Wii Sports Review

By Tom Bramwell Published 30 November, 2006

Revolutionary?

Version tested: Wii

"DS" has never really stood for anything. Well, that's not entirely true - it's stood for Drill Spirits, Dual Strike, Dawn of Sorrow, Deadly Silence, Dal Segno, Dermatan Sulphate - but in the grander sense it's never really been given a purpose.

From the Wii's perspective though (and you'll excuse me if I apportion sentience to it within two paragraphs, but it makes me feel better when I'm hugging it), DS must seem like a double-edged sword. On the one hand, its phenomenal, delightful success paints Nintendo as a company admirably determined to innovate and capable of doing it. But on the other hand, its phenomenal, delightful success took a while to justify itself, with a slack launch line-up remembered more for novelties than imagination in depth.

And so to the Wii, where initial expectations are similar. Wii Sports, for one, has been devalued by the preponderance of pre-launch pondering, and instead of rescuing the game, Nintendo has only amplified its perceived slightness, bundling it with the console to capture the interest of gamers outside traditional channels, and failing to demonstrate any depth during celebri-tedious presentations featuring Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski and Germany's own Mystery TV Man.

All of which was a bit silly of them, really, because Wii Sports is marvellously good fun.

As even Gabby Logan knows, Wii Sports is five games that use the legendary Wii remote control to direct the action. In tennis it's a racket, in bowling it's the ball, in golf it's a club and in baseball it's a bat. The exception to this rule of simplicity is boxing, where the remote joins up with its friend the nunchuk, and you clasp them in your fists so the console can measure your weaving jabs.

'Wii Sports' Screenshot henman

Best of the lot, this, with more to it than Henman realised. (No wonder he lost.)

In Rob's house, Sports has already kindled the multiplayer fire with more speed and spice than a Concord passenger snorting wasabi. Over there, they're already comparing it to Samba de Amigo, because it's so simple, approachable, and enjoyable. But more important than that from a Eurogamer's perspective, I suspect, is that it's a deceptive simplicity, with genuine subtlety lurking beneath the surface. Not all of the games justify the hyperbole, but the ones that do will see the disc creeping to the top of the pile more often than you'd think, and the others - well, we all get drunk and bring people home sometimes, don't we?

Tennis is my favourite. Flick the ball up and then swing to serve, with forehands and backhands played much the way you'd imagine, and height and spin available to those who master the gestures that command them. Knee-jerk criticism has focused on the fact the players move about on their own, but that's surprisingly unimportant in the long-term as you become obsessed with mastering your swing. Timing is essential. Receive the ball on the right side of the baseline and you can place it wherever you like on the other side of the net - swing early to play it cross court, swing when it feels most natural to hit a safe return, or swing just as you feel the ball slipping away to push it down the line. Finding the sweet spots that keep the ball just within the tramlines is rewarding, and developing the ability to find them regularly is satisfying.

'Wii Sports' Screenshot bowling

Bowling's another winner, standing poised to replace Monkey Ball as the 'pin-up' of choice.

Bowling doesn't demand quite as much, but the rewards are similarly worthwhile. After positioning your bowler so he's on the line you want and facing the lane at your preferred angle, you hold the Wii remote aloft and grasp the B trigger. You then draw your arm back behind you as though the remote were a bowling ball, and as you swing through again you release the B button to send the ball down the lane. Timing is key to speed, and by flicking the wrist left or right as you release the ball you can add varying degrees of spin, with the curve of the ball tightening as it reaches the pins. You may be surprised in the short term at the success you glean, but you'll have great fun in the process, and it proves itself the perfect multiplayer game. Like Monkey Ball's classic bowling effort, understanding the technique can only get you so far, and the rest is skill and practice. Like all the other games in the Wii Sports package, you don't need much understanding to have fun, either way.

Indeed, the same's true of baseball, golf and boxing, although these don't fair quite so well as the above examples. Baseball is just batting and pitching, sensibly, but where tennis and bowling transcend novelty, this one is stuck at the plate. In the long term it's as dull as that metaphor, really - too one-dimensional next to the flowing panic of tennis - although if you're trying to exhaust yourself while having fun, this is certainly the one to go for. Swinging at pitches is, again, about timing, while pitching uses particular button combinations for fastballs, curveballs, screwballs and splitters. Boxing, meanwhile, has more problems - the idea is to clasp the remote and the nunchuk in your fists, jab at the TV screen to, well, jab, and punch downwards diagonally to aim for the body, with the ability to duck and weave by holding the sticks to your chest and (yes) ducking and weaving. Except it doesn't do as good a job of registering input as the other games, and feedback isn't as satisfying.

