Wii Sports Resort Review

Written by: Steve Martin Posted: 4th August 2009

Share:

Digg It

Steve heads off for a sporty break.

Wii Sports Resort Details:

	Mini-game Compilation
	Nintendo Wii
	Nintendo
	Nintendo

Out Now

1-4

Two and a half years have passed since the Wii was launched with Wii Sports, a highly entertaining game that also acted as an introduction and technical demo of the new motion sensing control system. Now, Nintendo has released the sequel, Wii Sports Resort, this time the mission is to educate and show off the enhanced sensitivity when using the WiiMotion Plus accessory, but is it as entertaining and additive as its prequel?

The first thing I noticed was how much bigger this game was the number of events had grown to a healthy roster of 12, although a couple will be familiar, as bowling and golf have returned for a second outing. Impressively, each sport has been split into at least a couple of games to complete, for example sword fighting has three modes to play, duel, speed slice and showdown. Each mode uses the same control method but has different goals to win, which gives a bit of variety to the proceedings, it does seem to be good value for money even at the high price for the game and WiiMotion Plus dongle.

So is this new accessory the revolution that Nintendo are telling us it is, anyone who has read my review for Tiger Woods 10 on the Wii, will know that I praised it very highly, and once again I have been impressed by the extra sensitivity, and its most noticeable when you compare the two versions of bowling. On Wii Sports you were never sure whether your spin had been registered, and it was difficult to get just a touch of spin for those tricky split conversions. This time around, it feels much smoother and spinning is easier to judge, overall this new bowling makes the first game look antiquated by comparison.

Obviously, some events are going to be better than others, my personal favourite is the sword fighting, watching my Mii wield a katana in the same way as I am is awesome, and seeing this in action makes my mouth water for the next instalment of Zelda or Red Steel 2! Blocking is done by holding the B trigger and angling your blade to defend yourself, and attack by swinging the remote, you can even slice in diagonals. Showdown is a single player mode where you take on an army of Mii’s with only a 3 hit health bar, it is great fun to slice your way through your created Mii’s and watch them fall at your feet.

Other highlights are basketball, which has a 3-point contest mode and a 3 on 3 game mode. You shoot by swinging the remote up and then flicking your wrist, it works brilliantly and feels very natural. The 3 on 3 mode sees you trying to steal the ball with a swipe of the remote, and dribbling by shaking the remote low down, and you can even slam dunk if you get close enough to the basket, which is highly satisfying.

Frisbee is also worthwhile, with either a Frisbee throwing contest with a dog, where you are aiming for your dog to catch the Frisbee as close to a designated point as possible. You earn more points the closer you are. Canoeing also works well, with the actions mimicking the actual movement you would make in a real canoe, and with race modes is excellent fun. Cycling is alright, if a little tiring, you shake the remote and nunchuck to pedal, and if you shake faster you’re biker will sprint, but there is also a stamina bar, so you have to balance your speed and utilise your momentum whenever possible.

Many of the modes have a choice of difficulty settings so you can give yourself a challenge once you get used to the events, and this adds replay value, as does the reappearance of the level and points system from the original, as you increase in level your opponents become harder to beat, and once you hit 1000 points you gain pro status. A nice new addition are stamps which are like Xbox achievements and are awarding for completing certain criteria whilst playing, some are simple but others are much more challenging like getting a perfect bowling score of 300.

There are a couple of sports that aren’t as good, table tennis is a little dull in my opinion and the plane and skydiving events aren’t nearly as additive or as fun as the other sports. The new golf mode is disappointing and is the only event that seems hampered by the new accessory, as hitting a straight shot is very difficult, Tiger Woods does it better on this occasion!

The training mode has been dropped from the previous game but you won’t miss it as you’ll be too busy playing the new events to notice, each time a new player plays a new event, you get a short introduction and practise mode anyway.

The graphics have been reused from Wii Sports, but now that it all takes place on an island the scenery is much nicer. Mii’s are now more filled out then previously, with legs and arms rather than weird floating Rayman-like beings, and can often be seen wearing holiday gear, and their costumes often change depending on the sport. The animation is fluid and smooth, and the simple graphical style allows you to pay attention to what is going on on-screen.

The soundtrack includes an excellent reworking of the Wii Sports theme tune, each sport seems to have different background music and often it fits in well with the event being played. The usual sound effects are all here, and it’s all solidly done.

This is another excellent example of simple gameplay magic from Nintendo and is as essential to your collection as Wii Sports. With 3 friends, this is a fun and frantic game that will see everyone having a good time, and for the solo player there is still plenty to do and a whole island to explore. It retains the ability for anyone to pick it up and play, with simple, natural and obvious controls. The majority of the sports on offer are expertly designed and there is a good amount of variety to keep you entertained. Critics may argue that it is simply another mini-game compilation for the Wii, and is simply a reworking on the original Wii Sports, but when the games are this well designed and fun especially with more players, it is hard to be critical, the mantra of, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, springs to mind!