Nintendo Switch Sports (Nintendo Switch) – Preview

It was one of the big announcements for the first big Nintendo direct of 2022 (and one of the best out of E3 ever, by the way), Nintendo Switch Sports was announced to be out pretty soon (late April ). The game presents itself to us as the spiritual successor to Wii Sport, the game that everyone has already had, brought to us with the best-selling console of all time. But this time, no free game, we start on an opus at 60 euros, it will therefore be necessary to ensure and offer an experience to the players which will be worth the detour. For this time, exit (finally!) the Mii and their designs as refined as they are sad, make way for avatars with concrete customization possibilities and which look like something. This is already good news in itself. The game will be sold in physics with a leg strap, the same as Ring Fit Adventure.

A lot of sports are announced and highlighted, such as football, which looks like a big soft Rocket League and can be played with the leg (via the strap) or even volleyball, which we can’t wait to try. Few people have recently tried to transcribe Volley Ball into a video game, and it’s often bad. The only last good release on this sport was on Mario Sport Mix (Wii) or, if we go back further, the eternally in our hearts Beach Spikers on Gamecube. However, the presentation of this game did not arouse the enthusiasm of the editorial staff. For football as for volleyball, these new sports seemed soft, but soft, which makes the thing accessible but clearly does not make you want to play. We are afraid of the aperitif mini game which we will only play once or twice. But fear does not avoid danger. And we will judge on paper when we have the game in hand. Ah, and last thing for the road of avoidable bad news, the sacrosanct golf will not be available Day-one but via a patch a few months after the game’s release. I know, I am, like you, shocked by this lack, but busy picking up the little pieces of my heart bruised and betrayed by this announcement.

We already had the opportunity, during a life-size crash test free for everyone, to discover some sports a few weeks ago. A good idea that had given a generally positive feedback to the game. We had the pleasure of being invited to play a little more this new “hit” of the hybrid console, just to give you a little more complete and detailed opinion. on our expectations and our feelings, before the test which will arrive at the horizons of the release of the game.

The 6 sports of the game were presented to us. We were able to try them all. Each of the sports will offer between 1 and 2 players (up to 4 on some) and will fill the lack of players with bots with an adjustable level of difficulty. Across all sports, motion recognition is solid and appropriate, which is nice to see (playing) with the controller in hand, especially when you’ve known the first Wii Sport of the name.

• Volleyball: quite simplistic in its movement-based gameplay, the game is ultimately more fluid and faster than one might expect. The exchanges are quickly very interesting and tactical and the handling is simple (the proof, Léa played and without doing anything). Small disappointment all the same, the matches are only in 5 points, which can seem short. Likewise, only 2v2 seems planned for the moment.
• Badminton: another new sport in this opus, the game offers rather dynamic exchanges with nervous gameplay. Having already done badly, you quickly get caught up in the game and it’s rather close in terms of feeling. We have the right feeling in the arm and even if in the end the gameplay is quite simplistic, it is effective and pleasant and we get caught up in the game very quickly.
• Chambara: this is the sport that convinced us the least. This sword duel seemed messy and almost uninteresting to us (and I’m not saying that because it’s the only sport that Léa has won). He feels the aperitif game syndrome that we will launch once to test but which we will not necessarily return. It’s a sport of anticipating movement and suddenly doing the big nag will quickly be the most effective tactic to take the advantage over your opponent, too bad.
• Bowling: why change a winning recipe? The major sport of Wii sport which has surely turned the family TV of billions of evenings, is back. If the online mode had been able to give an overview of the Battle Royal mode, we were able to discover one of the new local options, the possibility of playing all at the same time rather than each in turn, which energizes the game as much as it reduces the waiting time ! In addition, other modes / options seem to be planned to add content, which will explode the already substantial duration of this flagship sport.
• Tennis: here too, a flagship sport since the 1st part, there was no need to reinvent hot water. Tennis is still there and basically hasn’t changed that much. But, Joy-con precision and tempo seem more central to the gameplay. If we start in nag mode, we quickly find ourselves getting the ball out of the field.
• Football: last new sport of this compilation, for the moment perhaps, football offers 4 game modes available. We were able to test two of them: 4v4 and goal shooting. The 4v4 game offers a fairly manageable Rocket League gameplay which quickly brings variety to the game. If it’s the sport that warms us the least, we finally got into the game and it’s for us one of the good surprises of this opus. The shot on goal mode will ask for the leg strap and just offers a mini leg lift tempo game. Simple but effective especially to make everyone play. We can play with a strap for everyone or a strap each.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VanZht7xK8

Finally, we realize that this famous strap is only used for a mini game (shootout) on a sport, the rest of the game is completely playable without this accessory. Good news therefore for those who are looking to buy on the eShop, the game is 90% playable without having the fixation on the leg and we will not lose much as a result, even if the penalty shootout game is rather nice. Nintendo has also promised to add a patch in the near future to the release of the game to make the 4v4 mode in football compatible with this famous leg strap, but not essential.

Technically, the opus is very nice. Above all, it’s very fluid with no drop in framerate, which is normal and reassuring for a sports game. We salute once again, not really, the idea of ​​having fired the Mii and therefore finally having avatars with a minimum of face. What makes the game beautiful with scenery that is full of small details.

If base NT was quite skeptical at the announcement of this Nintendo Switch Sports, it is clear that once the controller is in hand, this opus puts everyone in agreement by becoming the spiritual and legitimate heir to Wii sport . Be careful, this is still a casual game, but it’s very good casual. One more game to add to the long list of hits from Nintendo’s hybrid console, which definitely does not stop stuffing us, again and again, with very good games.