Golf picks things up for the finale though, doing a simpler job than seasoned golf games like Tiger Woods at the expense of some depth, but not as much as you'd imagine. With an overhead view and a power meter that fills and empties to differing degrees depending on the strength of your golf swing, the ability to take practice swings without disrupting play and a decent range of holes, this just works. It asks more of your mind and your preparation than your golf swing, which is somewhat at odds with the other games in the bundle, but it has another trick up its chequered woollen sleeve when it comes to retaining your interest, and it's this that proves to be one of Wii Sports' best kept secrets: its training mode.

This is "training" in the Kawashima sense: ongoing, and an enjoyable quest for new high scores every time you pick up the remote. Bowling's training modes are better than the actual 10-round game for single players - trying to pick up spares from increasingly difficult situations and manoeuvring the ball around barriers to strike the remaining pins being the two best scenarios - while golf training has the requisite putting and approach practices but also, best, a bit of wind-affected target work, where the idea is to land the ball on an island in a lake, measuring its descent so the first bounce falls within a high-scoring target area. Even boxing has its best moments in training, with the weaving game - designed to impart body movement skills - a sort Wii Sports' dodge-ball bonus.

'Wii Sports' Screenshot golf

Golf's alright, although unlike tennis and bowling its departure from the norm doesn't really magnify the fun.

Elsewhere, tennis training has you trying to amass an unbroken series of returns, alternating between slow baseline shots, net volleys and service sequences as the game demands. It also works to refine your targeting skills, having you aim for a narrowing field behind the other player that moves around to confuse matters. The third task involves playing against a brick wall, the idea being to hit pop-up targets somewhere on the wall - and the problem being that if you hit the wall too much and not the target, the brickwork starts to crumble, and eventually you run the risk of losing by sending the ball through a hole.

Aiming for high scores in these modes ought to keep you occupied when you haven't got anybody around to play with, enticing you back with medals to earn that won't be given up easily, and for those who imagine a daily habit, there's a "Wii Fitness" mode that uses a combination of tasks to generate a "fitness age", too. See, mum was wrong - you don't need friends! And really, despite Wii Sports' multiplay pretension - and don't get me wrong, it's certainly at its best played with other people - there's a surprising amount to do here if you're on your own. Tennis, again, does the best job, with the game keeping track of how good you are, measuring your progress with a graph like Brain Training on the DS, and offering tougher AI opposition as you progress. Even after investing countless hours on the training courts, it'll have you struggling, with AI players making more use of their doubles partners and spin shots, producing maximum-speed serves, and forcing you to lean on your own partner to avoid being bested.

'Wii Sports' Screenshot park

Out of the park! No, seriously, get out of the park.

Yet for all this affection, Wii Sports is still relatively slight, with no extensive campaign modes to be found, just exhibitions, and no online options either. It's been beaten up for this, of course, as well as for its presentation, which is certainly functional, perhaps as a corollary to its decision to use your "Mii" avatar as the in-game character (although, if you ask me, complaining that this doesn't look like Virtua Tennis 3 or Tiger Woods on Xbox 360 is a bit like whinging because Advance Wars DS doesn't look like Civilization IV). With less obsession over polygons, though, there's been more effort thrust into things like use of the remote's built-in speaker, which perfectly matches your swings, strokes and strikes, even if you've got the volume of the main game turned down. On the whole, I'm inclined to praise simple design when it translates into a game with as much broad appeal as this.

Because whatever line Nintendo takes with its promotion of Wii Sports - and everything up to now has positioned it as a sideshow - what it's actually got here brilliantly embodies the Wii's dramatic premise: that this kind of control can appeal to people who don't play games and people who used to play games as well as people who've been playing them for as long as we have. That's not to say that it's all things to all people, or that it's without flaws - but when you get lost in tennis late at night, you can be playing because your opponent's smart, and needs to be forced out of position with varied ground shots, top spin and precisely angled shots; or you can be playing because, golly Michael, come see what Tom's brought home, it's a sort of magical tennis racket. It's more than the parlour game that we all expected, then, but perhaps the beautiful thing is that it still can be that if you want it to.

8 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (91) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • rare_uk #1 5 years ago

    Bloody hell! Wasn't expecting an 8.

    Right better read it fully.

  • Mugwum Verified Operations Director, Eurogamer Network #2 5 years ago

    The score's less relevant than usual in this case, given that it's a pack-in game. The point was that it compares very favourably to other sports games. Anyway, I'll pootle off now and give you all room to condemn me.

  • Machiavel #3 5 years ago

    DUAL SCREEN! DUAL SCREEN!

    or have my subtlety glands deserted me?

