Wii Sports Resort Review

By Christian Donlan Published 14 July, 2009

It takes all sports.

Version tested: Wii

For a breakdown of exactly how Wii MotionPlus works with each event, check out our extra feature on the subject.

How was your weekend? I threw myself out of a plane. Actually, I threw myself out of about 50 planes, spiralling down through the clear blue sky again and again, whizzing past Bruce Springsteen, Dan Aykroyd, and my stepmother, gurning warmly for a few photographs each time, before the parachute opened with a cheery pop and I drifted towards the bright green grass below.

Skydiving in Wii Sports Resort captures just about everything that fans of its developer often struggle to put into words, and crams it all into the same period of time it takes to wash your hair. I guess you could call it the Nintendo Effect. Right there, in that simple, two-minute plummet is the whole deal: a control system so simple that most designers would either ignore it or over-complicate it with gauges and triggers, a range of goals that scale from charming pushovers to genuine one-more-go struggles with no apparent signs of stress, and presentation that manages to be both modest and quietly brilliant at the same time.

Jump from a plane, reach out to grab onto other free-fallers, pose for a camera, and score points with every smile captured: Skydiving's mechanics are so anaemic they hardly exist - as challenges go, it's barely interactive - and yet I've been doing it all weekend, over and over and over again, just to enjoy the clouds, the sense of wind and speed, and the chance to high-five Marty McFly at 20,000 feet. Will I still be doing it a month from now? Sadly I suspect that I won't, and that's where the Nintendo Effect meets the Wii Sports Effect.

'Wii Sports Resort' Screenshot 1

Importing background characters from the Contest Channel is a nice touch, but if you turn the option on, you may find yourself bowling alongside Hitler a few more times that you'd like.

Like a lot of games, the most insightful review the original Wii Sports will ever receive has come in the form of its sequel. Traditionally, the second outing for a series is where strengths are refined and enlarged, and weaknesses are either carefully eradicated or accidentally blown up into grotesque caricatures. So while quite a lot of time has already been spent picking apart the knockabout delights of the game that comes bundled with Nintendo's latest console, it's only with the arrival of Resort that you can truly see the original for what it is. And it's a skilful sketch, really: bold, self-contained, and occasionally careless, a game drawn in broad, perhaps hurried strokes, and only fitfully coloured in.

Not bad going, then. Wii Sports had to serve as both demo and tutorial - showing audiences what Nintendo's new console could do, while perhaps also giving developers a few hints for working around all the things it couldn't. Resort's also here to make sense of hardware, too, of course, but the MotionPlus is more of an incremental addition, and that leaves the game on uncertain ground. As a demo or tutorial, Resort does its job well - showcasing the add-on's new level of precision, and offering a range of uses that other teams might like to put it to - but as a sequel it's a mixed bag. Resort has refined, but it's also slipped into caricature. It's prettier, but it's a little hollow as well.

'Wii Sports Resort' Screenshot 2

The skydiving controls so instinctive that you're often not even sure if it was you who opened the parachute, or if it was automatic.

With 12 basic activity types rather than the first game's five, the first indicator that something's lacking comes when you spot a couple of familiar faces in the crowd - and not just in the form of the Mii Plaza residents you zip past while barrelling through the sky. Repeat performances from the original Wii Sports' golf and bowling games are enough to suggest that maybe even Nintendo knows it's packed the sequel with pretty distractions, but is lacking the big events to bind them all together.

That's not to say there aren't a handful of new classics to be found. WuHu Island, the hub for Resort's delights, is positively crammed with things to shake, swing, and place on the table to carefully recalibrate. Swordfighting, for starters, is the closest Nintendo will ever get to a seal-clubbing mini-game - barring a strategic push into the Norwegian entertainment market - as you either brain a competitor until he falls off a platform, or, more entertainingly, wade through an oncoming horde, smacking any and all comers over the head one by one. It's hardly a nuanced take on the gentleman's sport - in fact, there's a distinct hint of Gladiators to the whole thing - but the combo scoring system is smart and compulsive, and there's excellent feedback in the series of hollow thuds that accompany the cheerful parade of head trauma. Similarly, Table Tennis is an excellent game, genuinely tense as rallies progress, and one of the handful which really benefits from increased sensitivity, as the angle of the bat really counts.

Archery is another treat, turning the Wii remote and nunchuk into a bow and tautened string, and sucking up dozens of hours in the process. Make no mistake: multiplayer archery will lead to name-calling, fights, and ultimately lawyers, but after you've alienated all your friends, there's still a solid single-player scoreboard rush to enjoy as well. Basketball, at least the three-on-three variety, is also surprisingly good, a clever range of motion controls and simple button inputs allowing for dribbling, passing, blocking and shooting, all with no real confusion.

Following the outright winners are the growers, like canoeing. Its alternate strokes initially seem rather fiddly, but then the whole thing clicks and the experience becomes quietly rewarding. Power-cruising is another slow-burner, the handlebar controls and throaty audio enhancing a gamut of simple races between floating archways.

