Nintendo’s flagship motion gaming sports license returns for a new installment: is Nintendo Switch Sports as good as its predecessors?
Video script
Equip your straps, put on your best jogging, here comes the return of a legendary sports license! Remember, for years, Wii Sports had managed to bring together all generations of the same family in front of the Nintendo console. Even today, he is the star of retirement homes. The game sold almost 82 million copies and became the muse of its time. Nearly sixteen years later and in the general craze, the sequel to Wii Sport finally arrives and the next generation is called Nintendo Switch Sports! And then good news, it arrives right on time to quietly prepare the summer body, isn’t that beautiful? So will Nintendo Switch Sports be the new essential of its generation?
CONTENT
No need to warm up, in Nintendo Switch Sports, we land directly in Spocco Square, the game’s large sports complex. On the program, there are 6 sports activities that can be played online and offline, and solo or with others: football, badminton, volleyball, chambara, bowling and tennis. What constitutes a rather varied menu and adapted to all tastes. And to prevent the recipe from running out of steam too quickly, a new kid will join the party this fall: golf! Fortunately, the update will be free, and we like the idea of seeing the game expand over the months to revive the machine a bit. Among all these disciplines, regulars of the license will necessarily recognize some. In fact, there are really only three novelties in the lot: football, badminton and volleyball, which we welcome very warmly. In short, we are entitled to new as well as classic and that’s exactly what we want!
Before starting our little sports session, the passage to the locker room is of course obligatory! Exit the traditional Mii and their angular faces! The new avatars adopt more rounded, more chibi features! The customization is quite limited, but the result is, let’s face it, quite adorable. If you are not convinced, know that you can always trade these cute little characters for the Miis, just to make the nostalgic fiber vibrate to the end. No time to waste, let’s go for the sports session. With its music and super colorful decorations, Nintendo Switch Sports still has a very welcoming aura. It’s super pretty! Well, you still have to put aside the classic Switch aliasing and a few framerate drops. In any case, the game directly recalls the sweet memories of family mini-games. And inevitably, it makes you happy, and you really want to dive into it without further delay.
GAMEPLAY
So, where do we start? How about a small game of badminton, to start gently? For each new player, each discipline has its own tutorial which dictates all the movements to be made for all shots. The stage is essential to properly assimilate everything. The handling is quite good and comfortable for every sport. For badminton, the grip is necessarily quite simple. And we quickly understand that the timing of the strike is always essential. If you miss it, your character falls to the ground and doesn’t get up fast enough to avoid eating a nasty point against his camp. A little frustrating, we admit! But the discipline remains one of the easiest to master and is very fun.
So what are we on to now? Yeah, it’s going fast Switch Sports, no time to fool around and no time to get bored, we can chain the activities as we see fit. Here, why not a game of tennis to keep your hand on the racket? Unlike badminton, it can be played with more than two players. Perfect for 4-player games. Either you draw very simple shots, or you perfect your movement to perform a few topspins and cuts with your ball. It’s up to you to see if you want to play it quiet, or very competitive! You are also generally entitled to three fairly well-balanced difficulty levels for all sports. That’s also what we like about this game, it’s that it can adapt to all ages and all levels.. Everyone can really have fun! We want to talk about grandpa who has never put his hands on a controller as well as the teenager who likes to spend part of his free time playing games. Good on the other hand, we can’t do much against the small problems of inaccuracy: the motion gaming is sometimes downright perfectible and it is felt on certain approximate throws. Difficult to make perfect shots even by making all possible efforts! But it’s still fun, and that’s all we expect from the game. We continue the overview. Here, volleyball! It’s more technical, but just as cool! We provide passes, counters and smashes in a good mood. On the other hand, as soon as you switch to more than two players in split screen, it’s not very pretty and the action really becomes difficult to read, and that’s quite restrictive for such a sport. We find ourselves squinting to follow everything, and it’s not very comfortable.
Alright, how about we play a little game of chambara now. these duels that appeared in Wii Sports Resort consist of ejecting the opponent from the platform by giving him saber blows and parrying. The activity is just as pleasant as it is expeditious. Basically it’s downright perfect for deciding in a snap who has to do the dishes at home tonight. The chambara offers several types of accessories for good replayability: a sword, a charge sword, or two swords. Good with two swords, it’s fun, but it quickly becomes messy and we find ourselves fidgeting with our hands in all directions. But as usual, we’re having a good time.
What if we go back to a classic now? Bowling ! Ahhh, bowling… so many good memories! What we like about this new episode is that everyone can play at the same time, so no need to wait for one to finish their turn. And you will be happy to know that we are entitled to a special mode with obstacle tracks. You have to do it, bowling is not really a sport made of surprises, and this addition is perfect for spicing up the games! So then, what do we have left to see now? Ah yes, football! Well, let’s talk about it. Vou see Rocket League? Well it looks a bit like it, but less nervous, it must be said. Here, if passes are allowed, tackles are not. It’s a shame, because it itches us so much. We also notice that the terrain is huge while our sprint gauge is clearly not balanced enough for the surface to be covered! Basically, we spend time chasing a huge ball, and that inevitably creates little moments of uncertainty. The allied AI is also not really reactive and tends to stay a little too hidden in defense. Well, there, we have listed a lot of faults, but we still had a good laugh about it! Especially since the discipline offers a unique dimension: for once, we use a lot of joy-con to move the characters. By the way, the leg strap, a great addition for the episode, is currently only compatible with penalty shootouts. Until this summer, traditional matches are only played by hand with huge balls. We wonder what it will give.
Okay so now that we’ve done the rounds, Nintendo Switch Sports, is it the new essential for the Switch? In any case, to play as a family, we want to say yes! The formula works with everyone, it’s fun, it’s accessible and we spend real good times together. Defects, there are: we think of the small split screens which make certain actions hard to read, the slight framerate drops, the lack of precision and the unbalanced sprints in the football games. But the fun is constant from start to finish! Nintendo Switch Sports serves up a varied sports program that will appeal to the whole family and that we can’t wait to see expanded in the coming months. And for all these reasons, we give it a score of 16/20.
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