Whee!!!!

Whee!!!

Whee!!!

Hardcore Reviews

What else is there? Well, we’re sorry to report that the event that you’d assume would probably be the best fit for MotionPlus is a big letdown. Yes, we’re talking about Swordplay. The control feels good in the sense that your movements correspond to responsive action onscreen, but the gameplay relies on high speed waggling and luck far more than skill, and the control isn’t actually 1:1, which means it’s less intuitive than it could be. So how does it work? Want to raise the ‘sword’ up to block an attack? You can’t just raise it up, you have to hold B to defend, which will then allow you to position it horizontally above your head.

When not holding B, you’re attacking and there’s no collision detection with your opponent’s sword unless he’s blocking. Even when he is blocking, the detection is simplistic – a horizontal block will deflect a vertical attack and vice versa. Hit an opponent’s sword when he’s blocking and you’ll be momentarily stunned, giving him a window to get a hit in. The problem is that you can move your sword so fast that successful blocks come down almost entirely to luck. There’s simply no way for a player to tell whether his opponent will attack horizontally or vertically (well, aside from against the computer, as they signpost their attacks), so your only option is to guess. Duels more often than not devolve into short-lasting waggle-fests. Wasn’t the point of MotionPlus to have less waggling?

–IGN AU Review

Moreover, Wii Sports Resort continues a nagging problem from its predecessor. Sometimes, it doesn’t allow you to completely control your avatar – that is, the character moves back and forth, left and right, automatically. Of course, that’s fine for beginners and players who don’t want to be bogged down by an additional control scheme, but my guess is that most players want to have full control over their character – being able to move around the platform in Swordplay, to turn left and right in Cycling without having the character turn by default as if it was fighting with you, to dribble around the court in Basketball, and to shift between the forehand and backhand side in Table Tennis. It’s understandable that the developers want to have players, no matter their experience level, to play with the same controls, but handholding players by force under the reason of “casual” is just lazy design.

Playing the game solo also doesn’t compare to playing it with friends and family (or strangers), a flaw that could have been partially mitigated if the Achievements Trophies Stamps system was made more transparent. No one in their right mind should like Achievement and Trophy lists that are completely secret, but that’s what the Stamps system does. It hides all the goals that you need to achieve to earn each Stamp. Furthermore, there doesn’t seem to be any point to collecting Stamps; they don’t unlock anything or reveal any special goodies, so they feel like an empty reward, Certificates of Participation written on digital paper.

–Game Revolution

Despite the focusing effect intended by Wuhu Island this still feels like a largely random collection of games.

The lack of depth was excusable in the original but here it feels like Nintendo is constantly holding back, with what seems an increasingly patronising view of casual gamers.

The games are undeniably fun but this still only scratches the surface of motion control’s true potential.

IN SHORT: A fun but shallow mini-game collection, whose hobbled simulations still make good use of the MotionPlus.

PROS: The Wii MotionPlus works superbly almost across the board. Excellent multiplayer and plenty of variety.

CONS: Cycling and frisbee are rubbish. None of the games have any real depth or lasting value.

-Gametext

Honestly, Nintendo really should have given us proper 1:1 control and slowed the gameplay down. We want epic swordfights where split second reactions count – not guesswork and random elements. Thankfully, the Swordplay mode doesn’t just consist of Duels. There’s also the Showdown mode, which pits you against a near-constant stream of enemies across a number of maps. This mode is fun to play using clean, decisive strikes… but it’s actually more effective to just waggle like crazy, occasionally blocking/deflecting when you come up against harder opponents.

-IGN AU

But as a spearhead for multiplayer madness kindness, Wii Sports Resort is yet another Nintendo outing that brings everyone together… to the tune of an additional $75 for three Wii Motion Pluses (on top of the $50 for Wii Sports Resort and the packaged Wii Motion Plus). So the inevitable question is whether you think $125 (perhaps more for additional Nunchuks) is a price that is worth the party, which will last for as long as a non-addictive but family-friendly casual game, much like the original Wii Sports.

In fact, just follow through your feelings on Wii Sports and you’ll be happy. None of the mini-games will make you want to come back to it unless you have enough people around who want to play local multiplayer and aren’t in the mood for Nintendo alternatives like Super Smash Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Kart Wii, Wii Play, and Mario Party 8. Wii Sports Resort fits into the rotation of party games, but it has the breezy weakness of being lost in the shuffle.

–Game Revolution

With the original Wii Sports, reviewers were very dismissive and hostile toward the game. “Trash,” they called it. Then Wii Sports ended up becoming the best selling game ever surpassing even the legendary Super Mario Brothers. You’d think more of them would have learned when it came time to review the sequel to Wii Sports.

And, in the end, gamers just respond to them by going, “Whee!”