Ever since Nintendo realised that people thought it was a lot of fun (and were willing to pay for) the ability to take part in a number of sports related mini-games, a lot of other developers have tried to follow suit. But while many simply threw mini-game collections together without much thought, Sports Island has been one of the few series' that managed to mirror Nintendo (or more specifically, Wii Sports) so closely, it's almost beaten it at its own game.
Known in America as Deca Sports, the Sports Island games have sold over 2 million copies worldwide since they launched in 2008 - an achievement that's no small feat. With a franchise as successful as that to build on, it came as no surprise when Hudson recently lifted the lid on a third instalment in the series - known, somewhat uninventively, as Sports Island 3.
Race through the checkpoints as fast as you can. The checkpoints tell give you specific instructions for things to do as you pass through them. Red means you need to have your wings perpendicular to the ground.
At its core, Sports Island, to be kind, "borrows heavily" from Wii Sports. Taking ten different sports, and whittling them down to their very core, before adding colourful avatars, and motion controls, the games have become a success simply by being easy to play, and enjoyable in short bursts.
Not wanting to deviate too much from the beaten path, Sports Island 3 looks like it's going to be more of the same - and in fact, you could be forgiven for thinking this could cause a few problems. With three games under their belt, (two on the Wii, and one on the DS), each of which features ten different sports, you might imagine they may be starting to simply run out of events they can use.
You see, in terms of sports that have been featured, Sports Island already has a fairly exhaustive list. Over the course of the last three games, we've had:
- Archery
- Arm Wrestling
- Badminton
- Basketball
- Beach volleyball
- Bobsled
- Bocce Ball
- Cheerleading
- Clay Shooting
- Curling
- Darts
- Dodge Ball
- Downhill Skiing (as opposed the unsuccessful uphill variety)
- Figure skating
- Football
- Golf
- Ice Hockey
- Kart racing
- Kendo
- Motorcycle Racing
- Ping Pong
- Rugby
- Sepak Takraw
- Skydiving
- Snowboard Cross
- Speed Skating
- Supercross
- Synchronised Swimming
- Tennis
- Wall Climbing
And while there are plenty of options there, it's not exactly the Olympics, is it? Some of the sports on there, we haven't even heard of - and many of them, we're not sure anyone takes seriously enough for them to be considered a sport anyway (take tennis, for example - who really cares about that?). As a more serious case in point, Sepak Takraw sounds like what you'd get if your cat had just walked over your keyboard, or something a particularly angry seagull would squawk at you as it pinches your best ice cream, and we can't imagine synchronised swimming would work all that well with motion controls.
However, where there's a will, there's a way, and Hudson have responded by putting together a list of sports that not only sound fun - but that also lend themselves perfectly to a party situation, and the Wii controls. The "sports" that will feature in Sports Island 3 are as follows:
Indoor Volleyball, Racquetball, Air Racing, Kayaking, Lacrosse, Fencing, Halfpipe (Snowboarding), Giant Slalom (Skiing), Springboard Diving, and Logging!
Lacrosse looks like the cream of the mini-games we've seen so far.
With the exception of logging (of course), these are all smart choices, and games that seem to lend themselves perfectly to the Wii controls. Flipping the ball across the court in lacrosse; smashing a return in racquetball - it probably helps that for many of the games, your avatars will be holding something in their hand as well (unlike, say, football). Unfortunately, there are a few duff choices in here - with logging seeming the biggest "what?" decision, and springboard diving coming in as a close second - quite how that's going use motion controls is anyone's guess.
Luckily though, for Sports Island 3, it looks like Hudson are playing to their strengths (or, more accurately, Nintendo's strengths), by keeping the same, pure gameplay as before, and building on it with a few key upgrades - including support for the Wii's precision motion sensing add-on, MotionPlus. Allowing what's known as 1:1 mapping, MotionPlus will allow the game to track your every move, perfectly - something that's bound to be of use for the fencing mini-game, as your Wii remote will work exactly like a sword - which is bound to lead to some tricky encounters. Luckily, for those of us who haven't yet shed out the extra cash for the MotionPlus add-on, the game will also feature a option to use a standard Wii Remote, ensuring no-one gets left out.
With support for up to four players on one console, a new online one-on-one multiplayer mode, and a bright, colourful style, Sports Island 3 will be looking to smash, spin and flip its way into your living rooms this Autumn.
