I would classify as "must-own" but this game is definitely in that category. With so many games, an included Wii MotionPlus (which many future Wii titles will be compatible with), there is a lot of value to be found in the box. Do yourself a favour though, if you're going to pick-up Wii Sports Resort make sure you grab a few friends or get your family involved. Sure the single-player experience is decent enough, but this game really shines as a party title. Really, it was the way this game was meant to be enjoyed.
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List of sports in Wii Sports Resort:
Air Sports:
Golf:
Bowling:
Basketball:
Archery:
Wakeboarding:
Power Crusing:
Frisbee:
Swordplay:
Cycling:
Table Tennis:
Canoeing:
