The only thing cohesive about Deca Sports is that it lacks cohesion: not one of the minigames included makes sense in conjunction with the others. Featuring basketball, badminton, super cross, figure skating, and archery along with soccer, volleyball, kart racing, snowboarding and curling, not a single game of this eclectic bunch stands out in any way. With its simplistic control scheme, Deca Sports devolves quickly into a shallow game with little versatility and even less variability. And unfortunately, no matter how the games are divided, none of them quite add up.

Deca Sports' ten minigames attempt to be varied while maintaining some semblance of fun, but pack very little of either. Nearly all the sports end up falling flat, with the few "stand outs" there are merely gaining notice by default. Some moments of fun can be gleaned from soccer, but they are few and far between because of its simplistic controls. Players use the nunchuk to move, and from there it's generally a matter of wagging the remote up and down. In fact, nearly every game featured has the same control issues, with ten seemingly different sports devolving into the same up and down movements. Even when the game has a potential to get something right - such as the kart racing - monotony soon kills that short lived moment.

Deca Sports hosts numerous control issues that wind up destroying the experience.

Although every game is simple, the developers did attempt to put some variation into how the game is controlled from sport to sport. The kart racing and super cross both feature the remote turned sideways like in most Wii racing games, but the control is all downhill from there. While driving, the remote tilts left or right to steer, but the vehicles are sloppy and the sensitivity of the Wiimote is not used properly. The most complicated controls belong to soccer, basketball and, surprisingly, curling. Soccer and basketball both employ the nunchuk and Wiimote, with one's shortcomings only exceeding the others. Basketball is the worst culprit and probably among the worst minigames simply because of this control scheme. Players swing the remote up to jump and down to shoot, but the simplicity is almost overpowering. After a few jumps, no shot should be missed - it really requires that little skill. The common Deca Sports theme of continually swinging the remote up and down seems just as reliable as grappling to get more reliability out of the controls. Unfortunately though, the games are all the more frustrating when a movement that was successful for ten shots in a row seems to abruptly and unpredictably fail. In particular, it can be difficult to score in soccer, not because of the keeper, but because of the lack of quality control. As for curling, in contrast to many of the other games, there seems to be a glut of control options, but few of them work correctly or predictably, so again, another game stands as a failure.

The other minigames just grow simpler and simpler as you progress. Figure skating involves the nunchuk, yet asks players to simply move the controller in different and often boring ways. Archery requires simply moving the Wiimote forward while aiming, and even when the game tries to make it more difficult, winning is never a challenge. All in all, the game just does not play like it should, with none of its games making a lot of sense in conjunction with one another. The strange selection of sports might have been fine, however not a single one stands on its own, causing Deca Sports to feel like a collection of failed attempts that didn't work well enough to be included in any other game.

Multiplayer does exist, though subjecting up to four friends to Deca Sports is probably a bad idea. Most of the same options exist in multiplayer, allowing players to try several games against each other in the hopes of finding some decent competition. There is no online multiplayer, however, so those interested in exchanging friend codes need not apply. Ultimately, the multiplayer is just more of the same with additional people, which means more frustrating and unresponsive controls slathered over poorly constructed minigames.

The presentational aspects of the game do little to help matters.

The game's graphics look like a typical Wii game aesthetically, but are poorly executed. The players have little in the way of definition and all consist of the same generic models. Although players can choose between different teams and different colors, they are all built from the same few molds, with no options to change them. At the very least the developers could have included Mii support, but perhaps that was discouraged to distance itself from Wii Sports. Surprisingly, the game features an Adidas license, so some sports, like soccer and basketball, have clear clothing brands, though it makes little difference and still looks bland. The environments, like most features in Deca Sports, are all fairly simplistic and feature little variety. Textures are continually reused wherever possible, and nothing feels unique or stands out.

In terms of sound, things don't get much better. The music is particularly dreadful, with one short techno pop song playing throughout the menus. It might not be so bad if the song wasn't continually asking for everybody to "shake their body" over and over again. But it's unlikely anyone will want to comply - at least not out of any enjoyment obtained from Deca Sports' sparse soundtrack. In-game noises are equally terrible, as the game is virtually silent aside from some grating voiceovers when players score or fault.

In the end, Deca Sports comes off as a feeble attempt to compete with Wii Sports. True, it is a collection of sports minigames for the Wii, but the similarities end there. Unfortunately for Hudson, Wii Sports is free, comes with the system, and is far superior in gameplay and design. None of the modes seem to blend together, with too much variety and too little execution. Most importantly, sloppy controls irreparably damage the game's experience. Although Deca Sports is fleetingly enjoyable, the curious choices for sports coupled with countless problems make this title something to be avoided.