Wii Play Review

Wii Play Review
Written by Gods_Vessel


With Wiis being sold like hotcakes, buyers also need extra controls for their family and friends. That’s where Wii Play comes in. The game is essentially a tutorial for using the Wiimote that comes with a free control. It’s all about simple, intuitive gameplay for everyone. The game is split up into 9 stages, ranging from Shooting Range to Billiards. Each game has to be played before the next one can be unlocked. Each stage teaches you how to use the Wiimote in a different way, getting more complex as you progress through the stages.

The sound in the game is fairly simple, but good enough to keep the player satisfied. The Wiimote speaker is also utilised, may it be gunshots or a tiny jingle to let you know whether you won a point.

Wii Play’s graphics retain the simplistic look and feel of the Wii itself. The game menus are very similar to those of Wii Sports and are easy to navigate through. It all flows nicely, albeit with the minor annoyance of having to go back to the beginning to change the number of players (up to 2) and/or Mii characters. Without being flashy, the graphics get the job done with a couple of nice artistic touches along the way. That said, the game also supports 480p and widescreen.

One great touch is the ability to play with your Miis. This fits into the style of the game really well. You’ll at least crack a smirk when you see your Miis running for their lives in some instances. They also hold another purpose. Your high scores are tied to your Mii.

Shooting Range

The first stage is an obvious homage to Duck Hunt, as the player uses the Wiimote as a gun to shoot down various targets. Your movements with the Wiimote are replicated by the on-screen reticule. This works really well with pixel-perfect accuracy. The game ramps up in difficulty every few minutes, as targets move faster. First you’ll simply be shooting balloons but towards the end, the action gets hectic as you try your best to stop spaceships abducting your Miis. Every now and then a duck will fly pass quickly which you can shoot for extra points. The game is very bright and colourful, but easy on the eyes. You can hear the gunshot from the Wiimote speaker and it even changes sound when shoot something different which is a nice touch. Like all the games in Wii Play, its best played in multiplayer. The game is pretty fun; however a few more bonus ducks and more than two players in multiplayer would’ve been nice.

Find Mii

In this game you have to find a particular Mii or Miis described to you before you start. These can be something simple like find the Mii you’re using or something a little more complex like find 3 odd Miis. At any time during the game, you can hold down B to see your objective again. You have a time limit for the entire game, which is split into rounds, and when it runs out its game over. However, each successful round adds more time to your clock. It gets a lot more difficult later on which actually adds to the fun. As you progress through the rounds you’ll be taken through a number of different environments, including a tennis match, a swimming pool and even outer space. These environments all look fairly nice and the inclusion of your own Miis can make this game hilarious. The game isn’t really worth playing on your on, but the search for Miis gets very fun and furious in multiplayer.



Table Tennis

Stage 3 is good ol’ table tennis. Unlike Wii Sports Tennis, in table tennis you only control where you hit, not how you hit. You might think this is a flaw, but trust me you’ll be happy all you have to do is move left and right once the fast action starts. If you’re brave enough you can also move your paddle forward quickly to put more speed on the ball. In one player you have to make a 100 hit rally and when facing off against a friend, you’re playing for points. I prefer the latter as the competitiveness adds to the entertainment. The environment is pretty simple, with Miis watching on the sidelines. If you’ve ever played a flash 3D pong on the net you’ll probably know what to expect, but this is actually a bit more fun.

Pose Mii

In pose Mii you have to fit your Mii into Mii-pose, shaped silhouettes in bubbles. It starts off pretty easy, but as time goes on you have to change your Mii’s pose to fit into different silhouettes. The angle of the silhouettes will differ from bubble to bubble. This means players will have to twist the control to fit into the silhouettes. Even with all of this, you also have to make sure the bubbles don’t hit the bottom of the screen, because if it happens 3 times it’s game over. To aid you, there are rainbow coloured silhouettes which freeze time for a few seconds, allowing you to get as many bubbles as possible. In multiplayer this also puts a bubble around your opponent’s Mii, meaning they can’t get any bubbles for awhile. As you go through the levels the background changes to various random pictures. For example, one picture is a close up of a bird… strange isn’t it? This is one of the best games to play in multiplayer, since the race for bubbles is absolutely frantic. However it’s still pretty challenging in one player.

