WII Play is a game (or rather, set of games) that you'll get free with your Nintendo Wii or very cheap with a new remote (ours cost an extra two quid on top of the remote price). Basically it's a set of small games designed to help you get to grips with using the remote. While the games won't exactly set the world alight and you certainly wouldn't want to pay full price for them, some of them are quite fun and they do the hob they're intended to do rather well.

The WII remote is a pretty versatile beast and it gets used a number of ways here. I've only played these in two-player mode - one-player would be the same minus most of the fun. Each game you complete unlocks the next game. You get nine mini games in all, which are:

Shooting Range - well, it's what it says on the tin. Using the remote basically like a light gun (remember those?!?), you shoot stuff that comes on the screen - targets, skeets, cola cans, photos of your enemy etc. It's not great but it gets you used to the remote quite well (which I am now very familiar with, though I still don't feel comfortable using it as a mouse for menus).

Find Mii - you have to pick out matching faces and suchlike. This is somewhat pointless as a game put is quite challenging until you get used to controlling the remote.

Table Tennis - this is one of the more fun games in WII Play - it's a very basic table tennis game, but not bad as a quick two-player game. You move the bat and press the A button to serve. This game increases your special awareness - relating the position of the remote to something on screen - but isn't as fun as the tennis game in WII Sports.

Pose Mii - kind of like Tetris with people - you have to rotate the WII to make your character match the angle of shapes coming down from the screen. The only puzzle-type game of any real merit here, this isn't at all bad and even has some long-term potential.

Laser Hockey - not quite what I was expecting. Air / Magnetic Hockey is a fast and furious game, but Laser Hockey isn't anything like it... Still, I found it quite enjoyable in an odd sort of way. The very psychedelic graphics give it an odd feel and though it's not a fast game, it can still be quite challenging - particularly as your paddle rotates with the angle of the remote so you have to watch that as well as actually try to hit the puck in the right direction.

Pool - a little tricky to control (you pull the remote back and push it forward to shoot like a real cue) - only because of the way the game reacts to your remote's movements, you can't actually mimic a smooth cue action at all. Despite this it's quite fun, definitely the most technically challenging game of the set.

Fishing - now I've never fished, never felt the inclination on any level, or played a fishing game for that matter. It's never appealed to me - I mean, fishing is boring, right? This game though seems to be more like those kid's board games that have mini fishing rods and pop-up fish. A bit strange but kinda fun in a surreal way, and it introduces you to the vibration effects on the remote (it buzzes a little when a fish "nibbles" at the bait).

Charge! - er... well, in this one you race a cow, hit things (some on purpose for points, others by accident which slow you down) and jump over fences. As a quirky racing game it works very well, and is the only game that makes you use the WII sideways on (useful practice for when you play WII Mario Kart!!). I really liked this game but I would have liked it to be much longer than it was - you only get about a minute each time you play.

Tanks! - the only game the uses the nunchuk - this controls the tank's movement while the remote controls the angle of the turret, fires bullets (maybe missiles... but who cares?!) and drops landmines. Useful only to get you used to using the nunchuck (which I found surprisingly natural to use from the outset). Okay for a few goes.

So, basically what we have with WII Play is a series of very simple, short games that are fun for a few goes. If you are already happy using the remote, there's really no point you getting this. However for helping you get used to using it when you've just got your new WII (as we have), it's not bad. Therefore I'm giving it 3 stars and a recommended, but again it's not recommended for those already familiar with the WII's unique controller technology.

Recommended: Yes