But for every hit, another game struggles to make much of an impact, and there's no escaping the sense that, as the variety increases, Resort tips closer and closer to pure novelty. Wakeboarding is a trick-chaining challenge without much acrobatic panache, chucking a Frisbee about is pleasant but inane - much like in real life, then - and the air sports, with the exception of Skydiving, feel like a hurried proof-of-concept for a much-requested PilotWings sequel, giving you the option to tour WuHu Island and collect markers, or engage in a little light dogfighting. Neither possibility offers much incentive to replay.

All of these games are charming enough for 10 minutes, and likely to gain a few fans willing to play them longer than that, but I'm not sure who exactly is meant to enjoy the cycling challenge, an annoying trundle around the pathways of the resort, lacking the strange charm of a jog over the hills and dales of the suspiciously similar Wiifity Island. This is padding, and not even pinching the slipstreaming system from Mario Kart can change that: Wii titles are often said to appeal to people who haven't played games before - perhaps this bit is for people who haven't seen a television yet.

'Wii Sports Resort' Screenshot 3

Lots of games make you want to throw yourself out of a plane - only Wii Sports can make you want to do it repeatedly.

There's a decent amount to unlock, though, and a lot of the roughness of the original game is gone, in presentation as well as the controls. Getting from one event to the next in the original Wii Sports was as exciting and dynamic as plodding your way through the automatic check-in system for a transatlantic flight; in Resort, proceedings have been couched in a friendly bit of staging, with the breezy island setting bringing the various challenges in closely, the sense of a single place helping to bind the whole thing together in a way that the first title, with its five solid games (well, four and boxing), maybe didn't need.

With two or more players, the sequel is, once again, a compulsive riot. Played alone, however, some of its pieces seem sweet, but a little empty. It's important to remember that, like the first game, Resort has a lot to accomplish, and for the most part does it effortlessly, but while its scattershot approach means you'll always have something to show off when the neighbours come around - apologies, I appear to be channelling The Good Life - Resort struggles to offer something you'll want to then sit down and play for any real length of time, except golf and bowling which, chances are, you already have done. Despite a lot more polish, a little of original game's sketchiness has returned too: you're left with the feeling that a gratuitously talented company has thrown together some casual brilliance, but stopped shy of expending too much real effort.

You could argue that Nintendo has always had two kinds of greatness: the big ideas - things like bottom-bouncing, and trigger targeting - which redefine genres, and then the sharp, unexpected treats that don't change games fundamentally, so much as transform them into something more lovable. It's definitely the second category into which the best parts of Resort fall, and so my updated list of favourite light-touch Nintendo moments is rejigged thus: that palm-reading in Animal Crossing leading to an unexpected bout of clumsiness, playing jump rope with Koopas in Superstar Saga, and skydiving towards WuHu island, connecting hands with falling strangers, before turning, just in time to face the camera. Count down. Big grin. 10 points. Press A to play again.

7 / 10

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Picture of Christian.

About Christian Donlan

Chris Donlan writes about games for Eurogamer and some magazines. His heroes include Eugene Jarvis, Errol Morris, and Linus Van Pelt.

Read more articles from Christian by visiting the Christian Donlan archive page.

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Comments (103) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • uglygamer #1 3 years ago

    First

    Sorry about the bold thing I done :(

    Edit: Don't do that please.
    Edited by 5 at 14/07/09 @ 14:23

  • Burkey123 #2 3 years ago

    We get a Wii Sports Resort review two weeks before its out and we still don't have a Tiger Woods review a week after its out.

  • andromeda #3 3 years ago

    ouch not as good as gears then

  • DrDamn #4 3 years ago

    Have the events which were in WiiSports been enhanced at all for WMP?

  • Skoptsie #5 3 years ago

    Didn't expect a 7 but as it'll be almost entirely getting multiplayer usage round here the pre-order can remain.

  • Oh-Bollox #6 3 years ago

    Lots of games make you want to throw yourself out of a plane - only Wii Sports can make you want to do it repeatedly.

    Quality.

    Good review too, what gushing there is sounds like it's deserved.

  • mingster #7 3 years ago

    Considering this is all about the new improved motion plus you've hardly bothered mentioning it in the review.
    You didn't even mention table tennis at all.
    This review is very poor to be honest.
    how well does it map your movements in fencing, how much improved is bowling? What are the differences in the new golf?
    Would it be too much to answer those things?
    Edited by 1 at 14/07/09 @ 14:23

  • lemonfist #8 3 years ago

    Ah, another "Wii Sports is a tech demo" review.

    Well, best damn tech demo I ever spent 700 hours on.

  • Malek86 #9 3 years ago

    Not bad. Maybe i could get it, but...

    I mean, is it weird that I'm more interested in M&S2 rather than this one?
    Edited by 1 at 14/07/09 @ 14:26

  • mingster #10 3 years ago

    This is probably the most important nintendo release this year and you manage to just scrape together a two page review which really doesn't give much detail at all. I'm not impressed.

  • uglygamer #11 3 years ago

    Theres no mention of the table tennis stuff in the review, the sport I am most interested in from this title. And no jetski.
    Edited by 3 at 14/07/09 @ 14:42

  • Canyarion #12 3 years ago

    This review misses some important stuff...

