Wii Sports Resort is the highly anticipated sequel to the original Wii Sports that came bundled with the Nintendo Wii.  Like it’s predecessor, Wii Sports Resort contains a variety of sports games.  This new edition has Sword Play, Wakeboarding, Frisbee, Archery, Basketball, Table Tennis, Golf, Bowling, Power Cruising, Canoeing, Cycling, and Air Sports.  All but Bowling and Golf are new to the Wii Sports package.

Wii Sports Resort is also the first launch of the Wii Motion Plus.  The Wii Motion Plus is an-add on attachment that uses a dual-axis angular rate sensor which can calculate rotational motion.  This is a simple attachment that snaps into the bottom the Wii remote.  One Wii Motion Plus attachment is needed for each controller.  The original release of Wii Sports Resort came with one Wii Motion Plus attachment, but a later release offered a version with two.  With the Wii Motion Plus game motion control is improved greatly.  Now the Wii remote catches the slightest movement in any direction.

This game is a great multi-player game.  It makes a great game for family and friends.  Most games you can play with at least two players at once and some games you can play up to four players.  There are a few sports that you can only play by yourself like Showdown, Sky diving, and Island Flyover.

The game takes place at a sports resort at Wuhu Island.  Each of the sporting events are scattered all around the island.  As soon as you start the game up you are literally dropped off onto the Island by a plane with a team of sky divers giving you glimpse of the sky diving game available in Air Sports.

Now lets get into the details of the game.  I’m going to start with my personal favorite, Table Tennis (Ping Pong).

Table Tennis:

If you loved Tennis in the original Wii Sports game, then you are going to love Table Tennis.  I myself even enjoy it more than Tennis.  Now, this is nothing like the Table Tennis is Wii Play, this is a whole lot better.  The game is a match to 6 points where you need to win by two points (a match to ten can be played by holding down the 2 button when choosing your Mii).  To serve you toss the Wii remote up or press A, then swing the remote either forward hand or backhand to serve.  What makes this game great is the control you have over the game.  You can do a normal hit by swinging directly forward, do a top spin by flipping your wrist forward while you swing, and you can chop/cut by swinging the remote in a downward motion.  I must say the control is quite amazing.  Rallies can get quite long as you reach the advanced levels and you will have to use a lot of spin to beat the champion level Mii’s.  Just like in Tennis the Mii’s make all kinds of diving saves which make for great rallies.  Use strategies such as hitting the balls to the corners to make them pop the ball up for an easy slam, but watch out in the later rounds they make lots of crazy returns (good luck beating Lucia).  Another little surprise is the celebrity Mii’s that make their cameo appearances on the stands and even as opponents.  I’ve had to face Ozzie Osborn, Michael Jackson, and Keith Richards just to name a few.

Besides the regular Table Tennis game there is the Return Challenge.  In this mode, like in Tennis, a trainer serves you balls constantly until you miss.  Along the way aluminum cans will pop up on the table as targets.  Each time you hit a can your score raises up.  This mode helps in fine tuning your aiming skills.

Sword Play:

This is probably my second favorite sports game.  More so for all three of the modes than just the dual mode itself.

In Dual mode you have a sword battle with a computer or another player on the top of a circular tower.  The point of the match is to knock your opponent off of the tower into the pool below.  The best 2 out of  3 wins the match.  With sword play you can attack in any direction by swinging your sword from up to down, left to right, or diagonal up or down.  You can also block by holding the B button and moving the remote in a defensive position.  You must put the remote in the correct blocking position based on the direction the opponent swings.  If you make a successful block the opponent will fall back unbalanced allowing you to attack them.  In the beginning round you can just go all out offensive and win most of the time, but in the later rounds you must be more tactful and learn how to block.

Speed Slice mode is one of my favorite multi-player modes of this game.  In speed slice you will get to slice through all kinds of random objects such as logs, timers, cupcakes, bamboo, oranges, etc.  The point of the game is to slice through the object in the direction the arrow points the fastest.  A judge will throw up an object at varied speeds and whoever slices through the object in the correct direction first wins a point.  The first to 10 points wins the match.  This is a great one for family and friends you will spend hours competing against each other to see who has the fastest reactions.  Also its fun just slicing something up.

Showdown mode is probably my favorite single player mode in this game.  Take your dual skills and apply them to battle the masses.  Here you will have fight against an army of guys to beat each of the levels.  While there is a mob of Mii’s you are battling only one Mii can attack you at a time.  It can take up to 3 hits to kill a Mii.  A Mii’s hearts determine the number of times you must hit them to knock them out.  In the early rounds you can just mow through them and go nuts without any regard to blocking.  Later on they get smart and start blocking and you must imply your sword skill strategies to defeat the army of Mii’s.  This is a great addition to the Sword Play mode and I’ve spent countless hours of fun beating these levels.

