Pros: Laid back fun.
Cons: Total lack of depth.
The bottom line: For those who allow themselves to be sucked in by this game's charm, they'll have a blast. For everyone else, rent it first.
I've been itching to have a game that I would have the chance to tear into, really rip to pieces. I've written so many favorable reviews lately it's been driving me crazy. I thought I finally had my chance to do so with Carnival Games, but there's a certain underlying charm that keeps me from trashing it, though I can't quite recommend it.

To try to lump Carnival Games into a category, i.e. action, platformer, first person shooter, etc., is maddening. It really doesn't belong into a category, so let's just create a new category and call it a Carnival Simulator.

What it does, and in this way it is a success, is create the experience of going to the Midway. All your carnival type games are here: a dunk tank, tossing rings on bottles, throwing balls at milk cans, Hoops, and a Test Your Strength game, among others (These all have cute little carnival names, of course). I could name them all, but odds are any game in here is one that someone has played in real life at some point, or skipped because they knew it was a sham.

There are five areas to the carnival, each with a few games, and unlockable super games. Take skee ball (Alley Ball in this game) for example. If you get all the prizes necessary, you get a souped version of skee ball, and so on and so forth.

The prize system is something that should be noted. Each game has a criteria for getting either a small, medium, or large prize. Each prize is upgradeable, and by getting three large prizes you can unlock the grand prize, which unlocks the super games. The upgradeable prizes are a bit confusing at first. Basically, you can trade in all your small prizes for one medium, all your medium for one large, and all your larges for the grand. What this means is that there is absolutely no way you can't unlock all the super games. Even if there's a game you're not so good at, just keep getting the small prizes, and with a little patience, you'll get there. This is one of the reasons to believe this game was designed for kids.

On the bright side, there are other unlockables. Hidden in different areas of the game, and in some of the games themselves, are objects that you can shoot, throw a ball at, or just click on with your cursor, and it gives you a prize. When I say hidden, I mean that most of them are in plain view. Most of these prizes are additions to your "created character," though, which is kind of a bummer, as is your character if you wanted Mii integration. Let me elaborate.

Your Mii plays no part in this game. The character that you create is based on predefined characters, male or female, child or adult. You can customize them to a point, but really only in what you dress them in. My character looks like a moron, so I decided to cover up his ugly mug with a gorilla mask. Problem is, you can only give them one accessory per body part.

The rest of the unlockables are unlocked by way of high scores in super games, and in tickets. The tickets are actually kind of fun. Each area in the game has a carnival machine that you can pump your excess tickets into. There's a fortune teller, a claw machine that's just as hard to get prizes from as it is in real life, a love tester, Push A Prize (that game where you drop coins onto a pile of others, shoving the coins at the bottom into the prize slot), and a game with a squirrel catching nuts in a basket. The fortune teller and love tester are pointless, but the others do give you a chance for return on your ticket investment. Sadly, Push A Prize occupied a buddy of mine and I for an amount of time that I'm ashamed to even mention.

Now for the controls. They are about what you'd expect, with a couple of standouts. Skee ball works like bowling, but adds a bit more challenge in the way that you have to account for the ramp at the end. Games that require you to throw, like the dunk tank, give you a moving cursor. When that cursor's on the sweet spot, simply do an overhand throw. Hoops also utilizes the overhand throw, but with a bit more challenge. You aim not by pointing the Wii remote, but rather by twisting the remote just right. It's a bit weird at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's really great.

Other games require you to flick the remote, like a frisbee, like the coin toss. You'll have to learn to finesse your motions, or you'll find yourself overshooting, or more likely undershooting, your targets. The balloon dart game requires to hold the remote like a dart. I liked the dart game in Super Monkey Ball, and I daresay I like this one better.

Test Your Strength is probably my favorite of the motion controls. You have to shake the remote like mad to fill up a power meter, then bring it down in a hammering motion at just the right time for the full effect. The shaking is truly a forearm workout, and it's a test of your coordination to hit that sweet spot on the pad.

Then, there's your shooting gallery. You point, click, done, although I do have to say something about Shoot for the Stars. This is the game where you shoot out as much of a star on a target as you can, and it has an interesting little effect--the remote vibrates, giving you the feeling of actual kickback, as if from a real gun, and it works. You'll have to really have to keep a good grip on the remote to keep your shots from going wild. If the Wii hasn't implemented this into any first person shooters yet, they should. It gives a level of realism that seems a bit too advanced for a game like this.

The only game that had controls that really bothered me was the Hole in One game. The golf controls didn't feel as natural as they did in Wii Sports, and though I've actually managed to get the three holes in a row, I never felt comfortable doing it. It felt like chance.

All in all, though, the controls are spot on. The remote was uncooperative very few times, and the reactions in the game are, for the most part, natural. Coin toss is a bit tricky, and I usually find myself under or overthrowing, but other than that, it's smooth sailing.

Graphically, while not outstanding, Carnival Games is passable, and even bordering on good. The look of the old fashioned Midway has been recreated pretty successfully, albeit in a cartoonish way. The character models are odd and facially exaggerated, but that was the point, so everything the developers set out to do in the graphics department was accomplished.

If I had to pick one standout in this game, it would be the sound. All the familiar sounds and music of the Midway are recreated here almost perfectly. This truly sounds like you're at a carnival. The carnies' taunting is spirited, if a little repetitive at times, but definitely adds to the atmosphere.

For multiplayer, you can have up to four players playing any game at once, and there are a number of games that lend themselves really well to this kind of competition. However, if you're short on remotes, everyone can share one. Couple that with the fact that the nunchuk isn't used, this is, if nothing else, an economically sound multiplayer game.

Here's the Deal: I've thoroughly enjoyed Carnival Games. As I mentioned earlier, it has a certain charm, and with all the real competition thrown out, it's an easy game to pick up and play if you're by yourself. It's very laid back, and in a way, relaxing. However, I know that most of us Wii owners demand something deeper, and should. But if you have kids, or rejoice when the Wii throws out depth for simplicity, then this is for you. For the hardcore crowd out there, you can skip this one.

For me, this is a four star game, but in the interest of making sure that no one picks this up based on my personal recommendation, only to be dissatisfied, I'm giving it three.

Parent's Note: This game, while there is appeal for some adults, is really for the kids. Nothing offensive here.