Progress: 1 platinum metal, 3 gold metals, 4 silver metals, and 1 bronze metal
Wii Play is a continuation of the Nintendo series of “Wii” games (Wii Sports being the first, and Wii Music soon to be). It encompasses 9 different mini-games that are designed to improve the gamers abilities with the Wii remote. Each of the mini-games needs to be unlocked progressively, but it is not too difficult as it is simply a matter of completing at least one level. Once all the games have been played, you can go back and earn metals in each one just like in Wii Sports Training.
Mini-games: Shooting Range, Find Mii, Table Tennis, Pose Mii, Laser Hockey, Billiards, Fishing, Charge!, and Tanks.
- Shooting Range is reminiscent of Duck Hunt, except with balloons, targets, clay pigeons, tin cans, and UFOs as the targets. Ducks are still included, but only as bonuses. Shooting Range is a simple point and shoot game, with a nice looking and useable crosshair.
- Find Mii is pretty much a “Where’s Waldo?” for the Wii. For the most part, it involves matching pairs of Mii faces, through different climates – such as on the street (standing or walking), swimming, and floating in space. There are other goals as well, like finding a specific Mii or finding the odd one(s) out.
- Table Tennis is simple and the goal is to continue the rally as long as you can. You move the paddle back and forth across the table to return the rally.
- Pose Mii is a game where you need to set the Mii in the correct pose, and line it up properly with each bubble on the screen. If any of the bubbles hits the bottom, you “lose” (you get three tries).
- Laser Hockey is a paddle-and-puck game, but a little more futuristic. The object is to score as many points as you can against the opponent in the time limit.
- Billiards is well… billiards. It is essentially one player 9-ball pool, where you sink each one of the 9 billiard balls in order.
- Fishing allows you to go fishing without leaving the living room. Certain fish are worth more points and a bonus fish changes every 10 seconds or so. Watch out for the small frys… they make you lose points.
- Charge! is a racing-type game, where you ride a cow and knock out scarecrows.
- Tanks lets you control a tank and your goal is to eliminate the rest of the tanks. Each of the enemy tanks has their own traits, such as being stationary or firing missiles.
Good things about Wii Play:
What I liked most about this game was the variety of games involved. They allow you to take advantage of the many unique controls that the Wii has to offer. The Duck Hunt inspired Shooting Range was a very pleasant remake of the older game (but I still can’t wait for Ultimate Duck Hunt). Laser Hockey can be very quick and is quite fun. The physics behind Billiards feels quite real (too bad I suck at pool).
Not-so-good things about Wii Play:
My least favourite part of this game was Table Tennis. Although enjoyable and requiring intense concentration at times, I was expecting better. The capability is there for it to be played as an actual table tennis type game, where the player is required to swing the paddle, as opposed to simply moving it in front of the ball. Another downfall of this game is how quickly you can get through all of it… then again, Wii Sports is somewhat the same.
Scores:
- Graphics: 7/10 – nothing special, but Laser Hockey was very appealing to me.
- Sound: 7/10 – again, nothing special here.
- Story: N/A – no real story, just mini-games.
- Control: 10/10 – simply amazing and smooth.
Overall (not an average): 8/10
Summary of Wii Play:
Wii Play is a great game for getting a better experience from the innovative Wii remote. It is a nice addition to Wii Sports and compliments it well. Just don’t expect it to use more than a days worth of time to master (unless you’re like me and have never been able to master billiards). It’s a good way to spend some time with a friend and introduce them to the Wii. (Or share the experience with your Wii-owning friends.)