  • #13 3 years ago

    "a seal-clubbing mini-game"
    Overlord II FTW!!

  • Roamer #14 3 years ago

    Swordfighting, for starters, is the closest Nintendo will ever get to a seal-clubbing mini-game - barring a strategic push into the Norwegian entertainment market...()

    Oi!

  • MKorkia #15 3 years ago

    IGN AU gave this 6.5 so once Eurogamer is more lenient.

    Tiger '10 is still the game to invest in if you want to try out WMP.

  • ChrisS #16 3 years ago

    I'm staggered that table tennis isn't even mentioned. It's almost certainly the best game (outside the skydiving, natch) in the entire package.

    @DrDamn - yep, the golf feels miles better, and has been expanded to 18 holes. Bowling has another mode and spin feels more pronounced but that's about it.

  • insincere_dave #17 3 years ago

    You should have spent the 10 days before release writing a review that was either informative and / or entertaining. This is neither I'm afraid.

  • scouserfuller9 #18 3 years ago

    I still play Wii Sport now with my mates and family so no doubt this will be a fun game to play with others!?
    I'm really looking forward to future releases with Motion Plus. The way it'd work in Zelda would be awsome! I'm a bit surprised they didn't leave Mario Power Tennis a little longer and release it with Motion Pus though as I find the controls on that pretty annoying.

  • Darren #19 3 years ago

    Well it looks like this will be a decent purchase for my parents this Christmas along with an extra one of those add-on things but I can't say it interests me at all. It doesn't scream classic Nintendo to me and sounds rather shallow (much like the original game).

    No doubt it'll be a laugh with friends and family over the festive season though so I guess it doesn't matter that it's lacking as a single player game, that's where its appeal will lie. It'll sell millions as well and would have done regardless of the quality.

  • kinky_mong #20 3 years ago

    "This is probably the most important nintendo release this year"

    Oh christ, really?! There's nothing better than this coming out this year? That's two years without any enjoyable first party games.
    Edited by 1 at 14/07/09 @ 15:01

  • gamingdave #21 3 years ago

    "Actually, I threw myself out of about 50 planes .... as challenges go, it's barely interactive - and yet I've been doing it all weekend, over and over and over again

    Archery is another treat, turning the Wii remote and nunchuk into a bow and tautened string, and sucking up dozens of hours in the process

    All of these games are charming enough for 10 minutes, and likely to gain a few fans willing to play them longer than that"

    So they are only charming for 10 minutes, and yet you played it all weekend?!

    Like the first I am assuming this is much better played in mulitplayer anyway. The original must be the most played game of the last few years on any of my machines, not my most played, but the most played. It really is a multiplayer game first and formost. Many a night has been spent with friends round having a bit of bowling and tennis. I was never a fan of golf on the original (thought it was too unresponsive) and found baseball dull. Boxing was fun enough but tennis and bowling was always enough. Adding some new sports, with increased sensitivity, makes this an essential purcahse for me.

    Also, as others, disapointed that their is no mention of table tennis, as I am looking forward to that.

  • Spooke #22 3 years ago

    Poor Review. This is happening too often EG. Too often.

  • Darren #23 3 years ago

    @Spooke - Poor comment... this happens all too often... ;)

    Seriously though, it would be nice to know why you thought EG's review was poor.

  • sneetch #24 3 years ago

    @gamingdave
    All of these games are charming enough for 10 minutes, and likely to gain a few fans willing to play them longer than that"

    So they are only charming for 10 minutes, and yet you played it all weekend?!

    It's his job.

    And read again, he said all the games are fun for 10 minutes and it's likely that some people are willing to play them longer than that. For example, he spent hours playing archery.

  • Eighthours #25 3 years ago

    Christian, how on earth you haven't mentioned the best event (table tennis) even once is beyond me, it really is.

    It's the most effective implementation of Motion Plus in the game (holding the bat for the first time and seeing how it reacts to your movements is Motion Plus's first real money shot) and you haven't written a single word about it! I try not to huff and puff about EG reviews willy-nilly, but this omission is criminal.

  • Spooke #26 3 years ago

    it's all been said above. I actually rate EG's reviews over Edge but all too often they are becoming too brief and missing out the obvious questions we want answered.

  • darc #27 3 years ago

    "Poor Review. This is happening too often EG. Too often."

    This looks like a job for metacritic/ amazon. ;)

    The review gives me an overall sense of the quality of the release (exactly what I expected, it turns out), but yah, I'm left with a lot of questions.

  • gamingdave #28 3 years ago

    @sneetch, from reading the review, he didnt play Skydiving so much because "its his job" he played it because he found it so enjoyable. He seems to brush over the enjoyment far too quickly. Fails to mention Table Tennis, which from reading arround is the best part, and makes no mention of the motion plus improvements.

    The whole thing reads as a single player review, of what undeniably is a multiplayer game. So what if there are no league tables, no online tables, no reason to better your own score. When you have a group of friends round that doesnt matter. Sure, you want to win, and you want revenge for the losses, but thats when the "just one more go" side of gaming comes in.

  • Eighthours #29 3 years ago

    It's brilliant in multiplayer, incidentally (like that was ever in doubt), but there's a lot more to it in singleplayer than before. The sheer number of modes for a start - 2 or 3 for pretty much every event.