  • iconsam #4 5 years ago

    Does anyone know what those attachments are for the Wii-remote? Can anyone provide me with a linky link?

  • Razz #5 5 years ago

    Nice. I found that Wii sports bowling requires very subtle movements to get it to do precisely what you want. Defo the most professional gameee in the package imo.

  • SirScratchalot #6 5 years ago

    It has BOWLING? How did I miss that?!
    Right, I'm not doing anything else this christmas.

  • X201 #7 5 years ago

    "Does anyone know what those attachments are for the Wii-remote? Can anyone provide me with a linky link?"


    Linky

  • Kay #8 5 years ago

    Finally a Wii review, so late in the day - Twilight Princess will be tomorrow, I'm guessing...

    Yep, Wii Sports is surprisingly playable and has quite a bit of depth. Bundling it with the console was a great idea, otherwise I'm sure many would have dismissed it as a simple novelty package and therefore miss out.

    K
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/06 @ 18:49

  • X201 #9 5 years ago

    Another linky

  • gizmo #10 5 years ago

    "and height and spin available to those who master the gestures that command them"

    ????

    Do you not just use it like a tennis racket, and it works it out?

  • linkster #11 5 years ago

    I adore this, it's amazing. Had no hesitation splashing out for three Wiimotes on the strength of this alone.

  • Carrybagma #12 5 years ago

    Yay! First Wii review on Eurogamer! This will degenerate into the worst comments thread ever.

    Let me help, by mentioning Gears of War and Halo.

    :o)

    ED: Freud.
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/06 @ 18:50

  • jamhead #13 5 years ago

    damnit. Had my wii on pre-order ages ago and now bloody play have decided they can't honor pre-chrimbo delivery.

    And those fairpack folk thought they'd been stiffed!

    This looks great too..

  • siro #14 5 years ago

    Yep, it's Dual Screen. At least that's what it said back then in the TV commercials and in the pre sale shop displays.

  • killyourtv #15 5 years ago

    yeah i always thought it stood for dual screen

  • Heitzu #16 5 years ago

    Nice knew it would be a good enough game to be packaged with the console.

  • Royal Fool #17 5 years ago

    Dual Screen
    Damn Sweet
    Digital Stylus
    Dreadful Spatula

  • smelly #18 5 years ago

    >The score's less relevant than usual in this case

    IMHO The score is ALWAY irrelevant! Its the words that matter.

  • NthSimulachum #19 5 years ago

    *groans*

    "As good as Gears then?"

    Seriously, this looks great. Wii is becoming ever more tempting...

  • GrandpaUlrira #20 5 years ago

    I'm pretty sure DS stood for "Developer's System"

  • caligari #21 5 years ago

    Sounds good!

    One second I don't want a Wii, the next second I DO!

    I think I'll probably wait until after Christmas.

    /end of interesting comment

  • Dr.Mott #22 5 years ago

    Really, I thought it stood for, oh forget it, i can't think of anything witty. :(

  • Sid-Nice #23 5 years ago

    An excellent and honest review; like I've always said "I don't read reviews. But in the case of Wii Sports there isn't much to talk about. Wii Sports does what it say's on the tin; we are not expecting jaw dropping graphics, but non gamers will love this.

    My only worry for the Nintendo Wii is why on earth are Nintendo allowing shit like, Avatar, Monster truck 4 X 4 World Series, GT Pro, Rampage Total Destruction, etc, etc. THQ, Ubisoft and Midway must be having a giraffe at Nintendo. These games were rubbish on the Cube; so making them Wii-mote enabled doesn't suddenly make them good games, shit sticks. When people start to buy and play this third party trite; they will be convinced that the Wii was a gimmick, when in actual fact the Wii is an excellent little console. :(

  • secombe #24 5 years ago

    Officially, 'Developers System'

    Source: [link url=http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/ds/faq.jsp#ds [/url]
    ]http://ww w.nintendo.com/consumer/systems...[/link]


    Good review anyway, I almost wish scores were not even bothered with, there was something oddly inspirational about that review and it was kind of spoiled by pigeonholing it with a score, even if it was a very good one.
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/06 @ 19:38

  • kentmonkey #25 5 years ago

    I *think* what Mugwum was suggesting was that the games use the letters "DS" in their titles, like Rayman DS etc. and that in the grand scheme of things, the term "DS" meant bugger all to the game, not the fact that DS stands for Dual Screen as a term.

    However in this instance the term Wii bought something to the game title.

    I've probably got this all wrong though.

