I picked-up my reserved copy of Wii-Motion Plus/Wii Sports Resort yesterday at Target. My first impression is this:
No Need To Reserve It.
There were many many copies, and not too many buyers. I also noticed that Target was giving away a free game with every Wii sold. Wow, what a difference a year makes.
Since we were preparing for my wife’s birthday today, I did not get much of chance to play last night. However, after everyone finally fell asleep at about 10:30 last night, I slipped downstairs and turned on the Wii for this first time in about a month.
Inside the box is an actual game-box for Wii sports Resort (Cool. Unlike Wii sports that had no box so we all had to download a fake one a create it ourselves..oops, I maybe only uber-nerds like me did that, but so what?), and new rubber “enclosure” for the Wiimote and Wii-motion-Plus combo.
My next impression was this:
The Wiimote Is Now Huge!
Honestly, it feels very substantial now. There are obvious anatomy jokes to be made here, but forget those. Think Star Wars Lightsaber instead. Yes. It feels like one now. If you are an uber-geek, imagine that the Wii-Motion Plus is the Adegan crystal that you need to fuse into your lightsaber handle (Wiimote) to give it color and power…oops, I’ve gone too far again, haven’t I?
Honestly though, the promise of the Wiimote for me has always been a decent Star Wars game using a lightsaber. The original Wiimote was just not “aligned with The Force” enough to pull it off. However. Wii-motion appears to promise something better.
Upon booting Wii Sports Resort for the first time (and after going through the some what amusing Sky-Diving title sequence) you are dropped into the game select screen. From here. I instantly picked “Sword fighting” and I was off to do battle.
To get Wii-motion Plus to work properly, you need to first place the device on a flat surface to it can calibrate. Then, you will also need to point it directly at the screen and press [B] at the start of each battle. This may sound annoying, but you get used to it.
So, how is the sword fighting?
It is awesome.
Yes, I’ve said it. Awesome. You will notice that the new Wii-motion Plus “crystal” seems to work as promised. The sword really seems to move at a 1:1 ratio with your own movements. Swing right, left, upper-cut, or crash down from the top. It all seems to just work. It helps that the first few opponents don’t fight back. Dispatching them is like the Jedi fighting those stupid robots in Episode II. Sure, the setting is fencing arena at beach resort, but that doesn’t stop it from feeling like Star Wars anyway. You grab the Wii-Mote+Wii Motion Plus with two hands, and swing it around like every kid since 1977 has grabbed and swung a wrapping paper-role on Christmas morning. But this time, instead of getting in trouble for whacking your brother on the back of the neck and sending him crashing across the living room, you get to fight Mii’s (albeit new versions, with legs) whacking them until they fall into the Sarlacc pit…err I mean, off the raised platform and into the ocean.
Search your feelings Luke…
I played some of the other games, and they were fine, but the Sword Fighting was all I cared about. Honestly, it felt like it was 1979, playing Asteroids and imagining I was flying an X-Wing shooting Tie-Fighters instead of space rocks. Just that experience is worth the $49.99. Tonight I’ll try it with two players, and go in-depth with some of the other games, but really none of that will matter much.
I’m sold.
This is what I’ve been waiting for almost 3 years.