Graphics: Sooner or later, videogame makers are going to have to fess up to the fact that we live in an age when the standard of graphics is a bar that is set incredibly high. This is especially true on the Wii. The hardware isn’t as robust as the other next-gen consoles, but just because the selling point of Wii games is supposed to be “experience,” developers shouldn’t be lazy when it comes to visuals. If I told you that Wonderworld Amusement Park, based solely on its appearance, was actually a Nintendo 64 title, I bet you’d believe me. While it’s nice that there is some creativity and freedom in creating your avatar for the game, there are two glaring issues with the avatars: You rarely ever see yourself, so spending time building a likeness of yourself is a bit of a waste, and the Wii’s Mii generator is far more fun, so why not just pre-load a Mii? Everything about the display just seems flat. None of the shapes have any depth or character to them. Most of the animations, such as the carnival game operators, remind me of poorly designed web cartoons, and most of the games only employ two-dimensional objects, such as bottles, rings or coconuts, which don’t seem to have any properties beyond shape and color.

Interface: Press “A” to play. Are you sure you want to play? If so, Press “A.” Now press “A” to start the game. If you can suffer through this diatribe your first time through any of the minigames, you’ll be okay, especially since once one of them is unlocked, you can go back and skip through all of the unnecessary prompting the next time you play. While I occasionally enjoyed the simplistic interfaces of the minigames themselves, I found the main “menu” a bit frustrating. All of the games are represented by tents in a circle surrounding you. To choose the minigame directly behind you, use the Wiimote to point at the left or right edge of the screen and slowly, very slowly, your viewpoint turns. This sluggish layout gets tedious after awhile.

Gameplay: While I, a gamer above the age of 10, couldn’t quite get into Wonderworld Amusement Park, there is something about it that I could see appealing to younger audiences. The games are fairly simple and repetitive, but on more than one occasion I played the same minigame two or three times in a row, determined to get the high score. This says to me that the game can’t be all that bad. My wife watched me play whack-a-mole, chuckling at my intensity and presumably ridiculous motions. I noticed the lazy and dull design of the game, but I’m willing to bet that my nieces and nephews won’t. The games have just the right amount of allure to keep young players interested, and there are certainly worse options for parents searching for a way to entertain their kids on a rainy day.

Multiplayer: It isn’t Wii Sports by a long shot, but Wonderworld’s multiplayer mode is enjoyable as a quick way to pass some time. Again, I don’t think teenagers and above are going to start hosting Wonderworld parties, but kids will enjoy challenging their friends to some of the various minigames. My two complaints about the multiplayer mode are that it doesn’t seem to track your overall cumulative score, and none of the games are co-op.

Sound FX: If you’ve ever played a carnival game, you’ve heard the effects in Wonderworld. There are the standard kids’ cheers and screams, and a pinball machine. If there was an effect that stood out to me, it was Dracula’s laugh in the “scary” themed section of the park. There’s a stuffed animal in the shape of a vampire that has such a goofy look on its face, when it makes its gleeful cackle, I always crack a smile.

Music: There’s more standard carnival fare here, but I find it more annoying than anything else. I don’t know what it is about the fairground themes found in games like this, but to me they always come off as repetitive and campy. While I would recommend this as a good title for parents to give their young ones, those same parents might want to be warned to find something to do in another room, or at least have the mute button within reach.

Difficulty: There is a wide range of difficulty in Wonderworld Amusement Park. There are some events, such as tracing a ring over an electric wire, which are infuriatingly hard and players will eventually just skip them altogether. Then you have ridiculously easy games, such as the shooting gallery, where it’s almost impossible to shoot and NOT hit a target. In general, you can win tickets fairly easily in all of the minigames, but getting the high scores is the challenge.

Overall: I think many hardcore gamers will knock this game, and not without reason, but I still see Wonderworld capturing the attention of younger players. They’ll enjoy the lighthearted minigames, with their varying degrees of difficulty, and challenge their friends to beat their high scores. Wonderworld is in no way the pinnacle of gaming, even in the cheap minigame genre, but it does offer a little bit of entertainment.