Review No. 65 Wii Play - Wii (3+)

Strong Points:
Nice graphical styles for the games
Good use of Mii's
Another showcase for the Wii Remote
Shooting Range, Charge!, Tanks! and Laser Hockey are good fun
Addictive
Anyone can play

Weak Points:
Only 9 minigames
Soon gets repetitive
The rest of the games suffer from bad controls or lack of originality
Having to unlock each of the games is a chore, especially when you have to play through the lacklustre ones to get to others which may be more fun

In-depth Review:

Release Dates:
Japan: December 2, 2006
Australia: December 7, 2006
Europe: December 8, 2006
North America: February 12, 2007

Controls:
Different for each game

This game is pretty much another technical showcase of the Wii Remote and surprisingly Mii's. For what this game really does show, better than Wii Sports does anyway, is the Mii and how it can change the way you game. For the humble Mii makes sure that no game looks the same and even when the game becomes repetitive and dull, make a new Mii and suddenly the game changes.

Overall there are nine minigames (Shooting Range, Find Mii, Table Tennis, Pose Mii, Laser Hockey, Fishing, Billiards, Charge! and Tank!) with you being tasked with unlocking each one before you can play them all. This is annoying for two reasons. One, there just aren't enough minigames there to satisfy a game meant for playing with friends. Two, if you buy the game to play with friends you have to trawl through the lacklustre ones to get to the games which may have some depth in them. Now some people may say this isn't such a bad thing, it means you have to have a go at all the games and get a feel for them but if you have played some of them once (maybe at a friend's house), then you won't want to play them again.

This is the last annoying part of the game (hopefully anyway) an it is that the games are so repetitive. Even if the scenery changes all around you when you add new Mii's into the mix, the core game elements don't evolve. There are no extreme challenges or any upgrades from the one level you have played (except for in Tanks!) and so you will suddenly find yourself booting up Wii Sports again around 30 minutes into the game just so you can have a change of pace.

Although some games do show some promise (especially Charge! and Tanks!) they are just not polished enough and while younger children may like it for a bit most adults will not find much depth in this game.

Conclusion: this game could have been so much more but fell short due to some bad controls, repetitive and just no general polish.

Rating: 52%

Thanks for reading, Satamer.