  • Santino #26 5 years ago

    very good review to read, i'm in agreement with everybody that eurogamer should get rid of scores. was this not tried before? may have been for GRAW but there was such a fuss by the people who cannot read it was given one. anyway, get rid of the score people will get used to it.

  • numptyboymatt #27 5 years ago

    Im concerned about this whole "play not honouring pre Xmas deliveries" as ordered mine on the 15th Sept, before they officially emailed me and told me the pre-orders were open as I sat there like a saddo hitting "refresh". Anyone else know anything about this?

    Forgot to mention - I have had no email from play saying that there will be any problem..... Im slightly concerned, especially given the 360 farce last year.
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/06 @ 19:44

  • JetSetWilly #28 5 years ago

    A good positive and informative review. I'm glad to read there's more content there than we'd previously been led to believe.

    edit:sausage fingers

    Edited by 1 at 30/11/06 @ 19:49

  • smoison #29 5 years ago

    ONLY ONE MORE WEEK!!!!

  • captainrentboy #30 5 years ago

    I want a Wii now dammit,for the last few months I haven't really been too bothered, but now it's release is a week away my need for one is growing considerably,those television adverts don't help :(
    Mehhh,I can control my impulse spending,I'll wait until January.

  • Tomo #31 5 years ago

    I agree wholeheartedly - spot on.

  • MadMirko #32 5 years ago

    Excellent review, thanks for reinforcing my impression of EG being the best site for no-bullshit reviews.

    Also being able to point the fanboys and haters to a well balanced and objective review explaining the advantages of the Wii premise will make my forumite life way more comfortable. ;)

  • BartonFink #33 5 years ago

    Great review Mugs, really can't wait for next Friday \o/

    And smelly for once hit the nail on the head. It's the words that matter the score is irrelevant.
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/06 @ 20:42

  • RedPanda #34 5 years ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • Whitewalker #35 5 years ago

    Great review...thanks.

  • Psi #36 5 years ago

    good to know the bundle title is well worth having, quite a lot was riding on this one to be good. i guess everyone assumed it would be, but imagine if it hadn't... ninty would be fucked.

  • Tonka #37 5 years ago

    Great review. Now I'm even MORE excited. Sh!t. I ca't wait.
    DS stands for 'Disruptive System' they just never told any one about that.
    The score is actually very important in some cases. Like Zelda. I won't read the review here on EG just like I haven't read any reviews for it. I'm scared of the spoilers that I know will be lurking. I just check the score. Not that the score matter. I would have bought it even if it got a 5.

  • Super_Zee #38 5 years ago

    Wasn't bothered about Wii.

    Played Wii Sports Bowling at Video Games Live.

    Sold.

    Pre-ordered next day.

    Very excited now!

  • Oasis #39 5 years ago

    "Seriously though, bucking the trend a bit there, EG. It's been fives, sixes and sevens most places I've seen it reviewed. Interesting..."

    This is why I'm becoming ever more disillusioned with the quality of EG's reviews. Everyone scores Gears/Halo 9's and 10's, EG can only find it in them to award an 8. Similarly, everybody scores Wii Sports low-ish scores, yet EG want to give it an 8 as well? Fuck me, could they be any more desperate to make a name for themselves, and play the "we're cool cos we're different" card? I stay here now for the quality of the forum, and its relative lack of 'internets' jive. But I lost faith in EG's gaming opinions a LONG time ago.

  • Dirtie #40 5 years ago

    You'd rather they just gave the same scores as everyone else?

  • Oasis #41 5 years ago

    "You'd rather they just gave the same scores as everyone else?"

    No, I'd rather they'd stop being all "Edge-y" and trying to come across all discerning and intellectual, like they're some sort of higher power or something. There's nothing wrong with having high standards. In fact, journalistic integrity is something that is often sorely lacking in the fanboy littered gaming press. But for goodness sake, under/overscoring games, in a blatant and concerted attempt to differentiate themselves from the crowd, is just as back and dishonourable as handing out 10's like confetti to the tune of "ZOMG teh bestest game EVARs!!11¬!!".

  • iconsam #42 5 years ago

    Thanks for the linky link X201!

  • Roamer #43 5 years ago

    @ Oasis:

    I think you'll find Eurogamer's pretty close to the average in this particular instance.
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/06 @ 23:00

  • captain-future #44 5 years ago

    Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm? I will see on 8th Dec.

  • YourMessageHere #45 5 years ago

    I'm sorry, I just can't stop myself from doing this:

    If these games are so intuitive and like the actual sports, why play the game? I bet lots of general non-gamers will say the same. Sure, it's great that they managed to translate the subtleties behind giving a ball spin etc. into a practical control scheme, but I think I'm like many people in expecting a game to give me an experience I can't otherwise realistically have. I can play all of these sports within half an hours travel from my house. This seems like another step closer to games recreating experiences that are easily achievable in reality.

