Update: March 20, 2008
«©NCSX» Hudson barges in onto the Wii with a casual sports game that features ten events. The word "casual" is apt here because the games are meant to be light and non-intensive fare although the Curling game is excellent and engaging. The ten games included are as follows:
Archery / Uses a 3-step process to pull back on the bow, aim, and fire
Badminton / Challenging and somewhat monotonous racquet action
Basketball / 3-on-3 full court round ball where it's very easy to steal
Beach Volleyball / 2-on-2 game built on the Badminton engine
Curling / In our opinion, the best game in Deca Sporta
Figure Skating / Use both nunchuk and Wii Remote to skate around a rink
Kart Racing / No-frills racing game with horizontal Wii Remote control
Snowboard Cross / Very straightforward downhill boarding
Soccer / Reminds us of the olden days of Amiga soccer sims
Supercross / Dirt bike hijinx on an undulating course
A more detailed description of each event and our thoughts may be viewed on our full product page for Deca Sporta.
Jan Code: 4988607500375
View the back cover and screenshots on the main NCSX website.
NCS Game Notes
» Hudson recruited Adidas to sponsor the game. It's a useful tact to reduce costs to the publisher. As such, the Adidas logo may be found in all of the games.
» Eight five-member teams with their own logos may be selected as your onscreen players. They don't seem to have any attributes linked to them and they just differ in appearance and color of body suit
» NCS played all of the events this morning. Here's a short description of each one:
1) Badminton - You just have to worry about swinging the Wii Remote to smack the shuttlecock since the movement of your player around the court is automatic. To perform a smash, watch as the ball arcs overhead and flashes red. That's your cue to shake the Wi Reimote to leap upwards and smack the ball downwards onto your opponent's side.
2) Kart Racing - Hold the Wii Remote lengthwise and push the "2" button to accelerate and the "1" button to brake. To move left and right, simply dip the Wii Remote downwards to the right or left to tackle a hairpin curve. The responsiveness of the Wii Remote as a driving controller is excellent and the more you want to turn, simply dip the Wii Remote at a steeper angle. The quality of the control bodes well for Mario Kart Wii which ships in a few weeks.
3) Curling - Aim the direction of the throw with the D-pad and then press and hold the "B" button to power up and then thrust the Wii Remote forward while still holding the "B" button to launch the stone forward. As it heads towards the house, wag the Wii Remote around so that the two broom-handlers polish the ice to make a smooth pathway for the stone. The goal is to have a stone sit as close to the blue center as possible. After every round, the closest stone is highlighted. Each round features six hurls for each side. You can also try to bump your opponent's circles out of the center area or bump your earlier circles closer to the center with each successive throw.
4) Snowboard Cross - Simple racing game where the Wii Remote is pointed forward and then tilted to the left and right to maneuver through the slopes. If your tilt is too askew, you might find your boarder losing control and falling down on his caboose. You'll also witness the COM controlled boarders losing their balance on hairpin turns.
5) Archery - Push the "B" button to pull back on the bow and once the proper tension is reached, a targeting cursor appears. Line it up with the target while taking the wind shear into account. Once ready to fire, release the "B" button and the arrow is sent sailing. You're allocated 10 seconds to release the bow once in firing mode. The first round's target distance is 30m and the second round increases the distance to 50m.
6) Supercross - Hold the Wii Remote lengthwise once again and push "2" to accelerate and race through the dirt with a bunch of bikers. The trick to winning appears to be gaining the least air and trying to hit the ground as soon as possible after a jump. When you're in the air, you're gaining no traction against your competitors but if you're on the ground quickly, you can motor along while the other bikers are still airborne.
7) Volleyball - Play two-vs-two beach volleyball where your only job is to wag the Wii Remote when the ball is in your sphere of influence. The active player that you control is ringed by a blue circle and all movement around the court is handled by the COM. Smashing plays are replayed in slow-motion. There's one move where you can smash the ball into the far left corner of the opponent's play area and he'll bounce it up successfully but then botch it and let it fall into the sand. We watched this happen 5 times during our play test this morning.
8) Figure Skating - Pick a routine from three available choices and then go through the rink. Your job is to follow the yellow circles by moving the analog pad and when the big red or blue circles appear, shake the Wii Remote when you hit the center of the large circle to perform a leg lift, spin, a jump, or another skating move. If you botch the cue, you'll fall. The goal is to perform the Wii Remote wag when the skater is right in the middle of each large circle to garner an "Excellent" instead of a "Good." The skating game requires the nunchuk in conjunction with the Wii. The crowd seems to be the loudest in this particular event.
9) Basketball - Three-on-three full court basketball which also requires the nunchuk. To pass, press the "A" button and to make a basket attempt, wag the Wii Remote once to aim the ball and then wag it again to release and hope for a dunk. Each half is only 90 seconds long and it's fairly simple to steal the ball from an opponent. Another thing we noticed is that the COM almost never misses when making a basket attempt. Even from downtown.
10) Soccer / Take command of a five man squad and play footy against a team of equals. Similar to the Basketball game, each round lasts only 90 seconds. When a goal is scored, a replay of the goal is shown in slow motion. The action is not bad for a soccer sim in a compilation and the controls are decent. To perform a goal attempt, wag the Wii Remote when the net is in sight and your active man will kick away. To switch active players, press the "A" button and the blue reticule will switch between the different team members. Cheerleaders at the halftime dance around in orange bikinis with yellow pompoms.
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