Offbeat Treat- Wacky World of Sports Review

As many Wii owners know, one of the more prevalent genres within the console’s library is the mini-game compilation. The physicality of the Wiimote controller combined with a push toward a more casual gaming audience has created a desire for easily-understood diversions that contain enough variety to maintain an audience’s interest. With the exception of the Raving Rabbids series, most of these games are rooted in reality, offering simple recreations of popular sports and a variety of vocations.

While the setting of Sega’s Wacky World of Sports is presumably on this planet, that’s where most of the title’s semblance to reality ends. Player use real world implements, from sofas, toilets, and tuna fish in unusual ways- cheese wheels are rolled around goal posts, while characters iron clothes during parachute drops. Each of WWoS’s sports recall a spectator sport given a delightfully quirky twist. Fans of offbeat Japanese games will surely appreciate the vibe.

Players may tackle each of the game’s ten unlockable events individually in Party Mode, or through the game’s Tour Mode Campaign. Unlike many minigame collections, WWoS offers the player an incentive to replay each mini-game. Since events earn money, gamers have the ability to purchase improved equipment or costumes from the title’s shop. Each tournament in the game’s tour mode consists of three rounds- after two rounds the lowest scoring competitor is eliminated as the tour boss enters the proceedings. Conveniently, a loss to the tour boss means players will only have to reply the final stage, and not the whole competition.

Although not all of Wacky World of Sports events are stellar, even the worst mini-games are marginally entertaining. Furniture Racing is surprisingly intricate- not only do players have to navigate a curvy course while riding a fixture, they must carefully interact with other players. Collisions can slow other players, but they may remove parts from your domestic vehicle. Losing too many components temporarily removes the gamer from the racer, allowing the competition to zoom past.  Ice Golf presents an interesting variation on the popular activity, as players avoid freezing in the arctic environment.  Hitting the ball close to fire pits scattered along the course maintains a gamer’s bodyheat, whereas leisurely taking a shot allows your temperature to fall. Cheese Rolling evokes Wii Sports Bowling as players try to hurl cheddar wheel around a series of concentric rings.

The events that don’t hold up as well suffer from a miscalculated simplicity. Log Cutting requires gamers to make horizontal and vertical slashes with the Wiimote to simulate the splitting timber. While players must jettison the sporadic stick of dynamite, the basic game mechanic is too basic, and feels out of place with some of the other eccentric activities. Extreme Ironing is similar, requiring players to simulate wrinkle-removing gestures, but suffers from the occasional unrecognized command.

Wacky World of Sports’ characters- from the game’s hyperactive host to its soft-spoken, but burley lumberjack assist the game in creating its wonderfully offbeat vibe. Each is colorfully drawn, and competently animated. While the game’s voiceovers are a collection of oft-repeated phrases, they are peculiar enough to contribute personality. The snooty English gent who kept repeating the expression, “upper-class” was particularly amusing.