Wii MotionPlus enhances control, but amateur fencers didn’t notice

I liked the feel of the 1:1 motion sensitivity of Wii MotionPlus enough to play the sword fighting game in Wii Sports: Resort multiple times. In the beginning you can test the accuracy by slicing an immobile log and sharpening a pencil. I was impressed how the Wii MotionPlus accessory allowed me to cut the log at multiple angles. This is the kind of control I wish Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors had. The small catch is you need to recalibrate the remote each round by the remote at the center of the screen. Unfortunately, once the competitive game started no one I played with even cared about the increased precision.

Every match in the sword fighting mini-game felt the same. The other player would wildly swing the remote until one of us fell off the platform. Sword fighting in Wii Sports: Resort was essentially a shakefest. The only controlled move you can do is block by holding down the B button, but the block isn’t an ultimate defense. Your blocking range is only effective if your sword is positioned at the right angle. Simply explained, if you hold the sword high and the other player swings low you still get hit. If you make a successful block the player gets knocked back. This isn’t the problem because the system works. However, players tend to ignore the skeletal system in favor of rapid, capricious shaking.

Everyone seemed to have fun to doing it, but sword fighting in Wii Sports: Resort is far from motion controlled Bushido Blade. I have no doubt that Nintendo is going to sell tons of copies of Wii Sports: Resort, but the sword fighting demo didn’t “need” precise control.

The motion control felt more salient in the Frisbee throwing mini-game. You can sense the accuracy at mapping your motions when you attempt to toss the disc. However, I’m not convinced core gamers want an accessory to add sensitivity for a virtual game of catch.  I want to see what third parties do with the Wii MotionPlus because there is potential for fixing control issues Wii owners have been lamenting over.

Images courtesy of Nintendo.