The game begins with a surprisingly lengthy video on how to attach the MotionPlus. To me, this was overkill, but to my in-laws (who helped me review the game), the tutorial may be more necessary. After that, your Mii jumps out of an airplane and straight into the action: skydiving! The Remote represents your Miis body, and moving the controller in turn moves your Mii in mid-air. You can pitch toward other skydivers and try to link up with them, but after a few minutes, you land on Wuhu Island, where the action really starts. Resort has twelve distinct kinds of games, and each one can be played many ways.
Swordplay best represents the more accurate control afforded by the MotionPlus. You hold the Remote like a sword and go about slicing and dicing your opponent. Press B to enter a defensive stance and move your sword around to block your opponents blows. Correctly blocking an attack makes your opponent stumble for a second, during which time you can combo him to death. There are three variations: duel, in which two players try to push each other off a platform; speed slicing, where players compete to see who can slice objects the fastest in the correct direction; and showdown, where you battle dozens of enemy Miis but can only be hit three times. Showdown is by far the most fun, and winning unlocks different locations.
Frisbee is by far my favorite sport in the bunch (probably because I play a lot of Ultimate Frisbee). While it initially takes some getting used to, tossing a virtual Frisbee to a virtual dog quickly becomes second nature, and tilting the Remote this way or that adds slice and fade to your throw. Lifting or lowering the tip of the Remote determines how high and far your Frisbee goes. The goal of the game is to throw your disk at a target, and scoring is based on how close it lands. Popping balloons adds still more points. Frisbee may be the most technical game in the package, with its heavy reliance on tilt and pitch, as well as a horizontal throwing arm, to achieve success. Youll quickly unlock the other mode, Frisbee Golf (Frolf). In real life, you would toss a Frisbee of varying size toward and into a metal basket. Here, you need only throw your Frisbee through a target zone. Somewhat disappointingly, the Frolf courses are the same as the Golf courses, and theyre not really designed for Frisbee in the first place. Still, its a fun mode, and an experienced player can toss a lot of holes-in-one.
Table Tennis succeeds Wii Sports original Tennis game, and by and large, its the same game. Now, however, you have greater control over the balls spin. You can put some really wild spin on the ball, though you still cant control your characters movement. As Rockstars Table Tennis demonstrated, that might be a good thing. The games secondary mode is a contest to see how many balls you can return in a rowknocking down the ball canister earns bonus points. Whacking the server in the face is amusing, too.
Archery may be the most surprising inclusion, but it works beautifully and should be implemented in every Wii Zelda game down the road. You hold the Remote as you would a bow (vertically), and press A to center your view. Hold Z and pull back on the Nunchuk to ready your arrow, then take distance and wind speed into account, and release Z to fire your arrow at the target. Archery is basic, in that the sub-modes only add hazards like wind and moving targets, but these variations prove to be challenging. Archery may require the most practice to become proficient, but its very fun and rewarding once you get the hang of it.
There are three water sports, Wakeboarding, Canoeing, and Jet Skiing, and all of them feel more like work than fun. Wakeboarding is not as fun as it couldve been. You steer by tilting the horizontal Remote left and right, try to get big air over a wave, then pop the Wii Remote upwards to do an automated trick. Make sure the Remote is totally level when you land or you'll crash. Additional difficulties require dodging obstacles. Its not rocket science, and its simplistic premise didnt engage me. Canoeing is the most fun of three, but its slow-paced and more fun with more people. You hold the Remote in front of you and mime paddle motions to paddle your canoe. Left, right, left, right. The goal is to go an ever-increasing distance in a certain amount of time. Jet Skiing is the most disappointing, but I can see how it could turn into a Wave Race game with some tweaking. You hold the Remote and the Nunchuk in front of you, pointing toward each other. You tilt them both to steer and twist the Remote to get a speed boost. The goal here is to steer through a series of rings within a time limit; smaller rings are worth more points. Its fun, but the tilting feels off compared to other gamesnot quite as refined as, say, Wakeboarding. I blame the addition of the Nunchuk, which does not have a gyroscope.
Basketball is fun but could use some refinement. The main game is a 3-point contest where you grab a ball and try to sink it as quickly as you can. It feels like those arcade games where you grab a miniature basketball and toss it into a little basket. It definitely takes a lot of practice to become consistently good at this, and Im still at a loss as to recommend the best path to success. Its fun as a multiplayer bout, as is the 3-on-3 mode, where you pass the ball (with A or D-pad) to the A.I. teammates and mimic dribbling to get under the net, then press B and do that overhead toss to try a dunk (yes, your Mii can dunk). Theres very little strategy, aside from knowing when to block a shot attempt, but its fun overall.
Air Sports are the most interesting games on the disk, and they will instantly remind you of Pilotwings. They all involve holding the Wii Remote like a paper airplane. Weve already gone over Skydivingthe goal is to link up with other skydivers and stay in the center of the screen while a camera takes your picture. You are awarded points based on how many skydivers you were able to link up with. Island Flyover puts you in a cockpit and lets you casually fly around the island, trying to find bubbles to unlock new island features. Dogfight sounds cool, but its very limited. Two players (and only two players) fly around trying to shoot each other. This would be more fun if the planes were faster and more players were allowed to join in.
Cycling is the worst of the bunch. You move the Remote and Nunchuk alternatively like drum sticks to pedal, leaning them left or right to steer. Pedaling faster makes your Mii go faster, but doing so tires him out; stop pedaling and cruise to recharge your energy, or draft behind another cyclist to recover faster. The leaning doesnt work as well as it should, so accidental sharp turns are inevitable and annoying. Various courses are available, but with 30 other Miis taking up space on the road, its hard to win when youre juggling your energy level, drafting, and overcorrecting. Cycling just lacks polish and, frankly, a real fun factor. It belongs in Wii Fit instead of Resort.
