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From The Entertainment Depot - http://www.entdepot.com Handheld
The DS has accumulated quite a collection of titles consisting of derivative mini games over its years. As such things tend to go, some of the releases are good, with unique games featuring interesting implementations of the DS’ capabilities, and some are not, content with letting the player scratch here and there for a quirky prize. Wonder World Amusement Park is, like so many others, doomed to obscurity; but not for being bad, just for not being particularly good. Content with the scratching here and there approach, Wonder World manages to tread the surface thanks to personality and a strange sense of humor.
The amusement park offers up a variety of challenges within themed areas. The carnival master leads the player to each area’s mascot, who often rattles off strange comical dialogue before giving way to a handful of largely similar events. There are about a half dozen characters to choose from, though they differ little except for their strange likes, such as alliteration and playing the oboe – the backgrounds are useless but fun touches – and appearance. The successful completion of a game nets tickets for purchasing another game within the same area or for unlocking an entirely new area; points are also earned towards costumes, which feature items for the head, body, hands, feet, accessories, and decorations for the changing room. After tossing a few rings and popping a few balloons, your little dude (or gal) will be decked out in a wizard hat, knee-high socks, and sporting a dagger – exactly how I ended up after a day at AstroWorld.
Kids and mascots aren’t what you’re here for, though. Who cares about dolls and trinkets when there are fish to catch and rounds of miniature golf to play! Well, it might have been exciting had the games actually felt like they weren’t carbon copies of the previous areas’. The graphics are actually quite good for a number of the events, but catching a dinosaur fish out of a prehistoric pond isn’t terribly different from catching a trout or mermaid out of the king’s pond. Rings are tossed onto dragons’ necks, UFOs, and dinosaurs’ horns while darts are tossed at balloons and bats at tombstones, all with the same erratic controls. The most entertaining type is the shooter-styled games, which have you defending angels from demons and a medieval forest from trolls and goblins. By and large, though, the games are the exact same, just slightly redressed to match the current area’s theme.
Surprisingly, the game actually ends. The story that surrounds your character, their grandfather (who, oddly enough, is always Caucasian) and the carnival master isn’t exactly enthralling, but it at least wraps itself up and leaves the areas open for play. Unfortunately, the game only allows for one character per cart, so those with kids can look forward to arguing over who gets to finish first. Multiplayer also requires multiple carts, which significantly cuts down what is an already short game. A pretty lethargic showing for a wow-pow collection of carnival games.
Overall: 4/10 Save for the weird, often funny, characters, there is nothing unique about Wonder World Amusement Park. On a system with so many titles that are stuffed with mini games, not offering up something unique that’s actually adding utility to the package isn’t going to get the job done. It’s hard to recommend a game with fussy controls and five games reworked in different themes six times over, but what’s there is there in abundance for any who happen to enjoy it. I can think of better ways to spend the $19.99 MSRP, many of which include older DS releases within this same genre. Wonder World may not necessarily be bad, but it’s definitely not very fun.© Copyright 1999-2005 by EntDepot.com |
