What’s it all about?

Wii Play is a collection of nine mini-games, with the twist that your character looks like you. Well, it does if you’ve used the Wii’s Mii channel to create your own cartoon avatar. They’re all fairly simple, but have been designed to provide maximum fun for you and a few friends. Also, it’s an essential buy, because it comes with an extra Wii-mote.
Should I be excited?

Yup. Besides the chance to bag a second Wii-mote on the cheap, the games are entertaining. The mini-games include standard stuff like Shooting Range, Table Tennis, Laser Hockey and Billiards, but also Fishing, Charge (bull-riding), Tanks (a shoot ‘em up) and two intruiging games based around the Mii avatars.

Pose Mii has you rotating Miis as they fall down the screen (except not as much like Tetris as that sounds), while Find Mii has you searching for a face in a crowd, a bit like a modern interactive version of Guess Who? Sort of. You wouldn’t pay for any of the games individually, but as a collection they look like providing bags of fun.

Does it do nifty stuff with the Wii controller?

Of course: that’s its raison d’etre. Every game involves waving, pointing or shaking the Wii-mote. In fact, many of them were shown off at Nintendo’s press events last year as proof of what the motion-sensing controller was capable of. Alongside Wii Sports, which is bundled with the console, Wii Play is the other game that’s great for showing Wii off to non-gamer friends and family.

Any good multiplayer features?

Yep. Like any good mini-game collection, Wii Play is really designed for several players, rather than one man sitting in a darkened bedroom. Every game can be played by one or two players at once, and each player can create their own Mii which then represents them on-screen.

I’m looking forward to a BA Baracus v Michael Knight pool challenge, for example. I do need to get out more… Anyway, if you save your Mii onto your Wii-mote, you’ll be able to use it when you go round a friend’s house to play Wii Play on their console.

What else should I know?

If you don’t feel creative, there are six ready-made Miis that come with the game, for you to use. I’m guessing a cute girl, a beardy old man, a spiky-haired hero etc etc. You really should design your own though.
When’s it out?

Wii Play is a launch game for Wii, so you’ll be able to buy it on 8th December here in Europe. I’ve got a sneaking suspicion it’ll sell out its initial stock super-quickly too, as people grab it for the extra Wii-mote, so you might want to get your pre-order in now…

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 8th, 2006 at 10:20 am by Stuart Dredge
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