Deca Sports 2

More of a tech demo than a fully finished sports simulation compilation, reviewer Aaron Koehn saw Hudson's Deca Sports 2 as an excuse for the publisher to make a quick buck on the back of Nintendo's insanely popular Wii Sports franchise. Still, if you're a hardcore petanque player, where else are you going to get your fix?

Finally, fans of the incredibly popular sports of Kendo, Synchronized Swimming, and Petanque have a game they can call their own. In this obvious Wii Sports rip-off, Hudson brings us the most random collection of athletic endeavors ever assembled, where players assume the role of a super athlete (that is, if you consider a dart player an athlete) participating in 10 classic sports. Such "classics" include Road Racing, Tennis, Kendo, Speed Skating, Darts, Pentanque, Synchronized Swimming, Mogul Skiing, Ice Hockey, and Dodge Ball. In the storied tradition of the Wii, this amalgam of 10 celebrated pastimes offer about as much depth as a conversation with Rhodes Scholar Jessica Simpson.

We all understand that the Wii system has been credited with the creation (and if not creation, at least the broadening) of the illustrious "casual gamer," and as a result, the system has seen its fair share of simple and accessible games. However, when a title packs in 10 different games, those 10 games are going to have to be pretty uncomplicated in order to keep the casual gamer's minuscule attention span interested. And boy, are these 10 games simple. In fact, they are so minimal that they are simple to a fault, and if Hudson wanted to be extremely honest they should have printed "quantity over quality" on the game's box art. A good example of this can be seen in Synchronized Swimming, where the player is basically told to slowly wave the Wii remote in 1 of 4 directions during the course of a song. This proves to be extremely easy, and leaves the player wondering if the game was designed to be played by a 3-year-old experiencing his first video game on his Leap-Frog.

If the title's only problem was its lack of depth that would be one thing, because the makers could claim they were cornering the casual toddler gaming demographic, but its controls are also very often problematic. For all you actual Petanque fans out there, you will be sorely disappointed to know that the 20-plus years you've waited for a decent translation of your favorite "sport," has been wasted by terrible motion-sensing. In a game that requires you to accurately throw a ball at another ball (sort of like horseshoes where you use a bowling ball-esque throwing motion) you'll be ready to throw your Wii remote out the window after the game's lack of precision fails to detect any changes in your exertion. And the control problems aren't just limited to motion-sensing. In Hockey, a game where the players are controlled via the analog stick, you'll often find yourself unable to successfully pass to a teammate, avoid an opponent's tackle, or not get stuck on the net as you attempt to skate behind it.

If the game gets a high-five or butt-smack (the athlete's form of adulation) for one thing, it is for its successful function as a party game. You certainly can have a good time subjecting your friends and loved ones to these odd games, and poor controls aren't nearly as glaring when both participants are confined to operating within them. Since the game is fairly reasonably priced, players shouldn't be too discouraged that they are basically purchasing a Wii tech-demo.