WiiSports Resort: Why Do I Keep Chucking Money at Nintendo’s White Brick? Oh, Ya, Here’s Why…

Posted by ScuzzBuster

July 30, 2009

coveresort Had I not been intimately involved with enjoying some WiiWare titles along with being teased if not thrilled by my experience with the WiiMotion plus controller that came with Tiger Woods Assassination (see article from last month) I probably would have been extremely skeptical of the latest “big” release for the little white brick from Nintendo, WiiSports Resort. Not to short change WiiSports, but it was, after all, the game that came with the console. Even though it probably still remains one of the most popular titles on the console for that reason along with its obvious attraction as a party game, paying full price for a new WiiSports game was just a little unsettling for me.

Basically, if Nintendo was going to roll out another game in the WiiSports series at full retail price (even with the WiiMotion Plus included) it was going to need to be a tad bit more than the original. WiiSports Resort is a double edged sword (so to speak) in that respect. Yes, it’s a actually a pretty damned good title, but on the other hand, it’s also a bit sad that for this console that it still has it’s best moments with throwbacks to what worked from day one.

resortair I’ll be fair though, WiiSports Resort is actually a worthy addition to the console and an awesome expansion to the series. There’s still something that’s just not right about the fact that I’m looking at graphics that would have been innovative had they come in a late, post expansion card Nintendo 64 title. I can take the cartoony look of the Mii Central world, but I can’t help but just grind my teeth at the fact that in games like Resort, or even Super Mario Galaxy that in the year 2009, Nintendo’s Next Gen Console still can’t even draw a circle less jagged than I could draw on my first Macintosh with 2 meg of RAM, a 40 Meg hard drive and a processor that was light years behind my wife’s IPhone or even my Blackberry. It hurts even more when I’m playing photorealistic games on the Xbox 360 that look great and play great. Okay, I’m putting away my soap box. What is good about WiiSports Resort and why do I think it’s a good investment after my first look at it this week?

The first thing I did was take a hack at revisiting the old classic bowling mode. The original WiiSports Bowling was the best bowling simulation ever committed to a console. In fact, until this this past weekend, it still was strides ahead of the cut-rate bowling titles that they’ve released in the past two years. How could they improve it? Apart from a cool new shirt for my Mii, the MotionPlus control makes a considerable difference. Playing in the original, a twist of a wrist made a difference in how the ball spun, but now it opens up a whole new dimension in the game. The more I played the more I began to realize that the ball behaved much like it does in the real world in response to how you release it. In this case, keep the wrist straight, don’t twist, follow through and release (in this case, the B button). If there’s anything non-genuine about it, it’s like playing on excessively dry lanes. The ball breaks a bit too much in response and the velocity doesn’t seem to have as much of an impact on how much or when it breaks as it does in the real world. Still a much improved version of a damned near perfect bowling simulation in the original game.

wiisportssword So the bowling is nice, but this game really started to shine when digging into the new additions that show off the MotionPlus controls. As with most Wii owners that are still stinging after the huge disappointment that was Red Steel, the sword play in Resort was the real test of whether there was anything more to this new control set. As kick ass as Red Steel 2 looked in the E3 vids, if the sword play isn’t any better, it’s going to be a tough sell. This is where you really start to see clearly what the MotionPlus is doing for you. Like the tantalizing looks at the upcoming PS3 sensor controls, the swordplay in Resort is about as close to 1 to 1 response as you could have hoped. For the first time since playing the Wii, you actually feel like you’re yielding the weapon on screen. This isn’t Red Steel or the incredibly inept Clone Wars game that smashed my expectations on the rocks. This feels good, feels fluid, and forces you to actually yield the remote like a sword. This is not to say that you still can’t trick out the controls by jostling the WiiMote back and forth, but at least when you do it now, it’s actually mimicking your jostling. Obviously, you’re not going to knock back a real opponent with the force you create in your wrist, but at least now you have to watch your opponent, follow their sword and strike opposite of their blocks. When you press B to take a blocking stance yourself, you have to hold the WiiMote in the same position you would hold a real sword handle to actually pull off the blocks.

