Wii Sports Resort (Wii, 2009)

Upon my initial skydive into Wii Sports Resort, I expected the game wouldn't wow me much. I'd seen it during various stages of its life and played it many times. Now that I had the final product, I expected it would hold little in the way of surprise.

But as I started unlocking games and playing more, I found myself losing track of time. Many of us know that a great game can just suck you in and you can easily lose hours mining it for all of its glorious, fun riches. Wii Sports Resort was no different for me.
Gallery:Wii Sports Resort


Wii Sports Resort trumps its predecessor by adding a staggering amount of new mini-games, most of which have sub-categories. For example, the Swordplay sport features the dueling we've all seen a million times, as well as the weird cut-things-in-half mini-game that we've seen a bit less of, but there's also a third game where I had to battle through waves of opponents until reaching an end boss. It's this kind of variety that kept me coming back and kept things fresh.

It's not all new stuff, though. Golf and bowling return, though I couldn't really tell the difference between the versions found in Resort and the original. I still bowled the same as I ever did and I was just as bad in golf here as I was in the original Wii Sports. So MotionPlus didn't drastically change anything with these two for me.


MotionPlus does play a big part in Resort, however. As one would expect, the majority of games here wouldn't be possible without the little dongle and I was downright surprised at how accurately it measured my movement in some sports. Table Tennis is the best example of this, as my real-life skills translated into the game pretty well. I could put massive spin on the ball, hit lob shots and had no problem translating my real-life actions into what I wanted in-game.

While I did have a lot of fun with it by myself, these sports are designed to be competitive, so throwing down with some friends provided me the greatest joy. And unlike the original game, we weren't confined to playing only a handful of sports, which made for longer, more fulfilling play sessions.

Wii Sports Resort deserves to be in every Wii owner's library, whether you're a hardcore gamer or someone who only occasionally picks up the Wiimote and Nunchuk. It has every sport unlocked out of the box, but for those that want to spend the time, there are plenty of variations to unlock in the long run. Some of the games are tiring (looking at you, Canoeing!), but overall Wuhu Island has plenty to enjoy and is a necessary destination for anyone that enjoyed Wii Sports.