Yoo! Sports

What’s been the most important video game of the last five years? Call of Duty? Super Mario Galaxy? How about Angry Birds?

Wrong, wrong and wrong. It’s Wii Sports. Whether you like its brand of casual waggling or not, no other game has opened up gaming to the masses like Nintendo’s console sports compendium.

What’s that got to do with Yoo! Sports, the new iPhone game from Triniti Interactive? Well, if you can't figure it out from the name, your derivative detector may need a tune up.

WiiPhone

Yep, Yoo! Sports is a cheeky rip-off of Nintendo’s concept, right down to the chunky customisable avatars, uncluttered design and jaunty music.

Yoo! Sports lines up five sporting events: tennis, boxing, bowling, archery and hoops (read: basketball). Unfortunately, the execution of most of these games leaves something to be desired.

Most of the games are decent though. Bowling is a fun but wafer-thin take on the sport, proving virtually impossible to fail thanks to the ability to steer the ball like a guided missile by tilting your handset. Boxing is an equally entertaining-but-dumb game offering multiple swipe-based attacks with little tactical scope.

Hoops is another game that just doesn’t offer enough nuance, failing to replicate the precise release point of a good jump shot by simply requiring a clean, consistent swipe.

The good, the bad and the handsome

Archery is the one game that could be defined as good, with a nice mixture of multi-touch and accelerometer control, and a decent shot system that relies on timing, judgement (wind plays a part) and only slight luck.

But worst of the lot is tennis, which is surprising given that it’s the source game’s strongest performer. Here it’s a woeful game of unreliable swipe commands and unpredictable player responses (you don’t get to guide the players at all).

Still, while the games themselves are a mixed bag, the presentation is not.

Triniti has done a stellar job of conveying an assured style and solidity that’s truly console-like, especially in the fine Mii-a-like (here called Yoo! Me) avatar customisation section.

Yoo! Sports nails the style and the atmosphere of Nintendo’s seminal casual sports package well, which is no mean feat in itself. Unfortunately, it hasn’t managed to replicate the easy to learn, difficult to master gameplay that is essential to get you coming back for more.