Wii Boxing: Underrated hardcore gem

Wii boxing should not have been included in Wii Sports. Its controls are counter intuitive, it's poorly explained and gives a poor first impression. But if you're able to get over these initial hurdles you'll find an excellent, and surprisingly hardcore game.

The first thing to get out of the way is that real boxing does not work in Wii boxing. Neither does the game reward random flailing:



Unlike the rest of Wii Sports an understanding of the actual sport gives you little advantage in the game. That's not to say the controls don't work: they do. In fact they remain some of the best examples of pure motion based controls implemented on the Wii. There's just a little learning involved.

A huge but understandable mistake Nintendo made with Wii Boxing was to not include a tutorial mode. One that teaches gamers how to throw the various punches and how to block effectively. But if the game needs a tutorial in order to play it properly, what is it doing in Wii Sports? Nintendo must have been caught between a rock and a hard place; realizing the brilliance of the game and knowing that it was a little too demanding for the typical Wii Sports casual gamer. The end result seems to have satisfied no one.

To date no other game has attempted such an ambitious control scheme as Wii Boxing. Blocking and dodging are done through tilt recognition of both Wii remote and nunchuck. Gloves can be raised and lowered to block and punch different areas of the body. The punches are assigned to gestures, and their strength can be altered by performing the gestures at different speeds. All of these are tracked simultaneously, and once mastered can lead to bouts of thrilling and intense combat as players switch from defense to attack.

One fundamental problem the game overcomes is a natural lack of feedback. Obviously when a gamer throws a punch which connects, there is no real-life contact. This is countered in three ways. The first is rumble; a successful punch is accompanied by a buzzing right hand. The second is sound; the Wii remote's speaker is used to to tell the gamer his punch has landed. Thirdly color; the screen flashes brightly with each connecting blow. Many games since have failed to provide the feedback that is so necessary for Wii motion controls; they would do well to look back at this early example.

One key point that Wii Boxing detractors raise is: If the motion controls do not mimic real life, what is the point? Punches aren't really punches but flicks in different directions. Blocking isn't really blocking but subtle variations of tilt. Buttons worked perfectly well before, why learn this new non-boxing motion control scheme? My own answer to this is: Because it's fun. The game may not be exactly like real boxing, but it's a hell of a lot closer than bashing buttons.

I'd like to repeat my opinion that: to date no other game has attempted such an ambitious control scheme as Wii Boxing. A year into the Wii's life, games that are regarded as having good controls are ones that make good use of the Wii pointer, not the accelerometers. Blocking and dodging are that mythical Wii beast: 1:1. For a launch game it's truly a remarkable feat, especially for a game wrongly derided by so many.