Review: Looney Tunes: Wacky World Of Sports (Xbox)
Let’s be honest, none of us were expecting much from Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports. We’ve been burned too many times with collections like these in the past, and even though the studio behind it created the fun Nickelodeon Kart Racers games, we’ve not really seen anything to suggest Wacky World of Sports could be an unlikely hit.
Those low expectations probably worked in the game’s favour here, as although it’s a mediocre collection that certainly struggles to justify its ÂŁ39.99 / $49.99 price tag, Wacky World of Sports is packed with enough charm (and a surprisingly good golf mode) that we’ve found ourselves having a fun time with it over the past couple of weeks.
The main mode in this game is a competition between four players where you’re tasked with playing soccer, basketball, tennis and golf in order to crown a champion at the end. Each sport can be played exhibition-style as well (complete with the ability to change venues and rules), and you can also take on specific challenges to earn unlockables.
Soccer and basketball play fairly similarly to each other, and although they feel quite basic and clunky, and suffer from slightly delayed inputs, they’re enjoyable enough – we particularly like the Mario Strikers-inspired mechanic in soccer where you can unleash a power shot at the goalie. Basketball is flawed because of how easy it is to shoot three-pointers, but it’s cool how you can call for alley-oops and even throw custard pies at your opponents when you get a power-up! It doesn’t feel like these sports have that much replayability because of how simplistic they are, but we can’t say we haven’t enjoyed at least parts of what they have to offer.
The biggest problem with soccer, which also applies in tennis, is that scoring goals and winning points feels too random. In the case of tennis, the general gameplay feels pretty good (again, there’s a cool Mario Tennis-style mechanic where you can activate power shots as well), but actually hitting a winning shot past your opponent feels kinda erratic… at least in the standard doubles mode. Quite often, you end up winning a point because the AI randomly decides not to respond to your shot properly, rather than you feeling like you’ve earned it. This isn’t as much the case on lower difficulty levels, but “Hard” and particularly “Expert” accentuate the flaws.
All of those three modes are OK, but golf is undoubtedly the highlight here. It feels like a Mario Golf-lite experience where you’ve got three wildly different courses to enjoy, ranging from traditional greens and fairways to a futuristic layout complete with portals, electric fences and much more. The two-click mechanics feel good, there’s enough depth to make it tough to master while still remaining accessible, and ultimately it’s the one sport that we’ve found ourselves returning to again and again by choice.
We have to commend the presentation here as well. Sure, the graphics aren’t anything special, but the game does a great job immersing you in the world of Looney Tunes. In addition to a decently-sized cast of characters, the likes of Bugs Bunny, Sylvester the Cat and Porky Pig all benefit from full voice acting, and some of their lines are excellent. Watching Taz get increasingly more irritated on the golf course never gets old, and Tweetie Pie will even subtly insult each character when they go out of bounds, such as asking them if they need to get their eyes tested. Yes, it does get a bit repetitive after a while, but even then it manages to remain more charming than annoying.
There’s fun to be had with Wacky World of Sports, then, but for a game that does an average job with 3/4 of its sports, while also having no online multiplayer and no sign of a proper campaign mode, most people will want to wait until this one gets discounted before picking it up. It’s an enjoyable game in bursts, and it’s pleasantly surprised us in a few ways, but we’d still have buyers remorse if we bought it at full price.
Conclusion
Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports is a mediocre collection that does a few things really well – such as the overall presentation and its fun rendition of golf. What drags it down are the other three sports, which are functional but arguably too clunky to attract long-term attention, as well as the lack of online multiplayer and any kind of a proper single-player mode. This game has charmed us for sure, and we’ll keep coming back to it now and again, but it’s definitely hard to recommend paying ÂŁ39.99 / $49.99 for it.
