Not the best game to get for the Wii, but hey, at least it comes with a free controller, eh?
You can pick up Wii Play for ?35 with a Free Controller, but I like to think of it as a controller with a ?5 game, because I wouldn’t pay a penny more for this on its own.
Wii Play is one of those games which Nintendo built to show how the Wii remote could be used during E3. All of those demos are then bundled into a game, and sold to the consumer, along with promises of a Free controller, just because they’re unlikely to actually buy the game without one.
Imagine this: rather than throwing the demos in the bin, they fed the scraps to the dog. Now, instead of just giving the scraps to the dog, Nintendo charge the dog for the scraps he’s about to eat, so they don’t lose money on what they made; and that’s basically what Nintendo have done with Wii Play to the consumer.
The game features the Mii’s with a bit of a body upgrade. As opposed to being the ball handed freaks we’re used to, they now look more like Lego Men… and if I’m perfectly honest, that’s 10x better than the current Mii’s bodies.
Shooting Range:
Set in a field and frequently has ducks flying past (Ahhh, Duck Hunt), the shooting range has several stages with different tasks, such as shooting balloons, targets, tin cans and UFOs. Whilst some of these are really easy, others are more difficult. Whilst some are fun, others are boring. Shooting Range is a trade off, and you’ll find you get sick of playing it, but for some reason, you’ll always return to play it again, and again.
Find Mii:
At the beginning of the stage, you will be given a criteria, such as ‘Find 2 look-alikes’ or ‘Find the odd ones one’, at which point you’ll be given a screen full of random Miis, and you need to find the appropriate Mii. Each round, they’ll be doing something different, such as swimming, or floating in space, or be on an escalator, and even sit in the dark. Whilst this sounds fairly boring, it’s generally more fun than most of the games, but has it’s moments of frustration and boredom. Still, you’ll find you will keep coming back to play, over and over.
Ping Pong / Table Tennis:
This is an occasion where it’s a complete bother for me to write something about this.. In fact, it’s so poor it doesn’t even deserve a mention, but I’ll give it one anyway. There is nothing that stands out at all about this game, it’s just ping pong… You move the cursor holding the paddle to the right place, tap it a little, and that’s about it… BOR-RING.
Pose Mii:
Some catchy music that certainly sticks in my mind, and seems to gel well with the theme of the game. This game makes use of the Wii pointer and the ability to rotate the remote. The object of the game is to rotate your controller which has a cursor of your Mii, and change your Mii’s pose to suit the bubble, which will in turn, pop the bubble. Score is accumulated through each bubble burst, and a bonus is given for perfect score.
Laser Hockey:
A stunning game, with nice effects and sounds, ruined by poor use of the Wii remote. Laser Hockey lets you use the remote to move your paddle, but as soon as you go off screen, the frustration kicks in.. This game would be excellent if the Wii remote lets you track your way around the perimeter of the screen, instead, it makes the paddle stationary, and then moans that you’re not on screen, meanwhile, the ball flies straight into your goal, whilst you franticly attempt to find your position on screen.
Billiards:
Nine-ball billiards isn’t everyone’s game, but is one that a single player can play. This game can be frustrating to play, especially for those unfamiliar with the rules of nine-ball, and for novices and professionals. After lining up the cueball, and selecting where you want to hit the cueball, you pull back on the remote, and push forward to strike. The bad news is, that this doesn’t make good use of the motion sensor inside the controller as it uses the pointer… Guess what this means? Well, if you really want to sock the ball hard, chances are you’ll end up doing a barely noticeable shot.. If you’re not lined up with the sensor bar when you push forward, the whole thing messes up and you either don’t hit at all, or do a completely wimpy shot which barely moves the cueball. This is absolutely frustrating, for anyone playing the game, and I’d like to understand Nintendo’s reasoning behind using the sensor bar to strike over the motion sensor.
Fishing:
The graphics are crude 2D cut out fish that you have to catch on a rod. When the fish bites, you lift up the controller to land the fish… Pretty easy. This game makes good use of the controllers ability to control depth through the Wii Pointer (unlike Nine-ball) and the sensors to indicate how low the lure is. Whilst this game isn’t graphically appealing, it certainly is enjoyable to play.
Charge:
This game lets you ride on a knitted cow.. The aim of the game is to ‘drive’ the cow and knock down as many scarecrows as possible, whilst travelling down a curved road, dodging or jumping over obstacles. While a lot of fun can be had, the controls can be a bit hard to handle. Lean left and right to move left and right, and tilt the controller forward to move the cow. To make the cow jump, raise the controller high. This demonstrates how the controller can be used to steer and accelerate in racing games. Not a perfect game, but it’s still fun from time to time.
Tanks:
The only game that requires a nunchuk. Drive a toy tank around using the analogue stick, using the on screen pointer to fire towards your enemy. This game has a rich toy box feel with some of the best graphics on Wii Play.
Overall:
Worth ?5, and not a penny more.. If you don’t get a controller offered, think twice about buying this game.
It has support for 2 players, but the games are no different, they're just shorter or time bound.
It would be unfair of me to judge this game by the usual criteria, since some of the games show great graphics, others poor...
So I’ll rate each game for its game play individually and replay value, along with multiplayer value.
Shooting Range:
Game Play: 7/10
Life Span: 7/10
Multiplayer: 7/10
Find Mii:
Game Play: 6/10
Life Span: 6/10
Multiplayer: 7/10
Ping Pong / Table Tennis:
Game Play: 2/10
Life Span: 2/10
Multiplayer: 3/10
Pose Mii:
Game Play: 7/10
Life Span: 7/10
Multiplayer: 8/10
Laser Hockey:
Game Play: 6/10
Life Span: 7/10
Multiplayer: 7/10
Billiards:
Game Play: 4/10
Life Span: 2/10
Multiplayer: 5/10 (more fun playing with a friend, than nobody)
Fishing:
Game Play: 8/10
Life Span: 8/10
Multiplayer: 8/10
Charge:
Game Play: 5/10
Life Span: 6/10
Multiplayer: 4/10
Tanks:
Game Play: 7/10
Life Span: 5/10
Multiplayer: 7/10
If you really have to, borrow this from a friend.. One or two mini-games are worth your attention, but it's still not worth ?35!
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