The Wii
, as you may have noticed is the absolute dream for families everywhere that want to play games together. Simple controllers and an easy set means that you can be switched on and playing a fun game in under a minute and the variety of family friendly games is staggering. With Nintendo’s ethos for the Wii firmly set to be suitable for all ages from 5 to 105, it’s not a surprise that the third party publishers have followed the same suit.

Some of the best best games to play are Nintendo’s own efforts such as Wii Sports, Wii Fit
and the recently released Wii Music. Each is fun, bright and easy to get the hang of right away, using simple motion controls for almost every action. The good thing about these games and many of the other’s to be mentioned is that they are as much fun for adults and grandparents to play, even without the kids!

On the third party side of things, one of the best games comes from a somewhat unusual source. Stephen Speilberg, ace Hollywood director, has put his hand into creating on of the best family games on the market – Boom Blox. With a basic concept similar to Jenga but so much more, Boom Blox is easy to pick and play but as with most good games, is hard to master.

Another, more left field option, this time from Canadian developers Ubisoft, is Rayman Raving Rabbids. A fast paced, mini-game filled, over the top type of game featuring mad rabbits setting Rayman various challenges. All of these games are fun and again easy to pick up and play. Still with Rayman, the sequel to Raving Rabbids, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, will make use of the Wii Balanced board bundled with Wii Fit and will be used in an ingenious way. Your butt. Yes, you control various mini-games with your butt in the same fast paced and fun environment. Obviously there is an option to just use the normal Wii remote controls, but I believe if you ask anyone, young or old if they’d like to control a game with their butt, the answer would be pretty unanimous.

For a more traditional family gaming experience, look no further than the LEGO game series. Already in it’s third edition, you now have the choice of either LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, LEGO Indiana Jones or LEGO Batman. These games bring top class platform and exploration gameplay to fore, and whole movie scripts and scenes played out all in glorious LEGO brick. With three great franchises behind these games there’s a lot to love about them, from recreating the battle of Hoth in Star Wars to running away from “that” boulder in Indiana Jones. Be warned however, that as soon as you have put your kids to bed you’ll be up playing this yourself as the hundreds of unlockable characters and items will keep you coming back for more.

With that said, the Nintendo Wii is the platform of choice for families, and, if you are worried about a games content make sure to check the PEGI rating on the box, or ask one of those friendly game store clerks.

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Tags: Family Games, Game Reviews, Wii, Wii Games

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 27th, 2008 at 9:08 am and is filed under Family Games, Wii, Wii Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.