Laser Hockey
Stage 5 is basically a game of air-hockey up to 8 points. The thing that makes this game fun is the physics, which are noticeably good. As the ball bounces from side to side and off your paddle, the puck can pick up a lot of speed. The neon glow of the hockey table (hence ‘laser’ hockey) looks very stylish and still maintains the simple look of the Wii Play package. When ever you win or lose a point, you hear a small tune in your Wiimote. It does take awhile to get used to though. You’ll often find yourself trying to hit the puck as hard as possible, only to find you miss it. The game is fun in both single and multiplayer thanks to the adequate CPU AI.

Billiards

Billiards is a pretty true to life recreation of the game. A pointer on-screen controlled by the Wiimote allows you to choose where you want to hit the cue ball (for spin). You then hold down B and pull back with the Wiimote, until an arrow lets know when to push forward and releasing B simultaneously. It’s a pretty standard affair, but if you play billiards in real life, you’re probably going to want to stick to that. The physics are a bit wonky as well. I hit the ball against the side of the table at an angle, expecting to get a bounce shot, however the ball came straight back at me. Nonetheless it is still an okay game.

Fishing

Fishing is a real crowd pleaser out of the Wii Play collection. To catch a fish all you do is jerk the Wiimote up when you feel a rumble. However, the pond you fish in is populated with a lot of small fish which give you minus points if you catch them. Every other fish is fine to catch though and on the top of the screen a bonus fish will be shown. If you catch the bonus fish while its picture is still showing, you’ll get double the points. The rumble creates a nice whirring effect which immerses you in the game. It sports a nice crayon-esque effect which looks excellent and colourful. The reason this game is so great is because its hands-down, the best multiplayer game in the collection. Fish often latch on to both players’ rods, meaning whoever has the fastest reaction wins. This creates a seriously fun and competitive game.

Charge!

Charge! is a racing game where you control a cow, hitting scarecrows and jumping hurdles on the way to the finish line. To control your cow all you do is simply hold the control on its side, like a NES controller and tilt forward to accelerate, back to slow down and left and right to steer in each direction respectively. You can also make your cow jump by quickly snapping the control up. The game looks very simple with rounded edges and colourful scenery. Everything looks like it has been hand stitched, which is a nice touch. The game is fun once you get a hang of the controls, but is just a bit too slow to have some real fun. Playing multiplayer is better, as you and your opponent fight for scarecrows and knock each other off the track. Winning isn’t about who gets the farthest, but who gets the most points. This is solid game, which is a real indicator to how racing games can benefit from the Wiimote.

Tanks!

In Tanks! You control a tank and you have to destroy other tanks. To move around you use the d-pad or the nunchuck. You aim with the Wiimote and either shoot shells or lay mines behind you. The game starts very simple, however the difficulty increases later on when you have to take out tanks that shoot fast rockets or tanks that excel in mine dropping. In multiplayer the winner is the person who takes out the most CPU tanks. The battles take place on a table and the tanks leave tracks behind them. The levels are smartly designed to make for a better challenge and more strategic play. The game is fun and it’s also a good challenge, especially if you’re trying to beat old high scores.

All in all Wii Play has a great variety of different game types (more so than Wii Sports). However, there is a problem with it that becomes apparent after about half hour – 1 hour of play time. The game’s depth is almost non-existent. Each game just scratches the surface of its ideas. There’s no doubt each game is fun… for about 5 or 10 minutes. You’ll generally play 2 or 3 rounds of a game and then move on until all of a sudden you’ve played every game. The game does make for a good distraction every now and then for when you don’t want to start up your Zelda file or when you have a couple of friends over. Beating high scores also gets pretty boring after awhile.

You’ve got to remember though; you get what you pay for. The game comes with a free Wiimote or costs £5 with a control whatever way you look at it. Considering you get nine, although short, games in one, its great value for money. So if you need/want an extra control, this is a definite buy, but I wouldn’t suggest buying Wii Play solely for Wii Play.

Gameplay: 7/10 – The game is fun but the nine games are too simple for their own good.

Graphics: 6/10 – The game is intended to look simplistic and it works well and gets the job done.

Sound: 6/10 – Very simplistic with a couple of nice touches here and there.

Content: 8/10 – You get nine mini-games for £5 and a control. Seems like a pretty good deal to me. It could benefit from some four player action, and a bit more depth.

Replay Value: 5/10 - Almost non-existent. It gets old quick; multiplayer just about saves it from complete doom

Total: 6.7 – Its great value for money and a good glimpse of what you can do with the Wiimote as well. Its fun for awhile, but there’s not enough depth to hold on to any player’s attention. However, if you need an extra control, you should definitely buy it.

- Chris Gaisie