My girlfriend got me this game for Christmas, and it's surprisingly fun! I've always had a soft spot for "point and shoot" games like Area 51 and Police Trainer. Now I have one that doesn't cost 50 cents per credit.

This game is a pack-in with the Wii Zapper, which is a piece of plastic into which you snap a Wii Remote and Nunchuk, and hold like an SMG or, more politically correctly, a crossbow.

The single player is comprised of 9 levels, and each level has a target shooting stage, a "defense" stage, and a free-roaming stage. The target shooting stage is basically exactly like Area 51 and Police Trainer: Your viewpoint moves on rails, and you shoot targets as they appear. In the defense stage, Link stands in a fixed position, and you can aim 360 degrees to shoot targets as they attack you. You also have a radar to spot enemies coming from behind. The free-roaming stage is like a third-person shooter, where you move around and strafe with the Nunchuk, and point near the edge of the screen to turn or look up/down. Your goal in this mode is usually to find and destroy all the enemies.

Accuracy is how you build score. In each mode, consecutive hits increase your multiplier, so if you've hit 20 targets in a row without missing, your next hit is worth 21x its usual point value. Misses drop you down to 1x of course. Stationary targets are worth 10, bulls-eyes are worth 30, and bonus targets (which appear when you hit all the regular targets) are worth up to 150. There are also pots and barrels for you to break, which give very few points, but sometimes hide a rupee inside, which can be worth up to 1000 (but your multiplier does not affect rupee points).

The Zelda theme adds a bit of creativity and variety to prevent the levels from becoming too monotonous. You'll shoot goblins, stalfos, and flying bats, avoid arrows, blast exploding barrels to cause splash damage, fire from horseback, and even challenge bosses in the final levels of the game, which are particularly fun. The move-and-strafe on the nunchuk and point-and-turn with the remote control scheme is accurate and intuitive, and is how all third-person shooters should be done on the Wii (I'm looking at YOU, Resident Evil 4 ).

The game offers a practice mode that allows you to, er, practice any of the sub-stages which you've already played to try and improve your score. You can only record a score and earn medals, however, by playing through an entire level in the single-player. There's also a multiplayer mode which I haven't yet tried, but I assume it involves players competing to earn the highest score. I'll probably bring this to the party tomorrow night and try out the multiplayer there.

8.5/10. It's a bit short, but it's great if you like light gun games, and worth the $20 even without the included peripheral.

I'll be reviewing RE4: Wii Edition and RE:UC, which my girlfriend also got me for Christmas, when I've had more time with each of them. 

Did anyone notice the lag in this game? Don't know why, but if you wiggle the Wiimote around, you'll find that the cursor is a bit late. Compared to games like Mario Galaxy, for example.

So, would you say the Zapper adds to the experience or detracts from it? Are you more or less accurate with it?

Only thing that annoys me about it is the timer thing. Especially on the levels where you have to walk about. I want to be able to kill everything before the level is over, but you only get 60 seconds so I never manage to do it.
I'm sure practice will make perfect, but I'd prefer not to be time constrained.

More accurate, but slower.  Without the Zapper, you can flick your wrist to speed across the screen, but you're not likely to be spot-on.  I think accuracy is more important than speed in this game, because the bullseyes are pretty small, and your score multiplier gets reset every time you miss.  Good question btw.  :)

@ElRhodeo: I don't think there's an actual lag, but it may seem that way because there's a trail behind the pointer.  It takes a moment for the trail to catch up to the reticle, but the reticle itself isn't lagged. 

Apparently, in this game's multiplayer mode, you alternate turns. Lame.

i would give it 6/10 its not so good but ok

I picked this up the day it launched but wound up storing it away in the closet to save as a Christmas gift for the whole family. My son and I finally got to dive into it yesterday afternoon. First impression was that it's a no-brainer purchase for $20, as you'll have one zapper shell from this buy, and presumably will pick up a second in the House of the Dead bundle, so you'll be set for two player rail-shooters without having to pick up a dupe of any of the games by buying one bundle twice.

After extended use though, I think the Zapper is a completely unnecessary accessory, or at least a poorly designed one. It was unquestionably designed by toy makers, without thought to how a real firearm should feel in your hands.

The double-grip rifle design is not only NOT ergonomic, but the particular shell design they went with has the hands too close together. IMHO, the shell needed another 2-3" down the center to space the hands further apart, preferably with one slightly offset, and/or alternately have just dropped the Nunchuk entirely and built a joystick permanently into the shell so it's easier/quicker to mount, seeing as with the package assembled you cannot use the C or Z buttons anyway.

The whole design just "feels" off to me. I thought it took some getting used to, and even after an hour it was still awkward. Most gamers are comfortable with their left thumb driving a thumbstick, and most pistoleers, riflemen, or even paintballers would use their right hand to trigger their weapon. So, while the Zapper has that part correct, having your hands reversed with the right hand in front for the Tommy gun style stacked fore-grip is counter-intuitive to how right handed people, and even a number of lefties, actually hold a real weapon, so the end result is clumsy. If you switch your handling so the grip feels natural, you're now faced with triggering with the left pointer finger while steering with the right, which is worse.

Personally, I would prefer a single-handed 45-handgun style shell for my right hand with a trigger to trip the B button, and a wireless Nunchuk for my left hand.

Or better yet, I'd just prefer two hand gun shells and no Nunchuk at all, so I can go John Woo on some Zombies.

I greatly enjoyed Link's Crossbow training.

At the same time, I havn't even bothered to unpack the zapper.