AliventiAsylum's Full Review: Wii Play (With BONUS Remote) for Nintendo Wii
When I purchased our Nintendo Wii Console, as part of the bundle it came with a few games. One of those was Wii Play. Since we had so much fun with the Wii Sports disc that accompanied the console, initially I thought this would be just as much fun.
Wii Play contains nine individual games on the disc. The first time they are played, they need to be done in order so as to unlock the ability to play the games as we choose. My daughter did this and unlocked the games for all of us. While I found the games to be amusing, it wasn’t anything that would hold my interest for long periods of time.
After playing it, my guess would be that Wii Play was designed to help new users adjust to using the Wii Remote. An additional remote comes with this game, and since some of the games can be played in multiplayer or two-player mode, that’s a good thing. Many of the actions I had to take in the games on Wii Play seemed to be geared toward teaching me how to use the Wii Remote to move the characters and move around the games in general.
The rewards of the games here are having your Mii shown as the high score. In addition, “medals” are given out which are shown with the Mii.
Shooting Range
This is sort of a take-off on Duck Hunt, which I can remember from my NES days. The skill here involves pointing the remote at the screen and pressing the A button to shoot the objects. It’s not strictly ducks, but also balloons, cans, and eventually aliens In their spaceships. Personally, I got more out of Duck Hunt
Find Mii
The various Miis of the game - including all of those created by your family - are used here as a way of searching for the two that are alike. In some cases, it changes to searching for the ones that are the odd ones out. It might sound easy, but it isn’t always! The game is timed and sometimes it can be quite difficult to figure out what the answer is, even when it is shown at the end. Picking the correct answer also adds time to the timer. This is a good way to develop the reflexes to react to what’s on the screen.
Table Tennis (Ping Pong)
Point the remote at the screen and move it around – the paddle does the actual swinging for you. There are techniques to hitting it just a certain way to change the direction of the ball. Helps with reflexes for higher-level games requiring a fast response time.
Pose Mii
There’s a Mii on the screen in a bubble and you have to use the pointer to change the pose of your Mii to be identical before the bubble falls off the screen. This felt like it helped gauge how to get the Wii remote to respond and where the best position was to use it.
Laser Hockey
Similar to air-hockey in many ways, or Pong for those of us who remember that far back. The game pits one person against the Wii, or two people against each other, as you try to get the puck in your opponent’s goal. This teaches twisting and turning the Wii remote to get the desired effect. I didn’t care for this as too often it felt like the paddle didn’t respond appropriately and became very frustrating. It also ended up being a game I played more often just to try to get it to work.
Billiards
The object is to sink the balls in order. The remote works to change the angle of the cue stick and intensity of the hit. It can get very frustrating trying to release the button while aiming to get the shot just the way I wanted it. There seemed to be a very fine line as to when the shot wouldn’t take at all and when I was overshooting the pocket.
Fishing
Use the remote to control the fishing pole in the water. Try to catch the fish that will score the most points, but watch out for the ones that deduct points! This helps with reflexes using the Wii remote as well.
Charge
It may sound strange, but I am the champion at riding the cow, which is what this game is all about. The remote gets turned sideways and I use it to guide the cow around the course as fast as possible while trying to knock down scarecrows for points. There are also hurdles to jump and it can be hard to get the cow to stay on the course. This one I mastered. Go ahead, lob you jokes at me. I can take it! It helps get the feel for different uses of the Wii remote, especially the jumping part.
Tanks
Move around the course and fire shells while trying to destroy enemy tanks. Just watch out as the shells can bounce off walls and you can end up killing yourself instead of the enemy.
The graphics on all of these games isn’t too impressive. It has the feel of an early 1980’s arcade game. The colors are all bright and vivid and the characters look quite cartoonish.
I’ve played Wii Play on and off for a few months. It’s not something that holds my attention for long periods of time like other games for the Wii. On the other hand, it’s something I can put down for a few months and then pick up again when I want to play something mind-numbing.
The biggest benefit is that you can get it packaged with a Wii Remote, giving you the additional remote. I think it’s a fun way for the novice to learn about using the Wii Remote, but Wii Play is not something I would go out and buy on its own. If it came with a bundle, it’s fine. They really should have done better after putting out such a spectacular gaming console. Right now, Wii Play and Wii Sports are the only games that use the Mii feature, and I like playing with them a lot.
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