14 Jun, 2011
Developer: Cat Daddy Games
Producer: 2K Games
Platforms: Xbox 360 / Kinect
Release Date: April 2011
In Ten Words or Less: All the fun of the fair without spending real money!
Family Friendly?: Very much so!
When playing Carnival Games on Wii with your nieces, nephews or little brothers and sisters, it was a bit like imagining eating a magnum, when you’re actually swishing a wasp inside your mouth. You pretended to enjoy it for the sake of their entertainment, getting yourself as actively involved in the experience as you possibly could, but there was that continuous stabbing ringing around inside your head and an after feeling of unnecessary soreness that made you ponder what sins you must have committed in a previous life.
Naturally, motion control being what it is; bringing Carnival Games: In Action onto Kinect was as inevitable as seeing Katie Price’s face splashed on your gossip magazine of choice. Of course the franchise has easily found a home in the peripheral’s library, which leaves GGS Gamer needing one bold reviewer to once again take a trip to the funfair to try and find some thrills…
Hoopla Hoopa!
So, you’ve just paid your entrance fee and you’re standing on the outskirts of a full to the brim carnival with a diverse range of game types, what do you do? Well, the carnival is split into five different areas. Within each area are four game types. There’s no structure you need to follow in order to play the games, you can just go where you want and play what you want. The choice is yours! Playing each game will merit you a ticket, and the better you do at each gametype, the more tickets you’ll get. These stack as you continue to play and the more tickets you collect, the better prizes you can claim (including some cool Avatar items!).
Carnival Games: In Action features mini games you’d expect to see, such as alley ball and wheel of chance, but the game also dishes out the weird and wacky with games like ride the pig and Monkey See, Monkey do! Of course, not all the game types are winners, whether it is an issue of unhinged controls or that they simply do not translate well into the virtual realm. Riding the pig is a game that would have been better left on the drawing board, yet Monkey So, Monkey Do is actually very responsive and fun!
Believe me though, Carnival Games is hard work and there are times when it seems obvious the game WANTS you to hate it! The game controls are very precise and you will need to make sure that you’re doing the actions exactly as the game instructs you. In Action is very regimented like that, which can definitely be a positive or a negative, depending on what you’re looking to get out of the game. You’ll definitely find yourself tiring out playing some of the attractions. Holding your arms out on a rollercoaster to catch collectibles spring to mind as an example, and can cause some strain you’d feel better off without. The problem is, there’s a hook within Carnival Games. As you play it more and more, you’ll find yourself unable to settle for second or third place. On some games, you’ll really want to achieve the maximum possible result, running the risk of severely hurting yourself performing some of the games ridiculous proposals!
As I’m sure you can appreciate, however, In Action does rely on you having an even temperament and will greatly test your patience. You will need to be able to deal with the possibility that despite how precise you’re being, the game is still not going to do what you what you want. Playing Alley Ball is a great example of this, and when compared to the likes of bowling on Kinect Sports, it really comes undone as being neither as well designed or fun as Rare’s super-charged, strobe-lighted thrill ride.
It's Punchout, but without Mike Tyson!
However, as third party games for Kinect go, this is one of the more responsive and well adjusted games for the peripheral. Clearly, the studio have familiarised themselves with the tech and done a good job in creating something that works within Kinect’s boundaries.
The game even makes use of the speech recognition (albeit poorly!) on a fortune teller game called Wodin the Wizard. You speak into the Kinect microphone and Wodin will tell you your future. While in practice, that may sound neat, in truth, even if you’re bellowing into the microphone, the game still refuses to hear you, so this probably isn’t the best indicator for something that actually works in Carnival Games!
The graphics are of the standard of Kinect Sports and Joy Ride. They’re very colourful and engaging as one would expect from a Carnival and make full use of your Avatars throughout the game. Whereas Indie games are usually the ones to introduce Avatars into unlikely and compromising positions, Carnival Games does its best to also present your Avatars in some fun scenarios, most notably of which, the ability to dunk people on your friends list in a vat of water. That’ll teach them for overtaking you in Gamerscore!
Not so excellent however, is the carnival guide. This dude is really annoying with his ‘Roll up, Roll up’s and his ‘Step Right Up’ ‘s. This is even more irritating when he takes more than a great pleasure in your failed attempts at victory by shrieking annoying taunts at you. Believe me, after a few games, you’ll wish the Monkey was commentating!
On the whole though, the sound effects are well and good. The sounds of screams coming from rollercoasters soar through the air; there is laughter and the sounds of bells pinging and fruit machines churning out jackpots. A carnival atmosphere has been effortlessly recreated here. Who knows, you may even catch yourself smiling while navigating the menus.
I certainly grinned when Cotton Eyed Joe blared out of my TV speakers. My inner 90′s pop idol suddenly felt very fulfilled!
Who ever said that this game doesn't do everything!
Unfortunately, the element of the game that should shine the greatest actually ended up being the weakest. My experience of multi-player was not very positive. Forgetting the fact that the game doesn’t have a party mode feature of any sort (unforgivable, by the way!) I actually found I enjoyed myself more playing this alone, rather than listening to the frustrations of my fellow players who simply couldn’t get into it, despite trying several games each. I tried playing the game with seasoned gamers and unexperienced gamers for the sake of review, and while the seasoned gamers took to the game well, their discontent with the game’s ludicrously difficult poses and manoeurves ultimately took its toll. The unexperienced players equally were put off by how much precision was required to play and wanted to go back to Kinect Sports.
Although, it was a different story while they watched me play. Frankly, they seemed to have more fun watching me try to do Monkey See, Monkey Do and pull human shapes than actually playing the games themselves. Perhaps it’s because I nearly punched myself in the face three times?
In the final analysis, Carnival Games: In Action is not the most wonderful multiplayer experience out for Kinect, in fact, I’d say the game plays better alone, but the game dares to be different. It does things others haven’t tried, such as forcing you to perform back-breaking poses in a limited time-frame or taking flight on a rollercoaster. Unlike its cash-in quality predecessors, Carnival Games: In Action is actually a breath of fresh air on Kinect. It takes advantage of the Peripheral’s diverse range of features, but it does so requiring a ridiculous amount of pinpoint precision and without care and consideration for your own body.
Surprisingly though, unlike its predecessors, the best thing I can say for Carnival Games In Action is that I didn’t feel like I was chomping on a wasp this time. I actually had fun!
Good times!
- A real ensemble of games fit for children of all ages!
- Some cool Avatar items!
- Some real laughs to be had watching your friends and family follow the games instructions.
Bad times :(
- Really finnicky, overly-sensitive controls.
- Poor party play features.
- Better multi-player games available for Kinect
Family Focus
Carnival Games: In Action has been designed for you to play with your family and is definitely suited for any age bracket. The game has been rated 3+ (PEGI) and with a wide range of games at your disposal, there is sure to be something in Carnival Games: In Action that any member of the family can come to love. However, despite the age rating, the game does request a lot of the user and is a strenuous game to play. Parental guidance is advised.
Recent Comments