Circus Games Review
Written by: Aaron Thornton
Publication: IGN
Date published: December 13, 2008
The circus is in town. Get as far away as you can.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have an audience to disappoint"-- it's the last line spoken by the evil Ringmaster in the opening cinematic of Circus Games: 20 Big top Classics for Wii. You see, the Ringmaster wants to sell the circus, but the only way he will be allowed to do so is if people stop coming. He does this by making the show as terrible as possible. Seriously, I'm not making that up. That really is the story set-up for this game. And it's obvious the Ringmaster knows what he's doing, because this circus is awful.
You play as little Jake, an intrepid young boy that happens to overhear the Ringmaster's plan to get rid of the circus. It's up to Jake to save the day, and you'll do this by playing mini-game after mini-game, as you try to win back the audience with your crazy circus antics. The opening cinematic is probably one of the worst I've ever seen. It's created by sticking still cutouts of awkward looking CG characters over static backgrounds. It gives you an idea of the game's bottom-of-the-barrel production values right off the bat - a good indication of what's to come.
Of course, the story isn't really important; it is just a mini-game collection after all. It's mainly used as a means to get you playing. As the title suggests, there are 20 games total, all revolving around the circus. Unfortunately, like most mini-game compilations, the same formulas are used time and time again. The vast majority of games consist of you pointing at the screen, and shooting some sort of projectile at a target. Sometimes you'll just have to press a button to shoot; sometimes you'll have to pull back on the analog stick; and sometimes you'll have to flick the nunchuck; but in the end, it's all really just the same thing. In many of these games, you'll be required to hold Z and shake the nunchuck to reload with a carpal tunnel educing jerk of the wrist. I don't quite understand why you have to reload while throwing baseballs, but nonetheless, this will most likely give you trouble. The motion is often missed, and you'll end up failing over and over, just because you couldn't keep your ammo full.
[Picture: Screenshot of the game. Text: THIS HAPPENED TO US. DON'T LET IT HAPPEN TO YOU.]
These shooting games make up most of the events, with only a few random alternatives thrown in. In one of these you'll hold the remote horizontally to balance on a tightrope, but the tilt of the Wii remote doesn't translate well on screen, and it's unnecessarily hard to keep from falling. In one of the other unique games, you'll have to do an array of movements and button presses to swing a mallet to try to ring the bell at the top of a column. It's a classic circus game, but the controls are needlessly complex, and you'll end up failing most of the time. A few more games consist of pointing at the screen and more nunchuck flailing, but they only thing you'll get out of them is a sore wrist.
If you play adventure mode, you'll have to unlock new games by completing the ones you already have open. But you have to get the highest possible rating in every game to unlock the next batch, so if you get stuck on one, then you won't be able to advance. You can also select the quick-play option right from the get-go, which will give you access to all the games immediately. As frustrating as the adventure mode can be, there's little reason to bother jumping through hoops to unlock games there, when you already have them all at your disposal in quick-play.
The presentation is extremely lackluster, with outdated graphics, annoying looping music, poorly designed menus, and frequent load times. The visuals consist mainly of minimal 3D set pieces in front of pre-rendered backgrounds. Many of the backdrops look like they were taken straight out of a ten year old PlayStation game. Every time you start or finish a mini-game, you are treated to a long loading screen. When you fail a game, you're taken back to the selection menu, which means every time you want to retry a game you have to sit through at least two loading screens. A wait made all the worse by the constant repeating circus music that plays throughout.
Verdict
Wii has seen its share of shovelware in the past, but publishers seem to be lowering their standards with every release. Look at some of the amazing titles that have been released on Wii already; is there really any doubt of what the system is capable of? We have to be careful not to lower our standards when presented with so many titles like this. If it's not clear by now, Circus Games is not worth your time and it's definitely not worth your money. Do not buy this game – what more can I say?
Score: 2.2
Painful
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have an audience to disappoint"-- it's the last line spoken by the evil Ringmaster in the opening cinematic of Circus Games: 20 Big top Classics for Wii. You see, the Ringmaster wants to sell the circus, but the only way he will be allowed to do so is if people stop coming. He does this by making the show as terrible as possible. Seriously, I'm not making that up. That really is the story set-up for this game. And it's obvious the Ringmaster knows what he's doing, because this circus is awful.
You play as little Jake, an intrepid young boy that happens to overhear the Ringmaster's plan to get rid of the circus. It's up to Jake to save the day, and you'll do this by playing mini-game after mini-game, as you try to win back the audience with your crazy circus antics. The opening cinematic is probably one of the worst I've ever seen. It's created by sticking still cutouts of awkward looking CG characters over static backgrounds. It gives you an idea of the game's bottom-of-the-barrel production values right off the bat - a good indication of what's to come.
Of course, the story isn't really important; it is just a mini-game collection after all. It's mainly used as a means to get you playing. As the title suggests, there are 20 games total, all revolving around the circus. Unfortunately, like most mini-game compilations, the same formulas are used time and time again. The vast majority of games consist of you pointing at the screen, and shooting some sort of projectile at a target. Sometimes you'll just have to press a button to shoot; sometimes you'll have to pull back on the analog stick; and sometimes you'll have to flick the nunchuck; but in the end, it's all really just the same thing. In many of these games, you'll be required to hold Z and shake the nunchuck to reload with a carpal tunnel educing jerk of the wrist. I don't quite understand why you have to reload while throwing baseballs, but nonetheless, this will most likely give you trouble. The motion is often missed, and you'll end up failing over and over, just because you couldn't keep your ammo full.
[Picture: Screenshot of the game. Text: THIS HAPPENED TO US. DON'T LET IT HAPPEN TO YOU.]
These shooting games make up most of the events, with only a few random alternatives thrown in. In one of these you'll hold the remote horizontally to balance on a tightrope, but the tilt of the Wii remote doesn't translate well on screen, and it's unnecessarily hard to keep from falling. In one of the other unique games, you'll have to do an array of movements and button presses to swing a mallet to try to ring the bell at the top of a column. It's a classic circus game, but the controls are needlessly complex, and you'll end up failing most of the time. A few more games consist of pointing at the screen and more nunchuck flailing, but they only thing you'll get out of them is a sore wrist.
If you play adventure mode, you'll have to unlock new games by completing the ones you already have open. But you have to get the highest possible rating in every game to unlock the next batch, so if you get stuck on one, then you won't be able to advance. You can also select the quick-play option right from the get-go, which will give you access to all the games immediately. As frustrating as the adventure mode can be, there's little reason to bother jumping through hoops to unlock games there, when you already have them all at your disposal in quick-play.
The presentation is extremely lackluster, with outdated graphics, annoying looping music, poorly designed menus, and frequent load times. The visuals consist mainly of minimal 3D set pieces in front of pre-rendered backgrounds. Many of the backdrops look like they were taken straight out of a ten year old PlayStation game. Every time you start or finish a mini-game, you are treated to a long loading screen. When you fail a game, you're taken back to the selection menu, which means every time you want to retry a game you have to sit through at least two loading screens. A wait made all the worse by the constant repeating circus music that plays throughout.
Verdict
Wii has seen its share of shovelware in the past, but publishers seem to be lowering their standards with every release. Look at some of the amazing titles that have been released on Wii already; is there really any doubt of what the system is capable of? We have to be careful not to lower our standards when presented with so many titles like this. If it's not clear by now, Circus Games is not worth your time and it's definitely not worth your money. Do not buy this game – what more can I say?
Score: 2.2
Painful