    Then again, I never have fully understood the appeal of sports games; the ones where you control a whole team I can sort of understand but individual sports I just fail to get the point of at all.

    edit: oh, and Oasis: Huh? You're saying EG are forming their own opinions and publishing them purely in order to be different from sites based on the "this game is the greatest because the publishers paid us to say so!!!!!" mindset (a.k.a. "review copy and blow job" school of gaming journalism), rather than, as you seem to be requesting, scoring based on some kind of nonexistant objective measurement of game quality? Damn, that almost makes pragmatic commercial sense! The Fiends! Find me a site better than EG for thought-provoking and insightful gaming analysis and I'll be impressed.
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/06 @ 23:32

  • secombe #46 5 years ago

    If anything there is a worrying lack of disparity in gaming reviews. With movies, music and books etc you get a good range of opinions. Whilst there is often a fairly constant standard you at least get a good handful that don't conform to that simply because they loved it more/disliked it compared to many others, and it's easy to find a reviewer that shares similar tastes to your own.

    With games it's often all within 10-20% no matter how far and wide you search for reviews, in fact the Wii seems to be the first system in a long while that is actually bringing some different opinions out of reviewers (Red Steel being a good example), and I'm all for that.

    I thought GT4 was a 5/10 at best, yet GameRankings suggests it should be a solid 9/10. Am I saying it's a 5/10 because I want to be different? Hell no, I wanted it to be great, I just happened to think it pretty poor.
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/06 @ 23:30

  • Genji #47 5 years ago

    Hey man, I'm so edgy and cool, I can even give high scores to games I enjoy playing.

    /dons leather jacket

    WATCH OUT EVERYONE. IT'S COOL TIME.

    /o/ \o\ \o/ /o\

    Eyyyyyyyyyyy

  • pantbash #48 5 years ago

    >>>>>> If these games are so intuitive and like the actual sports, why play the game?


    Because the Living room is Warm.
    & Large groups of people outside are generally irritating.

  • Santino #49 5 years ago

    genji.....leather jackets stopped being cool years ago, if you are a male and want to be cool in this day and age all you have to do is be as homosexual/feminine as possible and where 3 different kinds of hairgel/wax at the same time. (sorry i just hate pretty boy fucks)
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/06 @ 23:39

  • smelly #50 5 years ago

    Geesus.. I do wish you guys would stop obsessing over a number at end of the review..

    Its JUST A NUMBER!

    The WORDS matter!

  • Heitzu #51 5 years ago

    /\ Amen to that

  • Khab #52 5 years ago

    Hahaha! This will rock so hard we'll all fall off! :)

  • Santino #53 5 years ago

    smelly i recall from another comments thread you have you wii already, how are you enjoying it, and wii sports in particular (i'm trying to keep away from zelda spoilers)? just a week to go for me, i'm looking forward to some fun with this title at xmas with the family

  • Hypocee #54 5 years ago

    Good luck finding a website that's simultaneously completely "objective" and worthwhile to read. I'm American, but I give EG's reviews more weight than anyone else's because A) they do more than regurgitate the publisher's specs (How many reviews claim that there are only big pickup trucks in Excite Truck?) and B) historically, their ratings show a great similarity to my own opinions. This may be due to C) their small, stable staff - I can know and remember these guys' names and their past work; they're not IGN's intern-of-the-week Joe Random "One Review" Cantspell.

    I would still like to hear an official answer on What The Hell happened with Sensible Soccer, though: http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.co...
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/06 @ 23:47

  • Nookyalar #55 5 years ago

    "I can play all of these sports within half an hours travel from my house"

    Heh good luck when you turn up at a tennis court or boxing club in East London! Yes why not indeed just go bowling or play some baseball

  • secombe #56 5 years ago

    If these games are so intuitive and like the actual sports, why play the game?

    I can play all of these sports within half an hours travel from my house

    Contrary to popular belief, we don't all live in London, Manchester, Birmingham or another big city. My nearest bowling alley is about 40 miles away and costs about a tenner a game, we have precisely 4 tennis courts between 20,000 people and it's used for every other sport that needs a hard surface, I don't even know where I could play baseball as public recreation space is pretty much all sold off for housing around here, and etc etc.

