Carnival Funfair Games (Nintendo DS)

Carnival Games is a game that consists of several mini games of the ‘carnival’ genre that is made by Cat Daddy.


==At the start==


The game commences with the player making its very own avatar. There are limited choices from which you choose from the sex, the hair style and colour, the skin colour, the clothes, features etc. etc. There are many games that have this feature and, personally, I hate it. So ...
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==The carnival grounds==


Once you have been through the arduous task of devising your character it is time to enter the carnival. It is time to move your character around the carnival grounds, using either the stylus or the directional pad, and start playing some mini games. The top screen displays a map showing you where all the games are located. In order to keep track of exactly where your character is in ... more

Carnival Games is a game that consists of several mini games of the ‘carnival’ genre that is made by Cat Daddy.

At the start

The game commences with the player making its very own avatar. There are limited choices from which you choose from the sex, the hair style and colour, the skin colour, the clothes, features etc. etc. There are many games that have this feature and, personally, I hate it. So you can “personalise” your own character, big deal. I think it adds nothing to the overall game, except for a lot of faffing about at the start.

The carnival grounds

Once you have been through the arduous task of devising your character it is time to enter the carnival. It is time to move your character around the carnival grounds, using either the stylus or the directional pad, and start playing some mini games. The top screen displays a map showing you where all the games are located. In order to keep track of exactly where your character is in the carnival there is a green dot on the map, i.e. you, that moves around.

The carnival ground does not create a good first impression. The scenery is uninspiring and consisting of drab colours it looks boring. There are flags blowing in the wind, butterflies (and rather large ones at that) flying around, flowers on the ground and various bits of shrubbery but it still doesn’t create that ‘wow’ factor of some DS games I have played.

In the grounds there are other characters milling around and playing the games but you do not interact with them in any way. There is no opportunity to talk to them etc. and when you approach them you just walk straight through them, like old retro games. This is not the way of modern gaming.

The mini games

There is a vast amount of mini games contained within Carnival Games, including;

• Leap Frog. Using the stylus you catapult frogs on to lilies, ducks in to nests and cannon balls in to ships as they float past.
• Going Nuts. Using the directional pad you control a squirrel and attempt to catch the falling blue nuts in a basket and avoid catching the red nuts.
• Wild West Showdown. A shooting gallery whereby the targets, consisting of bottles and stars amongst other items, are tapped with the stylus, with higher points awarded for hitting the more difficult targets.
• Clown splash. The stylus is used to build up pressure in a water pistol before it is shot in to a clown’s mouth.
• Clown Bonk. This is basically Whac-a-mole using clowns’ heads instead. The heads must be tapped with the stylus but the pies must be avoided at all costs, otherwise it is game over.
• Test of Strength. The stylus is used to ‘pump’ an arm to build up the strength before tapping a target in attempt to ring a bell at the top of the strength tower.
• Nerves of Steel. Using the stylus you guide a metal loop along a wire making sure there is no contact.
• Buckets of fun. The stylus is used to throw balls in to a bucket that is at an angle. Too hard and the ball simply bounces out.
• Balloon Darts. Using the stylus to throw darts at different sized balloons that are worth different amounts of points.
• Dunk tank. The stylus is used to trace a path within a specific time limit. Failure and dunking occurs.
• The Great Swami. You pay your hard earned tickets to ask “yes” or “no” questions. This is not really a game, in my opinion.
• Hoops. The stylus is used to tap three buttons before striking a target to toss basket balls through a hoop.
• Bumper boats. The A button and directional pad are used to steer a boat around a pool to collect points. In this game you battle against computer operated opponents and ‘bump’ them out of the way

With so many mini games on offer you’d think that there would be some very good games on offer but there aren’t. All of the games are extremely easy and provide no challenge whatsoever. The games are boring, lack imagination, non-addictive and just not fun to play.

Some of the games take a bit longer to master than others, i.e. you will probably need three attempts instead of two, but it won’t take too much effort to get to the top of the score board.

Once you have completed a game you are awarded a number of tokens, the amount of which depends upon your score, which can be exchanged to unlock features and stupid items of clothing and ‘comedy’ attire for your avatar. Once you have played the games a couple of times there is no point in trying to beat your score because you just don’t get anything else for it.

Graphics

Considering the capabilities of the DS (just think of games like Call Of Duty and Brothers In Arms) the graphics in this game are absolutely terrible. I appreciate that the ‘in thing’ at the moment is to use cute looking cartoon type characters, like the ones found in Animal Crossing and the like, but these types of characters do absolutely nothing for me. As well as being extremely childish, I think they look naff, but then I guess this genre of game is aimed at younger players.

Sound

As well as childish graphics, this game contains childish music and sound effects. At first, the music is quite pleasing n the ear and it does add a bit of atmosphere but I found this very short-lived and was soon reaching for the volume button to turn it off.

There is the option to turn the music off and just have the sound effects, which is a great idea, but in reality in just doesn’t work for me. Do you really want to hear stupid and random sayings such as “Frogs legs” and “steady hands”? I know I don’t. The sayings are bad but the voice of the “carni king” is even worse. I find it so obnoxious and irritating that I want to throw the DS at the wall just to make him shut up.

Availability and price

Carnival games has been out a while now so getting a copy should not be a problem from most online and offline retailers.

At the time of writing this game can be bought for £14.99 excluding P&P from Amazon, although if you shop around a bit, or go for a second hand copy, then I am sure you can get it much cheaper, although I would definitely advise against buying this since it really is a waste of money.

Opinion

For older gamers Carnival Games for the DS is very poor, and I don’t recommend it. I appreciate this is a game aimed at younger players, but I assumed it would also be suitable for older players, after all I thought that with so many mini games there must be a handful that require a bit of thought and skill, but I was sadly mistaken.

As a game for younger players it is ideal and my six year old nephew enjoys playing it but only for a short while. Once he has been around the games a couple of time, which doesn’t take that long, the game is instantly put down. I think this is some indication of just how boring this game is.

What really gets me is that there is just no point to this game. There is no story line, no clear objectives and no definitive finishing point. You just keep playing the games over and over again until you have unlocked all the features and customised your avatar to how you want it. The only mission is to ‘pimp you avatar’. Little girls play with dolls and dress them and brush their hair etc. and this is effectively what you’re doing with your computer avatar. It is definitely not my sort of thing.

I am amazed that the manufacturers can charge full price for this game, a game consisting of several very easy and non challenging mini games that is priced the same as ‘proper’ games with good graphics, great audio and missions to complete. Something isn’t right here and Carnival Games for the DS is well over priced.

When I saw this game advertised I thought it might be fun and provide a few hours entertainment but I held back in renting, let alone buying a copy and I am so glad I did. I am fortunate in that a mate had the same idea I did and went and bought a copy of the game on a whim and let me have a go. I do feel for him though especially since he put it on Ebay shortly after purchase and got back a fraction of what he paid for it.

(Originally posted on Dooyoo under the name of Yackers1)

 

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