Carnival Games

"This is the worst carnival I have ever seen!"

If you have never been to a carnival, then you have missed out. It is great fun. You get some fresh air, you play some games, and then you win a stuffed toy of some sort. It is one of the great things about childhood. Well, this game gives you the chance to experience a carnival, whether you have never been before, or if you want to relive some memories from the safety of your own home. However, things start to go wrong very quickly with this game.

Graphics: 2/10
Shoddy and outdated. That is undoubtedly the best way to describe it. To elaborate a little, the animation is choppy, the characters are blocky and there is little detail to any of the game. Yet somehow, despite all this, there is still slowdown! Sorry, but this is inexcusable for a game from 2007.

Sound: 3/10
The music in this game is a chorus of bells and whistles, which quickly gets extremely irritating. The sound effects are alright; nothing special, but they are alright. The voices are bad, mostly because of the stuff the characters say. I just find it frustrating when one of the carnival men says some sarcastic comment a million times.

Gameplay: 2/10
Before you start the game, you will create a character out of a number of selections for hair, eyes etc. It is very limited and boring. Why they decided not to use the Miis is beyond me. However, they covered this up by having lots of unlockable items which you can wear, such as a bird's mask, a winner sash, elephant feet and the like. While it is a nice touch, it is not enough to save the game.

Once you get to the games, one thing you will notice is the huge variety. Just about every single carnival game ever is included, including skee ball, knocking down milk bottles and all your childhood favourites. But, as a wise man once said, ‘Quality over quantity'. Unfortunately, in this game, it seems to be ‘Quantity over quality'.

Just about every game seems to have something wrong with it. Quite a few are simply much too easy to be any fun. On a couple, you can win while putting in almost no effort whatsoever. On other games, it is actually quite challenging. But not in a good way; those games are challenging because of the shoddy controls. For instance, in one game where you must hit frogs onto a pad, you can barely swing the remote, and it goes miles, while another time you can whack it down with all your strength, and it goes about an inch in from of you. Some other games are not fun simply because they play nothing like they would in real life. For instance, in some of the aiming games, instead of aiming yourself, the cursor moves for you, and you time the throw. It just feels boring and not properly implemented.

There are other activities in the game, such as a fortune teller, penny pusher and a love testing machine, but they fail to save the game. Overall, it all just feels poor quality, rushed and boring.

Replay Value: 2/10
This game is so boring that you will likely stop playing after twenty to thirty minutes, and then never touch it again. Well, that is what you should do, anyway.

Pros:
Just about every carnival game.
Lots of unlockable items.

Cons:
Shoddy graphics.
Slowdown.
Annoying music.
Bad voices.
Lame minigames.
Control issues.
Too easy on some games.
Bad implementation on some games.
Just plain not fun.
Almost non-existent replay value.

Buy, rent or avoid: Avoid like your life depends on it. Overall, this is one of the worst minigame collections I have ever played; not just for the Wii, but for any console.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 06/03/08

Game Release: Carnival Funfair Games (EU, 10/26/07)