Wii Sports Club: a minor triumph for an ailing console

November 14th, 2013, 23:41 Posted By: wraggster

Pity the Wii U GamePad. This Swiss Army knife of controllers was supposed to be all things to all players, and yet lately its creator seems to be doing its level best to ignore it. Instead it’s the Wii Remote – at least in its MotionPlus-enhanced form – that finds itself back in favour, as Nintendo attempts to welcome back the expanded market with a more accessible, familiar peripheral.Or does it? Because there can be few games that highlight the awkward position in which Nintendo currently finds itself quite so effectively as Wii Sports Club. It’s a high definition, online-enabled update to two-fifths of last generation’s biggest game: Tennis and Bowling are available now, with the rest of the collection to follow in the months to come. It’s not on a disc, instead free to download, but not to play – you’ll need to buy a 24-hour pass at £1.79 to access either Tennis or Bowling, or lay down £8.99 apiece to have them permanently available. It’s a setup that’s likely to confuse the very players that made the original a phenomenon, and that’s before you factor in the features that differentiate it: online features and improved controls.Wii Sports didn’t work because its controls were accurate, but because they were accessible. The inherent imprecision of the original Remote made it a great leveller: here was a game where anyone could beat anyone else, where timing was more important than accuracy. Rudimentary mimicry of the real-life action was enough to return the ball, or roll it towards ten pins. Now, Tennis has a much sharper learning curve, as spins, lobs, slices and smashes require a degree of nuance and finesse that may be beyond youngsters and beginners.

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