Wii Play (Hands-On) (Wii) Preview

Hajimete no Wii, which literally translates from Japanese to English as 'My First Wii', is a compendium of various small games that are designed to both educate owners of the Wii in the art of using the controller. However, this is not the only use, or else people certainly would not be parting with their money (even if it DOES come with a free Wii freehand controller). Nintendo thinks the key to Wii is engaging others in the experience, therefore, the various games included in the package are all orientated around fun entertainment and games that can be played with friends. Looking around and finding no friends, though, C3's James Temperton had to suffice as a game partner (hehe!).

The first game sampled was Laser Hockey and out of the entire batch I thought it was probably the best of the bunch. Working somewhat like a more sophisticated version of the classic Pong, one player controls a neon bar on the left, whilst the other does the same on the right. Then the fun begins! This uses the Wii remote alone and as you move your hand around in front of you, the bar moves around the screen in equal real-time. There is wall right down the centre that stops you straying over to the opponent's side unfairly, but you can hover around that 'net' area to try and catch them out with quick returns. To kick off you simply move you bar and touch the puck waiting in the centre. How fast you move you hand relates directly to the speed the puck is hit. Also, twisting your hand left or right tilts your little bar, so you can shoot the puck off in different angles and try to get past your opponent and into their goal. Such a simple idea, yet with the hands-on approach it all becomes highly addictive!

After slaughtering all and sundry at that particularly delightful time-wasting game, I moved on to Wii Billiards, a remarkably solid pool simulator that will try even the most adept of videogame pool / snooker players. This is a great example of where the Nintendo Wii controller acts in a similar fashion to a PC mouse, with it becoming the actual cue. You have to line up your shot in a two-dimensional field and change your angle whilst looking behind the ball, before finally pulling the controller back from the screen and thrusting forward like launching your cue at the white ball to try and sink the relevant balls. Great fun indeed! There was also 'Find Mii', where you have to locate specific Mii characters, pairs or even three-of-a-kinds amongst a large crowd of Mii people. It becomes so tricky when pressed with the timer counter down rapidly, but is another case of 'it is a bit of laugh'.

Following this, I decided to sit back and watch James tackle Table Tennis. Now this game really does show how suited the Wii controls are for Rockstar's own take on the sport

This leaves the last couple of modes of Wii Play, such as Pose Mii, the Shooting Gallery and there is the also the promise of extra modes that were hidden away. The former requires you to fit Mii characters into silhouettes floating down from the top of the screen. Be quick, though, as lots of bubbles start to fall as time goes by and matching them all up using the Wii remote, tilting and switching positions with the A button rapidly is harder than you would imagine. The latter is more traditional, and is basically an updated Duck Hunt, although perhaps that name needed to be dropped because of the nature of today's politically correct world. It is just as simple as ever, with you moving the cursor around the screen and shooting down the relevant targets. Very basic in style, but devastatingly addictive when you get underway.