Wii Happy Feet is a video game that follows the life of Mumble, a penguin with an affinity for tap dancing. It’s not a game exclusive to the Wii, but this version stands out among the others due to the usage of the Wii remote. Unfortunately, the use for the Wii remote in Happy Feet Wii is not necessarily the most inventive use; your primary objective is to swing the device in time with scrolling arrows appearing on-screen, similar to Dance Dance Revolution without the actual dancing.
The remainder of the game aside from this includes a race where Mumble needs to slide on his belly around obstacles that can slow down his speed and cause him to lose the race. If you avoid obstacles, the race goes quickly, and some ramps can even be jumped. Finally, you can take part in some mini-games — particularly sledding and swimming.
Unfortunately, the game does not offer much more beyond this. The game repeats the mini-games over and over again without really varying the gameplay between the mini-games and the actual base game. At some times, Happy Feet does try to give players a refreshing change of pace, such as when you have to escape the hunt from a hungry, flying foe in the middle of your belly racing, or you may need to avoid the hungry Orca swimmers while you are playing underwater. However, I imagine even younger people would quickly get bored playing the same games over and over again.
As far as graphics go, Happy Feet is surprisingly stellar at bringing life to the characters from the movie of the same name, especially compared to the copy on the GameCube. Whether you are standing far away or are right in front of the television, these characters have great animation and the cut scenes also stand out on their own. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the backgrounds; they aren’t as detailed, and though you can destroy some environmental objects like icebergs, the graphics could have been better on this console.
Overall, Happy Feet on the Nintendo Wii is a bit of a repetitive game that cannot really offer much to gamers — both older and younger — and even though it can use the Wii remote well, that is not enough of a reason to buy the game. The truth is the replayability is low, and there is nothing the game does that tries to keep fresh. As it is, you should only purchase the game if you are a huge fan of the movie Happy Feet, but even then you may wish to rent it, especially if you are considering purchasing it for a younger sibling or child.