    That being said, it's not a "brilliant" single player game by any means. But it is a fantastic multiplayer experience.

  • Darren #30 3 years ago

    So is this game playable without the motion plus add-on then, say, if you have two or three people playing the game and only one add-on?

  • Eighthours #31 3 years ago

    So is this game playable without the motion plus add-on then, say, if you have two or three people playing the game and only one add-on?

    I'm pretty sure it doesn't let you use any controller without the Motion Plus add-on.
    Edited by 1 at 14/07/09 @ 15:46

  • jonsaan #32 3 years ago

    Sounds great. And a little like DOA Xtreme if I might say so!

  • jonsaan #33 3 years ago

    IS the Golf any different? A different course? More than one? Details EG!

  • Tonka #34 3 years ago

    The Mii on the front page picture look like me. Scary.
    /turns off the wander mode

  • spammage #35 3 years ago

    "I actually rate EG's reviews over Edge"

    Are you on drugs?

  • siro #36 3 years ago

    7 out of 10 seems off to me. This is the game that made me finally buy a Wii after playing it for half an hour. I should get the game itself on Friday. :)

    Table Tennis is just too awesomely well done.

  • Spooke #37 3 years ago

    he he I know but often Edge becomes a little too highbrow, they don't especially cater for someone who isn't going to explore every cave and just drop in and enjoy a game for half an hour.

    I like EG reviews because, until recently, they were much more about the everyday gamer. But recently they have become too brief.

  • Doi-Oing #38 3 years ago

    Is anybody else able to guess what EG will give a game out of 10 within the first paragraph?! Their marks are becoming very predictable. I even guessed a 7 before reading any of this one!

  • Eighthours #39 3 years ago

    IS the Golf any different? A different course? More than one? Details EG!

    There are 18 holes now - 9 new ones and the original 9 from Wii Sports. You can play it as one big round, two 9 hole courses, or divide it up into 3 hole chunks. You can also play them with the frisbee.

    Motion Plus allows you to put draw or fade on your shot, accidentally or on purpose, and the motion recognition is better. However, Tiger Wood shows it up in terms of sheer level of content and how in-depth the golf is (though disc golf on Tiger doesn't feel as good as it does on this).

    As for the other returning game, Bowling is as good as ever. There's a new 100 pin mode, which is ace, and a mode that puts obstacles in the lane (with trickier obstacles for the player in the lead).
    Edited by 2 at 14/07/09 @ 16:34

  • nickthegun #40 3 years ago

    I cant believe there has been no mention of the golden shower event. Its the sexiest thing in the whole game.

  • Mugwum Verified Operations Director, Eurogamer Network #41 3 years ago

    Hi guys. I asked Chris if he had anything to say on table tennis, and he didn't mind adding something in, so I've updated the review. To save you looking it up, "Table Tennis is an excellent game, genuinely tense as rallies progress, and one of the handful which really benefits from increased sensitivity, as the angle of the bat really counts." The only reason that didn't make it in was length, as he had already described several of the games he really liked, and the review was already longer than most.

    As for commentary on the MotionPlus, there's likely to be more of that on Digital Foundry soon, but as Chris says, it's more precise, allowing for the types of adjustment that wouldn't typically be possible with a regular Wiimote.

  • hawkkiwi #42 3 years ago

    check out
    http://wiifolder.co m/video-tours/ for some good viseos of the game
    from what I have seen it is a insant buy here ,
    don't worry me that they gave it a 7.
    but for a game where alot of people would be intrested in they should have gone into alot more detail about the games
    I think I might have to find some other places to get my reviews from

  • dbranchevans #43 3 years ago

    The ING review is vastly superior, the reviewer seems to understand what made Wii Sports fun. Its been pointed out numerous times in the comments but the EG review is really quite poor. Shame

  • dbranchevans #44 3 years ago

    Ha IGN

  • Spooke #45 3 years ago

    "and the review was already longer than most. "

    Do you have a word limit? It's the internet you know, you don't have to print onto paper and sell it in shops!

    I think most of us here would have happily read a 4 page review as it such an important release.

  • lemonfist #46 3 years ago

    Besides, a lot of the big-name releases are already three pages, so why not this one?
    Edited by 1 at 14/07/09 @ 16:57

  • smoothpete #47 3 years ago

    I have genuinely grown to hate the Wii over the last year or so. I was happy to give it the benefit of the doubt for a while but its become such a joke of a console now.

  • Brodie #48 3 years ago

    I think most of us here would have happily read a 4 page review as it such an important release.

    It is? :-/

  • JahB #49 3 years ago

    what's with all the review hate and the negative karma for everybody that says anything remotely anti-wii??

    let's be honest here people, it's yet another minigame collection. brilliant as it may be, realistically speaking it can't measure up to the games that get 10's and 9's around here.

  • Sid-Nice #50 3 years ago

    The ING review was the Idiotic Nintendo Gamer.

    Why did I have to Resort to this?

