Out of all of the Nintendo Wii titles shown at this year’s annual E3 Expo, nothing grabbed the attention of the gaming public more than the simple, yet ingenious, sports compilation entitled Wii Sports. The small gaming package is set to bundle up four different sporting activities and allow the Wii-Mote to change the lackluster, and at times tedious, gameplay of similar titles into something fun and easy to pick up and play. While the title doesn’t exactly stand out compared to Zelda or Mario, it does have some very good gameplay mechanics, and showcases the Wii-Mote being fully utilized.
The first thing to be said is that these games aren’t trying to be the next Gears of War in the visuals department. They are small budget titles which don’t impress at all graphically, but have enough substance and original idea’s to keep you playing for a long time. In a way, it allows Nintendo themselves to forget about trying to make the games good looking and focus their attention on how it plays, and, more importantly, how it plays while using the Wii-Mote.
Tennis
A tennis title is something that simply had to be done on the Wii. Playing tennis games with a normal controller is fun, but playing it as if you had a real racket in your hands is surreal and almost something that was inevitably going to be created in the not too distant future. While Wii Tennis is incredibly simple, it is so intuitive that most gamers should instantly fall in love with its gameplay. In short, it is a dumbed down version of the actual sport, but if anything this only goes in its favor when playing. The game is played across one court and allows for up to four players to join in on the action. You don’t actually move the characters at all; rather the Wii itself does that for you. Nintendo decided that it would be too frustrating and complicated trying to move using the Nunchuck attachment, so instead set the AI to track the balls progress as it travels through the air. The actual swinging is done by using the Wii-Mote in one hand, and is incredibly smart and reactive. It senses the movement and strength in your swing, and successfully carries it out in the game. It even knows which way you are swinging, so you can hit anything from a forehand to a lob without worrying about the Wii-Mote being unaware of your intentions. Evidently, a lot of the strategy of real tennis is taken out due to players almost always being able to return the ball if their swing is timed successfully, but it really doesn’t matter. Wii Tennis promises to be so much fun, and with online gameplay promised, this is going to indeed be very good.
Baseball
The premise for the baseball title is again very simple; simply take your position on the field and go to hit a home run. As said before, it is very simpleton, but in small playing periods it should be great fun. You essentially place the Wii-Mote in the same position you would with a real baseball bat and swing away. The motion-sensing feature on the remote itself accurately mimics your movements when holding the bat, and carries out the individualistic swinging mechanic you use. No other buttons are used, but this keeps gameplay as quick and easy as possible, while also allowing you to really get your swinging game on and hit as many home runs as possible. There are problems at the moment with the timing of swings and the delay from you to the Wii-Mote, but Nintendo promise to have these ironed out before its release.
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