Deca Sports Preview

Deca Sports, a unique ten-sport game, exclusive to Wii, is now available at retail for $29.99. Combining ten sporting events into one game, players can compete in beach volleyball, snowboard cross, badminton, basketball, curling, figure skating, archery, supercross, soccer and kart racing.

NintendoSpin had a chance to play the demo version of Deca Sports, which included four of the ten sports: Volleyball, badminton, figure skating, and supercross. Here are our impressions:

Volleyball
The most engaging of the demo sports, volleyball has you spiking and blocking on the beach. Unfortunately, you don’t move your characters, but you do set up volleys, spikes, and blocks by imitating the motions using the Wii remote. The fun comes from the relatively rapid pace of the matches and speed of play.

Badminton
Badminton is like a poor man’s tennis. I’m sorry to all the fans, but this definitely wasn’t nearly as fun as playing Nintendo’s Wii Sports tennis game. I’d find myself in absurdly long rallies, eventually getting bored since I simply didn’t have enough control over the direction and strength of the shots. The matches, at least on the default difficulty, were too slow. Probably my least favorite on the demo disc.

Supercross
Careening recklessly through a dirt track using the Wii remote as a steering wheel in the same way it was used in Excite Truck, Deca Sport’s Supercross would’ve been a lot more fun if the controls were tighter. As it stands, I never felt like I was fully in control of the bike, which was frustrating as the AI opponents sped perfectly down the track and away from me. Still, the speed of the race was fun, and assuming the controls are tighter in the retail version or that I can improve with more practice, Supercross may yet meet its potential.

Figure Skating
Ok, hear me out. Figure Skating on Deca Sports is fun. Really. First of all, it’s great to actually control your character, unlike volleyball and badminton. Second of all, timing your jumps, spins and twirls is actually the most fun I had with any of the demo sports. You’ll move your character through a predetermined track, though you can swerve away from it. At specific spots, you are prompted to perform a jump or twirl by waggling the Wii remote.

So, while the four demo sports had their share of good moments, they also featured spots of inconsistent controls, or in the case of badminton, bland gameplay. Still, there is a lot of potential, and with an accessible price point, and six additional sports, I’m looking forward to playing the full retail version to see if Deca Sports can stand out and offer a viable alternative to Wii Sports.