  • canIdoyabombsforya #51 3 years ago

    @sniper_fox
    So what if Sony and MS copy the Wiimote. Where will they pull a mario galaxy, twilight princess, mario kart or Wii sports from?
    Do people really want Nintendo to start selling consoles at £299 or £425 with the focus on PC like graphics and games?
    @£179 I'm happy to play Wi sports and Wii Sports 2 every holidays for fun with the family. It's been worth every penny.

  • jonsaan #52 3 years ago

    Thanks Eighthours!

  • smelly #53 3 years ago

    "Is anybody else able to guess what EG will give a game out of 10 within the first paragraph?"

    its a meaningless number - get over it.

  • smelly #54 3 years ago

    "I feel Nintendo have been really lazy this gen and are using controls in place of game content and quality. "

    Come back when you can show me the huge long list of 1st party games which microsoft have made (which arent shooters), then tell me nintendo is lazy.

  • smelly #55 3 years ago

    Quote from the review : "Will I still be doing it a month from now? Sadly I suspect that I won't, and that's where the Nintendo Effect meets the Wii Sports Effect."


    Now call me picky, and im gonna upset some fanboys here - but wtf... but didnt this site give (for example) bioshock 10/10? And that's a game i completed in a couple of days and wasnt playing one month later.... Whereas the original wii sports keeps getting bought out at parties and stuff....

    Surely therefor this game has POTENTIAL (dunno for sure, i've not played it yet) to last LONGER than certain high scoring single player fps games?

  • smelly #56 3 years ago

    "have some great 1st party titles such as crackdown forza gears etc.. "

    Erm.. I think you misunderstand what the words "first party" mean...

  • owl #57 3 years ago

    hello eighthours, have you finished your novel yet?

  • Canyarion #58 3 years ago

    I don't get it.
    Big epic games get 3 page reviews, but for the sequel to the biggest selling game ever they think 2 page is already long.

  • the_dudefather #59 3 years ago

    Why don't Eurogamer just rate Wii games Nintendo/10 and you can decide if it's THE BEST THING EVER or DOGSHIT SANDWICHES

  • Eighthours #60 3 years ago

    hello eighthours, have you finished your novel yet?

    Only a couple of years ago. Keep up! :)

  • Waffleaber #61 3 years ago

    The reviewer didn't like wii sports boxing. I can't trust a damn word of this review.

  • Canyarion #62 3 years ago

    Pfff, how about some punctuation and capital letters? :-(

  • Futaba #63 3 years ago

    I've turned my wii on about 5 times this year maximum :(

  • GingerNathan #64 3 years ago

    "nice too see my posts are as popular as usual -33 if it reaches 50 im gonna string myself up you GUTLESS WII loving fanboys pfff.."

    I don't think it has anything about Wii fanboys being 'gutless'!?, your comments really don't make sense, simply full of contradictions, misconceptions, assumptions and things which just simply aren't correct. Please stop telling people what a 'proper' game or console is, and how 'true' gamer are supposed to think.

  • Rodchenko #65 3 years ago

    And it would help if you would put a fucking space after your sentences. Like this.not like this.

  • secombe #66 3 years ago

    Poor review, can't argue with the score as I haven't played it, but I'm not actually any clearer on the game having read this.

    The odd thing is, everyone I know in real life with a Wii still plays Wii Sports, so the review lost me almost immediately when it said that they probably wouldn't still be playing it in a month. Talk about misjudging the audience.

    We've had two stunning uses of M+ already so far, how does it compare to TW10 and GST? Assuming it at least matches the intuitive nature of those controls, and gives us more of what made Wii Sports great, I'm sticking this in the "must buy" box.

    If the Wii has taught me one thing, it's to trust the collective judgement of a load of people who've played it over on the forum on here rather than any reviews (or in the case of many Wii games - such as TW10 no review at all.)

  • electrolite #67 3 years ago

    "I have genuinely grown to hate the Wii over the last year or so. I was happy to give it the benefit of the doubt for a while but its become such a joke of a console now."

    Now I admit I don't follow gaming as closely as I used to, but looking at the Wii reviews on here and metacritic, it seems to have done pretty well over the last few months?!!?

  • Caspar_Esq. #68 3 years ago

    Christ on a bike, I SAID that Karma was a bad idea, but would anybody listen? Noooo.....

    Now we have to suffer deluges of clicking on the minus button if you so much as say anything less than 100% positive...

  • secombe #69 3 years ago

    Now we have to suffer deluges of clicking on the minus button if you so much as say anything less than 100% positive...

    Big difference between constructive criticism and mindless ranting. The vast majority of these hidden negatives are apparently from people who have no interest in the Wii, and only jump into comments threads when a game gets a 'bad' score (note how the Grand Slam Tennis review is strangely absent of these rants)

    Considering very few (if any) of these guys have played it, they aren't actually adding anything to the discussion.

  • Darren #70 3 years ago

    Wow, Wii Sports Resort contains the equivalent of ONE whole golf course, a made-up one at that which reuses 50% of the holes from the previous game. If you got fed up of the ones from the first game then only half the holes are going to be of interest in the sequel.

    Anyone else get a sense that Nintendo have been very mean here? Why not THREE new courses, why not SIX? It's not like these courses are licensed?!? Tight gits.

