I could never imagine playing Wii Sports Resort (or its early mutation, Wii Sports) by myself. The fun of sharing your greatest triumph, your biggest downfall, your oddest moment…it is moot when the spaces to your left and right are blank.
Over the weekend, the Girlfriend and I visited her brother and his wife and played some Wii into the wee hours of the night/morning. No, I’m not apologizing for that one. Despite having to share a single Wiimote, we all had a blast. Because even though the games within Wii Sports Resort are more or less mini-games, things of very little variety, the people you play them with makes all the difference.
We played some bowling, basketball, archery, and dog frisbee, and the most fun–group-wise–seems to be bowling. In the original Wii Sports, you just bowled. Simple as that. Here, Nintendo has added some extra features to really help enhance the experience. You can bowl regularly, you can bowl against 100 pins (which make a beautifully addicting sound as they all flip-flop away under the weight of a striiiiiiiike), and you can bowl around obstacles, as shown in the picture above.
Alas, I came in last in each category thanks to my constant curving of the ball. Stupid wrists. Yes, I need lots of practice, but that’s okay. Sometimes it’s not so much fun being a pro at a game like Wii Sports Resort, hitting strike after strike after strike. You can’t laugh at those moments.
But taking five minutes to position yourself just right so that you can narrowly miss the moving obstacles ahead only to toss the bowling ball directly into the gutter?
That‘s where it counts.
Grinding Down 