Preview- Wii Sports (Bowling, Boxing, Baseball, Tennis)

I have played the Wii.

After playing Tony Hawk, Excitetruck, and Warioware, I ventured down the stairs of the LC Pavillion to play some Wii Sports.

The first one I played was Bowling. After the pretty Nintendo rep helped me get set up, I found myself right in the Bowling alley. I found the controls quite interesting. You use the D-Pad to move left and right, or you hit A then the D-pad changes to aim. You hold the Wii remote like a remote, hold the B trigger down, and do a swooping motion at the screen. Your Mii character bowls. Simple. It was pretty fun.

Then I moved down the line to Boxing. This was my first time holding the Nunchuk attachment. It feels very light, but the joystick feels very nice. The controls basically set both the Wiimote and Nunchuk as boxing gloves. When the match started I took a swing with the Wiimote, and nothing happened. I tried the Nunchuk and I landed a perfect shot. The Wiimote would respond, but the Nunchuks where the hits came from. It felt like what I was doing took a short time to translate to the screen. The fact that it was the first multiplayer Wii game turned out to be perfect. It feels good to hit people on screen. The rumble is weak, but it was timed perfectly.

I moved then to Baseball which was also multiplayer. One player pitches by slashing down on the screen, and the other swings the Wiimote like a bat. The level of detail in the motions with the bat were superb. You could even bunt. This was easily my favorite of the sports. When you get a hit, the Mii character runs to first base. You can load up the bases and hit a homerun for massive damage.

I went finally to play Tennis. This was also multiplayer. I served the ball by flicking the Wiimote upward and swinging it forward. At first you feel like you should swing forward, but quickly you learn that if the ball is heading toward your left, swing to the left. Not unlike Rockstar Table Tennis (360) the movement is taken care of for you. Just swing.

Overall, the time I spent with it was well worth the wait in lines. If it wasn’t included with the console I would still buy it.

KLind