User Reviews (1 - 11 of 113)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Tremendously Fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 220 / 234
Date: August 31, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Carnival Games is the type of game that everyone should have for their Wii. It's great for solo play, or multi-player fun, and never becomes boring, with more than 25 games to choose from. It's extremely easy to "pick up and play" for all ages, and it's good clean fun. The game really represents a carnival in every way possible, starting with the perfectly accurate games (and gameplay), the bright colors, the chatty emcee's, the wandering carnival-goers who walk past you or play games beside you, and even the carnival music playing softly in the background. You can almost smell the cotton candy!
What really makes this game shine is how well designed all the carnival games are. They work very well with the wii-mote, and rarely miss a beat.

Here are some of the highlights of the 25+ games included on this disc:

ALLEY BALL: This game is identical to a favorite game of many called "Skee-Ball". It is definitely one of the best games on here. It feels extremely realistic, the way you use the wii-mote to kind of throw the ball (not swing back & roll like bowling, but rather kind of flinging it up on the 'alley' like you really do in skee-ball). It's sharp and accurate, and hard to stop playing!

SPILLED MILK: This one has you throwing a ball at a stack of 3 milk bottles. It somewhat lacks the realism of Alley Ball, but it still is quite fun. It has you hold your wii-mote as if it's a ball, and you do an overhand throw to try to knock down the bottles. Fortunately it has a little marking on the screen to show where you will hit before you throw.

BALLOON DARTS: One of my favorites. This game has a corkboard covered with balloons that you must throw darts at to pop. You hold your wii-mote as if it's a dart (really!) and do a short, abrupt forward lunge with it as if you are throwing a dart. The accuracy on this game is amazing. I hit the small balloons every time! In fact, once you win this game a number of times, you will open a "super" version of this game that you can also play where it has a whole wall of balloons to pop in about 30 seconds.

SHOOTING GALLERY: This is another favorite. A perfect representation of the duck shooting game we all love at carnivals. The little yellow ducks are scrolling by, and you have to use your wii-mote like a toy gun to shoot them (aiming for the target on their belly will net you even more points). The accuracy of this game is perfect.

HOOPS: This game has a basketball hoop in front of you, and you need to use your wii-mote as if it's a basketball, using an overhand throw to get the ball in the basket. What really amazes me on this game is how once you throw the ball, it shows you where it will land, and you have a chance to twist the wii-mote to make it more likely to go in the basket! You have to be quick though! But this increases the fun factor enormously since you have such great control over the ball.

SHOOT FOR THE STARS: This game was never a favorite of mine in carnivals, and isnt here either but I wanted to at least mention it for those who like this popular game. You stand in front of a star target and have to rapid-fire 300 shots to shoot away the star. It's perfectly accurate (can you hold steady enough for 300 shots?), and I usually end up with about 85% without trying too hard.

HOLE IN ONE: I have not played this game yet, but the manual claims it is a miniature golf game that gives you 3 chances to putt the ball, but each time you do, the hole moves. Sounds fun though, as I love golf.

RING TOSS: This is yet another favorite of mine. It has a large area of bottles arranged in a square, and you have to toss rings in hopes of landing one directly on a bottle. You hold your wii-mote kind of frisbee-style and fling your ring out towards the bottles. It is quite accurate and very fun. It looks and plays identical to the one you see at carnivals.

DAY AT THE RACES: This is an odd take on horse racing. In order to get your horses to run, you have to roll balls into holes at the end of an alley (somewhat like skee-ball) as quickly as possible. The difference here is that there are just several holes on a flat surface, but they have different point values for different holes. The higher your points, the faster the horse goes. It's quite fun though! And accurate too.

COLLECTION PLATE: I wouldnt say this is a favorite of mine as I am no good at it but I believe with practice it will be a lot more fun for me. This game has a platform of several plates at different heights, and you have to toss coins to land on them. You hold your wii-mote as if it's a coin, and kind of toss it outward. My problem is I use to much strength and the coin goes flying to who-knows-where. Those with more finesse would surely do better than me at this game! It's cute and pretty accurate in my opinion.

Those are the highlights of Carnival Games. The other titles included in it are: The Great Swami, Frog Leap, Bowler Coaster, Meter-O-Love, Pigskin Pass, Buckets Of Fun, Going Nuts, Clown Splash, Ka-Pow, Prize Claw, Nerves Of Steel, Lucky Cups, Dunk Tank, and Push-A-Prize. Plus you can open a few alternate takes of some games once you reach certain goals.

And lastly, for those of you who love character customization, you get a little person that represents you in the game, and you can change his/her hair, clothes, face, accessories, etc to your liking. You will also acquire more items for your person by either winning them in games or buying them with tickets. And you can also win "virtual prizes" in games (stuffed animals, toy cars, etc) but these are only a picture on your screen. Nothing special there.

