In the past few weeks there have been several new sport related titles on the Wii, several of which tout new, improved controls through the use of the MotionPlus peripheral which plugs into the base of the Wiimote. In honor of Father’s Day, I thought take a look at some of these new sports titles to see how they measure up. Of course, since it is all about the competition, we’ll have to have the new titles go up against old, established ones in a head to head match for dominance on the Wii system.

First, how are these titles going to be judged? I give you my personal guarantee that each and every contest will be judged in a completely biased and unfair manner. Such is life, but at least you’ll get to hear the reasoning behind every call. Judge for yourself and fell free to leave comments below if you have differing opinions, or additions to the list. We’ll go sport by sport and rank a newly released game up against popular past titleholders to see how they stack up.

Tennis: Grand Slam (EA) vs Mario Power  (Nintendo)

In this corner, we have the tried and tested Mario Power Tennis. Getting on in years, this is actually a reworked GameCube game that has simply added in new controls to take advantage of the new controls available on the Wii. Our challenger is Grand Slam Tennis, the upstart from EA. This newcomer (released just a couple weeks ago) has the advantage of new technology. With graphics tuned to take advantage of what the Wii has to offer, it even has the advantage in hardware, using the new advanced Wii MotionPlus controls so that every little twist and turn of the racquet is communicated to the console.

Putting the two to the test, Mario Power Tennis is an arcade fun-fest that throws physics and reality out the window. Every playable Nintendo character has super power-ups on offense and defense and several minigames can be played that have little to do with actual tennis play. Meanwhile, Grand Slam Tennis provides a very realistic tennis game, with famous players and a create-a-player mode where you work your player up through the pro rankings. There is also an exercise monitor that tracks your play and will tell you approximately how many calories you’ve burned playing tennis in the various modes. The MotionPlus controls work well, but seem to make a subtle change to how the game is played. Rather than timing a swing to aim, it becomes more important to have the correct follow-through on your swing. Not to be outdone, Grand Slam Tennis also has minigames for multiplayer fun. These focus on realistic game styles where two to four players match up in various ways to score points, either points in a time limit or a king of the hill style of game.

Choosing a winner between these two is like comparing tennis players on clay and grass courts. They’re both tennis but they’re also worlds apart in feel and approach to the game. Despite its age, Mario Power Tennis is king when it comes to easy, multiplayer fun. The games are fast and colorful, and anyone can pick up a controller and be playing in minutes. However, Mario Power Tennis lacks depth of strategy and holds very little interest for solo game play. In this area Grand Slam Tennis wins hands down with a long solo career mode as well as internet play. So, looking for a little realistic or solo game, Grand Slam Tennis is very satisfying, but for pure romping multiplayer entertainment value, Mario Power Tennis – New Play Controls is hard to beat.

Racing: Mario Kart (Nintendo) vs Excitebots (Nintendo)

I hadn’t expected something to unseat the king of fun Kart racing games, Mario Kart Wii. While it wasn’t over-the-top new and creative, it was a solid addition to a long line of very good, very fun racing games with silly tracks, fun power-ups, and all the Nintendo star characters. However, that was before I tried the new Excitebots:Trick Racing. In Excitebots, everyone is assigned a robotic animal (frog, bat, ladybug, etc…) which transforms between a two legged running mode and (used more often) a four wheeled mode. Players race around various themed tracks from around the world to be first across the finish line as well as to earn points for tricks such as flirting with disaster in the woods, spinning in the air, playing little games on the track, or even just bashing into other players. Obviously, the greatest points are awarded to the fastest robots, but neglecting other sources of points is a quick way to lose the overall race. In addition to the standard racing mode, there are a number of party minigames where you try to knock a ball into a goal, bowl with your robot, and so on. There is even a separate race mode where you collect cards with your robot as you go around the track. Turn in your cards in poker-like sets to score points. If driving your robot around the track is too easy, try racing around the track while trying to manage a hand of cards and simultaneously keep an eye out for possible future combinations is quite a challenge. Solo play is enhanced with a sort of career mode. Earning points in the career mode will unlock new cars, new car styles and paint schemes, as well as other trophies and awards for your trophy case.