  • spekkeh #71 3 years ago

    It is? :-/

    Yah. Whether you like the game or not, Wii Sports (the first one) has probably been the most important thing to happen to the game industry since, well, Donkey Kong.

    It may be too rash to say this, having not played the game and, because of the review not very enticed to buy it either, but the reviewer too still doesn't seem to have grasped the importance.

  • MDL199 #72 3 years ago

    I expect a lot of girls and gay people will enjoy this game.

    In other words the Wii's dominant audience will love this shower of shit!

  • secombe #73 3 years ago

    It may be too rash to say this, having not played the game and, because of the review not very enticed to buy it either, but the reviewer too still doesn't seem to have grasped the importance.

    I don't think it really matters (this review, that is), 99% of people on here dislike the Wii anyway, the rest calmly discuss Wii games in the forum.

    The majority of people buying this won't even be reading the reviews anyway, EG's half-hearted effort of including the Wii on this site at all is questionable.

  • MDL199 #74 3 years ago

    spekkeh
    14/07/09 @ 22:33

    Yah. Whether you like the game or not, Wii Sports (the first one) has probably been the most important thing to happen to the game industry since, well, Donkey Kong.
    ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------

    Nurse, nurse we've got a fucking live one here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Wii sports is a pile of steaming shit.
    Edited by 3 at 14/07/09 @ 22:50

  • smelly #75 3 years ago

    >and published by MS

    The point was that someone (you?) said that nintendo were lazy because they dont develop enough games.. my point was that they actually develop a HELL of a lot of games, as well as publish other peoples (which is all microsoft do)

    see?

  • smelly #76 3 years ago

    "not advanced the medium on any level like a bioshock halo"

    Erm.. next time you're trying to make a point, dont list 2 mediocre fps games.

  • TravisTouchdown #77 3 years ago

    In the last 7 days I've spent 10 hours+ with Marion and Sophia at the Special Games. On the DS. Some years back this would have troubled me. Now, I'm excited about rubbish things making me happy.

    Resort will be lush. xxx

  • BadBoyBonner #78 3 years ago

    After playing on this - I'd wager Nintendo don't expand their "mini" games too much as they would just end up trouncing the competition.

    Case in point - The throw away first to 6 points game of table tennis in SR is leagues ahead of Grand Slam Tennis by EA - it's much closer to how I imagined M+ working, rather than the borked implementation by EA (which effectively just has you make gestures to implement the 8 directions of a joystick - SR spin, power and direction of ball should be studied by EA at length). While corners are still cut in Ninty's interpretation - it outshines the full price EA title while being nothing more than one game of 12. Two player is brilliant with single player opponents displaying the shots you should be able to pull off - but probably can't yet.

    I'd say Wii Sports was a 10/10 - something that genuinely changed the gaming landscape. This is an strong 8 to weak 9. It refines the concept, offers more but ultimately leaves you thinking it should have been doing this all along.

    Looking at the 3 year old youtube vids of Airplane on Wii makes you almost feel that Nintendo possibly removed the gyroscope to add at a later date - pretty sure they didn't but I think most agree they should have had it in already at the price you pay for the overclocked Gamecube tech.

    Only real mark against this is that by the time you have bought 1 wiimote (£30) 2 nunchucks (£40) and 2 motion pluses (£50) - you could have bought a 360. Nintendo are certainly the king of fleecing - when you throw in the Wii Fit weighing scales and Mario Kart Wheels - it's nearly up to the price of new a PS3. That said, the Wii is still offering unique gaming experiences and with M+ the possibilities are extended further i.e. Zelda implementing the sword fighting, archery, boomerang-Frisbee throw technique etc.

    Sports Resort IMO is another must have social game for when friends/couples/family pop round for the day/evening - worth every penny with the included M+ add for the entertainment it will provide.
    Edited by 1 at 15/07/09 @ 00:10

  • Charlie_Miso #79 3 years ago

    Just adding to the WTF comments on this review having a word limit as it's not a 'proper' release to justify the 3 page treatment. Lame.

  • spekkeh #80 3 years ago

    MDL199
    Wii sports is a pile of steaming shit.

    Even then, that doesn't change the fact that it is the most important game since Donkey Kong. It's certainly the best selling one. I would dare to say that if it wasn't for Wii Sports or the Wii, many of the games you'd like to play would've come under heavy Germany-like banning laws. Instead, many of the traditional non-game demographic (and especially in the Games for Health and scientific area I operate in) are still going batshit insane over Wii Sports three years on.

  • Toothball #81 3 years ago

    Oh, this has made me want to play Pilotwings again.

  • KevRuss #82 3 years ago

    Seeing as the review explains the game exactly as I expected it, I would say it was fair.

    Is this really all Nintendo can come up with? I really wanted this to be a real trooper of a game but I can already tell that I`l spend £40 on it and play it on and off for about two weeks then never touch it again. I`l save my money. Sorry Ninty fans.

  • Rufus #83 3 years ago

    Travistouchdown:

    +1

    My sister and I still play WarioWare: Touched! on the DS all the time, a year after I bought it. And the games last 5 seconds on that (less if you're on the Yellow Bear Mix). I share your sentiments!

