Wii Sports is arguably the most popular Wii title to date, simply because it shipped with the system as a pack in title. For most people, it really just whet the appetite and left us longing for more. Nintendo’s back with a sequel: Wii Sports Resort.

Wii Sports Resort is different from the original Wii Sports in many ways. Most notably is the required use of the Wii MotionPlus accessory, which is bundled with Resort (and some other games) and is also available as a standalone purchase. Resort also includes a larger collection of sports, 12 to Wii Sports’ 5, and with it a new menu screen. Each sport has an initial challenge with additional unlockable modes of increasing difficulty. Each sport will allow between 1 and 4 players to compete in the challenge, depending on the challenge. Sports included are Archery, Frisbee, Basketball, Cycling, Canoeing, Power Cruising, Table Tennis, Air Sports, Bowling, Swordplay, Golf and Wakeboarding.

I really enjoyed some of these sports and others were just downright cumbersome. Bowling and Golf are largely unchanged. Table Tennis was essentially just a modified version of Tennis from Wii Sports. Archery, Frisbee, Basketball, Swordplay, and Wakeboarding were all quite fun with Swordplay being the house favorite. The Air Sports events were really cool, the top choice of my wife. I felt pretty lukewarm about Canoeing mostly because I did so poorly at it and didn’t really enjoy it. That leaves Power Cruising and Cycling, neither of which I found to be all that enjoyable. Power Cruising was downright hard and I just couldn’t get the hang of it. After a few tries I just stopped playing that one completely.

At its core, Resort really is just an incredibly fun tech demo to showcase the abilities and precision of the Wii MotionPlus. For that, it does a really good job. It’s essentially to the WMP what Wii Sports was to the Wii Remote. Some might gawk at the $50 price tag, but with the WMP unit bundled in there, it’s really only setting you back $30 for the game (WMP retails for $20). At $30, Resort has more than enough depth to justify the price. If Wii Sports was any indicator, I’ll be playing a whole lot of Wii Sports Resort for months to come. This is something you’ll eventually want to pick up.

Pros: Bundled Wii MotionPlus unit; Expanded sports lineup

Cons: Price; Power Cruising sucked