15 Nov, 2011
Name: Go Vacation
Platform: Wii
Developer: Namco Bandai
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Tagline: Every possible mini-game imagined collected into one substandard bundle
Family Friendly: The bundle is completely friendly and void of any blood, cursing or other piece of objectionable content.
Verdict: Pass for Core Gamers, Rent for Casual Fans
Most look at working at a video game blog as a dream job. I mean, you get to go to great gaming events, bump elbows with developers and of course, play fun and interesting games at every turn. But no one wants to mention the downside of the job, which comes in the form of games that you can never get excited about. One such case is Go Vacation, which showed up on my doorstop with a little note telling me that fun was enclosed. Those were bold words, as I made it a point to have some fun while going neck deep with Go Vacation.
Now hear me out – Go Vacation is not a bad game per se, but a poorly conceived one. Someone at an executive desk had a light bulb pop up over their head as they played a weekend of Deca Sports, Wii Sports, Wii Sports Plus, Carnival Games and every other mini-game collection under the sun and thought, “What if all of these games were packaged in one mega mini-game bundle!” Immediately, thoughts turned to the insane amounts of cash that would be raked in and the awesome sport cars that would be bought with said cash. But the idea of a mini-game collection is that you have to make the games more interesting and fun than your competition. This, sadly, is where the wheels come off the wagon for Go Vacation.
Go Vacation offers up an impressive amount of gaming “fun” in its collective. You get about 40-50 different mini-game packages, with games ranging from jet-skis to car racing to cycling and so on. If it has been in a mini-game collection, you will find it in Go Vacation. The games are functional, and some do border on what could be classified as fun. In a test with some family members that enjoyed Wii Sports Resort and more, they had a blast and loved every minute of their time with Go Vacation. Me as a jaded gamer on the other hand, I found most to be poor imitations of what had already been done by other companies.
It doesn’t help that you do not use your Miis in the game, with Namco Bandai instead opting for its own characters to be used, each talking in JRPG text scroll that has that monotone sounding scroll as the text is typed on the screen. Thankfully you can click a button on the Wii remote to skip past the typing and get to the games.
And playing the games is fun. No, nothing is changed up all that much from its competition, but Go Vacation does nail the controls for each of its games. Myself and the company that I had over at the house found controls to be spot on and very well done with each game. Sure, it is not rocket science, but good controls can go a long way for a game when it comes to enjoyment. It is not perfect, as you will constantly find yourself plugging and unplugging the nunchuck attachment as you move between games. It would have been nice if the developers would have just ignored the nunchuck and let me just play, but no, you will have to remove it for one game, and then have to plug it back in for the next.
Yes, I have ranted on Go Vacation, but it comes more from the fact that we have seen this package several times over on the Wii. It is not made for hardcore games like me or those of my ilk. It is instead made for those that bought their Wii for these exact experiences. Those that want to play more Wii Sports will eat Go Vacation up as a spot on franchise, and exactly what they want from the Nintendo Wii experience. These are not the folks that need a Resident Evil 4 or a House of the Dead Overkill, but instead want to kick back and kill a half hour with bowling or windsurfing. Go Vacation is by no means terrible, but it is not exactly innovative either. Pick it up only if you never want to swap a disc for another mini-game collection again.
The Good:
- Every mini-game you could want in one package
- Controls are surprisingly well done
The Bad:
- It is every mini-game you probably already own in another package
- Aimed at the casual market first and foremost
- Constantly having to disconnect and reconnect the nunchuck controller
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