Pose Mii
Pose Mii challenges you to match your on-screen Mii with other bubbled Miis. Words can’t accurately describe just what is going down on screen when you’re actually playing Pose Mii, as this is an odd and even queer effort by Nintendo. Using the Wii-mote, you move your Mii around screen, rotating it to try and match other falling bubbled-Miis.

At times, Pose Mii is fun, but more often than not, it fails to entertain for more than a minute or two. Even with two people playing the game, it leaves much to be desired.

The verdict? Thumbs down.

Laser Hockey
Another favorite in Wii Play is Laser Hockey. This is Nintendo’s take on air hockey in case you didn’t guess. Using the Wii remote, you take turns smacking a puck back and forth across a table with lasers making up its borders. The game plays much like Table Tennis, but it manages to deliver a distinctly different experience, somehow.

Controlling Laser Hockey, unfortunately, is a little aggravating at times. In real life, smacking a puck to increase the speed at which it travels into your opponent’s territory is as easy as pulling your hand back and swinging it forward. In this virtual iteration of air hockey, on the other hand, the concept is not simulated without flaws. You control your on-screen hand and mallet by pointing at the screen with the Wii-mote. The only way to hit the puck any harder is by moving your on-screen mallet either to the left or right and then forward immediately. This can be a somewhat awkward gesture at times, resulting in you missing the puck entirely or sending it flying in a completely different direction than desired. The process is a bit annoying.

This problem noted, we like Laser Hockey and think it has a wide appeal.

The verdict? Thumbs up.

Billiards
Playing pool with the Wii-mote is an un-mastered science, but at the same time, it’s a new one. We imagine some day that a developer will erect a control scheme and formula that surpasses the one in Billiards. Still, what’s here is decent. Pool buffs can get into the nitty gritty, taking their time to perfectly aim and shoot their ball across the table, and they’ll like it. However, this is the slowest paced mini-game in Wii Play, and for some, that might be a turn off.

For the most part, controlling the game is easy enough. However, the game requires that you pull back your cue and rush it forward to hit a ball, which just isn’t comfortable with the Wii-mote. This is an inherent flaw with the Wii controller itself, rather than the game, so it can be forgiven without much effort.

Regardless, this is one of the more polished games in Wii Play and deserves a thumbs up.

The verdict? Thumbs up.

Fishing
We’re not sure how Nintendo managed to do it, but they’ve designed a fishing game for Wii that removes any kind of fun or entertainment that could possibly be derived by such a game. Controlling this mini-game is more frustrating than any other game in Wii Play, and we wish we could remove the game from our copy. Okay, so, we’re being a little raffish. But we’d be surprised if anybody was genuinely impressed or entertained by Fishing in Wii Play. The control mechanics are sloppy, requiring you to hold your arm out for lengthy amounts of time if you ever want to actually catch a fish, which can be and is tiring. We can think of several ways to create a fun fishing mini-game – see Twilight Princess, for example – and this is not one of them.

Skip it.

The verdict? Thumbs down.



Charge
We appreciate what Nintendo tried to do with Charge. You hold the remote sideways, NES style, and lean it forward to drive your cow forward. The goal is to make it to the end of the track, navigating around obstacles in your way. Truth is, this mini-game isn’t all that bad. However, it’s too simple, and for many, it just won’t keep your attention for long at all. In order to increase the speed at which your cow runs, you must point the remote downwards, which doesn’t work particularly well. Thankfully, steering is better, but acceleration control is a notable mar in Charge’s design. We’re all about cow riding, but it doesn’t work on Wii. Too bad.

The verdict? Thumbs down.

Tanks
The name of the game sounds fun enough: it has the word “tanks” in it. You point at the screen with the Wii-mote, moving your tank forward. The goal is to be the first to shoot down all opposing tanks, which are more often than not located on the furthest side of the map, completely away from your spawn point. Initially, we weren’t that into Tanks, but the more you play it, the more you like it. This isn’t the best game in Wii Sports – at all – but it’s fun at times, even though it starts out very simple. At the end of the day, some gamers are going to like Tanks more than others.

The verdict? Thumbs up.

Final Word
Wii Play is a fun, though incredibly basic collection of mini-games. In truth, the compilation feels more like a tech demo than anything else, which is disappointing considering its price point. Normally, we don’t consider the price of a game a factor in our reviews. Occasionally, however, the subject is of importance, and this is one of those cases. If Wii Play was available for ten bucks, we could much more easily recommend it. Table Tennis, Laser Hockey, Billiards and even Find Mii are all fairly fun mini-games. But they aren’t worth $50.

If you’re looking for a Wii controller, on the other hand, this is a smart buy. You’ll get your Wii-mote, and on top of that, you’ll have some fun games that can be coupled with Wii Sports at your Wii multiplayer parties. Unfortunately, Wii Sports this is not. The Nintendo launch game is leaps and bounds more exciting and stimulating than Wii Play.

Casuals are far more likely to be enticed and thus drawn-in by Wii Play than any other audience. Hardcore gamers, on the other hand, can spend their gaming dollar on better Wii software and be more satisfied.