Everyone has probably played sports at one time or another, whether that be little league baseball, simply knocking about some tennis balls on the court, or casually playing at the bowling alley. If you haven't actually played the sport before, you've probably experienced one of the many sports games out there on the market, ranging from Virtua Tennis to the Madden series. However, sports hasn't ever really been done like this before.

A bit of a departure for reviews, but Wii Sports is a very different game (if you even want to call it that) that essentially calls for a new way to approach talking about the game. So as to properly cover the games presented in Wii Sports, here is a game-by-game breakdown of what you can expect to play when you inevitably pop it into your Wii.

THE GAMES

Tennis
The first Wii Sports game ever shown off, Tennis was a big hit at the Nintendo press conference at this year's E3, as all the heads of Nintendo played some doubles on the stage much to the delight of all the people in attendance. Watching Miyamoto and the rest of them swing away was a nice spectacle to behold, but a bit of the magic is lost once you start playing Tennis.

There are only two things you have to do to compete in the game: 1) Know how to flick a controller up and then down, and 2) Swing the remote like you swing a racket. Tennis doesn't use the nunchuk attachment at all, because it is usually used to move your character, and no moving happens in tennis…at least from your input. The movement of your characters is completely controlled by the characters, as all you need to concern yourself with is swinging. The tennis in Wii Sports would've been a blast had it allowed you to actually move your character, because it seems like it should've been easy to incorporate into the game. Besides, it couldn't have been any worse than what is already there, because the characters on the screen move so very slow.

As for everything else, serving is easy to do by simply flipping the controller up and then down. It's also easy to make contact with the ball as long as you swing your controller at the right time. The main problem with actually hitting the ball is that you pretty much can't control where your shot is going to head, because though you think it will head in one direction, it usually responds with the opposite. In the end, playing Wii tennis feels like aimlessly throwing your arms about.

Baseball
Have you ever gone to the batting cages and called hitting a few dollars worth of balls baseball? Then I've got the perfect game for you. I also hate to tell you but that isn't baseball.

In Wii Sports' baseball, most of the action takes place while batting, where you get to hold the controller just like a bat and swing it like one too. It works very well – perfect even – but it is everything else that feels rather wasted. Once you hit the ball, you have no direct control over what happens next and whether you get out or how far you advance around the bases; hit the ball barely over the infield and you'll get a single and hit the ball between outfielders and you'll get a double. Once you get three outs and you advance to being out in the fields, then much like you did with batting, all you can do is pitch and no fielding whatsoever. Pitching is a simple flinging motion of the hand, with the player being able to hold one of several buttons to perform specific pitches.

Bowling
Ah, now we start getting somewhere with games actually feeling like :gasp: games! Bowling…how can you screw it up? Sadly, people have screwed up the game before while bringing it to consoles, but Wii Sports nails it perfectly. Much like a real game of bowling, the scoring system works just the same as does the rules. To bowl in the game, you'll hold the ball as if you were approaching the lane, and then you swing your arm back (with the B-button pressed) and you release the button as you complete your swing.

Controls advance beyond more than just that, because you can use the directional pad to move your player left and right, and then by pressing the A-button you can angle your shot and the way you'll throw it. Also, if you've seen any skilled bowler, they can do that sweet curve, and now it is available to you as well: swing the controller straight and the ball will go straight, tilt the controller to the left during the swing to throw a curve to the left, and tilt the controller to the right during the swing to throw a curve to the right.

Bowling in Wii Sports is very fun, very real, and very worth your time.

Golf
If you wanted the cream of the crop, then the golf in Wii Sports is the baby you'll come home to every day. Featuring a total of nine holes, you can position the angle your character will hit towards, and then by rearing back the controller and going through the golfing motion swing, you'll hit the ball. Very simple. An easy to read meter with several diamonds will help you know how much power you need to put in every shot, so it is really easy science to get a good score in the game.

However, this isn't mini-golf, but rather full blown golf, so you've got to worry about water, sand bunkers, rough, out of bounds, and powerful winds you have to adjust for. Though I've never played golf in real life, playing it on the Wii feels very fun, plus you can save a ton of green fees – the only problem is that pesky lack of sun you'll be missing out on. With three different difficulties as well, golf time is lengthened as well.

The golf in Wii Sports certainly should put a smile on all Tiger Woods fans across the world, because if EA doesn't screw up and takes a cue from Wii Sports, then Tiger Woods should be a killer game if/when it is released, and as long as graphics aren't your single determining factor, the Wii version would probably easily be your best bet for fun.

Boxing
As the only game in the set that uses the nunchuk attachment, you'll jab forward with the right controller for a right punch and the nunchuk for a left punch. Beyond the jabs, you can also do uppercuts and roundhouses by doing exaggerated sweeping motions in the direction those normal moves look like. Beyond offense, you can also go on the defensive by leaning the controllers in towards you up high to defend your face or tilt down low near your stomach to guard your chest.

It starts off really fun, but then once you learn all you have to do is continuously throw your arms forward to attack, you'll never once lose a match as the enemies are extremely easy, never posing a challenge. There was an old game in the arcades where you could put your hands on these controllers and control your punches in much the same way, and though I had hoped the game would feel close to that, the real was far from what I actually wanted. However, if the boxing in Wii Sports is a sign of things to come, then future boxing games like a new Fight Night could do really well on the Wii.

THE EXTRAS
If you need a trophy to prove your worth, then head on over to the training menu to play the games with various challenges, and by completing tasks, you'll unlock trophies ranging from the lowly bronze to the shiny platinum.

Though getting trophies in training is fun, what works even better is the Wii Fitness Test, which much like the Brain Age games, will give you a Wii Sports score based on however you do (you can only play this mode once a day for each Mii on your system). By taking you through a series of challenges, the game will tell you what your fitness score, and obviously the lower the number the better you are. Whether this score actually reflects anything or proves any significance remains to be seen, but it felt like the number was true. I'm not sure if boxing or golf is ever used in the tests, because every time I've tried out myself I've always had to volley tennis balls back first, compete in the home run contest second, and then finally trying to nail certain pin conditions in bowling.

It's also important to point out that if you really get into the game and do the motions you are supposed to, you'll get a nice, easy workout. After playing about four games of bowling and a whole nine holes of golf, followed up with a Wii Fitness test, I had a nice sweat going and was genuinely tired.

GRAPHICS
The environments look rather nice – especially the golf course holes – but as for the characters, though I can understand it is a style choice, it still sucks. Big heads and barely there bodies that look like more realistic relatives of Rayman does not make for a gorgeous or even good looking game.

SOUND
The sound of the actions of each sport are good, but the music does better in the aspect that while bowling and playing golf (specifically) it really helps set the mood and keep you in a cool, Zen zone while you try to top your best score or knock one off your golfing total.

IN CONCLUSION
As a tech demo, Wii Sports does great, as all of the games give you hope for the future sports games on the Wii, plus you can't argue with the price – FREE! However, if looked at as a pure game, it is really a pretty lackluster package. I'll keep coming back for bowling and golf, which are really fun, and do the Wii Fitness challenges ever so often to keep my score in check, but beyond that, there isn't too much fun to be had.

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