Gamertell

Title: Wii Sports Resort
Price: $49.99
System: Wii
Release Date: July 26, 2009
Publisher (Developer): Nintendo (Nintendo)
ESRB Rating: E
Pros: Great variety of games, excellent showcase for the Wii MotionPlus, easy to pick up and play, plenty of longevity, about as fun as video gaming can be.
Cons: No online multiplayer mode. A few flat games.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up; 95/100; A; ****1/2 out of 5

You have to hand it to Nintendo.

Where many developers lose their way between franchise releases, Nintendo is able to zero on what made a game so popular and ramp that up for the sequel while adding enough new content to keep it fresh. That’s exactly what happened with Wii Sports Resort.

Yes, it may at times come off like a tech demo for the new Wii MotionPlus accessory but is there anything wrong with that? By offering nearly 1:1 motion capturing and reflecting motions in a 3D space, the Wii MotionPlus brings a level of control to your WiiMote that simply wasn’t possible before. And that brings games to your Wii that weren’t this fun before.

And yet, it’s not the Wii MotionPlus that makes Wii Sports Resort so great. Rather, Nintendo made a few fantastic decisions that show they’re completely in touch with what fans of the original loved so much, while also retaining the ability to think ahead for us.

Location, location, location…and familiarity…and variety

First, Nintendo set the various games on and around Wuhu Island from Wii Fit. This place actually feels like a resort.

While riding your bike or flying overhead in your airplane, you can see the other activity areas. Familiar faces are scattered about, either cheering you on or serving as your competition. Your Mii characters seem thrilled to be there, and why not? It’s such a fun little place that I’ve found myself seeking real life duplicates for my 2010 vacation, conceding that I likely won’t get to play ping pong against Jack Black or Jesus when I get there.

Second, they’ve carried over some of the more popular games from Wii Sports. I’m sure that in some homes, Wii Sports would never leave the console if its replacement didn’t have Bowling. Wii Sports Resort does. It also has Table Tennis, a logical replacement for tennis, although you do lose the ability to play doubles. On the other hand, you’re not forced to play doubles, so we’ll call that a wash. You’re also not forced to play Boxing. Swordplay is a much, much, much better fix for those who want to bash someone.

And third, Nintendo didn’t just throw in the games and leave it there. Rather, they include important variations and goals that make you want to play just one… more… time.

You don’t just bowl, for instance. You can bowl with 100 pins or lane obstacles.

You don’t just fly overhead in an airplane. You can also seek out hidden items to unlock variants such as nighttime lighting and guns for popping balloons.

You don’t just race a kayak. You can also explore the lake and round up stray ducklings to take back to their mother.

In other words, everything you can do on Wuhu Island offers other things to do on Wuhu Island. You can play Wii Sports Resort for a month and there’ll still be new items to discover. This is provided, of course, you’re willing to play all of the games, which may not happen. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Different games will appeal to different people, and I have to figure that’s by design.

Confined to the Island

There are 12 core games available: Swordplay, Wakeboarding, Frisbee, Archery, Basketball, Table Tennis, Golf, Bowling, Power Cruising, Canoeing, Cycling and Air Sports.

A helpful graphic at the menu screen lets me know that Swordplay is the most popular in my family, mainly because my son and daughter are hooked on it. If both are playing, duel or speed slice modes are the games of choice. If Sam’s not around, Sophie is happy to run through showdown mode on her own. When the kids aren’t playing, I spend my time with Archery, Frisbee Golf and Air Sports (Air Sports is actually quite relaxing, as it’s one of the few you play sitting down). And although Basketball has been brushed aside by many, I find the three point contest to be quite engaging. Maybe it’s the fireworks in the background.

What would really push this over the top is an online multiplayer component. The best you can do here is share your Mii characters, which is too bad. Being able to play friends and family members remotely would be a blast, although I do get that Nintendo intends for this to a party/group game (mostly, anyway; a couple options here are single player only).

Plus Wii MotionPlus

Not all of the games do a great of showing off the Wii MotionPlus but not all of them need to. It was more important that Nintendo give us solid games than that they give us a solid tech demonstration. Unfortunately, a few of the games do come out a bit flat. Wakeboarding and power cruising seem as if they were only included because, hey, we’re at a resort, so there should be some water sports, right? Cycling and canoeing could be more fun than they are, but instead illustrate that the Wii MotionPlus technology isn’t completely there yet; the controls will seem a bit off at times, which isn’t fun during races and time trials.

The games that pull it off, however, do so beautifully. Archery, Swordplay, Frisbee (especially Frisbee Golf), Table Tennis, Golf and Bowling are worth the price of admission as both examples of the Wii MotionPlus and simply as great games. Any of these would do well on their own as $10 WiiWare titles, so I’m happy to take them all in one tight package.

A timeshare opportunity on Wuhu Island

The $50 price tag may seem a bit high but you do get one Wii MotionPlus sensor with the game. You’ll need to buy at least one more, obviously, so you’re looking at $70 to get the complete experience. It’s still worth it. Wii Sports Resort works as both a party game and as something you can use to unwind after a tiring work or school day. My family mostly plays it in half hour bursts but I will freely admit that when I first sat down with Island Flyover, two hours went by before I was satisfied with number of identification symbols I’d found (I just had to unlock nighttime flying).

And that’s the beauty of the Wii Sports titles. They’re fun to play the moment you first set up your character, and they’re fun to play two years after the system has been out. They’re fun by yourself, and they’re fun at parties. They’re fun against people your age, and they’re fun against five-year-olds.

You likely won’t enjoy all 12 games in Wii Sports Resort but you won’t need to. Wii gamers are sure to have enough fun with the two or three games they visit most often to make it well worth the investment.

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