I still find myself fairly well entertained by Wii Sports, though having played for awhile longer now I’m getting a clearer picture of its strengths and weaknesses. And speaking of a clearer picture, the S-Video hookup sure does look sharper, cleaner, and brighter. But back to the game, the greatest strength is obviously just how easy it is to pick up and play, coupled with the new control scheme. On a standard controller, I really wouldn’t care very much about any of these games. On the Wiimote though, the imagination is tricked into feeling like you’re doing something more in-depth than merely pressing A… or in this case, shaking a controller.
I think that’s one area where the Wii is succeeding so far, imagination. Older generation games left a lot of holes for the viewer to fill in, but we did it without even thinking about it. Unfortunately, there’s still a bit of a disconnect between the controller and the screen. It’s frustrating when my punches don’t quite go where I placed them, or how the tennis ball direction is determined by timing, rather than angle or force. For the Wiimote to become more than a novelty, future games need to tighten up the 1:1 ratio between the player and the screen.
The lack of online play in Wii Sports and other launch titles is quite disappointing, but Nintendo still to this day doesn’t truly understand that gamers want it, and they absolutely hate friend codes. I find the main thing keeping me playing right now is trying to reach the Pro level on all 5 sports, after which I’m unlikely to play more than the occasional round during some downtime. Not all of us have local gamer friends.
