➤ Mini-game desserts 🎮

Released in 2006 at the launch of the console, Wii Play is the second best-selling game for Wii, surpassed by the solo Wii Sports. Five years later comes the sequel, which embraces the same formula: beyond a similar approach - they are both collections of minigames - the determining factor is the marketing bundled with the Wiimote, so much so that it is practically impossible to judge the playful quality. without taking into account the reduced price. Compared to a simple remote control, the package containing Wii Play: Motion it costs "only" ten euros more. The main difference from the predecessor is that this time the bundle is not with a normal Wiimote, but with a Wiimote Plus, i.e. a full-size remote control with integrated motion plus. In short, a device that could be useful to more than one person when the next Zelda arrives.

A matter of wrist

Each minigame in the title requires the use of motion plus: clearly this aspect does not raise any problems in the single player experience, but it could cause problems in the case of two or more users. The thing is more serious than it might seem, because without multiplayer you will hardly play Wii Play: Motion more than twice, so it is almost essential to have at least one other remote control with motion plus attached.

Unlike the original, this sequel was not developed internally by Nintendo: although all supervised by the Kyoto house, various minigames were made by small Japanese teams. The general quality has not suffered too much, on the contrary: the average value of the minigames is higher, and they are about double, twelve. The general feeling is that the simpler ones, and apparently less interesting, are the most successful: complexity, especially in this field, is not necessarily a virtue. Another general feature that permeates the entire product is the quality of the control system, which is truly exceptional. The Wiimote plus is exactly what everyone hoped the normal Wiimote would be, and that is an accessory capable of perceiving even the slightest displacements on any axis, including accelerations. If - absurdly - this peripheral had been present since the launch of the console, most likely the history of the Wii would have been different; or rather, the history of motion controls, and their confinement to "casual games", would have been different. Wii Play: Motion it is certainly not a masterpiece, but it is still a pleasure to see your movements faithfully reproduced on screen.

Kill the mole

The minigames are divided into three sections, each consisting of four elements, with increasing level of complexity. Each of them is more structured than those of the first Wii Play: each has various stages and / or difficulty levels to be unlocked by improving your score. As mentioned a few lines ago, the most successful episodes are often the simplest ones, so much so that the best minigames are found in the first and second group.

"Occhio all'orto" is a frenetic, very classic and always fun killer of the mole, which gives the maximum in multiplayer: various types of enemies and scores, many environments, and above all a hammer never so realistic to move in a video game. "Shooting" is an expansion of the clone of Duck Hunt present in Wii Play, but this time you can move the view, as well as the aim: even in this case - indeed, especially in this case - longevity is assured, since there are many levels, each with new and well-characterized enemies. "Rebound", despite the apparent naivety, is one of the most interesting games: it's just a matter of throwing a stone on a lake, and making it bounce as much as possible, but the precision of the motion plus, so sensitive in detecting angle and speed shooting, makes everything extremely fun (much more than it may seem in words). The second group of minigames also has its peaks, starting with "Flipper", in which you take control of a series of horizontal bars (to be tilted at will) with which to shoot balls in any direction.

This game works well both alone and in multiplayer, and for this reason it is certainly to be included among the best. Equally valid is "Haunted House", a kind of Luigi's Mansion in first person, based on a really brilliant idea: you have to look for ghosts around the room, based only on the sound (and when we say around the room we mean outside the TV, aiming the remote control behind, above and below you ) and bring them back "into" the screen, where they can be sucked in. To conclude we mention "Turbombrello" and "Space Station", which at first glance seem the most attractive and profound. The first is a kind of racing game with skates and umbrella for gliding, but the ride does not flow as smoothly as it could have, and is kept on the ground by an annoying background intricacy. The second puts you in control of a spaceship, but the combined use of buttons and motion sensors makes an unoriginal gaming experience in itself artificial.

What time?

Wii Play is the second best-selling game for Wii, but Wii Play: Motion it got off to a bad start, so much so that it will struggle to exceed 100.000 copies. While it is superior to the prequel in every respect, it is undeniable that it came out late.

The life cycle of the console has now come to an end, and the motion plus has never managed to break through, mainly for two factors: it was poorly supported by software houses (Nintendo in the head) and its features are difficult to communicate to the public. casual. Wii Play: Motion it is a simple product, but well made, definitely recommended for those who can enjoy it in multiplayer; despite this, its main effect is to make us regret what could have been and was not. Motion plus works so well, even in an essential title like this, that it is impossible not to fantasize about what it could have added to the many games released for Wii since 2006 - but also from 2009 - onwards, if only it had been more kept. into account.

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Wii Play: Motion costs a little more than a Wiimote Plus sold individually, and offers twelve minigames on average excellent, with many peaks upwards and few downwards. Make sure you can play it in multiplayer, that is, make sure you have more than one remote with motion plus. Should you need a new Wiimote, buy it without hesitation; should you limit yourself to single-player, avoid it just as ruthlessly.