Since even the sparsest details regarding the Wii were unveiled, gamers were giddy with excitement. Truly, the Nintendo Wii would open up brand new venues of interaction in video games. The motion sensing capability of the Wii controller would no doubt allow gamers to do just about anything…And, in an effort to show off just what their controller could do, Nintendo bundled a neat little title called Wii Sports with every Nintendo Wii.

Immediately upon powering on Wii Sports, there’s likely nothing in particular that will catch your eye. In fact, if anything, Wii Sports may impress an idea of this game being something of an underachiever. Graphically, Wii Sports absolutely fails to impress. The characters that occur in Wii Sports are actually Miis that you create on your Wii console. They’re undeniably cute, featuring huge, smiling heads, and lacking arms or legs. However, at the same time, they just fail to impress. They’re the kind of graphics that would be a piece of cake even for the GameCube.

Despite that, though, the graphics might actually grow on you as you play the game more and more. They’re very cutesy, which may be a turn-off to some gamers. The thing is, though, is that that graphical style fits quite nicely with the overall style of the game. The music, also fits in with that sort of cutesy overriding theme. Like every other aspect of the game, it’s very simple, but at the same time, it’s pretty catchy. It’s by no means particularly great or immersive, but it’s good enough that you’ll happily play the game with the volume on.

The real magic of the game, though, lies with the beautifully intuitive controls. Everything that you will do in the game is controlled via movement of the Wii remote. For each of the five sports that Wii Sports features (tennis, golf, baseball, bowling, and boxing), you will mimic the actions that you would perform in the sport while waving around the remote. It may sound a bit gimmicky at first, but trust me: it’s not. The controls are completely immersive and totally believable, and they’re the one biggest aspect of the game that ensure that Wii Sports is a game that’s definitely worth playing.

Naturally, the controls would be nothing without good application. And for the most part, Wii Sports utilizes those awesome controls quite nicely. All five games are fine, but some are definitely better than others. What makes them all fun and worth playing, though, is the fact that each of them is definitely unique.

The best game in Wii Sports and the one that you’ll likely play most often is without a doubt tennis. Of all the games, tennis definitely does the best job of really pushing the controls to their absolute limit, showing what the Wii is really possible of. Before you even begin to play, Tennis has a ton of options that will keep each game fresh and fun. You can decide how many games to play (1, 2 out of 3, or 3 out of 5), and you can assign human or computer players to each slot. Unfortunately, you have to play doubles; there is no option to play a singles match.

Once you actually get out on the court, the fun really starts. Serving is a rather simple matter, although there is some potential intricacy to it. Simply swipe the remote upward to toss the ball; while it’s still in the air, give the remote an overhead swing to send the ball toward your opponents. Also, if you hit the ball in the height of it’s toss, you’ll send over a high-speed Power Serve, making it more difficult for your opponents to return it. From there, simply volley back and forth with simple forehand and backhand swings of the remote. When one player fails to get to the ball, doesn’t get the ball over the net, or allows the ball to hit twice on his side of the court, then the other player wins a point.

Golf is also a pretty fun sport in Wii Sports, although it’s not quite as good as tennis. You have the ability to select which difficulty to play on; each difficulty consists of three holes; if you’d like, you can play a nine-hole game, consisting of all three difficulties. Hitting the ball is also a rather straightforward matter. Simply swing the remote in a manner emulating swinging a golf club. There are only a few clubs to play with, though: the driver, the iron, the pitcher, and the putter.

You can gauge the required strength of your shot rather easily, as well. On the power gauge, there are a number of markers. These markers will correspond with markers on the green. So, if you see that the hole is three marks away, you should try to swing your club so that the power goes up to three markers. Also important is the fact that the ball will hook or slice if your swing goes over the top of the power gauge. In addition, most courses will have a wind, which is important to take into consideration when aiming and gauging your shot.

Bowling is where the game starts to head downward a bit. Bowling is fine, I suppose, but it’s rather repetitive. To throw the ball, you simply mimic the act of throwing a real bowling ball with the remote. Hold it up, parallel with your body. Then, slide it back, then throw it forward. This will send the ball rolling down the lane, knocking down as many pins as possible at the end.

There are a few significant problems with this game, though. The first is that it’s very repetitive, and it’s not interesting enough to really keep you engaged. But even a bigger problem is the fact that the controls are kind of shoddy in bowling. You can apply spin on the ball by twisting your hand as you release the ball. Annoyingly, though, most times, unless you’re very careful, the ball will spin itself. This is really annoying, especially when it’s a close game and you’re going for that last pin that will give you a strike.

The last two games, baseball and boxing, are rather poor. Baseball is mediocre, at best. Pitching is controlled by flinging forward the Wii remote (remember to hang on to it, though!), and you can use button presses to throw a slight variety of pitches (only three, though). Hitting is a simple matter of just swinging the remote like a baseball bat. The controls are also pretty poor, and the game is far too simple and repetitive. The controls aren’t very responsive, and the motions on-screen are also not synced in time with you actions, which can cause some problems when trying to hit.

Boxing is outright the worst game of the bunch, though. You need to play with the Nunchuk attachment, which causes something of a hassle. You move the remote and Nunchuk simultaneously to the left or right to dodge, and swing either one of them to throw a punch. The biggest problem is that the controls are not at all responsive, and you’ll often have to try a move three or four times to get it to register on the screen. Also, boxing is pretty much the Wii version of button-matching. There’s not much skill at all involved, and the game is overall very repetitive and boring.

One very nice thing about Wii Sports in general , is that there’s a monstrous amount of replay value. It’s a really great game that anybody can get into, and it’ll keep you entertained for quite a while. While not all of the games are that great, tennis and golf alone make Wii Sports a pretty fun, while shallow, diversion. You earn points for every match that you win, and once you earn a thousand points, you become a “Pro” in that sport, and gain some neat little bonus. If that’s not enough to keep you playing, then the overall fun (particularly when playing multiplayer) should be.

While Wii Sports is not the greatest game ever created, it’s definitely a worthy pack-in with the Nintendo Wii. It does a fantastic job of really showing off the control capabilities of the Nintendo Wii, which is obviously what it was meant to do. In terms of graphics and music, Wii Sports ay fail to impress. But the sports themselves, especially tennis and golf, are quite well done, and control nicely. Especially considering that you’re getting it for free, Wii Sports is a surprisingly fun and satisfying game.

This review kindly sponsored by Last Action Gamer.