Archery:

My next favorite sport would be Archery.  Archery shows off the accuracies of the new Wii motion plus accessory.  With archery you hold up the remote up like a bow and pull the nun chuck back like an arrow move the remote around for aiming and let it fly.  The slightest movement will make a big difference in this event.  Each round a player gets 3 shots.  If you hit the bulls eye you get 10 points.  There are a total of 3 rounds.  The target gets pushed back further in each round.  Whoever has the most cumulative points in the end wins the game.  Make sure when aiming you take into account the wind factor and gravity.  Each of these aspects get more difficult the further the target is.  This is one of those games that is easy to play but hard to master.

Wake Boarding:

In Wake Boarding your are towed by a speed boat in which your Mii hangs onto the line and you do jumps and tricks to earn points.  The more better the tricks and jumps are more points you will receive.  In this case you hold the Wii remote horizontally to the ground and tip the remote to the left or right to guide your Mii through the ocean.  When you get to a wave you must flip the remote up to jump and do tricks then you must straighten on the remote to level in order to make your landing.  When you make consecutive landings the boat driver will speed up allowing you to jump higher and do better tricks.  In later rounds there are pylons that you must avoid hitting.

Air Sports:

In Sky Diving you get to jump out of an airplane with a group of Mii’s.  As you fall from the sky you control your Mii by holding the control horizontal and tilting it upwards and downwards.  Think of the remote as your body, as you hold the remote flat your body has most air resistance and you will slow down and not move in any direction.  If you tilt the remote downwards you will speed up in the direction you tilt the remote.  The same goes with tilting backwards accept you will move feet first.  These controls are integrated flawlessly.  The main point of this game is to meet up with as many Mii’s as you can and pose (face towards the camera) for photographs with them.  In the end you need to grab as many Mii’s as you can to make the final formation and direct your group through ring targets on the way down.  Points are determined on how many Mii’s you were able to take photographs with, the quality of the photographs, and how many rings targets you passed through.

Island Flyover is a great change of pace.  If you feel like taking a break from the action filled games this game can  be relaxing.  Basically you fly a tour plane around Wuhu Island and find all the points of interest.  When you spot an ‘i’ go towards it and fly through the circle to gain an ‘i’ point for your trip.  Each trip out you are given five minutes to fly around and find all the points of interest.  To fly the plane you hold the Wii remote like you would throw a paper airplane.  Tilting the remote in an direction gives you precise contol of your movements.  Quickly shoot the plane in bursts by thrusting the remote forward like throwing a dart.  At first this game can seem a little too slow, but as you start trying to find all the ‘i’ points on the map it can start to get interesting.  Some of the ‘i’ points are hidden away in volcanoes, tunnels, attached to moving objects, and small hidden away crevices.  It can be a challenge to fly your plane through these tunnels without crashing.  As you gain more ‘i’ points you get some upgrades such as being able to shoot balloons, getting a bi-plane to bring a passenger with you, and getting your Mii put on the blimp.  By the time you find all the ‘i’ points you know Wuhu Island like the back of your hand.

Dogfight is a two-player game in which you and a friend go one on one in pursuit for the most points.  Each player starts with 20 points, which is displayed on a balloon trailing your plane.  Ring targets will randomly show up with points posted inside the ring, whoever goes through the ring first gains those points.  Every time you shoot your opponents balloon they lose one point.  So, if it looks like your opponent is going to beat you to the ring target you try to shoot his balloons while trailing behind him.  If you are the one in front then you try to dodge their shots.  When the time runs out whoever has the most points wins.

Power Cruising:

Power Cruising is basically jet skiing.  You hold the Wii Remote in one had and the Wii nun chuck in the other like you are holding the handle bars of a jet ski.  Lean to the left or right to steer and twist the remote toward you like a throttle and you will get a boost.  When going over a wave you lift up to make a jump.  This game can be a race to gain the most points individually or against an opponent in vs. mode.  The point of the game is to finish the race with the most points.  You gain points by passing through rings that have a count down timer on them.  The faster you get to the ring the more points you will receive.  Some rings have an inner ring which give you added bonus points.  In the more advanced round the waves get a lot rougher and makes controlling your jet ski much more difficult.

