When I fired up Racquet Sports I was immediately intrigued by the use of the MotionPlus controller-free gaming. Additionally, as I got into the set-up and began playing, I realized that the game had a slew of features five different sports, a load of unlockable items, six different play modes and a bunch of characters to select from that are eerily similar to Miis.
However, the more and more you play, the more and more you realize that the game play falls miserably short, despite the coolness of MotionPlus.
The sports included in Racquet Sports are Tennis, Squash, Badminton, Ping Pong and Beach Tennis. For the most part, the gameplay is pretty much the same with each sport. There are some variations, such as with Squash, which is played in an indoor room, Ping Ping is played on a small-ish table and Badminton uses the classic "birdie" instead of a ball. So while the motions are the same for each game, there are slight nuances (including swing strength) that entice the user to play each style of game.
All of the games use the Wii remote and the motions are just like playing tennis in Wii Sports. However, Racquet Sports doesn't have as much precision in terms of player control. With the MotionPlus, one would assume a little more finesse. However, that's not the case. The camera really just allows the user to add a little more top spin or back spin to a shot. Other than that, in my experience, the MotionPlus doesn't add anything special to the game.
Using the MotionPlus camera is simple to set up, I will admit. All the user needs to do is stand in front of the camera and line up with an on-screen body outline and that's it. Then the you use your hands instead of the Wii remote.
Article comments
1 - Rick
Yeah, this game had so much potential but really falls short. Have been looking for a good replacement.
2 - Don Martelli
Thanks for the comment. I was so disappointed in this really. I had high hopes. The camera was really what set up off in terms of the disappointment.