What do you get if you cross a spaceman, a clown and a heavy lorry? A jugglernaught.
On occasions, Carnival Games reminded me of how much I’d grown to dislike the funfair. Aren’t most of these games fixed in real-life so that the stall holder has far more chance of winning then you do? Well, sometimes you do feel cheated in the videogame as well and some games seem to rely much more on luck than skill.For example: in coin toss, in which you need to land a coin on one of the plates, the margin for error is extremely small and if you throw too hard and you’ll miss and if you throw it too soft you’ll fall short. This does seem to be the case with a number of games, meaning that you’ll soon pick your favourites and steer clear of those which don’t seem to respond very well to your motions.
Carnival Games isn’t for the unfit. My shoulder and armpit really ached after playing, because there are a few games where you’ll have to rapidly shake the Wii-mote in order to build up a metre; such as mallet-breaking Test your Strength. Despite some of the game’s flaws, the fact that my arm is aching is actually a testament to the addictiveness of the title and though I got bored pretty quickly playing it on my own, Carnival Games is fun when you play it with friends.
Carnival Games isn’t going to win any awards for its simplistic gameplay and as a single player experience it can be fairly shallow and unrewarding. A bit more attention to getting the difficulty balance right in some of the games would have helped and perhaps the introduction of the Nunchuck and the inclusion of Mii characters would have also added some extra value, but get a few friends round and it becomes a rewarding social experience and will raise a few nostalgia-filled chuckles.
Carnival Games will be staying in my collection of Wii titles and will sit proudly next to Wii Sports on the shelf. For £25 it’s certainly worth a punt, but only if you’ve: a) got young children or b) you’ve got friends that enjoy a bit of healthy competition.
Pros
A good variety of games
4 player multi-player
Uses the Wii-mote to good effect
Plays smoothly online
Cons
Over-sensitive controls in some mini-games
Special arcade games are weak
Rewards don’t seem rewarding enough
No Miis
No Nunchuck
You’ve got less chance of being stabbed at his funfair! Carnival Funfair Games is a fun game for kids and adults with Wii-playing friends.
HEXUS Awards
Carnival Games – Wii