    Ok, I'm arguing for arguments sake as I play enough sport in real life to satisfy my needs. The real reason? It's just fun, end of. The chances of getting 4 people off their arses to go out and play tennis are slim, but stood up in a warm living room with Wii-remotes...I can't see that being a problem. I frequently attend track-days in my car, yet I still play GT Legends, GTR2 etc. Does it replicate the feeling of the back end going out at 60mph around a corner and wrestling with the wheel to get it back inline? Nope, do I care? Nope, I just like playing driving games because I enjoy them.
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/06 @ 23:58

  • Genji #57 5 years ago

    "leather jackets stopped being cool years ago, if you are a male and want to be cool in this day and age all you have to do is be as homosexual/feminine as possible and where 3 different kinds of hairgel/wax at the same time"

    I hope you weren't taking me seriously or anything. My posts are usually drenched in irony.

    The fonz is still cool, though.

    EDIT: Oh, and I love it when Oasis feels like he can call EG scores "inflated", even when he hasn't actually played the game himself.
    Edited by 1 at 01/12/06 @ 01:46

  • IP #58 5 years ago

    :: one of Wii Sports' best kept secrets: it's training mode

    The Trussmobile is on its way to kill you now, apostrophe abuser.

  • gamingdave #59 5 years ago

    Have been avoiding reviews for spoilers but I thought this one would be safe. Training mode sounds excellent so does the fitness age. Roll on the 8th

  • WhyMeeeeee #60 5 years ago

    male, 27 yrs old, gsoh, tall, slim, looking for similar to participate in some wii sports. tel 00120038287

  • smelly #61 5 years ago

    >and wii sports in particular

    Great in multiplayer (especially with neices/nephews/mums/etc who dont normally play games.)

    Crap in single player

    Perfect for chrimble entertainment if you ask me.. but doubtful if it'll get much play after that.

    If i was to give it a score (and I HATE scores) i'd give it a 7 or a 8 as it is great fun.

  • smelly #62 5 years ago

    @Hypocee
    >I would still like to hear an official answer


    Well why dont you READ THE WORDS of the review and find out what the reviewer liked/didnt like about it, and how he came to that score??? Maybe.. Just maybe.. (s)he actually *shock* enjoyed the game even though other reviewers didnt?

    And READ THE WORDS of the reviews other people gave it to see why their scores differ to the other review?

    i.e. DONT JUST THINK A REVIEW IS 'WRONG' JUST BECAUSE OTHER PEOPLE HAVE A DIFFERENT NUMBER AT THE END!!!

    (Sorry for shouting people.. But i'm getting fed up reading comments from idiots who just dont understand this thing about review scores..)

    Oh, and also bear in mind that mr campbell isnt exactly impartial on that one as he worked on the original (perhaps maybe just may be sour grapes maybe for not being involved?)
    Edited by 3 at 01/12/06 @ 02:11

  • Yeevle #63 5 years ago

    As I thought, the Wii is already a gimmick machine. I wish it luck but... meh

  • Genji #64 5 years ago

    Just a reminder to everyone, as if anyone needed reminding.

    If you have not played a game, all opinions regarding a review score for said game as being too high / too low / just about right, are null and void.

    I mean, it's just common sense, really.
    Edited by 1 at 01/12/06 @ 03:40

  • Hypocee #65 5 years ago

    I see why you're held in such high regard here, Smelly. Actually I happen to be vaguely on the same "side" of the numbers "debate", which is one reason I like EG reviews so much. I would think you could have derived that from my praise of their style, but I admit I didn't say it explicitly. In any case, it's irrelevant.

    We're not talking about a difference in aesthetics here, as you'd have seen if you'd chosen to actually RTFA before flaming me. I didn't post it just for funsies. Anyone who prefers to pass it by, go right ahead - but if you're going to shriek at me, I hope it'll be for something at least within earshot of the right reason. We're talking about objective failures - multihundred-point games and *crashes*, on a *console* - which make no appearance in a lengthy, detailed, enthusiastic review from folks who normally uphold very high standards. It's misleading to the extent that in retrospect the reviewer appears to be deliberately avoiding any mention of, say, AI, customisation or basic stability.

    Just for the record, and again a small exercise in reading comprehension: Campbell's big history with Sensible is that he was impressed by Sensible Soccer, had a small role in the development of the *sequel* and a huge one in Cannon Fodder 2, and then left. In that Sensible Soccer fandom, I imagine he's joined by...the entire demographic for whose benefit the Sensible name was revived. Oh. I know the man doesn't have a lot of friends here and after seeing him stomp around in Full Dick Mode a couple of times it's not hard to see why...but facts don't need friends.

