~~~ About this Review ~~~

There are in the region of 300 reviews of the Wii on Dooyoo alone, so I don't really feel I have much to add about the console itself. What I do want to do is draw attention to a much overlooked feature ... the Mii.


~~~ What is a Mii? ~~~

Well, to put it simply, a Mii is a small avatar you create which appears as you on the screen when you play a Wii game. There are a wide variety of face shapes, skin tones, hair styles and colours, eye shapes and colours, etc. etc. - most people customise their Mii to look like themself, usually fairly recognisably in my experience. Once created, it can be used for any game you play.


~~~ Is that it? ~~~

For most people, yes. They create a Mii and use it to play the games. For our family, a resounding no! My children and their friends have had hours of fun creating a wide variety of Mii characters - for creative kids, don't underestimate the fun of this. It is in effect a Wii game you may not have realised you had.


~~~ Who can you make? ~~~

Depends on your imagination! My kids have created Mii versions of most extended family members and various friends.

They also do celebrities (Simon Cowell is particularly effective!) and favourite characters from books and films (we have a comprehensive set of Harry Potter - Harry, Ron and Hermione, Draco Malfoy, Neville Longbottom et al).

Characters from other games can be fun to do - we have Mario and Luigi, and also Dr Eggman from Sonic the Hedgehog - rather cleverly created by using a bald head and huge eyebrows repositioned on the face as a moustache!

We also have some completely imaginary creations - including, rather gruesomely, a character they've named 'Dead' who is grey and looks as though his face is being eaten by a shark!


~~~ Now is that it? ~~~

No, no, no - the real fun for me lies in the fact that not only can you choose to play as any of these characters, but also in many games on Wii Fit or Wii Sports Resort in particular, any Mii you create can turn up - so you might be doing an areobics step class with Dr Eggman, or a kung fu class with Simon Cowell. Can be difficult to do the exercise without giggling, depending on who has turned up! Or the kids will be doing the 'jogging' activity, and as they jog around the virtual park, they might see Grandpa jogging the other way. It's far more fun to populate your games with some recognisable characters than to have random Wii creations on your team! Well, we think so anyway.


~~~ Conclusion ~~~

I guess this review was quite light-hearted - but I really hope it will inspire some people to play with the game they didn't realise they had! For kids (of all ages!) it makes a wide variety of Wii games even more fun.

Go on - you know you want to!