Wii Play Preview

[wraggster]

Article from CVG

Wii Play is a family-orientated multiplayer game package, in a similar vein to Wii Sports, comprising of nine different games that hope to have you, your little sister and your good old gran flailing your arms around like nutters when the Wii is released.

It's not much to look at - like Wii Sports it uses a basic graphical style, with the user-created Mii characters and simple environments. And this simplicity is in accordance with the games pick-up-and-play gameplay which, on the most part, is as instinctive as breathing.

But that's not to say that some games don't have layers of depth and challenge that will keep more seasoned gamers busy, trying to set high scores or crack every challenge and earn every gold medal.

We were lucky enough to play a near-final version of the game and gave each of the nine games a fair bashing in single- and multiplayer modes. So here's a run through each game and exactly how you play them.

Shooting Range
This is the duck-hunt style shooting game that was originally shown as a tech demo at the first playable showing of the Wii. The premise of the game couldn't be simpler - using the Wii Remote almost like a gun, you shoot targets that appear on screen to earn points.

The targets start off easy, with slow-moving balloons floating up the screen. Then you move on to circle targets that appear and disappear quickly, before having to shoot clay discs out of the sky. Then you'll have six Mii characters at the bottom of the screen and you have to shoot down UFO ships before they kidnap your little people.

That's when the action gets really hectic but you've got infinite ammo and there's no need to reload so you can go berserk with the trigger without a worry. It's great in two-player, as you both scramble to shoot the most targets within the time limit.


Find Mii
This is a Where's Wally style game that throws a bunch of Miis on the screen and tasks you with a search and find mission, using the Wii Remote as a pointer.

The game might ask you to find one or more identical Miis within the crowd, or it might ask you to find the Mii which you have created on your Wii console. It gets even more brain-busting when the asks you which Mii from a select group is your favourite. Then a few rounds later it will ask you to identify your chosen favourite in a group of dozens of Miis, which tests your memory as well as you observation skills.

Table Tennis
One of the simplest games in the package, Table Tennis simply has you moving your Wii Remote left or right to hit the ball back to your opponent.

You don't have to press a button to hit the ball - the game strikes for you - but you can put direction on the ball by moving the bat left or right as you strike the ball.

In single-player, your only task is to rack up a 100-hit rally with the computer, who will lose the game on your 100th strike of the ball. That gets you a medal. This game is really about multiplayer, where two players go head-to head with fast rallies.

Pose Mii
This is a tricky but addictive game that has you moving your floating Mii around the screen with the Remote, positioning him in bubbles to make the bubbles disappear before they reach the bottom of the screen.

The catch is that the bubbles have little drawings in them that show what pose your Mii must be in to make it disappear. So as well as moving your Mii around the screen, you also have to press the A or B button to get your Mii into the right pose, and twist your Remote to rotate your Mii into the right position to fit the sketch on the bubble. It's super tough, but hugely addictive.

Laser Hockey
Laser Hockey is straightforward - it's virtual air hockey where you use the Wii Remote's pointer to control your paddle, and hit the puck into the goal on the opposite side. There really is nothing else to it, but again, this is best played in two player.

Billiards
Absolute genius. Billiards uses the Wii Remote to fantastically replicate the cue. First you line up your shot by aiming your on-screen cursor off the white ball, holding Z and moving the Remote left and right.

Once you're satisfied with the angels (all done via a first-person view), you point at where on the white ball you want to hit, hold Z to lock your shot in place, then draw the remote back and thrust it forward to take the shot.

There's no power bars needed because the controller reads the speed at which you pushed it forward with the utmost accuracy, and the game replicates that on screen to satisfying effect. It's a shame there's no snooker and pool options, but this is surely a taste of what future pool games will be capable of on Wii.

Fishing
This simple game - which interestingly looks like it was made of paper - sets you the seemingly simple task of hooking fish out of a small pond.

Tracking your every move, the Wii Remote acts as your rod as you dip your hook into the water and wait for the fish to take a bite (which is indicated by the rumble force in the Remote) before yanking your rod backwards to catch a fish.

But stick it in two-player mode and a game of patience becomes a game of razor-sharp reactions as you race to catch the most fish.

Charge
Your little Wii rides on a cow, which you steer by tilting the Wii Remote left and right like a steering wheel (Excite Truck-style). Your aim is to bash into scarecrows and other enemies on the course, while jumping over hurdles by flicking the Remote upwards.

This relatively basic game comes to life in split-screen multiplayer, where you another player barge each other around the course as you scramble to hit the targets.

Tanks
Our favourite game of them all. It's top-down, single-screen battle game reminiscent of the tank battles in Combat on the Atari 2600, for those of you old enough to remember that.

You control your little tank by pushing the analogue stick on the Nunchuk in any direction, while aiming your cannon with the Wii Remote's pointer. Shoot cannons with the B trigger or drop a proximity mine that explodes when approached.

You get points for taking out computer-controlled tanks which pack various weapons, from slow and easy-to-avoid cannons to fast and devastating rocket launchers. In two-player, it's a race to destroy the most tanks in each level. Fantastic fun.

Wii Play is, despite its simplicity, bound to be hours of fun in multiplayer and for £40, it comes packed with a Wii Remote (worth £30). So it's only £10! Bargain.

[Gottaa]

Love this review Thanks alot for listing the games, I've known from the start I wanted to get Wii Play, 10 fun mini games, another wii-mote (red according to what I heard and that's the only way to get a red wii-mote) which while I wouldn't spend that money on just the 10 mini-games for the 10 mini-games + the wii-mote it's WELL worth it

[JKKDARK]

Nice preview. It was versy useful for me

[Kramer]

Billiards is going to be awesome.
Ive got this preordered allready because it was pretty much paying an extra $10 on top of a wiimote for a whole lot of cool mini games.

[strumstrum]

yes, excellent review, this title is essential for me with having 2 young uns..

only gripe is though is that you need a nunchuck to play the tanks game..??