Wii Sports Resort – WII – Preview

E3 2008 Preview

When Nintendo announced their
obscurely named "Wii MotionPlus," I wasn’t sure it’d be worth it. The idea of
attaching something to the bottom of your Wii remote — even something small and
lightweight — seemed about as appealing as Sega CD: it was a nice concept, but
who really uses it?

Wii MotionPlus, however, makes the
standard Wii controls obsolete. To be honest, this is exactly what the Wii
remote should have been in the first place. Once attached, you get one-to-one
control with every game designed for the MotionPlus. Thus far that lineup is
limited to just one game, which the MotionPlus will be packed with: Wii Sports
Resort. Only three of its mini-games were shown, and all were pretty cool. Two
of the three, however, were downright impressive.

Jet Ski Racing

If you’ve read our Nintendo media
briefing coverage, then you already know about this and the other two games. But
what you don’t know is how well they actually control. Amazingly, this game
feels as good as the concept claims. It isn’t easy holding your arms out to form
handlebars. Without a doubt, you’re going to get a little tired. But if you can
endure this little annoyance, you’ll discover a mini-game that should be turned
into a full-fledged sequel to Wave Race.

Here you have just one goal: race
through the rings as fast as possible. The faster you go, the more points you’ll
get per ring (each ring has a 10 second time limit; the number of seconds
determines how many points are received). Every ridiculously sensitive move is
effected in the game. You can’t move your hands frantically, and there isn’t any
shaking. You must be steady and tilt the controllers (remote and Nunchuk)
carefully to keep your jet ski from running into things. Despite the controller
difficulty, it felt great. The demo was short and likely represents the length
of the final mini-game, but you can be sure players will want to tackle this one
several times over before a proper jet ski game is released. (Are my Wave Race
hints subtle enough?)

As far as the graphics are
concerned, the water/wave effects were excellent, but were much more cartoony
than the Wave Race or Splashdown series.

Sword Fighting

One word: wow. This mini-game is,
like the rest, much too short for its own good (in demo form at least. So were
the original Wii Sports games and they did not change before launch). But it is
incredibly intuitive and addictive. Using wooden swords, you can attack your
opponent in almost any way you please. This is not an exaggeration — when
Nintendo said one-to-one, they meant one-to-one. Your hand movements translate
into on-screen reactions. The only drawback was that I couldn’t raise my sword
high over my head, a move that may not be practical but seems like fun after
watching Anakin do it in Star Wars.

The game is played on a round
platform raised above water. You win by hitting your opponent enough times to
knock him or her off the platform. When falling, the camera work is quite good
— Wii jumps right into the spinning, diving, I’m-falling-into-water visuals the
moment you’re knocked off.

Disc Dog

Ahhh, the Frisbee throwing game. You
know the gist…throw a Frisbee to a dog, which will either catch or fetch it
and bring it back to you. Not too exciting, but the controls were very
realistic. Lots of non-gamers, especially older players, will enjoy this. But
unless something else is added to the final version, it won’t do much for anyone
else.

What Else?

Nintendo isn’t talking. All we know
is that the game will include at least as many mini-games as the first and will
be packaged with one MotionPlus. Addition MotionPlus adaptors can be purchased
separately, allowing players to take advantage of the essential multiplayer
experience.

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Previews