"I personally can't see what's so wacky about it...."

Wacky Wheels is best described as a poor addition to the karting genre, considering that this is a game genre that was already choked with a lot of sub-par titles it makes you wonder why the makers would have bothered releasing this one. It does have a few inventive ideas that could spark a bit of an interest, but unfortunately it's just not enough to save this title, it's just a case of been there, done that with Wacky Wheels.

GAMEPLAY
The one thing you notice when you're talking about the gameplay is it's lack of originality. This is a common occurence in a lot of the karting games of today but despite a couple of strange new modes you can find the features included in this game in many other titles out there. The game modes are the usual, theres a tournament to make up the majority of the gameplay, there's the usual choice of progressively harder cups to take part in, the tracks getting longer and definitely trickier. This mode is the real ''meat'' of the game, the one that will occupy the most of your time. Then of course there's the ubiquitous time-trial, awards are given for fastest lap and overall time which gives a little bit of an incentive. The third mode is a battle mode, it's a good bit of fun with a friend of two and is one of the best features in the entire game. The last mode is a bit different and is an absolute hoot to play, you choose one of many courses and must blast away as many ducks as you can in a certain amount of time, this is an innovative little feature and definitely worth a couple of looks.
The weapons may look a little different but they turn out to be the norm, there are hedgehogs all over the tracks in different amusing little animations (some even sit on the toilet in the middle of the track!), running these little critters over will give you a number of them to fire, these are the standards missiles. You can also get fireballs, freeze shots, oil slicks and other traps that sit on the road, it's not much of a choice and considering that your opponents don't even use the weapons it can make for some easy races.
The track design is reasonable but could have used some improvements, there's enough sharp turns to challenge the player but some of the tracks can get quite a bit confusing at times. There are obstacles littered all over the courses to halt your progress and speed boosts to give you a big kick into the lead, it can lead to a lot of dodging and weaving and more action packed racing (a good change). The steering model could have used a bit of work, there's a power-slide in there but it's very hard to get the hang of and one can find themselves spinning out quite a bit and getting easily frustrated.
The multiplayer races are a bit of a fizzer, the controls are confusing and the races and battles then come rather difficult to prevail in. Kart games usually need some great multiplayer action to succeed but Wacky Wheels just cannot deliver, the two player races are downright shockers.
Overall, the gameplay is a bit tedious and is a lot less enjoyable than it could have been and should have been. There's a small number of features that might give you the incentive to play the game but at a quick glance there just isn't enough to really reel in the gamers in large numbers.

GRAPHICS
The graphics are nothing out of the ordinary, but do have a certain amount of appeal to them. Everything is done in a reasonably primitive cartoon style and could have certainly used some improvement, the detail is a bit lacking and the whole thing tends to look a bit bland. Basic colours have been excersised, nothing too flashy, it's very much a drab outlook. The backgrounds aren't anything extreme, just a basic colour representing the sky and some sparse surroundings. The roads tend to look a bit cluttered and can tend to be an eyesore, they have some nice little features such as the spray that shoots up as you're driving through the puddles (don't laugh, it's a big achievement for this game) but these little extras are few in number and often poor in execution. The general scheme appears to mimic the classic SNES game Mario Kart except in this case everything has been whacked repeatedly with an ugly stick, not pleasant at all.
The characters of Wacky Wheels are a bit of an improvement, they're an oddball group of animals that look pretty ''Wacky'' crammed into their little vehicles. There are such characters as ''Peggles'' who just happens to be a Pelican and the aptly named ''Jaws'' the shark, they're joined by a moose, tiger, sheep, panda and elephant to make up one of the weirdest cast you'll see in any game. They've each got a host of animations for every situation that arises throughout the game, these little moves have been done decently and aren't too bad to look at at all. The karts that they utilise in the game look pretty cool, they're not too detailed but are still fine pieces of machinery when put into action. These characters nearly manage to save the rest of the visual aspects, but they're not quite THAT good.
Overall, the graphics are riddled with flaws and do not provide the player with enough eye-candy to be classified as good. It's a solid effort but nothing more than that, there were certainly improvements that could have been made all over the place. Flashier graphics certainly would have given the game more of an impact on the consumers, but unfortunately they've made a bit of a mess here.

SOUND
The sound is certainly nothing memorable, the standards here are no better than that of the graphics which is a bit disappointing. The background music is the same old stuff, it's bright jumpy stuff that is naturally designed to appeal to all the little kiddies out there. no big surprise, and after even a small amount of playing the game they get quite a bit repetitive. It's just a matter of time until you're quite agitated by the music and throwing a speaker or two through the window, it's just not a very good effort here at all. The estimated time that this music is bearable is approximately ffteen minutes, which is an absolute joke.
Sound effects, although few in number and far between in occurence, are of a much better quality than the background tunes. There's nothng revolutionary here but it's a pretty good effort all round, none of the effects are ever out of place and suit their given action pretty well. They're the normal zany collection that is a trademark of most karting games today and they're a pretty fine collection.
Overall, the audio is a bit of a mixed bag and isn't quite up to the expected standards. With a bit of extra work then the improvement could have been monumental but love it or hate it, we're stuck with whats been included in the game (which is at times quite ordinary).

LIFESPAN
That said, the lifespan of Wacky Wheels is not so good. The modes do offer a little bit of depth to the game but it's not enough to offer a really long-term play. Too much of the game is copied and there are too few original ideas to make this game stand out from the pack and have someone playing for extended periods of time. There are a lot of flaws that can deter someone from playing this game for too long and it really hurts the game considerably.

FUN FACTOR
The fun factor isn't as high as one would think, there are just too many flaws, bugs and glitches in the game that hamper the players ability to have a good time playing the game. If you can live with these problems and ignore them then there's a fair amount of fun to be had from Wacky Wheels, but it's still not very much. THe only fun I had from the game was blasting those ducks away and I fear that this could be the same for anyone else that plays the game, simply put it's just not a very fun game (but it can be very frustrating).

CHALLENGE
There is a wide range of challenge here, for those that are absolutely terrible and inexperienced at the game there's a ''Kiddie mode'' in this mode your kart crawls along at a slow pace continuously, all the player has to do is ease it around corners and they'll come in first place. The various cups that the tournament gives you access to have a nice range to cater for those of all skill level, you can also change the speed of the karts to suit you if it's still too difficult for you. There's a good challenge here for most players, a lot of options to make the game harder or otherwise, this was one area that the developers got right.

OVERALL
Overall, Wacky Wheels is a disappointing game. There are a few nice ideas excercised here but they are far outwieghed by downsides. The whole execution of the game has been done poorly and makes for some less than enjoyable races, it wouldn't have taken much to make the game more bearable to play but what we're left with is unfortunately the final product, one that people should just forget about as quickly as possible. There are a lot of karting games out there today and this is one of the less good ones, look elsewhere if you're after a semi-decent game because you certainly won't find one here.
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GOOD POINTS
- The duck shooting mode is actually fun, that's a monumental effort for this game
- A nice cast of characters to entertain the little ones
- A great range of challenge for all of you out there

NOT SO GOOD POINTS
- Ordinary graphics and sound
- This game is so unoriginal it isn't funny
- The gameplay is a bit ho-hum
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GRAPHICS - 5/10
SOUND - 4/10
GAMEPLAY - 5/10
LIFESPAN - 3/10
FUN FACTOR - 2/10
CHALLENGE - 9/10
OVERALL - 4/10

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 06/28/00, Updated 09/10/01