Wii Play and So Should You

Another Remote: A Definite Advantage

At $50 (less on Ebay), you can purchase Wii Play which will give you nine mini games and a second remote. The obvious advantage is that now you can play in multi player mode. Several of the Wii Play games and Wii Sports games seem more fun to me when our family plays together.

Shooting Range

This simple shooting range is as simple as pulling a trigger. When I purchased the game, I didn't think I would care for this game since I'm not interested in guns, but this is one of my favorites. Players shoot at bulls eye targets, aluminum cans, ducks, clay shoots, and UFO's in order to improve their skills. The graphics are very good, and it's humorous to try to save your Wii players before the UFO's can abduct them.

Billiards

Just as one would for a real pool game, one holds the Wii remote like a cue stick and jabs it straight forward to hit the ball. The graphics are realistic and overall the game is fun, but not addictive. My daughter who has just learned to play pool enjoys this game more than I do since she has just discovered it.

Fishing

In real life I love to fish, so the Wii version is a bit of a let down. I definitely catch more fish on Wii, but this mini game just has a few small glitches. To me it seems that the remote is less sensitive in this game (like in Wii Sports Boxing) and the rhythm seems off a little bit. But the object is to catch as many fish as you can and avoid catching the little ones. Players just yank up when they catch a fish, but be sure you don't have a “small fry” because these fish deduct points.

Find Mii

Find the look-a-likes is a fun game to play because you see many of the Mii players you created in assorted environments. Even little ones can play this game (at least in the early screens) because all you do is find the two Miis that look alike. The game gets increasingly more difficult at each level. I think the best part about this game was how much my daughters enjoyed it; when they're happy, I'm happy. It was fun that they beat me on this one because they are a lot quicker to find the look alikes.

Charge! (Cow Riders)

The game in which Wii players ride the cows is the last one unlocked and the most fun of all nine mini games. Even my husband liked this game. The neat part is that you hold the Wii remote sideways like a handle bar or like you're holding horse's reigns with two hands. You simply roll forward to speed up or backward to jump a hurdle. The graphics and sounds are neat and it's just an imaginative game.

Pose Mii

In this game you must pose your Mii by pushing certain buttons to flex their arms or legs in one of 3 poses. When your pose matches, you then try to put your Mii into the bubbles that match that position, popping as many bubbles as you can that way. The game is fun, but again not addictive like others.

Laser Hockey

While it's not quite as fun as playing actual air hockey, playing laser hockey is fun. It's pretty much the same, but just takes a little more getting used to the remote. My husband and I both scored (more than one) goal into our own by accident; the “puck” does slide very easily.

Ping Pong and Tanks

The last two games I'm grouping together because I have to say these two are not worth playing in my opinion. Similar to my comments on the fishing and boxing game, these games are very difficult to maneuver easily for us. (Maybe it's just us.) I had expected it to be like Wii Sports tennis, which we love, but it was more difficult to serve especially in ping pong. In tanks, we just didn't have the patience to try to plug in the other controls (the nunchucks) or figure out the buttons for firing. It just didn't seem worth it unless you really like to watch who blows up first. The graphics and overall game play challenge are just more simplistic or outdated and don't seem worth the effort.