Wii Golf

Nintendo’s new console Wii will be available in stores in Germany as of 8th December. Sneak previews are availabe at so-called Wii cribs in Berlin, Hamburg and Munich. I know some people that know some people that provided me with a number to call to make an appointment and get directions.

Pieter and I checked out the games included in the Wii sports DVD: Baseball, Tennis, Boxing, Bowling and Golf of course. You play the games holding a controller in your hand and make the moves with the controller, a sensor measures it and puts your character in action. Baseball is the hardest to play, when you box, you have a second controller in your hand as you throw punches at your opponent, pretty arbitrary but fun. I was glad that nobody watched us as we did this.

Bowling, Tennis and Golf were controllable pretty good after some first practice swings. The characters look like Playmobil figures, sometimes they lack hands or feet, but look cute anyway. The graphics don’t try to look real but try to set up a nice playful atmosphere. No comparison whatsoever to a Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07.

Clubwise you can choose between driver, iron, wedge and putter. That’s it. Three hole or nine hole rounds can be played at three different levels – beginner, amateur and pro. The higher the level the more extravagant the holes get. The final hole was a par 5 that you had to play over three different islands with only water inbetween.

It is really fun and entertaining and to execute moves with the controller instead of pressing knobs is a very fun way to play the games. Especially the ones you play directly against your opponent like tennis. It surely doesn’t help you to practice your golfswing, but maybe someone comes up with a control in the shape of a golf club. At a retail price of € 280 it is way cheaper than the XBox or PS3, but I doubt that I’d buy one. You get one or two new clubs for that price!