Wii Play, what at first seemed nothing more than a glorified demo disc bundled with a Wii Remote, has apparently turned out to be one of the most successful Wii games yet, having already sold over 10 million copies and still going strong. Or to put things into perspective, Wii Play is a more successful game than Halo 3. Impressive, right?

Now, as the whole Wii Play thing does indeed cost (marginally) more than a Wii Remote, and as the public doesn’t really always know what’s best for it, the question is, is Wii Play worth your time? Is this selection of mini-games any good? Well, in a nutshell, yes. You get a selection of nine high-score oriented, action-heavy, mostly multiplayer and at times suitable for parties mini-games, for something more than a fiver. Happily most of them are both good and addictive, though admittedly they all could use a bit more depth. Here’s a breakdown of what’s on offer:

-Shooting Range: This is a direct descendant of Duck Hunt and the first time the Wii showed its prowess in lightgun games. Players go from shooting balloons, frisbees, and cans to UFOs, whereas the occasional duck can be targeted for a small score boost. An excellent game with a descent amount of levels.

-Laser Hockey: Air Hockey with neon-lights, where the Wii Remote controls really shine. Fantastic fun and impressively realistic physics. Also a personal favorite.

-Pose Mii: If you’re looking for a weird and truly frenetic two player game that really works well with alcohol, this one’s for you. Not much fun in single-player mode though. Oh, and the thing has you rotating, posing and positioning Miis in psychedelic bubbles.

-Fishing: Totally unlike fishing in Zelda and devoid of any entertainment value whatsoever.

-Billiards: A rare chance for some excellent billiards fun. Gamers play 9 Ball Billiards using the Wii Remote as a cue stick and it really feels right. Quite an elaborate attempt really, that -provided you actually enjoy pool- never truly gets old.

-Charge!: The player rides a cow and over scarecrows in a surreal yet brilliant racing game where high-scores are all that matters. The control method is not unlike the one used in Excitetruck and it really works. Unfortunately there is only one track to race around.

-Table Tennis: Pong with fancy (well, relatively speaking) graphics. Great, mindless, simple, classic, reflex-based fun.

-Tanks!: Theoretically this is the deepest game in the collection and the only one that benefits from the use of the Nunchuk. On the other hand, it’s just an updated version of the ancient Atari Combat, with 100 missions (80 of them must be unlocked) and a few new gameplay tricks. Moderately fun, though oddly addictive.

-Find Mii: Here, crowds of Mii characters will… err… crowd on the screen and the player must pick out the ones matching a certain description. Pretty pointless.

Posted on April 9th, 2008 by konstantinos