frisbee2 In any case, as much it may pain me to say it, Resort is a damned fun Wii Game. Even though bowling makes it’s reappearance, most every event is completely new to this title and many of the competitions are ridiculously addicting. It’s slightly embarrassing to admit that one of the events that had me staying up to the wee hours playing Wii was the Frisbee Toss mode where you attempt hit target areas with your Frisbee throws. As long as you land in any point valued target area your faithful pooch will make a running catch of the disc and return it to you. Playing this and/or watching it being played had my whole family enthralled for periods of time. Drop a high throw in the center of your target zone and your pooch will make one of several running jumps to haul it down. As like with most of the events, demonstrating a basic competency in the base event will unlock advanced modes. A couple of games Frisbee pooch will unlock Frisbee golf. Frisbee modes are far superior to the Frisbee Golf in Tiger Woods 10, though the courses are not quite as good looking or challenging, the throwing is much more natural.

resortarchery One of the ways that you can really judge how well the games are designed is to make a determination of how competence in the real world activity assists you in being competent at the Wii counterpart. There are several examples of this in Resort. Archery is not the most realistic, but it feels and plays awesome. The only awkward part of it is that it tutors you to switch your WiiMote and Nunchuck hands to simulate the use of a real bow and arrow. A right handed player holds the WiiMote in the left hand and then you draw the nunchuk back like you’re drawing a real bow. The sound effects coming from the Wiimote enhance the experience. I could feel little bits of drool forming around my outer lips thinking about this sword play along with the archery style being integrated into a new Zelda title (you can dream).

The one disadvantage of course with yielding your controller or controllers like the real items doesn’t really leave you with enough hands to perform basic game activities you would in a real 3-D platformer or action title. This would be things like running and jumping. In one of the swordplay modes you have to battle through hordes of opponents through different environments, but of course you lose the ability to move around and the game has to guide your walking through each area.

The hoop shoot is another example of a real skill translating well into the video game skill. I’m not a basketball player, but I know the principles behind what it takes to drop the ball in the hoop. My son, who’s never played any real basketball or had real instruction couldn’t do crap with it. Hoop shoot opens with a simulation of a standard 3-point contest like you’d see in an NBA all-star event. A couple of rounds there unlocks a 3-on-3 mode that is fun, but again suffers from the limitations preventing you from actually controlling your movements. Instead, you control the passing and determining which of your players you can control moment to moment. Also, there are some incredibly cool features such as actually pushing and swiping with your WiiMote to execute a steal or raising your WiiMote above your head to throw your arms up to block an opponent’s shots.

There are quite a few other game modes in Resort which are extremely promising, but in fairness I’ve only scratched the surface. I’ve found that every time I boot the game I’m spending quality time with my pooch trying to break my Frisbee records. As much as grief as I give Nintendo about what could have gone better with the Wii Console, I ultimately find myself once again enthralled with something that on the surface just looks like a cute distraction. Nintendo knows their stuff, but nothing makes me more disappointed than to see that they stuff I care about they snubbed in making this console just seems to melt away when my cartoon dog makes a jumping catch and I scream joyous mild profanities rubbing it in my son’s face.

frisbee If you are wavering on Resort because you got mileage out of the original WiiSports but are just not sure if it’s worth the investment, I think I can give Wii Sports Resort a healthy recommendation for you. If you’ve played the original WiiSports and Resort doesn’t interest you, don’t buy it. However, the WiiMotion Plus is probably the next phase of the console’s life, and it’s a console that still has a lot of mileage in it (read into that Super Mario Galaxy 2, etc…). If you’re going to keep playing the Wii through it’s life span, even if it’s a moderate distraction from your 360 or PS3, Resort is a nice $30.00 investment to show it off rather than just plugging a flat $20.00 for the MotionPlus with no games that utilize it.