Carnival Games Review

Ever been to a carnival? If you haven't: they're usually packed with bright, colorful, games and stalls meant to lure children. Beneath that gaudy gilt exterior, however, you find that the games are usually impossible to win...the prizes are junk...and at the end of it, you can't quite remember where your money went.

In reality, at least, you usually have some fun, too.

Carnival Games (the iPhone app spin-off of the Wii game) is an amalgamation of carnival-themed mini-games. Your avatar wanders through the carnival, playing whack-a-mole, knocking over milk bottles, shooting at a Wild West landscape, shooting star silhouettes...the games are all familiar. You can also engage other kiddies running around the carnival; for example, one little girl asks you to ride a see-saw with her. Fun in theory, but these simplified, digital versions soon grow boring.

The controls also leave much to be desired. Sometimes the game just plain won't respond; at others, it's just highly inaccurate. Either way, scoring points is maddening. And the game crashes, often—making playing the game a difficult task in and of itself.

And what do you get from the minigames? Boring, repetitive experiences; none of the minigames held my interest. A few tickets, maybe, to exchange for prizes—extra outfits for your character and the like. And a massive headache from watching your iPhone crash so many times.

Carnival Games is all gilt, and no substance. $3.99 for an app that crashes constantly, and a collection of minigames that barely entertain? The App Store has much better to offer, folks.