Nintendo Switch Sports - Review

For years from the day that Wii launched, Wii Sports was perhaps the biggest video game in the world, from those who loved games to those who hadn't played a game since the 80s and those who'd never played at all it welcomed everyone. The sequel kept a few of the original sports but added a lot more to the overall experience and then since then apart from my HD remaster of the original, the series has been on ice. Now that the spiritual successor in Nintendo Switch Sports has arrived, should you stretch and get ready to play once more, let's find out.

Without a doubt the biggest change for this new entry, is the complete visual overhaul for it, no longer will you be subjected to seeing floating bodies playing sports, or severed limbs floating randomly, now you have full blown people to play as. It's not just the people that got an overhaul each of the venues now look amazing, to the point that if these locations existed in the real world I would love to go and visit them, there's just a wonderful atmosphere that even in video game form, that they generate. Of course, one of the big additions for this version of the game is the online multiplayer, Wii Sports Club from the Wii U did have online multiplayer, but as we all know the Wii U was not a successful console, with so very few people playing it, it also had a very weird ticket system that didn't really make sense at the time and even today doesn't. So, with a new look, some new sports and a smoothed out online experience is this the premier sports title from Nintendo? the answer is kinda complicated.

First let's talk sports, there are six sports in total at launch, Bowling, Tennis and Chambara are all returning from previous Wii Sports games, with the new inclusions being Badminton, Volleyball and Soccer. Each of the sports offers something different, be it one-on-one matches in Chambara or Badminton, or group sports in Soccer or Tennis. For very good reason Bowling is going to be the sport that most people go towards because of its simplistic nature, it was the game that everyone played in the original, plus it made an appearance in Wii Sports Resort and its appearance here is a no-brainer. Soccer however is also a very simple sport, it's also the only one that gives you direct control over your character, where is most of the games the character moves automatically here you have full control and a full camera, so it feels like a complete experience. While each of the sports are going to have their fans, I myself do not enjoy Chambara and I'm honestly befuddled about it inclusion in the line-up, given that they pulled from both previous titles there's easily a handful of better place sports.

As far as playing the sports go, for the more complex ones like Soccer or Chambara, they do provide a basic tutorial the first time you go in so you can learn how everything plays. For things like Bowling or Tennis, you really only get some tips as you're going into the game or as you come out of it, given that they are meant to be sports that everybody knows, I can see why they didn’t make in-depth tutorials for them. In terms of actually playing the sports there are three options, Globally which is the online portion, Locally which is how you play the game on the single Switch and then there is with Playing with Friends, which as its name implies is for playing with friends online. The last one has the most options before you can get into playing any sports, because you either have to set up a room or you have to join an existing room. Regardless of the option you select, once you have made your choice, you will be presented with the main screen which is where Spocco Square is located and as such all the sporting venues.

You can't get into the sports by wandering from location to location you just select it from the menu, if you're playing locally on a single switch this is where you can start to do some customisation, for example in Tennis you can select one match, best of three or best of five. Most sports do have some level of options, if you count the CPU skill level as an option - when playing solo, but most are very basic. Playing online, you don’t get any choices in most games, outside of Chambara or Soccer and that is where things start to fall apart. I made mention in my preview that I was really hoping the full game would have settings, choices that I could make that would either provide more time or different experiences within the sports and the fact that there is nothing, and I mean nothing, is just incomprehensible. If you play Soccer, apart from the team size, there's no other options, you can't set the time limit for how long you're playing in a match and there's no halves, it's 3 minutes each time and that's all you get. Tennis is even worse, because the game forces you to be in a 2v2, meaning that if you're playing on your own you have to control both players, and it's not that you need to control, it’s just if you swing for one player both swing. Given that the original game from over a decade ago allowed you to play in either 1v1 or 2v2, not having that now feels like we've gone back in time and not in the best way possible.