    Plus it has one of the greatest multiplayer games ever: Pong Ping. Two players on the same DS. One button each. Yet still so much fun.

  • Dave #84 3 years ago

    Tom walks in on Chris while he's (still) skydiving in Resort.

    Tom: Chris, our readers are saying you didn't add anything about Table Tennis or the WMP in the Wii Sports Resorts review. Can you explain?
    Chris: *mutters* Press A to continue, I AM pressing A! *presses A frantically*
    Tom: Chris!
    Chris: Eh? Oh er, hi Tom. What?

    Skydiving has begun again, so Chris tries to look at Tom and the TV at the same time. A contest Tom loses.

    Tom: Tabletennis? WMP?
    Chris: Tabletennis? Not as good as skydiving.
    Tom: I can't say that! Give me something I can work with!

    Chris is talking softly to the other skydiving Mii's onscreen, while an occasional cry of pleasure escapes.

    Tom: Chris, I have to give the readers some more info and update your review.

    Chris starts to smile in a crazy way before the camera, although the Wii doesn't really have a camera.

    Tom: Chris! Are you even here?
    Chris: 10 points. Press A to continue. 10 points. Press A to continue. I AM pressing A!

    Tom sighs, closes the door behind him and walks over to his own computer. After a few minutes he starts typing:

    Hi guys. I asked Chris if he had anything to say on table tennis, and he didn't mind adding something in, so I've updated the review. To save you looking it up, "Table Tennis is an excellent game, genuinely tense as rallies progress, and one of the handful which really benefits from increased sensitivity, as the angle of the bat really counts."
    Edited by 1 at 15/07/09 @ 10:53

  • mezzomorto #85 3 years ago

    Re the inclusion of another version of Golf in WSR, apparently there were no plans to do so until Miyamoto mistakenly made a reference to how the golf club swing would be improved during a WSR press conference.
    Instead of issuing a correction, they decided to go ahead and quickly added it to the mix.

    Apologies for being a bit vague but it was a news item I read in Kotaku.com a few weeks ago. Was going to link it but their site seems to be acting up.

  • jmg123 #86 3 years ago

    @ farticusmaximus

    I still play Wii Sports almost weekly with the lads, sounds like this will be another staple for friday nights!
    So farticus I take it that this means you will now be doing watersports with the lads on friday night? how apt.
    Edited by 1 at 15/07/09 @ 12:19

  • Dan234 #87 3 years ago

    Find it hard to believe EG turned down the chance of having three pages of review instead of two, since page views are what it's all about.

  • electrolite #88 3 years ago

    "Wii sports is a pile of steaming shit."

    "Nurse, nurse we've got a fucking live one here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"


    Right way round you see

  • smelly #89 3 years ago

    @KevRuss : "but I can already tell that I`l spend £40 on it and play it on and off for about two weeks then never touch it again. I`l save my money"


    Yeah.. save your money for the next fps game which comes out, which you can complete in a day and never play again. Much better purchase

  • smelly #90 3 years ago

    >since page views are what it's all about.

    getting fanboys moaning in the forums that this isnt yet another bland shooter is what its all about surely?

  • malloc #91 3 years ago

    "you're left with the feeling that a gratuitously talented company has thrown together some casual brilliance, but stopped shy of expending too much real effort"

    Nice quote. I would say fair play to Nintendo for a tleast trying to be a bit more imaginative than trying to do a by the numbers Wii Sports 2. Starting to get a little keen to get a game, seems a while since I've got one for the Wii, so may give it a go.

  • zakrocz #92 3 years ago

    "Yah. Whether you like the game or not, Wii Sports (the first one) has probably been the most important thing to happen to the game industry since, well, Donkey Kong."

    Agreed, it was unlike anything us gamers had experienced before & I'm pretty confident Resort will comfortably go on to sell 10 million units + over the next couple of years :D

  • KevRuss #93 3 years ago

    @Smelly.

    I Generally dont do FPS but to take your example:

    I have other things in life so I have never sat down and finished a game in one swoop. I would have a couple or three hours a night on and off, trying to get involved in the game. Feeling the immersion. Bio shock, for example, I must have had 20 - 25 hours out of it and I look back on the experiance with joy, thinking I was in gaming heaven wondering what was coming next. This (wii sports resort) is just something to pass the time with rather than an "experiance".

    Now, you brought up the example not me, personally, I wouldnt have done because they are two totally different games and shouldnt be compared. I like Wii sports and the fact I rarely play it is now insignificant as I have had more then enougth time on it since its original purchase and generally not alone. The point is, this is pretty much more of the same, as far as I can see. Nothing new in it really. Nothing inventive and that is why I wont be buying it, sorry MY opinion doesnt match yours but life would be a bit boring if it was eh! It was nice of you to try and be clever, but you failed.

    Its totally down to preference and for soft/casual gamers and the younger generation go for it. Its not that bad value when the M+ is included and if you want more of the same with tweaks its a game for you. Remember when Wii sports came along it was something we had never seen before, and it wasnt the content that made it. Without the wii mote it would have been pathetic. The question is, with similar average content does the M+ give wii sports resort the extra buzz it needs to carry it through and remain enjoyable. In my opinion, its not worth my £40. Especially as I already have the M+.
    Edited by 1 at 16/07/09 @ 11:32

  • smelly #94 3 years ago

    >It was nice of you to try and be clever, but you failed.

