Nintendo Switch Sports feels like more than just a party game

theverge.com:

Nintendo Switch Sports, the follow-up to the wildly popular Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort announced in February, is more imaginative than its boring name might imply. While those Wii titles served as tech demos, of sorts, for Nintendo’s at-the-time new motion controls and Mii characters, Switch Sports feels more like a full game, with more involved controls, better visuals, and a post-launch plan for online modes and in-game cosmetics.

Each mini-game looks gorgeous, with detailed venues and more expressive avatars to play as (for those who are curious, you can still use the older Miis on your console, if you really want to get into that Wii Sports mindset). I got to play each of Nintendo Switch Sports six mini-games during my hour-long hands-on: bowling, soccer, badminton, tennis, volleyball, and chambara sword dueling (golf will arrive later in 2022 in a free update).

There are several modes and multiplayer options for each mini-game, whether you intend to play with people on the couch or online with a Nintendo Switch Online account. Bowling — a favorite mini-game among many — has received some welcome updates. If you’re playing with people locally or online, multiple people can bowl simultaneously to speed things up instead of going one by one. There’s also a new online mode that’s effectively a battle royale bowling mode, where you’ll be knocked out if you don’t keep your score high enough.

All of the sports require you to swing a Joy-Con to correspond with the gesture you’d make in the real-life sport. Soccer is the exception, for now at least — I’ll get to that in a second. The game works with Joy-Con to handle kicking, diving, sprinting, and running around. It actually plays like a full third-person soccer