I think the best and most accurate description of Carnival Games for the Nintendo Wii is: It’s Carnival Games. It is no more and no less then that. The entire promise of the title is that you get over 25 games that you would find at any average Carnival like Ring Toss, Skeet Ball, Shooting Gallery and so on, and damned if it doesn’t deliver exactly that.
And to be honest, the games aren’t half bad either. You use the motion controls in various ways to play the games and for the most part they accurately depict what playing the game is like. To play a game of hole-in-one mini putt, you swing the wii-mote like a putter. For football, you do a tossing motion. Hold it like a gun for the shooting games. Roll it like a ball for Alley Ball. You get the idea.
While the games work well enough, the presentation is another story. The graphics are a downright embarrassment and seem to be plodding down the all too easy Wii road wherein they believe the gimmick of motion controls is good enough for the kiddies, so let’s just throw together some designs quickly and no one will care. They are seriously not even a passing grade for Gamecube standards. You use poorly designed characters with no arms and big heads that you actually get to customize slightly to start which begs the question: Why not just let you use your Mii that Nintendo spends so much time shoving down our throats? This is one of the few times that would actually make sense.
Welcome to Carnival Games
That all being said… since the game is so simple to begin with, it really doesn’t detract from the gameplay all that much. You’re trying to aim a football through a tire; that doesn’t exactly require 1080i perfection. The overall production of the game is serviceable enough to get you game to game which is where all the strengths lie. It may feel dumb, but there is some satisfaction in finally winning the giant teddy bear and while some think that winning a little useless toy in a game is a stupid goal, is it really any less stupid then winning a little useless toy in real life?
Carnival Games really does hit all the buttons it needs to. It’s simple tasks, simple prizes, varying degrees of difficulty, all while an annoying carny is heckling you. Basically, if your goal is to purchase a game where all you do is play simple Carnival Games, then you’ve got yourself a perfect game.
Example of the great next-gen graphics
And of course therein lies the biggest dilemma: What is the point of this game? Is it supposed to be a really good party game? Because Raving Rabbids, Warioware, Wii Sports, Mario Party and many others already have that market and do it much better, not to mention the fact that even in its multi-player mode you still can only use one controller and pass it around. It’s not a sports game really nor is it a puzzle game. It is exactly what I said it was at the start: Carnival Games. And at the end of the day it’s tough to judge it that harshly on being precisely what it set out to be. It’s not offering the ultimate carnival experience, nor saying that this is “Xtreme Mini-Games now with Motion Control!”
It is Carnival Games. Take it or leave it.
Carnival Games *** (out of 5)
2K Games, Rated E
Available for: Nintendo Wii
Related Links: Official site
Review by Jonathan Popalis
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