Wii Tennis Wins My Heart
It was with great trepidation that I watched the line about the Nintendo booth stretch around three sides of the enormous display. It was with horror that I spotted the sign (not even half way down the line) that stated “beyond this point - 1 hour wait”. It was with a sick sort of satisfaction that my friend bumped me into the VIP line, allowing me to run amok in the inner Wii sanctum to my heart’s content. And what a content little heart it was.
I do consider myself a hardcore gamer. I play strategy games, fps multiplayer modes, I fuss over the slightest details and fume at developers who don’t do what I wanted them to do. My first impression of the Wii graphics were, sadly, that they were a little lacking. That was until I watched a couple of colleagues duel it out at Wii Tennis and saw the focus on their faces despite their assertion that the Wii was for wieners. Everywhere I looked were people laughing, rocking determinedly in their chair, grinning in satisfaction and just having an all around good time.
I myself got brave and stepped up to the plate…er…well onto the court at one of the booths for a round of tennis against a computer opponent. Having played real tennis for many years now, and having obsessed over the women’s circuit in a way that Steffi Graf would be proud of, I figured it would be a piece of cake. And you know what? It absolutely was. Minus the first botched serve, where the booth attendant instructed me to toss and smash more quickly, the game was easily playable from the moment you picked up the controller, and with no buttons to push, it really couldn’t have been simpler. More than that, it was a tremendous blast. Before I knew it I was swinging away in the middle of a crowded display, top-spinning, back-handing and just narrowly refraining from unlady-like Monica Seles grunts. Victory was my destiny! (I lost.)
I heard complaints about the inability to move the player around the court (he kind of floats towards the ball of his own accord), but really that only served (ha!) to allow players to focus more on the spin and swing of their shots. Did you want to go down the line? Do a drop shot? Well then you darn well better execute that move perfectly. Hit the ball with too open a face, or too closed, and out of bounds you went. The controller, if you couldn’t tell my opinion already, was great. I had, for the first time in a while, a purely fun gaming experience. I didn’t feel pressured to like this game, in fact, given my graphics snobbiness I fully expected to turn up my nose at it, but darned if it wasn’t the most fun I had at the entire convention. Sure, Gears of War is visually stunning, but it is another FPS despite what you might hear, and it offers no innovation in UI.
Say what you will about the tech specs of this little console that very much could, but come launch day I full expect to have one placed proudly at my place.
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POSTED IN: Demos, Nintendo, Sports, Upcoming Games, Wii
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