People buying new Wii's also quickly find out they're getting the Wii Sports disc. This package of five sports simulations is now even more widely distributed than the Super Mario Bros. game franchise.
The Wii Sports interface comes alive when the gamer clutches the Wiimote and pantomimes swinging a golf club, throwing a punch, bowling a ball, swinging a tennis racket, or swinging a bat. Motion sensors on the console detect the gesture and reproduce it in the game. The five activities essentially are stripped down versions of the real events and significantly lack realistic strategy elements. Wii Sports does quite successfully demonstrate the promise of Wii technology.
Wii Sports Games Rundown
Wii Sports Baseball might remind you of the annual summer All-Star Break homer contest. You hold the remote and swing as if holding a real bat for the hitting. Swing power and timing are your choice. The strike zone takes care of itself. To pitch, you make a forward, overhand motion. Pitch speed is determined by how quickly the Wii mote makes the gesture. You as pitcher also decide whether to throw a screwball, fastball, or change up by pressing either the A or B button or both. The D pad controls your pitch location. The three-inning games are more enjoyable with two players matching wits, but the game also does an adequate job of challenging one player.
Novice gamers will particularly enjoy Wii Sports Bowling. Being incredibly realistic, competing bowling simulations really have no room to improve on Wii's rendition. If you bowl in the real world, picking up this virtual version is a snap. Vary the angle you face the console and roll your wrist and arm to manage spin and direction. The crowd gets pumped up and loud when you knock down a strike or spare. Hey, who wants to pay to wear stiff, cramped bowling shoes that give you athlete's foot in a heartbeat? You don't need to in Wii Bowling.
Feel the sweat trickling down your brow. Most players find out fast that boxing is the most physically intense challenge of the Wii Sports suite. Your onscreen character is customized with the Mii image you create using the Wii online channel. The nunchuk plugs into the remote for this game, and the controller pair sends your movements to the console. You won't feel the actual impact of your landed jabs, so you will find gameplay more like swinging at an imaginary person. But you get to avoid the emergency room trip for a concussion.
Tennis is about form and timing. Flipping the remote upward throws the ball skyward as you serve. Your serve or return direction depends entirely on your swing timing. You can make forehand and backhand shots, and you can choose to lob or smash. Return the ball with professional spin. The game automatically moves your character to the ball. You won't have laser focused accuracy as in real life. Play singles or doubles. You can also play the system if you're on your own.
Golf challenges players with holes covering a range of skill levels. You control the angle and power of your shot as you swing the remote. Newbies will find mastering the necessary skills quite tough. It really is not intuitive. You take turns with your golfing buddies teeing off, taking fairway shots, and trying to sink puts. Water hazards, wind, and sand traps dot the course as obstacles. Diehard players will eventually master the game with a bunch of practice. Kids might not have the patience to get to that point.
Wii Sports Training and Fitness
Along with the standard gaming mode, the Wii Sports package includes Training and Fitness modules. The training helps work on specific skills to use in the regular games version and gives veteran gamers some fun twists. Bowling includes increasing numbers of pins in different formations as well as some creative lane barriers. You find yourself in a home run slugfest in baseball training. You return serves during tennis training, trying keep to keep your streak unbroken. Your golf training challenge is to get the ball back on the green from deep in the rough, in the woods, or from other tough spots. In boxing practice, you must assault punching bags until you blast them clean off their mounts. The system tests your fitness in the Fitness mode with three random events and then tells you at what age level you perform.
Wrap Up
Wii Sports succeeds at demonstrating the Wii's potential to the masses. Its five entertaining games -- tennis, boxing, baseball, golf, and bowling -- are near the top of the list of most popular Wii games. The training and fitness modes throw in fun variations on classic sports. While the graphics and strategy could be considered cheesy to varying degrees, development of more sophisticated games for the best-selling gaming console is all but certain. Not too long ago Pac Man and power pellets were state-of-the-art. Electronic gaming has evolved by leaps and bounds since. Wii Sports may be just the ticket to spark a new age of interactive gaming.
Wii Gear and Supplies
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