    Hey, dont look at me. You think bioshock was a good game, thus negating any argument you mightve had.

  • KevRuss #95 3 years ago

    @smelly,

    yeh I do rate it and its one of the very few first person games I have played, hence why I referenced it (which sort of trumped your point dont you think).
    From what I have read, its also classed as one of the best games of this generation. You are in a minority to think its not. Sorry.
    Besides, you yet again fail to look over the broader point of my post. Nevermind. Tootle on and back to the topic of Wii sports resort.

    Comparing the two is not in question.
    Edited by 1 at 16/07/09 @ 16:50

  • smelly #96 3 years ago

    >Comparing the two is not in question.

    I wasnt comparing products. I was comparing reviews. Maybe mentioning a game name was a bad idea (as it upsets some people to "slag off" a game on their console) - so i'll try again without mentioning any names.

    One game is a short (overrated imho - i actually preffered the 4 letter "h" game) single player experience which when you've finished it in a few hours - there's not much reason to go back to it - but yet (as you point out) it gets 10/10. The other is a fun multiplayer experience which will probably be bought out at parties on a regular basis and keep doing so a year from now - but yet the reviewer says it's shallow and not one you'd pick up again after a month.

    I'd argue that perhaps the reviewer was reviewing from a single player perspective - and not taking into account that a lot of us have non-game-playing mates who regularly come back with us after the pub who enjoy playing something simple for a laugh (be it singstar, guitar hero or wiisports).

    And for that reason (for me) this is a must-buy.. The only pisser is knowing i have to buy more than one motion plus, when i'd have preferred it if nintendo sold them for cheap - say $5 to make sure everyone got them!


    Edited by 1 at 16/07/09 @ 21:26

  • secombe #97 3 years ago

    The only pisser is knowing i have to buy more than one motion plus, when i'd have preferred it if nintendo sold them for cheap - say $5 to make sure everyone got them!

    Wii Sports Resort with M+ is only £30 on Argos with the pre-order discount code. Considering I already have Grand Slam Tennis, it's been a fairly cheap way to get multiplayer M+ and two games.

  • KevRuss #98 3 years ago

    @smelly, I do own a wii (as you can tell by my previous comments) so I aint trying to stick up for one console or another.

    I`m not laying into the game is a complete waste of space either. It was just my perspective of this next supposed flagship Wii release, not being as inventive as I would have thought. Some of the things seem to be similar to what we saw in sonic at the olympics and then theres stuff like frisbee throwing? As you say though, ideal for having a few mates around after a beer on stuff like the Archery. Not sure about how interesting most of them would be though with a belly full of beer. The original rayman rabbid game was good for that because of the humour. 7 is not that bad a score m8.

    ps:£30 at Argos for this and a M+ is a bargain. I do agree though, the M+ units are too expensive to buy alone. £10max should have done it.

    Agree to disagree on this one. Enjoy it though.........cos at the moment I dont seem to be playing much at all!!
    Edited by 1 at 17/07/09 @ 09:04

  • smelly #99 3 years ago

    "It was just my perspective of this next supposed flagship Wii release"

    Nah.. I see it as a free game you get with the motion plus as a tech demo of what it can do.

    At the price it is at.. why not?

    My ONLY fear about the M+ is how long the batteries last? It was bad enough in the old wiimote?

  • ph101 #100 3 years ago

    expected 10 on this so disappointed. Also disappointed this review doesn't really describ the mechanics of fencing and table tennis. How does the motion plus impact this?Fencing was originally touted as 1:1 sword play. Well? Is it? How does table tennis motion tracking compare to EA grand slam or virtua tennis. Can you spin, slam etc? After this review, i'm afraid I dunno!

  • layleeloo #101 3 years ago

    The thing I am pissed off at is THE GAME IS NOT AVAILABLE AS STAND ALONE.

    Therefore us people who bought 2 motion plus devices on launch are being penalised for loyalty as we will have to pay more for the pack to get a 3rd motion plus device you will never bloody use. Its ridiculous.

    Grand slam tennis was available stand alone so why is this not. I know GST you could use the normal controller but surely they know that there are those of us who have had 2 devices all along

  • slayaz #102 3 years ago

    but will my 8 and 5yr old love it?

    That's what i need to know!

  • el_vicio #103 3 years ago

    Well, we had a blast playing it yesterday - loving it so far.
    I got the feeling they held out on proper tennis in favour of a future Mario Tennis, and god, do I hope that there's a Pilot Wings in the making...

  • Benraiben2k #104 2 years ago

    I am not a fan of party games as such (asides from Mario Party 1/2!), but I do think Sports Resort is actually pretty good fun. It isn't as such good fun alone, but with friends it really is good to do archery and sword fighting. Alone I enjoy Wakeboarding and using the Airplane, it reminds me of Pilotwings. Stop being mierable you people hating on it and have a little fun. There is still plenty of time in your life to enjoy the other games you enjoy as well.