    I'm not hurling thundering accusations of Ferrari corruption; my mental model involves deadlines, a review based on beta code and unfulfilled promises from the devs. Such things can happen to the best, shrug. It's just a baffling anomaly among their normal diligence, which I felt was relevant in that minidiscussion about subjectivity and EG's quality. I like to know why things happen, especially unusual things.

  • spongebob #66 5 years ago

    If EG was really edgy I think they would ditch the numbers and let the words do the talking.

  • penhalion #67 5 years ago

    Numbers are there to give you a general idea of how good the reviewer thought the product was. A lot of the complaint here is due to people (most don't do this anymore) going out and buying a game which got a good score only to find that it was consistently bad or buggy.

    These are things that anyone reviewing the game would have picked up on. It then becomes a bitter debate as to how the reviewer in question somehow managed to miss these obvious problems or found an unplayable section of a game so entertaining.

    It soon starts to be come obvious that some reviewers are in it for the perks such as travel to game events, freebies, getting debug consoles and getting paid to boot etc. etc. Games companies tend not to give such perks to those that consistently shoot down their first party games. I have several friends who work in the reviews industry and lets just say one already has a Wii and a PS3 debug console (yep he's uk based) and his reviews are always a little generous shall we say!

  • Muddtallica #68 5 years ago

    Interesting...I was kind of expecting something a bit lower, for some reason. Oh well, I'm going to get a Wii anyway, so therefore I'll get this game, so if it's great fun, so much the better!

    Regarding the review score, leaving aside the fact that EG's score does seem very much in keeping with the Game Ranking average, I do think people do get too hung up on the number at the end, both in terms of the "OMG the number is god" camp and the "OMG the number is evil abolish it" camp. It's just a number that provides a convenient at-a-glance measure of the game's relative quality. Obviously the review text is still the most important thing, but I can't be bothered to read every single review of every game to know how good it is: sometimes, if it's a game I'm not that interested in, a number is all I want. If it's low, I ignore it, if it's high, I tend to read the review to see why it's high. I know it's just an opinion after all, the number's just there as a guideline to the review content.

  • jha666 #69 5 years ago

    8 out of 10. Interesting.
    I have tried tennis and my daughter did some boxing.
    Then we started zelda and haven't been playing Wii Sports again.
    I could have been a great party game, BUT you need a a lot of
    space (very much like Samba de amigo). I guess most people wont
    be able to fit more than two players in their livingroom.

    I'd say 5 out of 10.

  • elvenearth #70 5 years ago

    Its free, thus I will play it...

  • Tonka #71 5 years ago

    Do people live in shoeboxes?

  • Rev.StuartCampbell #72 5 years ago

    "Full Dick Mode" sounds kinda sexy.

  • Moonprince #73 5 years ago

    herod +1

    ...Feel sorry for the daughter myself. :/

  • Muddtallica #74 5 years ago

    jha666: "I could have been a great party game..."

    Sorry, jha666, but I can't not laugh at a typo like that. Let me correct it for you:

    "I could have been a great party game, I could have been somebody, I could have been a contender, instead of a bum, which is what I am."

  • samk #75 5 years ago

    "Oh, and also bear in mind that mr campbell isnt exactly impartial on that one as he worked on the original (perhaps maybe just may be sour grapes maybe for not being involved?)"

    Regardless of whether he worked on the original Sensi or not, he's still right.

    There is a total lack of challenge; in my first ten games I'd scored 150-odd goals and conceded one. The goalies do warp all over the place. The CPU AI is hopeless. The team and player data is laughable. Etc etc. When you tell people to read the review text, well the point is that the review text doesn't mention these major issues whatsoever (and Hypocee has since pointed out he wasn't even having a pop at the score anyway.) Even when my 8 year old son spots these issues within minutes you have to wonder exactly why a professional reviewer didn't.

    An excuse of "well these issues weren't in the review copy of the game" doesn't cut it at all, since the EG review appeared a month+ earlier than the game was released so their case is indefensable in that regard.

  • varsas #76 5 years ago

    For the record EDGE gave GoW an 8, the Beeb gave it a 8.5 with both reviews saying similar things to EG; Wii Sports got a 7 from EDGE so all this talk of EG just deciding on a score to be contrary is just silly.

  • Amicus #77 5 years ago

    Er... Without wanting to go off on a tangent, I though DS stood for Dual Screen?

  • rudedudejude #78 5 years ago

    PC Zone I think it was, did the exact same thing with Unreal 2, 96% or something they gave it, due to an exclusive review several weeks before launch, so I went and bought it expecting an FPS revolution! Took it back within 3 days, what a pile of generic, same old same old garbage.

    Man was that a lame generic FPS.

