Wii-Sports is the game that made the Nintendo Wii famous. It was available at launch and played a big part in communicating their unusual approach to games controllers to the wider public.
What Sort of Game is This?
Sports games recreate a wide variety of real life competitive games. Depending on the sport, these have either an action or strategy focus. Popular sports games are often released on an annual basis, each year the game receives new player rosters and general game improvements.
What Does This Game Add to the Genre?
Wii-Sports took the sports genre and made it interesting and enjoyable to a wider audience. It provides accessible versions of Tennis, Golf, Boxing, Bowling and Baseball.
Not only are the graphics easy on the eye, but the controls are designed around the real life actions. To hit the tennis ball you just swing the Wii-mote controller like a tennis racket, or to land a punch in boxing you swing your arm holding the Wii-mote or Nun-chuck. The result is a game that literally anyone of any age (four up) can pick up and play.
What do People Play this Game To Experience?
Standing in your lounge swinging the controller to land a perfect down-the-line tennis forehand is simply magic. Finally playing games with all the family, from grandparents to parents to children is something that stands out as pretty unique in the gaming world.
How Much Free Time is Required to Play It?
You need quite a bit of space to play the games multiplayer, and you need to watch out for lampshades when serving in Tennis or driving in Golf. The games last around 10 minutes each and can easily slot into the odd spare half hour. Players who want a longer experience can work on their ranking with repeat plays.
What Factors Impact on Suitability for Novice/Expert Young/Old Players?
The design of the game, the controls and the visuals make this an extremely easy game to pick up my pretty much any ability or age group. Being sports focused there are no themes to mention. It does include boxing, necessarily high impact but it sticks to its cartoon style throughout - no blood to speak off.. It's no surprise that this game started the Nintendo Wii revolution.
