Nintendo Wii Review: FlingSmash

Although the Wii has been highly touted for its motion-sensing abilities, the cold fact of the matter is that many out there – apparently even the developers of the system – feel like the included motion-sensing abilities simply don't go far enough.  Hence the birth of the Wii MotionPlus, a little add-on which helps the Wii translate a controller's movements to an even greater degree.  MotionPlus has become an all but essential add-on for Tiger Woods, but the necessity of it being an add-on increases the cumbersomeness of the remote (and adding a nunchuk makes it worse).

Nintendo has now, we're happy to report, worked that out.  They have managed to squeeze the MotionPlus into the basic remote, thereby giving birth to the Wii Remote Plus.  And, just like the Wii MotionPlus being bundled with Tiger Woods when it was first released, the Remote Plus is being bundled with a new title – FlingSmash (but unlike with Tiger, FlingSmash doesn't cost more with the new remote).

That is the good news – the Remote Plus is a great two-in-one and certainly worth buying if you're in the market for another Wii controller.  The bad news is that while the remote may be ready for primetime, it doesn't feel as though FlingSmash is quite yet.  The game is a relatively basic one, and while that is fine, it doesn't seem to accomplish its goals. 

FlingSmash has players control either Zip or Pip, some adorably cute round creatures who have been tasked with saving their island, Suthon, from an evil invader, Omminus, and his minions. The game is a side-scroller (although it does occasionally go to a vertical-scroller) without the ability to move backwards, which is essentially the only real complication in the game – in order to win levels you need to collect pearls, but once the opportunity to get a pearl has past, it's gone.

Zip (and Pip, save for how they look they're interchangeable) moves through levels by, well, flinging him into the blocks so he can smash them (see where they got the name for the game?).  Zip is flung by swinging the Wii Remote Plus in the direction you would like him to move.  Essentially, you play by imagining that you're hitting Zip – if you move the Remote Plus from left to right, Zip moves right; if you move it up to down, Zip moves down.

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Article Author: Josh Lasser

Josh Lasser, formerly known as "TV and Film Guy," and complete with a Masters Degree in Critical Studies in said areas, gives his opinions on TV, Film, and Entertainment in general. All of which he does in a shameless attempt to try to get paid to do the exact same thing. …

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