Welcome to another edition of For What it’s Worth, where I review games taken from the bargain bin and see if they worth your bottom dollar. So remember when I promised to spend the entire month of February to games which are 100 percent free (or close to it)? Well considering that I haven’t written anything here on Bitmob for the past two weeks, you might consider that to be a broken promise. To that I say I’m sorry. After working a newspaper internship for four weeks, I was offered to work at the same paper for an extra three weeks (for which I was paid), so I went for it. Because of this I didn’t have as much free time as I usually do. Now that I am back to my regular routine, I can fix the broken promise and write three reviews in one week. Can I do it?

Tonight we take a look at two other free titles, well maybe not free in the traditional sense but they do come free from with just about any Wii system these days.

Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort are seen as the poster children for Nintendo’s innovative motion control technology and are incredibly popular with people of all age demographics and proved to the popular media that video games can in fact be a prime example of family entertainment.

But is it good? Is Wii Sports a raging phenomenon or a dying fad?

Before we start I would also like to remind you all that the scoring system has changed. Since these are free games, I will merely be stating if they are worth your time rather than assigning them a proper worth in dollars. The normal system will return in March.

Story: None.

Graphics & Design: The graphics in both games are the exactly the same and aren’t the most cutting edge in this high definition age but that isn’t a bad thing. The use of Mii avatars in their cutesy and limbless glory (what an odd sentence), as well as the cartoonish backgrounds is actually pretty warm and inviting to younger gamers (Nintendo’s bread and butter) without alienating older ones. What I actually find pretty cool is that you’ll not only find your own Mii creations in background but also avatars created by Nintendo’s staff. Some of which are even based on famous cartoon characters. I found it pretty amusing to see Up’s Carl Fredrickson watch me play a round 100 pin bowling.  

Sound: It’s a rather standard example of light and fluffy music, combined with stock cartoon sound effects, which works perfectly with the light hearted atmosphere of the games.  

Gameplay: The motion plus controls for the Wii Sports series are considered by many to be revolutionary and ground breaking and I would have to agree. The controls allow the player to almost feel as if they are actually in the game itself, which is a feat that no other sports game has quite been able to accomplish. However, there are points where the controls can seem kind of stiff or hard to use at first and the time it takes to master the controls various with each of the sports involved. Surprisingly enough this not fixed all that much in Wii Sports Resort, in fact it is even more noticeable since there is a greater variety in sports to choose from. However, it doesn’t necessarily take too long and it is fun to learn and you can actually work up a bit of sweat, boxing in Wii Sports and Swordplay in Resort for example can give you quite the workout. One thing that is missing from Wii Sports Resort, which I find rather surprising, is subtraction of the ability to test your Wii fit age but with the amount of sports provided and the ability to play multi-player games with a single Wii mote more than makes up for it.

Extra Features: Wii Sports Resort comes with the Motion Plus accessory.

Replay Value: Both Wii Sports titles make for fun party games, as well as excellent time fillers for casual play throughs and of course it is kind of handy for those wishing to whip themselves into fighting shape. It’s also a great game for the entire family to enjoy. This was actually the first video game my father ever played and he actually enjoyed it, so to me that speaks volumes.

Is it worth your time? Yes. Even if you’re not into sports games, this is at the very least worth an attempted play through. Even the most non-athletic types can find themselves enjoying a few rounds of the various sports these games have to offer, although they will have to play each of them a few times to get used to the controls.

Until next time happy hunting.