Wii Review: Deca Sports

Deca Sports is yet another mini-game collection for the Wii. This one features ten playable sports with no obvious theme. Summer sports, winter sports, and racing events are included. I am sure that they are not the sports in a decathlon.

There are not that many game modes. In multiplayer, you only have the option to play one event once. Then you have to restart the event or pick a new one. In single player, you have the options of Deca League, Tournament Mode, Deca Challenge, and Open Match. Open Match is the single event mode again. Deca League is the majority of the game. You choose a team and then control it through all ten events. Points are awarded after each event and you hope to have the most points at the end of the ten events. In Tournament Mode, you play through a tournament bracket of a single event. Each ladder of the tournament is different difficulty; you are eliminated if you do not win your match-up. Deca Challenge could be considered as mini-games based on the events, but the events are mini-games themselves. So, you could call the Deca Challenges micro-games.

The greater part of the game’s controls use only the Wii Remote. Most are remote flicks and other waggle motions. Button presses are used at a minimum. All of the racing events use remote tilting to steer. The nunchuck attachment is used in a few events for player movement.

Sadly, the controls vary from good to horrendous. Figure skating, archery and curling work well. The control schemes use some neat ideas to draw you into the game. Volleyball, soccer, basketball, and badminton are unresponsive. You will find yourself resorting to flailing your arms wildly regardless of strategy. Worse still, these events also have problems with player movement. Volleyball and badminton give you no control over it all; basketball and soccer make it very hard. These four events feel more like fighting the control scheme than playing the games. In the racing events, the tilt control does not work that well. Your vehicle does not turn as tight as it should and you end up over-steering. Events involving jumps also feel too floaty.

The game has a simple look with bright colors. The game is trying to imitate the Wii Sports look. The character and backgrounds are very low detailed; they almost look two generations old. To add insult to injury the graphics are also blocky and jaggy.

The songs used for the game soundtrack start off fine, they are even a little catchy. That only lasts about five seconds. They loop endlessly and quickly grow tiresome. Environmental sound effects cannot be heard at all. You do not hear your character contact the ball or the roar of engines.

Multi-player is a little more bearable. Playing the sports that control decently can give you and a friend some okay competition. However, there are so many better games out there; this game will not hold your attention long.

This game does it all. It is shallow; it looks bad, sounds bad, and controls bad. There is no reason to play this game if you have a Wii. It came with Wii Sports, which is about 100 times more fun.

STORY : 0/5

CONTROLS: 1/5

GAMEPLAY: 1/5

GRAPHICS: 1/5

SOUND: 1/5

REPLAY VALUE: 1/5

OVERALL: 1/5