Nintendo Family Game Night: Wii Sports Resort

My husband, Garth [not his real name] and I have never been to a tropical island. Well, unless you count Manhattan in the middle of August, I mean. So, Jamaica, Hawaii and Tahiti are on our "places to visit before we kick the bucket" wish list.

You know, when the kids grow up, become successful, take up a group collection and send their parents (that would be us) someplace nice, other than Manhattan.

Until then, there's always Wii Sports Resort and I can at least pretend like I'm vacationing on Wuhu Island (okay, a little cheesy, still) besides, there are 12 different games you can play with and I'll break them down for you, according to my most/least favorites.

Nope, kids don't count...because, they pretty much can play anything, better their Momma, dangit.

Air Sports, Archery, Table Tennis, Golf, Bowling, Swordplay: These games are absolutely AWESOME and very, very fun to play. Unlike the original Wii Sports we reviewed back in 2008, Wii Sports Resort comes with the new Wii MotionPlus controller, which surprisingly makes it physically feel as if I'm actually flying in a plane, gliding through the air, drawing back a bow, whacking a ping pong/golf ball or swooshing and blocking blows with my sword. Seriously, I broke out in a wicked sweat with Swordplay!

Also, the graphics are wild. Especially, while playing Archery, my favorite game, shooting an arrow in a volcano surrounded by lava was sort of cool, or hot (I forget which one is good) but, more importantly, I was never in any real danger of hurting myself, or breaking something, as IRL.

Frisbee®, Basketball, Cycling, Canoeing, Power Cruising, and Wakeboarding : these games were just too difficult, or frustrating "for me" to play and I just don't like basketball, sorry.

However, taking into consideration that I am perhaps the clumsiest person on the planet, Wii Sports Resort has a nice selection of activities to choose from, rain or shine (unlike some vacations we've taken, IRL) and I seem to want to play it more than my kids do, for once.

Downside: Wii Sports Resort comes with only one (1) Wii MotionPlus controller, but you can't play it with a standard Wii controller. So, I went out and purchased another Wii MotionPlus controller from our local GameStop (they run about $25.00) and, well, it's a lot more fun to play against/beat someone else, besides the computer generated characters, or your kids, right?

Upside: My friends at Golin Harris sent us this game way back in June (thank you, guys!) and I'm STILL playing it.

[Retail Price: $49.99]

FIND IT HERE: Wii Sports Resort Official Website, Amazon.com

Next week, we'll share our experience with Fossil Fighters and Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, for Nintendo DS, launched August 10th and launching August 24th, respectively.