In summary, Carnival Games is a something-for-everyone game that has lasting appeal and tons of variety. Best of all, it gets you off the couch and playing like you're really at the carnival! Dont forget the corn dogs!

Surprisingly fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 48 / 52
Date: September 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I had no intentions of buying this game, but after seeing so many glowing reviews I decided to give it a shot. I'm glad I did--Carnival Games is an incredibly fun collection of mini-games that are fun to play and remind you of a real carnival, though with much less potential damage to the wallet.

Carnival Games features over 20 carnival style games, most of which will probably be familiar to most people. There's an Alley Ball game (Skiball), dart throwing, a shooting gallery, frog launching, a dunk tank, and many, many others. There are also unlockable "super" versions of some of the games, variations which don't give prizes but instead record a high score. An example of this is the game where you knock over milk bottles--the super version has you knocking over enormous stacks of bottles. It's silly and an interesting twist on the original.

Each game you play rewards prizes in three sizes--small, medium, or large--and gives tickets which act as a sort of currency in the game and allow you to purchase unlockable items for your character (like a bike helmet or a guitar) and access other activities like the love machine and a fortune teller. In each game you can trade prizes up just like a real carnival--4 small prizes for a medium, 3 medium for a large, etc--in pursuit of a jumbo prize in each event. The prizes are nothing special at all, and they're really just a way of keeping track of how you've done in the events.

As I mentioned before, Carnival Games features a slew of unlockables for your character, which can be customized to your liking. Customization is pretty limited, however, at least until you unlock the silly accessories for him or her. What a shame the game does not allow you to use Miis--this seems like a major oversight to me and would have added quite a bit to the fun of decking out your character.

This is a great party game, but unfortunately the multiplayer options are somewhat lacking. The head to head and competition modes allow up to 4 people to play against each other, but few of the games actually allow for simultaneous play (the horse racing is one that does). This detracts from the fun of play since with four people you end up waiting for the other three to whack their frogs before you get another chance to whack yours. Again, it's an unfortunate shortfall to the game.

The game is still a lot of fun, however, and the simple fact is that the games are great regardless of the game's few shortcomings. It's great for all ages--even my preschooler was able to play many of the games well and enjoyed it quite a bit. One thing the Wii does not lack is collections of party games, but this one stands out as well worth checking into.

One of my Favorite Games For the Wii! Like Cotton Candy, It's Quite Addictive!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 39 / 44
Date: September 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I started reading the game descriptions on this product months before it was released. I am a big fan of mini-games and this looked like it might be worthwhile. I suspected it might be a GOOD game, but I didn't expect it to be GREAT! Then I saw all the 5-star reviews and went ahead and bought a copy. Absolutely not disappointed! This is one of the best games for the Wii I've played to date!

This is an exceptionally well-polished game. The graphics aren't fancy, but they are clean, crisp and well rendered. A real Carnival feel to the product with bright colors, lot's of kitsch, and some mildly sinister but funny carnival hucksters. The mini-games are addictive and lots of fun. Some of the games are simple, while others are more challenging. It's easy to earn "tickets" whether you are an expert player or novice. You can then trade your tickets to play other carnival games or unlock a variety of masks and other accessories for your player to use in the game.

I won't go into descriptions of individual games, since other reviewers have done an excellent job. However, just like a real carnival, my favorite game is darts. I've also become fond of capturing the dinosaur with "The Claw". This game is simple enough for small kids to master, but challenging enough for teens and adults. An excellent game for the Wii platform, the controls are responsive and there are few if any bugs. It will make you crave fried twinkies and cotton candy. Highly recommended!!

Fun set of games, but best viewed on 4:3 TVs

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 24 / 26
Date: October 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Although this is yet another set of mini-games for the Wii, the developers put in a lot of detail, especially in the physics engines for the various games. Games that involve tossing balls or hoops, knocking down bottles, and so forth are remarkably realistic in how the various items behave. I was very impressed by the realism of the physics.

The games are most definitely those that you'd find in a typical carnival, as they're known here in the U.S., and they're a lot of fun. I particularly like the random selection of games for the Competition mode because it means that no contestant necessarily has an upper hand.

The addition of hidden games that can only be unlocked by succeeding at the regular games gives you something to strive for in the game, although you feel somewhat diminished when you finally unlock all of them and realize that there's nothing else to unlock.

Although the Wii most certainly DOES NOT NEED yet ANOTHER mini-game collection, my biggest gripe with this game is that it does NOT utilize a widescreen display properly. I play my Wii on my 16:9 TV. I was shocked to see more at the top and bottom when I connected it to a friend's 4:3 TV with the appropriate 4:3 display setting in the Wii. Instead of adding more to the sides of the screen when the Wii is set for 16:9, the developers decided to "pull a Bioshock" and crop the top and bottom of the screen to make a fake-widescreen, 16:9 display.