Golf and Bowling are virtually identical to their Wii Sports counterparts. In fact, Golf recycles much of the original 18-hole course. The new hotness, of course, is that you can very easily add fade/slice to your golf ball and spin to your bowling ball. Bowling is largely unaffected by the changes and remains one of my favorite Wii Sports sports. Golf, however, has taken a hit: fading and slicing are too easily activated by the MotionPlus. One golf problem I was hoping would be corrected is the short putting: gentle motions with the Remote too often result in either a far too strong putt or no response at all. This is a problem with the sensitivity of the accelerometer more than anything else, though.
As a package, Resort's only real annoyance is that its constantly recalibrating the MotionPlus accessory. Before almost every game, youll be asked to lay down the Remote on a flat surface to calibrate. During games, if you ever find yourself needing to recalibrate (this happens sometimes in Golf and Swordplay), you press Down on the D-pad to go through the recalibration process again. I was surprised how often I had to recalibrate, which was kind of annoying, but in no way game-breaking. If anything, Im glad the game calibrates itself more often than not enough.
Resorts production values are right in line with Wii Sports/Play/Fit: bright and colorful, with simple structures and geometry. The water effects are nice, and characters seem to have some ragdoll physics (especially during the Swordplay games). And I love the Frisbee dog. Hes so cute! As always, you gain/lose experience based on how you play, eventually rising to "Pro" status once you hit 1000 points. Stamps are a new addition to the series; in a clear reference to Achievements and Trophies, you are awarded Stamps by doing certain things, like making a 100-pin strike in Bowling or a hole-in-one in Frolf. Unfortunately, the practicality of Stamps is nebulous: they show up on your Wii Message Board and are not communicated to your friends or anywhere else on the Internet. You cant even forward them to your friends. Thus, their impact is dulled.
I cant complain too much, though, because Stamps are a throwaway feature of whats otherwise a very robust and enjoyable collection of games made possible by Wii MotionPlus. Its my hope that developers take these basic ideas and run with them. We may see a new Wave Race or Pilotwings yet, and maybe LucasArts, after studying Swordplay, will give us a lightsaber Star Wars game worth talking about. As always, more people means more funbring your friends over for a party game thats just as enjoyable, if not more so (for more kinds of people), than Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I was lucky enough to review the game while my in-laws, who are not gamers, were visiting. We played every night, and they loved it. Nintendo is trying to reach the non-gamer audience, and Wii Sports Resort is just the prescription.
Pros:
Lastability: 9.0
Resort easily trumps Wii Sports, and even that had serious lastability. More variety, better control, and more game types drum up the replay factor. This will be your go-to party game for years, and it is certainly no slouch for the single player, either.
Final: 8.0
Wii Sports Resort and MotionPlus succeed in proving that the Wiis motion control dream is true, and it couldnt be better. Some may see Resort as a glorified tech demo, but thats missing the point. Its incredibly fun and inventive, and the games are simple enough that anyone can play and enjoy them.
Wasnt bowling in there again.. I have two questions for you..
1)Define Constant Recalibration
2)IN bowling, do the same strikes work that worked in the last game? i.e. I had 6 or so strikes that I could almost always make without looking at the Tv. Does the M+ correct that problem?
Thanks,
Jim
Wasnt bowling in there again.. I have two questions for you..
1)Define Constant Recalibration
Thanks,
Jim
In most games of the collection, MotionPlus adds an untouchable level of immersion.There's that word again. I'm going to take that to mean "precision".
I love that the "stamps" are in this game and I don't care that they can't be shared online. A first party Nintendo game features "achievements". Maybe that means they won't have too much pride to copy MS in the next console round.
So the calibration process is quick? When does the game ask you to put the wii remote down?
Many Wii game products are played, started, and stopped by pointing at the screen and you call it a problem? Why, I guess pressing A+B to begin Wii Bowling is a deal-killer for me. Maybe standing up is a deal-killer for me. Maybe waving my arms is a deal-killer for me. Maybe holding a controller is a deal-killer for me!
What the heck are you trying to accomplish in WII SORDS RESORT anyway? It's a basic kendo sim, not Jet Li's Weekend Kung Fu Ninja Bash.
And from Steak2 accounts, it's another faked implementation of sword movements, less proper than Resort. But since it's an FPS, you don't have to worry about having to "point back at the screen" every time, cuz it's recalibrating as you aim anyway! So it's insta-buy huh
Just saying that even if the calibration process exist its still better than what we have already seen in other consoles.
One other question, how about Tiger Woods, Virtua Tennis 09 and Grand Slam Tennis? How do they handle the calibration process?
It suddenly struck me that it's strange the "resting remote" calibration is technically needed at all. Games like Kororinpa already play fine and recognize the horizontal plane with the existing tech. Now I'm not sure what Lotion Puss is trying to zero-in on.
WHATS GOING ON
It suddenly struck me that it's strange the "resting remote" calibration is technically needed at all. Games like Kororinpa already play fine and recognize the horizontal plane with the existing tech. Now I'm not sure what Lotion Puss is trying to zero-in on.
WHATS GOING ON
One other question, how about Tiger Woods, Virtua Tennis 09 and Grand Slam Tennis? How do they handle the calibration process?
BTW, Wario Land: Shake It has achievement equivalents, too. Nintendo isn't against them, but doesn't seem interested in encouraging developers to (over)use them.
