Wii Play Motion is a collection of 12 mini-games that comes with and makes use of Nintendo’s Wii Motion Plus controller, which is essentially a more precise Wii-mote.  The game supports up to 4 players, but requires everyone who’s playing to have a Wii Motion Plus controller.

There is no over-arching story to these 12 mini-games, but each one does have at least a couple of different playmodes, and also does a nice job of keeping and tracking high scores.

Players are able to use their Miis as the characters in Wii Motion Plus, which adds a great level of personalization and attachment to the onscreen characters.

Each mini-game starts with a nice written tutorial, and often requires you to place the Wii-mote in a certain position in order to begin.  There’s really no common thread among the different games here, other than they all require you to use the Wii-mote in fun and interesting ways, often not even pointing it at the screen.

Before each game, you can also choose how many players you’d like to play.  All games accommodate at least two player, and many allow for up to four.

Here’s an overview of the different mini-games:

     Cone Zone - Stack up scoops of ice cream while balancing your cone while holding the Wii-mote up, or learn to swirl up some soft serve in what we’re pretty sure is the best frozen yogurt dispensing simulation we’ve ever played.

     Veggie Guardin’ – Rack up a high score by hitting pests that pop out of holes.  If you hit a lot of pests, you’ll get a mallet power-up.  In Recall Mode, you’ll memorize the order in which pests pop out of holes, then hit them in that same order.

     Skip Skimmer – Pick up a stone and skip it across the water.  Five skips will be added together to computer your final score.  In Score Mode, you’ll try to score the most point from skipping your stones through rings placed around the lake.

     Trigger Twist – Shoot at a series of enemies and targets – some of which will appear beyond the TV’s field of vision.  When that happens, you’ll need to point your controller offscreen to face your target.  When you’re hit by an enemy, you’ll lose a heart, and your game will be over when you lose your last one.

     Pose Mii Plus – Pivot a posting Mii character so it slides through a series of gates aligning its pose so it passes freely through silhouettes.  You’ll lose a heart if the Mii crashes into the gate, and the game will end if you lose them all.

     Jump Park – Collect gems to reveal the final goal and then get there as quickly as you can.  In Time Attack mode, you’ll try to finish in the quickest time possible.

     Teeter Targets – Tilt a teeter-totter to flick a ball at targets and pass a variety of stages.  If a ball gets by you, time will be deducted from a completion countdown.

     Spooky Search  Point your controller around your body, relying on sounds from its speaker as you first detect nearby ghosts and then grab them and grapple with them.

     Wind Runner – Use an umbrella to fly through a windy course, collecting gems on the way to the finish line.  Ou can increase speed by tilting your umbrella in lie with the wind, and you can jump upward by flicking your controller up.  You’ll get extra points if any time remains on the clock when you reach the finish.  You can also race against your own speed record in Time Attack, or try for a distance record in Long Jump.

     Treasure Twirl – Lower yourself on a cable to the seafloor, grab treasure and then haul it back to the surface before your oxygen runs out.

     Flutter Fly – Use a leaf to fan a cluster of balloons through an obstacle course.  Get points by guiding the balloons through rings on the way to the final goal.  Balloons will pop when your cluster collides with certain obstacles.  The game ends when you lose your last one.

     Star Shuttle – Guide a spaceship through space, then deliver a part to your destination by carefully pivoting your ship in the final docking sequence.  But watch your speed or you’ll crash your ship and fail the mission.

All in all, Wii Motion Plus is a great competitive challenge for families, provided you have multiple Wii Motion Plus Wii-motes.  The game is rated E10+ for cartoon violence, but we think that kids as young as 7 and 8 will have fun with Wii Motion Plus, provided they can handle the precise Wii movements necessary for success.  Although all 12 mini-games don’t really fit together, there’s sure to be at least a few that your family will love to compete with each other in.