Want to win a goldfish?
For the privilege of bringing the carnival into your home Carnival Games will cost you £25, which is £15 cheaper than many other Wii games. So, this should give you some indication that it’s a budget game and a set of mini-games which, if launched on any other console, just wouldn’t work as well.The 25 or so games are graphically basic and cartoon-like in nature. They all have extremely simplistic game mechanics, but once you throw the innovative Wii-mote into the equation, which you’ll need to - actively - perform many of the actions required to win those coveted cuddly toys and plastic clown masks, then you’re onto a winner.
Carnival Games is designed with the family, but more specifically, children in mind and begins with the creation and customisation of your character. I was actually quite surprised that you can’t bring your Mii’s into the game; it would have been nice to see some of them making an appearance as the stall-holders or those members of the public who wander past the stalls when you’re playing. As it stands you can choose from a range of generic heads and pick your outfit from a range of trousers, shirts and shoes, so customisation is fairly limited and, I’d suggest, a purely cosmetic addition.
So, you start off with choosing one of the 5 different sections at the funfair. From Fortune Way to Lucky Pass each section boasts a number of funfair games that many of you will instantly be familiar with. So, after choosing the place where you’d like to start your goldfish-winning exploits, you’ll be warped to the location where you’ll be presented with a number of games to play.
Based on your performance in that game you’ll be awarded a prizes and a number of tickets. You’ll be awarded a small, medium or large prize and have the chance to upgrade to larger prizes should you accumulate numerous small/medium prizes. You can stick to playing the same game as long as you like and if you win the star prize you’ll unlock a bonus game. As you play through the games you’ll unlock further virtual prizes to add to your growing collection and you’ll also unlock costumes, which you can purchase using the tickets that you win and then head back to the customisation menu to try them on for size.
