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Developer: Hudson Soft
Publisher: Hudson Soft
Release Date: May 13, 2008
System: Wii
ESRB Rating: E
Offical Web page
0:00 I've been looking forward to this one quite a bit for one reason and one reason only:
CURLING!
0:00.30 If and when you picture me writing this review, it's important that you include the stylish
Deca Sports wristband Hudson sent me on my wrist.
0:01 "Evrah-bodeee, move ya bodeeeeeee," comes out of the speaker amid a driving bass groove. "Move move, left to right, slide slide... Life is like a dream." This is quite the ridiculous theme song. Check out the official Web site link above to hear it for yourself.
0:02 Straight to the "controls" section to learn how to curl! You hold down B to get a power meter bouncing up and down, then thrust the controller forward to start moving. Release B to, er, release the stone.
0:04 Twisting the remote before releasing it "curls" the stone to curve around blockers. Reminds me of
Wii Sports bowling, where all the curve comes at the very end.
0:05 After release, other team members sweep in front of the hurtling stone to get it to go faster and straighter. This means shaking the remote like a madman, of course.
0:06 On to the real game. I can choose from a variety of generic teams including the "Mad Maidens," the "Boost Force" and the "Disco Knights." This might possibly be the greatest game ever made, based on just those team names.
0:07 The Disco Knights team varies from Small Stephan to Large Tony, with others in between. I choose which three I want on my curling team. Normal difficulty, let's go already!
0:09 Sounds of applause as the camera pans around the rink and our Mii-alike players. Stephan is throwing first. Despite some frantic sweeping, her stone doesn't get very far into the target circle. It's nice and centered, though.
0:10 The computer chooses thug-looking Brandon, who knocks my stone toward the back. I knock his in turn, but all I do is place it closer to the center of the target. D'oh! I'm having trouble getting the game to recognize my sweeping.
0:13 I try to knock another opposing stone out of the way, only to nudge it closer to the center. I'm having trouble judging the power levels, obviously. Now they're sitting three! Oy. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, go learn something about curling! It's awesome!)
0:14 Whoo! My weakest player plants one right in the center, right up against an opposing stone. This nullifies their advantage and make it hard to clear my stone away. I'm awesome.
0:15 Shoot. I accidentally knock the opposing stone out of the way, leaving my centered stone unguarded. They take advantage and knock it away. I suck!
0:16 I screw up the power on my final shot and barely make it to the house. Luckily, they screw up as well, so they only get one point for the side. On to the second set, and this time I have the hammer (the last rock, for you non-curling chumps).
0:17 I'm so glad you can skip most of the computer's turn with a press of the A button.