The moment you go online though the options are even less, Bowling is a sport that everybody can play and enjoy, if you play locally on one machine you can play with up to four players, and you can either alternate or all go at once. If you're playing online, you get survival bowling and that's it, 16 players and you get 3 frames at a time, not only is it a very slow way to play what is traditionally a very slow game already, once you start in on matchmaking you are locked in until you either quit out of the game entirely or you finish playing the match. If you do get knocked out before the final rounds the game does allow you to spectate, but you don't have any choice over who you spectate on, you're either stuck watching your character watch other people bowl or whomever the game is decided to focus on for a few moments, it really is baffling.

Where the problem comes into play, is that you have to play online if you want to unlock items for your Sportsmate to wear. By default, there are generic outfits for all, just a different colour scheme on them and beyond that you have some basic hairstyles, facial offerings and such, but if you want to have a new coloured outfit or get a different looking tennis racket, then you have to play online. So, the game forces you to play online, if you don't want to look like a default character, but when you do there's no options, you play Volleyball it's standard Volleyball, you jump into Bowling, well I hope you like Survival Bowling. Even if this really appeals to you, playing online to unlock gear, the sports are unbalanced in their rewards, you can play a single match of Soccer and earn 30 points for playing it and then various amounts of points, usually around 4 or 5, if you manage to do something amazing during the match. Bowling will net you 40 points for playing and then you can earn up to another 60 to 80 points, depending on how well you played. So, you either play one of the slowest games around - Survival Bowling and earn the most points or you play faster games and earn very few points.

I really feel that the developers focused more on the style of the game, which as I said earlier the locations look amazing, but because they focused there they didn't put anytime into the sports, so it feels like a game that is all style and no substance. While visually the game is amazing your Sportsmate, even in the default look, has tonnes of personality, there was an instance when I saw while waiting for a lane to load in Bowling, my person was shaking their hand as if to get it loose ready to bowl. In the original Wii Sports that wouldn't have happened because they just had a ball for a hand, but here the moment I saw it I just thought ‘ok they're getting ready to bowl’, it just didn't register as being something out of the norm. Once you do start unlocking new gear outfits, stickers and such you can see a lot of variety in the players in the matches, and that's before we start looking at some of the more unique Mii characters around. The problem with all these amazing outfits, is that you can't hang around in a hub and see them all mingling, you either get to see them as you play them or on the victory screen at the end of the match and that's it.

On the sound side of the presentation, things are a little more subdued, the main menu theme evokes the Wii Sports theme, but gives it a modern-day twist. The games all have their own melodies, that still connect to the main theme so while they are off on their own musical journey, they still connect back to what makes the Wii Sports music work as a whole. One nice touch that is very noticeable in Bowling, mostly because you get so much downtime, is that when it's actually your turn to bowl you can hear different style of the music playing, it's the same theme, but when you're looking at your character before they bold it's like you're hearing it from inside the centre, it's just a nice touch. Your character makes no noise, there's no voice component they don't cheer, they don't cry when defeated, they are essentially mute and while I'm glad there's no way of hearing other players went online, it feels like a missed opportunity to add a little bit more life to the game.

Nintendo Switch Sports has a solid foundation, it offers up some good sports and then there's Chambara, but with almost every other aspect it drops the ball. You can't unlock items for your Sportsmate without playing online but playing online removes any of the options that you would get locally. The game forces you to play the sports their way, i.e., 3 minutes Soccer matches or 2v2 Tennis games and as a modern-day sports title, not having any customisation feels inadequate. Some will argue that yes this is not NBA 2K23 or FIFA 23 and yes, it doesn't need to be those, but I should be able to play a 15-minute game of Soccer if want, or I should be able to set the winning point goal in Badminton to be greater than five. The game comes out swinging, but it has so many questionable design choices, that it really needed more time in the minor leagues before it stepped up to being a pro.

The Score

7.0

Review code provided by Nintendo

The Pros

+Bowling and Soccer are the stand out sports, both are fun to play either solo or with friends

+The game is simply exuding style, from the design of the venues to the outfits and gear your Sportsmate can wear

The Cons

-Being forced to play online, in order to unlock new gear though, is just a baffling design decision

-No options for sport customisation is a massive let down across the board