If I had never experienced Mario Kart before, I’m sure it would scream out with excitement and fun. But to tell the truth, there simply isn’t that much of an improvement from the GameCube version (Mario Kart Double-Dash) to the Wii version. Sure, the graphics and sound are better on the Wii, and both are great Kart games, but the only outstanding improvement is the use of the Wiimote as a steering wheel. But Excitebots uses the exact same steering method and throws in a few extra Wiimote uses to boot! At some points in the race, you must swing the steering wheel in a circle to loop your robot around and around an overhead rod, powering up for an eventual “fling” off into space for a long distance jump. There are also vertical rods placed at key points on the track that your robot can hook onto to make a speedy right angle turn. Finally, an occasional mode kicks in where your robot goes into two-legged running mode and you need to tip the control left and right to move its legs back and forth. All this comes together to make a much more creative racing game just for the Wii system.

So who wins this vs contest? Excitebots, but just barely. After all that glowing praise, why not a knockout punch? Well, Excitebots limits its head to head racing to a maximum of 2 players on a single console. This is a major failing in a Kart style of game. For this reason alone, I would recommend Mario Kart to anyone looking for an all-around kart racing experience. However, if two player racing is good enough, Excitebots is the newest, shiniest thing around and is well worth your attention.

Golf: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (EA) vs We Love Golf (Capcom)

Last but not least in our series of matchups is the new Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 golf game vs We Love Golf. Both come with an excellent pedigree, Tiger Woods as the reigning king of golf on most console platforms while We Love Golf was developed by Camelot – the makers of Mario Golf on the GameCube.

Unfortunately for We Love Golf, it just doesn’t have the staying power, or moves held by the newest Tiger Woods. We Love Golf is a solid, fun game but is missing a bit simply by not having access to the popular Nintendo characters. True to its lineage, it has a strong arcade feel, which can be fun but it may not be everyone’s cup of tea.

In contrast, Tiger Woods ’10 builds on its long line of quality titles, but adds in new MotionPlus controls to make it an extremely engaging and entertaining golf simulation. Everything you might expect in a serious (ie. non-arcade) golf title is present including 7 new courses to bring the total to 27! There’s even a bonus disc golf mode where you can play all 27 holes with a simple but fun version of Frisbee golf. As a fan of disc golf, I can attest that it isn’t very realistic, the discs fly very unrealistically. However, it is fun as a simple break from the far more complex controls for regular golf. The talk of the town this year is the new control system. With the new MotionPlus controls, the control of your swing is much more sensitive. This can be seen most easily in your golf swing by holding the Wiimote downward and then rotating your wrists. The golf club onscreen rotates clockwise and counter-clockwise to show how the shot will draw or fade to each side. Rather than timing your swing to control power, the overall motion and follow-through affects the flight of the ball. Putting is similar with the both the length of the backswing and the speed of the forward push affecting the distance the ball moves. While you won’t want to recreate your real life golf swing using the Wiimote, the new controls provide the closest experience available to actually playing golf. (The disc golf mode is yet another shining success for MotionPlus as the discs respond to subtle twists and tilts of your wrist.)

The final verdict? Tiger Woods knocks We Love Golf right out of the ring. Those looking for a pure arcade experience may not find exactly what they’re looking for, but Tiger Woods does so many things well that I’m willing to be you’re not going to miss a more arcade-y style of game. While it is rare for a multi-console, annually upgraded game to stand out from the pack, the new control scheme packaged together with a game that is overflowing with options and modes makes Tiger Woods ’10 worth a look from any Wii gamer.

Postscript

The ironic twist in this series of match-ups has to be my own sports fandom. I’m not a heavy sports junkie, but what fan attributes I do have, I inherited from my mother. So, let me take this moment on Father’s day to say (like so many professional athletes before me). Hi Mom!

Tags: Game Reviews, Misc