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Saturday 26 January, 2008
GAMEPLAY
This time around I played with my friend who had played the Wii and Wii Play before. I think I found this time that billiards is my favorite game on Wii Play. It adapts well to the Wii and recreated that same sense of standing around playing pool in your friend’s basement. Although my friend had played before, he didn’t know that you are able to change the angle of the ball with the d-pad. Despite this, he has able to beat me in at least one of the games we played. However, I don’t know if this is a comment against Wii Play’s billiard physics or my own inability at all billiards, virtual or real.
My friend seemed to really like the game where the player plays as a cow racer. As I said in the previous entry, you have to hold the Wiimote differently than normal for this particular game. Although I knew how to hold the controller, unlike whom I played with last time, it was just hard to accurately turn and jumping is very awkward. I ended up winning the race (by knocking down the most scarecrows and having the largest score), and although my friend wanted to play again, I just found it frustratingly awkward and not fun.
DESIGN
First off, when I think of Wii Play’s design, I think of what’s wrong. The game could benefit greatly from increased multiplayer play. As it is, only two players can play at once. The game, while boasting nine complete minigames, could also use much more minigames! Wii Sports got by on three games, but I think they were more involving and thus lead to a much different play experience. Wii Play is just almost just rehashing countless, nameless computer games. Also, the selection of the next minigame could use a random mode for when you don’t feel like picking the next mind-numbing game.
I guess the game’s good design lies in the Wii’s unique controller. Although most of these games have been seen before, they’re at least somewhat interesting to play due to the unique challenges the Wiimote brings. The game is also one of the few to use the Wii’s collection of Miis, characters players can create to represent them in games or as gave save icons (e.g. Super Mario Galaxy). The Miis appear as either your selected character, in the background as spectators, or as part of a game as in the “find the Mii” minigame.
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