Publisher: Destineer
Developer: Destineer
System: Wii
Genre: Sports
Release date: Available now
Review by: Ed Humphries

It’s no secret that the Wii owes its mammoth success to Wii Sports – that little pack-in tech demo that single-handedly converted a legion of non-gamers into the fold and helped propel Nintendo’s dark horse to the head of the pack. Simply put, Wii Sports proved that anybody could game and those who had either been turned off by video games or turned away by increasingly complex control systems suddenly found themselves enjoying them as a communal activity. So it was that during holiday season 2006, Nintendo caught the gaze of the non-gaming community who regarded the company with renewed interest. Watching someone swing their arms with wild abandon in a hard fought round of Wii Tennis; these neophytes looked on with growing interest and thought to themselves, “I could do that.” For better or for worse, so too did some game developers.

Roughly a year and a half into the Wii’s life cycle, one glance at the system’s catalog finds a large number of Wii Sports clones. Each offers a collection of mini-games designed around a themed activity (winter sports, sandlot games, etc) that employ the Wii waggle controls. These games live and die by the execution of the mini-game, the tightness of the controls and the creation of a party atmosphere.

The latest sports compilation, Summer Sports: Paradise Island, comes from developer Destineer Games. As the title hints, this game is a collection of various summer sports including Miniature Golf, Basketball, Lawn Darts, Croquet, Volleyball, Badminton and Horseshoes. Each game is designed to be played with 1 to 4 players and like others of this type, the more players – the merrier.

There are a number of games in this package that are merely variations of the games found in Wii Sports. Miniature Golf features nine island-themed holes and is an extension of the putting mechanic found in Golf. Croquet and Miniature Golf employ the same stance and movements while players whack the ball throughout the course, and Badminton is similar to Tennis in terms of control technique. In addition, Horseshoes and Lawn Darts employ the underhanded tossing technique utilized in Wii Sports Bowling.