Several of the games, and most of the "just for fun games" like the coin/token machine, suffer greatly by this. For example, on the coin/token machine you just barely see the coin depositing slot that is continually moving back and forth at the top of the screen. The result is that you get a very cramped feeling when playing many of the games in 16:9 mode compared to playing them in a 4:3 mode. Unfortunately, because the aspect ratio is a Wii system setting, to get the full display of the game you'd need to reset the Wii to a 4:3 mode and then switch back to 16:9 for other games. Unfortunately, unlike the XBox 360 and the PC, this is not an issue that can be resolved with a patch. With 16:9 being the future of TVs (good luck finding a big screen, 4:3 TV anymore), this was a very short-sighted and cheap shot by the developers to try to appeal to those with 16:9 displays.

It's still a fun collection of mini-games, and it does accurately give a carnival atmosphere with a lot of replayability, if only to beat your last high score. Just be aware that if you play this on a 16:9 TV, you're going to be seeing less, not more. Shenanigans on you, Global Star!

Sleeper Hit!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 18
Date: August 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Talk about a surprise! This game offers exactly what you'd expect... mindless single player fun. Try it during a break from "Metroid Prime Corruption." With multiple players, though, this may be THE ultimate drunken Wii party game! It's certainly much better than Wii Play or Mario Party 8. It's a shame this has slipped under so many gaming site's rader and likely won't get the attention it deserves. This game fits the Wii perfectly... fun for everyone of all ages.

Great in theory, awful in practice

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 37 / 50
Date: October 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

What a great idea: take the fun of the carnival home! Fun for all ages, right? Throw a beanbag at the milk pails, toss a softball into the bushel, the dunk tank, etc. The problem is that the controls are so inappropriate that the minigames feel like random chance. For example, in the dunk tank game, instead of simply aiming for the target, you have to wait while a dot spins around, then time your throw to coincide with the dot appearing on the bullseye. Then the smarmy commentators make some wisecrack that you don't know what you're doing. This game gives me much greater appreciation for Wii Sports and Warioware. Returned this game to the store after about an hour. Not recommended.

So surprised so many people like this game---We DO NOT!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 29 / 42
Date: September 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I am quite surprised this game has so many good reviews. I bought it recently thinking it would be a big hit with my kids. Well, I practically have to beg them to even play it at all, just to make me feel like I didn't waste $40 totally.

Where to start? The games are not intuitive to play like many Wii games. It's frustrating to try to toss a ball or dart in a carnival game and not be able to do it without hitting the right buttons. The games are very limited in scope---most have nothing beyond the one simple action to do---shoot a duck, throw a basketball, pop a balloon. Once you master that, you're pretty bored. There is little incentive to get better. The "prizes" are basically small pictures of a prize. The biggest prices make some sort of noise and can be turned around---major thrill! I think of things like the trophies in Smash Brothers which really seem almost like toys you can touch. The games are not tied together with the feel of a real carnival---they are just reached by signposts of their category, and the categories don't make a lot of scene. I thought you would be able to wander around a virtual carnival, but no such luck. Many of the game's features are confusing. For example, when we tried to play a two player game, it took us forever to figure out how to use two controllers and not just pass one back and forth---you have to turn around a sign to do that, and it's not well explained. Two player mode is pretty much just playing the same game with alternating turns, and you get no prizes or tickets in two player.

The main game my kids wanted most to try was the Skeeball type one. It was hard to control and not very fun---in keeping with the rest of the game.

I give the game 2 stars as it's an interesting concept, and a few games were mildly fun for a while---balloon pop and duck shooting to name them! Overall, I felt cheated and bored by the game, as did my kids. I really wonder why all the reviews are so good.

Step Right Up To...Fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 18
Date: August 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game for my nephew and the next thing I know his older sister is hogging the Wii Remote. Even his mother had a blast spritzing the clown in the mouth! Definitely a hit with both young and old and there's even my favorite childhood game included, Alley Ball!

Great Game. Must Buy!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 14
Date: August 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

this is a great game for people who want to play with their friends and do not want to spend all day reading the manual, trying to figure out how to play.

It has a very quick learning curve and is a great way to socialize with the family.

Does not keep my interest

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 12 / 15
Date: September 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is the type of game that would be good to rent bad to buy. It is fun once or twice but past that it does not maintain any interest. I have pulled it out a couple of times for parties but after one game everyone is asking for something else. If you are looking for intense action that fully uses the UI of the Wii this is not the game for you.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next 

Actions