Eagle Tech Wii Pal 4-in-1 Sports Pack and Shotgun

(4 star rating) Written by: Justin Whitaker

The Nintendo Wii is not a console for hard-core gamers. Rather, it is more intended to be used by casual gamers who enjoy playing a few games with friends without getting too competitive. To make the core Wii Sports game and the various other Wii shooter games more fun to play, Eagle Tech has come out with their new Wii Pal 4-in-1 Sports pack and Wii Pal Shotgun packages. We give them a whirl today to see how much fun they can add to the Wii gaming experience.

Out of the Box Setup

To use the Wii 4-in-1 Sports pack, the first step is to plug the Wii remote in to the remote controller handle. This is quite straightforward and only takes a few seconds to get it seated properly. The next step is attach one of the accessories - the tennis racket, the baseball bat or the golf club - to the top of the handle. This is also quite easy as each of the units slide into place on top of the handle, and clicks once it is in place. This is helpful to keep the head unit in place while you are playing, as you obviously don’t want it to fly off the handle while you are playing!

One unfortunate drawback is that with the Wii remote seated in the remote controller handle, the remote sensor is blocked. This made it impossible to navigate through the menu choices to choose our characters, select the game type and actually get the game started. Not a big deal - but annoying to have to first remove the remote from the handle to get the game started, and then to reinsert the remote once you are actually ready to play the game.

The set up for the Wii Shotgun is a bit more complicated, and I will admit that I had to refer to the instruction manual. Sometimes it is better to suck it up and glance through the manual, rather than try to stick some part where it’s not supposed to go and end up breaking something. This is especially true when dealing with accessories that might not be as sturdy as you would like them to be (although both of the Wii Pal units were made of thick plastic that will not crack or break easily).

After a bit of a blow to my confidence in the handy-man skills department and having to go through the user manual, the Wii Pal Shotgun setup was completed. The main step that was not really clear was how to thread the nunchuck through the gun and keep it connected to the Wii remote. Once that is done, the nunchuck and the remote lock into place and you are ready to start blasting enemies or shooting ducks.

In the Box

• Remote Controller Handle
• Tennis/Badminton Racket
• Baseball Bat
• Golf Club
• User Guide




• Infrared laser beam scope
• Wii PAL Shotgun
• User Guide

Specifications

• Dimension: (w) x (h) x (l)
• Golf Club: 3.15" x 0.35" x 14.53"
• Baseball Bat: 1.85" x 1.85" x 16.89"
• Tennis Racket: 5.91" x 0.83" x 14.33"
• Shotgun: 1.89"(w) x 8.11"(h) x 17.76(l)




• Weight: (excluded Wii remote)
• Golf Club: 0.18 lbs
• Baseball Bat: 0.33 lbs
• Tennis Racket: 0.31 lbs
• Shotgun: 0.51 lbs

Using the Wii Pal 4-in-1 Sports Pack

Diving right into the usage of these accessories was taken up by myself and a friend who is an avid Wii gamer. To test the Wii Pal accessories, I took them through a few hours of rigorous playing with my friend who owns the Wii. Yes, I know, it’s a tough job - but somebody’s got to do it!

The first thing we noticed is that the grip on the remote control handle feels much more natural than using just the Wii remote. It has a leather covering that is a lot softer than the plastic remote control, and also is a lot easier to grip. When playing the Wii tennis game it felt a lot more realistic to have a leather handle that we used to swing the racket head back and forth. I still got beaten badly by my friend who plays a lot more than I do, but I had more fun in the process!

Playing baseball and golf were equally fun using the baseball bat and golf club, although it does not feel as natural to have a leather handle for a baseball bat. Switching out the tennis rack head for the baseball bat head was also easy and only takes a few moments. This is nice that you don’t have to really take much time to re-assemble things when you want to switch from playing one game to another game.

The only real drawback that I saw was the one that I mentioned above, and that is the fact that the remote control had to be used separately to navigate through the menus. The one other point that took a bit of getting used to was the fact that the weight of the remote control handle plus the head unit is heavier than just using the remote by itself. There is a bit of a learning curve to get used to the additional weight, and I lost a couple of points in the tennis game when my swing was slower than it normally would be if I had just used the remote. This is a very small point, since it only takes a few minutes of usage to get accustomed to the small amount of extra weight.

Using the Wii Pal Shotgun

To test the Shotgun, we used it with the Wii Play – Shooting Range game. We both found that this accessory was also a lot more fun than just using the Wii remote. The shotgun handle can be flipped up or down depending on your preference, and you can also choose whether or not to use the laser beam scope.

Aiming with the shotgun is easier and more natural. The accuracy of shooting using the shotgun also went up quite a bit versus using the remote, which is a testament both to the ease of use for the shotgun and the accuracy of the unit. If you’re like me, there’s nothing more fun than firing away at enemies or targets flying across the screen. And it was even more fun using the Wii Pal Shotgun.

The only drawback I found with the shotgun was that we did have to reconfigure the button assignments. The standard button assignments were not very satisfactory, as the fire button was still assigned to the Wii remote. We had to assign the nunchuck trigger button on the nunchuck to be the ‘fire’ button for it to feel natural to use the Shotgun trigger. Other than that, the Shotgun was a blast to use and I have no complaints at all.

Eagle Tech Wii Pal 4-in-1 Sports Pack and Infrared Shotgun

Both of these accessory packs are a blast to use and provide a more natural feel than just using the Wii remote by itself. They are relatively inexpensive and do make the Wii games more fun to play. They are also relatively inexpensive and are sturdy enough to stand up to being tossed around by kids who play the Wii.

In the end, having fun is really the point of playing games anyway - and since the Wii Pal 4-in-1 Sports Pack and the Wii Pal Infrared Shotgun add to the fun without breaking the bank - I give them both a hearty recommendation.

Pros: More fun than just using the Wii remote, good grip on the handle and sturdy construction.

Cons: Remote control handle occasionally blocks the sensor, a bit heavier than just using the Wii remote.

Rating: 4 out of 5

www.eagletech.com