Oh golly gee do i have a LOT to say.
Wii Sports was never a top tier franchise, but considering this is a billion dollar franchise and contains two of the best selling games of all time, you'd think nintendo would put at least the bare minimum effort with this one. But they didn't even do that.
For the few positives, the game on a technical level looks decently nice. I think bowling is still as fun as ever and swordplay was actually improved with the addition of different swords, so that's nice. Also the online connectivity isn't that bad, it's above average for the windows xp level switch online.
But that's about it. There are lots of problems with this game that makes it not only easily the weakest Wii Sports game, but also just a super lame party game.
First off, and most subjectively, this game is a creative wasteland. And I don't just mean the ubisoft-ass sportsmates that effectively replaced the miis, though I hate those about as much as everyone else. The appeal of the miis, ESPECIALLY in these games, are that they could look similar to real people in your life. And that suspension of disbelief is much easier with a blank slate design like the miis rather than the more involved, but soulless sportsmates. But it's not just them.
Spocco Square is also just a really lame location for these sports to take place in. In the last game, Wuhu Island felt like a lived in resort because most, if not all, of the sports were framed around this island. Spocco in comparison really suffers in this regard. I don't think people play soccer, field golf, or SWORDPLAY in a shopping mall.
That is a huge letdown, but I am willing to look past these sorts of things if the game is at least fun. But it really isn't. Barring bowling and chambara the rest of the sports just don't really hold up.
The controls on a lot of these are fairly clunky compared to resort as a result of the nature of the joycons. They just don't feel as accurate as the motion plus did, at least not here. Volleyball is easily the weakest here with you just needing to make very slight hand motions to win. I don't think volleyball was built for this kind of game.
This game also suffers in sports variety. There are 6 sports (right now) and three of them are tennis, volleyball, and badminton. If these were all crammed in the same game in order to fit the shopping mall theme, then maybe that's a sign that the idea isn't that great.
To return to the Wii sports resort comparion, that game not only had 12 sports but most of them contained different side modes like 100 pin bowling and swordplay showdown. Apart from the shootout mode for soccer and some minor player counts, this game lacks the side modes that other wii sports games have. You just have the one super short gameplay loop. Take it or leave it.
And to top all of this off, this game released in a half baked state. And not just in the stuff I mentioned before. Golf, the first major post launch update, is not coming until september. Which is a system that always works for these games accept for Mario Golf, and Mario Tennis, and Kirby, and Arms, and basically every other game except Smash and Splatoon. And not only that but even though the game itself isn't $60, the game does come with a leg strap peripheral like Ring Fit adventure. That doesnt work until july. GREAT.
Alright, this is easily the longest review I've made on here and its for a fucking wii sports game lmfao. Bottom line is that this game just feels so empty and soulless compared to Wii Sports Resort, or even other party games on switch like Mario Party Superstars or Clubhouse Games.
Please just get the latter, it has more games, it's $10 cheaper, and it gets golf day one instead of months after launch.
Wii Sports was never a top tier franchise, but considering this is a billion dollar franchise and contains two of the best selling games of all time, you'd think nintendo would put at least the bare minimum effort with this one. But they didn't even do that.
For the few positives, the game on a technical level looks decently nice. I think bowling is still as fun as ever and swordplay was actually improved with the addition of different swords, so that's nice. Also the online connectivity isn't that bad, it's above average for the windows xp level switch online.
But that's about it. There are lots of problems with this game that makes it not only easily the weakest Wii Sports game, but also just a super lame party game.
First off, and most subjectively, this game is a creative wasteland. And I don't just mean the ubisoft-ass sportsmates that effectively replaced the miis, though I hate those about as much as everyone else. The appeal of the miis, ESPECIALLY in these games, are that they could look similar to real people in your life. And that suspension of disbelief is much easier with a blank slate design like the miis rather than the more involved, but soulless sportsmates. But it's not just them.
Spocco Square is also just a really lame location for these sports to take place in. In the last game, Wuhu Island felt like a lived in resort because most, if not all, of the sports were framed around this island. Spocco in comparison really suffers in this regard. I don't think people play soccer, field golf, or SWORDPLAY in a shopping mall.
That is a huge letdown, but I am willing to look past these sorts of things if the game is at least fun. But it really isn't. Barring bowling and chambara the rest of the sports just don't really hold up.
The controls on a lot of these are fairly clunky compared to resort as a result of the nature of the joycons. They just don't feel as accurate as the motion plus did, at least not here. Volleyball is easily the weakest here with you just needing to make very slight hand motions to win. I don't think volleyball was built for this kind of game.
This game also suffers in sports variety. There are 6 sports (right now) and three of them are tennis, volleyball, and badminton. If these were all crammed in the same game in order to fit the shopping mall theme, then maybe that's a sign that the idea isn't that great.
To return to the Wii sports resort comparion, that game not only had 12 sports but most of them contained different side modes like 100 pin bowling and swordplay showdown. Apart from the shootout mode for soccer and some minor player counts, this game lacks the side modes that other wii sports games have. You just have the one super short gameplay loop. Take it or leave it.
And to top all of this off, this game released in a half baked state. And not just in the stuff I mentioned before. Golf, the first major post launch update, is not coming until september. Which is a system that always works for these games accept for Mario Golf, and Mario Tennis, and Kirby, and Arms, and basically every other game except Smash and Splatoon. And not only that but even though the game itself isn't $60, the game does come with a leg strap peripheral like Ring Fit adventure. That doesnt work until july. GREAT.
Alright, this is easily the longest review I've made on here and its for a fucking wii sports game lmfao. Bottom line is that this game just feels so empty and soulless compared to Wii Sports Resort, or even other party games on switch like Mario Party Superstars or Clubhouse Games.
Please just get the latter, it has more games, it's $10 cheaper, and it gets golf day one instead of months after launch.