  • Rambaldi #79 5 years ago

    I'm tempted, really, but I'm still not convinced that swinging my arms around is going to be anything more but a brief journey fom the realm of novelty to that of bored irritation.

  • AcidSnake #80 5 years ago

    ...Funny...
    Nintendo's newsletter just arrived via e-mail (the italian version)...
    It says that the Wii will launch the 7th and cost €259...
    That's a whole day earlier and 10€ more expensive...
    Might be because the 8th is a national holiday though...

  • samk #81 5 years ago

    "I'm tempted, really, but I'm still not convinced that swinging my arms around is going to be anything more but a brief journey fom the realm of novelty to that of bored irritation."

    I've played it at work for about an hour. Ok when some mates are round to have a quick go on before settling down to a game that's a bit more substantial, but certainly not the type of game I'd settle down to play by myself or could imagine I'd still be playing regularly in a month's time.

    Perhaps an hour isn't a fair enough period of time to judge it, but tbh by that time I felt I'd already seen enough of what it has to offer.

  • Rambaldi #82 5 years ago

    Cheers sam - although I was commenting on the Wii as a whole, not just Wii Sports!
    Try before you buy methinks.

  • Ryu #83 5 years ago

    Oasis please stfu because you're an idiot, k thnx. Ignored.

  • Hypocee #84 5 years ago

    Amicus: To end that tangent as rapidly as possible :) :

    "DS" wasn't supposed to be the final name of the console we now know; it was just a development codename. By release time, it was more ingrained in gamers' mindshare than they expected so they changed their minds and kept it. (Perhaps their marketing department's suggestions were so ridiculous that they didn't bear consideration ;) )

    Nintendo has stated that the "DS" originally stood for "Developer System", which sounds like weird English but we know Japanese techies like weird English phrases. However, the *official* word from Nintendo ever since release is that whatever it stood for when it was a codename, DS is not an acronym for anything.

  • koopa #85 5 years ago

    Can't wait for Camelot to make full-fledged Mario Tennis, Golf, Volleyball, Soccer and Curling games...

  • Psychotext #86 5 years ago

    You'd better have my console Woolies or I'm coming for ya!

  • Jesus: Action Figure #87 5 years ago

    @herod

    Was that what the DS was gonna be called?

    Only reason I ask is that the Dev Kits for the DS we have are called Nitro SDK's.

  • AcidSnake #88 5 years ago

    It's early codename was nitro yes...
    In fact the DS' games all have serial numbers with 'NTR' letters in them...

    You have a dev kit?
    How difficult/easy is it to program for the machine?

  • Jesus: Action Figure #89 5 years ago

    @acid

    Designers build levels in Maya then populate them and the SDK does the rest - piece of piss really =)


    Much like my dad did with the Earth... hmmm...


    Not a programmer, but I don't think it's that hard to grasp. We've had people learning from scratch here how to code for it and they haven't had any major problems...

  • Remy85 #90 5 years ago

    It was an inconceivable notion that once we brought our Wii home, Wii Sports would be by far the most played game on the system. Zelda's pretty good but often gets chided by graphics hounds and jeered by friends over clamouring for another round of tennis or bowling with their Miis. But even alone, I find it hard to replace Wii Sports from the drive. It really is the reason to have the system right now, being absoloutely a game ONLY the Wii can do.

  • Carrybagma #91 5 years ago

    I'm not surprised. There's an air of 'same old same old' about many of the Wii launch titles (not having actually played any of them), so I'm really not surprised that you and a load of others are having so much fun with it. I know this is sacrilege, but [whispers]I'm actually looking forward to it more than Zelda[/whispers]. Problem is, I've played Zelda before and know what to expect, whereas WiiSports will be completely new. I'm very much looking forward to multi-player silliness. A chap on the forum reckons that Rayman will be very 'Wii', but I'm not convinced. I think we'll have to wait for Wario for the next properly 'Wii' game, and even Wario's becoming a familiar format.

    I'd like to hear from someone who's played it on their tod, to have a single-player perspective. I bet single player's more of a 4/10.

  • sonmi451 #92 5 years ago

    not convinced by this game. the tennis game is poor, the controller just seems to trigger different racket swing animations and doesn't really read your movements.

    the bowling always seems to fade off to the right. i can't get the spin to work.

    disappointing and definitely not revolutionary, but does show potential.....maybe...

  • ChrisOTR #93 5 years ago

    Good review! :)

    I initially discounted boxing, and have just discovered that for me it's the best thing in the game, so you might want to go back to it if you did the same.

    As with lots of Wii games, it's a matter of sussing out how the controls ACTUALLY work as opposed to what the manual tells ya - the manual's description tends to over-simplify things.