Poor graphics, some weak games, some sounds can get annoying
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
"You can almost smell the candy floss!"
Introduction
I fancied this game as soon as it came out, but since I hadn't spent much time lately playing the games that I already had, I couldn't justify getting myself another one.
However, hubby's payday came and I was bored at work, so went onto Amazon to pass some time and buy some presents for myself. I bought 'Carnival' on Amazon Marketplace (new) for £15 + p&p. The game generally seems to be available in shops for £20, or as a £30 for 2 games deal (such as in Argos), so essentially it's £15.
Getting Started
On getting the game home and finding that hubby was out for the evening I sat myself down to an evening of funfair games. After 5 minutes of playing I discovered that it was probably going to be easier to stand up to play - so not quite as relaxing as I'd anticipated.
After finally figuring out how to make the game work and be able to see it (we have a new TV you see, plus I had to remove the Wii remote from the Guitar Heroes guitar) I was initially struck by the pretty pathetic graphics on the title screen - I know the Wii is not renowned for high quality graphics, but they can do much better than this!
On the title screen there's two options - single player mode and competition mode. Being on my own I went for single player.
The first task is to set up your character (boy/girl, man/woman), face, hair colour, clothes and name etc. It's quite basic, and it's a shame you can't just use your Mii, but there we go. As you get further through the game you unlock accessories for your character to wear. You can also pay (with tickets won) to purchase some of the accessories.
The Different Games
The carnival is split into different sections (alleys). Each alley has a number of games where you can win prizes and an 'Alley Arcade' game which you pay tickets to use (tickets can be won from playing the games, and can also be used to buy items to wear) - you sometimes unlock items using these as well. You will probably recognise most of these games from your childhood days.
Fortune Way - consists of the games Alley Ball, Test Your Strength, Hoops, Collection Plate, and the arcade game 'The Great Swami' (a fortune teller).
Love Lane- consists of the games Spilled Milk, Balloon Darts, Frog Leap, Bowler Coaster, and the arcade game 'Meter-O-Love'.
Rodent Row- consists of the games Shooting Gallery, Pigskin Pass, Shoot for the Stars, Buckets of Fun, and the arcade game 'Going Nuts'.
Claw Alley - consists of the games Clown Splash, Hole in One, Ring Toss, Ka-Pow, and the arcade game 'Prize Claw' (where you attempt to win cuddly toys!).
Lucky Pass- consists of the games Nerves of Steel, Lucky Cups, Day at the Races, Dunk Tank, and the arcade game 'Push-a-Prize' (aka Penny Fall - this is great fun)
Prize Boulevard - where you can see what prizes you have won on all of the games.
There are also two Super games in each alley which are unlocked when you win Grand Prizes in the normal games (so it's worth exchanging the smaller prizes for bigger ones). Some of these are great fun, for instance Balloon darts where there is a whole wall of balloons and you have 30 seconds to burst as many as possible. Once one player has unlocked the Super Games, any one can play them. Super games are played for high scores rather than for prizes.
I imagine that different people will enjoy different games. Personally I love the shooting gallery where you have to hit duck targets (avoiding the red ones) and Alley Ball (which is a type of bowling). Clown Splash (where you squirt water into clown's mouths to fill up a balloon of water) and 'Day At the Races' (where you have to get your horse to the winning post first) took me longer to get to grips with, but I find them highly addictive. On the other hand I find Nerves of Steel (you know the one, where you guide a piece of metal along a wire bent in a shape, and it buzzes when you hit the sides?!) infuriating as I haven't got a steady hand, and as of yet I just cannot for the life of me work out Pigskin pass (where you have to throw a ball through a moving tyre), although hubby managed it first time.
I could write a mini-essay about each game, but that could get a bit ridiculous - I urge you to just get the game and find out for yourself!
The 'Prizes'
If you are unsuccessful on a game, you receive 1 ticket for your troubles.
If you do badly, but not completely unsuccessful (for instance hitting one clown out of three) you will get a small prize and 3 tickets.
If you do reasonably you will get a medium prize and 6 tickets.
If you do well you will get a large prize and 10 tickets.
When you have four small prizes you can click on the flashing prize and exchange them for 1 medium prize. 3 medium prizes can be exchanged for 1 large, and 2 large can be exchanged for the Grand prize.
There are apparently over 250 'prizes' - they are generally some sort of toy such as a model car or dinosaur. You can rotate the bigger prizes if you really want to! I haven't collected everything yet, but I'm sure I will in due course.
Competition Mode
The problem is that the sort of games I like are not usually the ones that hubby likes, so even if he is around he doesn't really want to play 'Carnival' with me.
Anyway, I convinced him to have a go with me. You can either all play with the same remote, or use one each. Up to 4 people can play in competition mode.
Within Competition mode you can play 'Head to Head' or 'Competition'.
In 'Competition' 5 games are randomly chosen for you to compete in. On most games one player has a turn, followed by the next player. But in some, you both play at the same time (for instance the horseracing). I did manage to lose a turn on a couple of occasions as the game seems to begin with no warning in this mode.
Annoyingly but predictably, despite my hours of playing, hubby still managed to beat me - quite frankly I blame the flipping frogs. On the second attempt I did manage to beat him, but by this stage he was distracted by an online conversation with a friend, and I fear he also didn't want the hassle of a temper tantrum from me if I lost again.
In 'Face-to-Face' you choose which game to compete in.
Scoring works by giving 5 points to the winner, 4 to 2nd Place, 3 to 3rd place and 0 to 4th Place. Therefore it can be that there are only a couple of points between you if there are only 2 people playing. I'm sure that with 3 or 4 people the competition becomes a bit fiercer!
The Controls
The games use the Wii-mote in various different ways. When I was first going through the games I found it invaluable to hold the instruction manual in my left hand, so I could easily find out what action to use - whether an overarm or underarm throw, a darts motion or whatever! I have found that after more than an hour's gameplay my arm does start to ache a little bit.
It did take me a while to get to grips with some of the motions, but practice makes perfect - I'm still getting there!
Conclusion
Reviews I have read elsewhere on Carnival say that it is not a very good single player game and to not bother getting it unless you will play in competition mode. However, I would disagree with that. This game has brought me hours of single player fun, and there will be many more to come. Perhaps this is partly because I am very easily amused (and because I'm not particularly good at computer games) - and I have to admit I spent hours playing on Wii Play when I first got it! I can imagine that we will probably be playing it with friends when they come over for a drunken evening, so in the future I will make more use of the competition mode.
The poor graphics do detract from the game somewhat and sometimes they're just weird (like when the character's arms aren't connected to their bodies), the sound can get a bit annoying and repetitive (if you're playing the same game over and over again), and some games (particularly golf) are a bit slow. However, the sheer amount of different games and the way the Wii-mote is used, and the fact that it is a cheap game, really do make up for it. According to the instruction manual "You can almost smell the candy floss!" I wouldn't quite go that far, but I think it's a game a bit like 'Big Brain Academy' which I'll go through phases of playing, put it away, and then get it out to play again after a couple of months!
Definitely recommended.
PS. I have realised that from the picture you can now see that I go by the name 'Moosie' to play games.....
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