Wii Play: Motion Review

Wii Play: Motion is the sequel to Wii Play, the minigame collection which came out in the Wii’s early period and was bundled with a free controller. Wii Play: Motion follows the trend but this time comes with a Wii Remote Plus, which offers extra levels of control and precision. Is the game any good or is it just a cheap add-on to the controller?

Wii Play: Motion is split up into a variety of mini games. On the surface it seems to be rather short, but almost every game has extra modes, as well as multiplayer modes to play through. I have decided the best way to review the game is to split each game into summaries.

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Cone zone – a game which uses the Wiimote to balance an ice cream cone. Ice cream gradually falls from the sky and you must keep the balance and avoid dropping the tower. Alternative mode has you twirling the Wiimote to get the smoothest, tallest swirl of ice cream as possible. A bit pants.

Veggie guarding – a whack a mole type game, where you hover over a hole and use the Wiimote to thrust downwards to knock out the moles.  The further you progress, the faster the moles appear, testing your reflexes to the max. Good fun in all.

Skip Skimmer – a game which has you throwing a wedge shaped stone across a lake. The Wiimote must be the right angle if it is to skim across the water and thrown at the right force. Alternative modes include a cool half pipe which is hard to perfect.

Pose Mii Plus – this is an evolved form of the pose Mii from Wii Play. This time you must tilt the controller to have your Mii character fit through odd shaped holes. Its sort of like BBC’s Hole in The Wall, just without Dale Winton…

Trigger Twist – This is an evolved form of the shooting range game from Wii Play. This time you can use the controller off screen, so it controls more like an FPS. If you choose shots carefully, you can rustle up huge scored by not missing targets. Good fun.

Jump Park – is a enjoyable game where you control a character by tilting the Wiimote left or right. The object of the game is to bounce from walls and jump mats to collect as many gems as possible. This is sometimes rather challenging, as one wrong move can lead you to go back to the start.

Teeter Target – one of the best games. This one uses the Wiimote to tilt a wooden platform, which is used to hit a ball into a variety of targets. There are over 30 stages to get through, which get fairly hard. The 2 player mode is good fun, as there are 2 balls to control. One of the best games.

Spooky Search – I didn’t like this game. The idea is to hold the Wiimote off screen, then you hear an alarm from the speakers, you press a button to pull in a ghost. You then take it into a portal in a Ghostbusters rip off. I found it too annoying and hurt my arm after a while.

Wind Runner – this is a cool take on a racing game. The idea is to hold out an umbrella on a course filled with wind blasts. You get pulled along by the wind and can jump to collect gems and to float high in the air, cutting corners and so on.

Treasure Twirl – not too sure what to make of this one. The idea is to turn the Wiimote, which moves your Mii up or down. You can tilt to either side to dodge sharks as you search the ocean for treasure. You must have steady hands to take the jewels back to the surface without dropping them. Fairly difficult but two player is fun.

Flutter Fly – This one is a blatant rip off of the DS Classic Soul Bubbles. You must fan the Wiimote to blow some balloons through a course, avoiding enemies and collecting gems. The levels get pretty hard so it’s not one for a first play.

Star Shuttle – This is the hardest game in the package, and the worst. The idea is to control a spacecraft using the Wiimote, then using different buttons for thrusters and breaks. It is very difficult to control and you will pull hair out when playing. A real shame because the visuals are really great in this game.

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Moving on, the visuals in the game are a mixed bag. Star Shuttle is great, with lovely space based levels and large planets. Jump Park is simple, but has a large amount of excellent special effects going on constantly, as does Pose Mii. Others just do their job, just like they did in the first game. Some are stuck in the last generation, especially the Trigger Twist jungle levels, which look like a dodgy PS1 game.  Sound wise, the music is actually pretty good. Some annoyances, such as the sound effects which come out of the remote do annoy, but they can be turned off. Each games music suits the game, although most sound like ambient supermarket tunes…

Wii Play Motion is a fun little game. Some of the games are a riot in multiplayer, others are god awful. There are more good than bad, so maybe worth a buy if your planning on getting the controller. If not then maybe give it a miss, or a rent at most.