Basketball:

The 3-Point Contest in basketball is just like the All-Star game.  You get a rack balls at five destinations around the 3-point mark.  Each rack has four regular balls plus a money ball.  If you hit all your shots you can get a total of 30 points.  To pick up the ball you point the remote downward and press B.  Shooting is just like shooting a regular basketball, lift the ball up pull the remote back over your head and flick it forward as if you were putting a backwards rotation on the ball.  Overall it almost has the feel of shooting a real ball.  Timing the release at the top of the jump along with how you flick the remote forward is key to making the baskets.  You have 60 seconds to complete all racks.

The Pickup Game is a 3 on 3 half court basketball game.  It kind of reminds me of the basketball version of the Wii Sports baseball game.  It’s basically a simplified version of a basketball game in order to make it motion sense friendly.  On offense you can pass, shoot, or dunk.  On defense you can swipe for a steal or block shots.  Passing the ball around to the correct Mii can be a bit of a challenge.  Shooting is just like it is in the 3-point contest.  Attempting a dunk will show you in a dunk animation in which you must flick the remote down at the right time to complete the dunk.  When on defense it’s pretty easy to block a shot if you time correctly.  Just as they start to shoot flick the remote up to block the shot.  While this can be fun to play, don’t expect it to be a full blown out basketball game.

Frisbee:

Frisbee Dog takes place on the beach where you fling a Frisbee and your dog goes and catches it.  The point of the game is to toss the Frisbee onto a target and accumulate the most points.  Along the way there is balloons that you can aim for to get bonus points.  Control of the Frisbee is not an easy task to master.  It does showoff the precision of the Wii Motion Plus.  To throw the Frisbee you need to press the B button hold the remote horizontally toward your stomach in one hand and fling forward just like throwing a Frisbee.  You must also pay attention to what angle you fling the remote at as it will determine the angle at which the Frisbee will fly out at.  Next you must release the B  button at the precise time to determine which direction the Frisbee will go.  All of this takes a little practice to get it all down.

Frisbee Golf is basically just as it sounds, but instead of hitting a golf ball in the hole you have to throw the Frisbee onto the target while your on the golf course.  Instead of different types of golf clubs you have a choice of three different types of Frisbees each.  Each Frisbee goes a different average distance.

Cycling:

Cycling is a one or two player event in which you race through courses on Wuhu Island.  This game is a great fitness game as you have to always wave your arms up and down to keep peddling.  Movement is made by moving your hand up and down in opposite directions just as if you were paddling the bike with your hands.  This can start to get really tiring as some of the courses are quite long.  There is a heart meter which gages how tired your Mii gets.  The more constant you peddle the more tired your Mii gets.  If you run out of hearts you will break down and wait until you catch your breath again.  You can avoid losing your hearts fast by drafting behind other bikers.  The steering in the game is similar to Power Cruising.  Just lean to the left or right to control the direction.  In the game you will need to avoid things such as bananas and oil slicks.  In the end you will have had to master your drafting techniques to earn first places finishes.

Canoeing:

Canoeing is a pretty simple sport to play.  You just hold the remote in both hands like an oar and start rowing.  Just as you were in a canoe itself you need to paddle from both sides to make it go in a straight line.  In practice mode you can go around the lake collecting ducklings to follow you around and bring them to the mother duck.  In timed mode you just have to row as fast as you can through the course.  As you get in the more advance stages there are a lot more obstacles that you will need to avoid to finish the race.

Bowling:

Bowling in Wii Sports Resort seems all to familiar.  It is basically the same as the Wii Sports game except it is enhanced with the Wii motion plus.  You can definitely tell that it is much more sensitive to spin and motion.  I’ve found that I’ve gotten less strikes than I was able to get in the previous edition.  This just goes to show you have to be more accurate to get a strike.  Bowling also offer a game where you can play with 100 pins instead of 10.  This makes getting a strike and spare a whole lot trickier.  There is also as Spin Control mode which brings you through a ten frame set that have blocks in the lanes that you need to avoid.  This is similar to the training session in the original accept it is recorded as a full 10 frame game.

Golf:

Golf is the other sport that has returned from the original Wii Sports.  Golf is also very similar to its predecessor however with the addition of the Wii Motion Plus it is also a whole lot touchier.  Now you have to make sure you swing the golf club straight or your ball will slice to the sides.  This can take a whole lot of practice just to hit the ball straight.  Golf is one of those games that is easy to play, but hard to master.

In conclusion Wii Sports Resort is an excellent Wii game.  I give it a mark of 4.5 stars out of 5.  With a set of 12 different games along with several subsets of games Wii Sports Resort is definitely a must have game for the Nintendo Wii system.  I would purchase this game alone for Table Tennis and Sword Play.  Be sure not to miss out on this Wii Game.

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