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IGN Review of Go Vacation
The Wii plays host to more mini-game collections than probably any system in existence. Most of them can only be called cheap cash-ins, but a few examples - specifically Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort - manage to rise above the sea of mediocrity to provide players with something truly fun they can enjoy with friends and family. Go Vacation, despite its flaws, makes for another fine addition to this category.
Conceptually, Go Vacation essentially amounts to an exact rip-off of Wii Sports Resort. Instead of Wuhu Island, your getaway takes place on Kawawii Island, which comes jam-packed with mini-games galore. The big difference? Instead of observing the island from a distance, only visiting it during the games themselves, Go Vacation offers up an open world mechanic that allows players to romp around the island's various areas in between the mini-game mayhem. This substantially adds to the experience, especially considering the numerous transportation options the game provides.
From Marine bikes to roller blades to horses, traversing the island proves engaging in its own right, and makes for an excellent way to add some much needed depth to this oftentimes shallow genre. Each of the different options handles incredibly well, especially roller skating (which you do by alternately moving the Wii remote and nunchuk up and down, steering by tilting side to side). Traveling the world doesn't get old either, considering it's essentially optional since you can access games you've played from a menu rather than tracking down their whereabouts.
The big downside to this otherwise great idea comes from the fact that the illusion comes crashing down when you try to interact with any of the game's NPCs. For whatever reason, you can't speak with or in any way interact with these characters, making Kawawii feel like some sort of Stepford/Twilight Zone hell where everyone but yourself is actually a robot. You can even run them over with a vehicle (trust me, I tested this extensively), and they'll simple reel back, then two seconds later have a huge smile and a music note of happiness popping out of their head. Unsettling, to say the least, and a real buzz kill for what, in concept, is an amazing idea.
As for the mini-games, you'll find 50 of them spread across four different Kawawii Island resorts - Marine, City, Mountain and Snow. Each area offers a variety of different activities to participate in, such as table hockey, ATV races, snowball fights, scuba diving and so on. The actual mini-games vary in caliber - some turned out terribly fun, while others didn't do much to inspire subsequent playthroughs. Sky diving, for instance, has the player tilting the Wii remote and pressing the D-pad to maneuver their character into different positions, but in practice it didn't offer much of a challenge and got boring fast. The same goes for volleyball, which felt really clunky, especially because you don't actually move your character during the game, you just use the Wii remote to hit the ball.
Such poor execution doesn't occur too often, however, as the majority of these games handle really well. Racing on a marine bike (tilting the Wii remote and nunchuk side to side to steer) felt great, as did shoving the Wii remote forward to launch the Pac-Man puck in table hockey. Even though some of these games didn't quite hit the right note, with so many to choose from you'll have no trouble finding something fun to do.
Curiously enough, Go Vacation utilizes pretty much every obscure peripheral Nintendo has created for the Wii. Not only does it support the use of Motion Plus (which adds an extra layer of precision to the game), it encourages players to bust out their Wii Zapper, Wii Wheel and Wii Balance Board too, which have likely been collecting dust in a drawer somewhere. While you can play the games without these items, I found it kind of fun to have an excuse to play with them, and refreshing to see a mini-game compilation make use of the Wii's various bells and whistles.
You'll certainly find some kicks playing through the game alone, but Go Vacation really comes alive in multiplayer mode. Playing locally with buddies will keep you occupied for hours, though I'm curious as to why you can't take the game online. While having no online component knocks the experience down a notch, it doesn't detract from how much fun you'll have playing with buddies locally.
©2011-10-13, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Conceptually, Go Vacation essentially amounts to an exact rip-off of Wii Sports Resort. Instead of Wuhu Island, your getaway takes place on Kawawii Island, which comes jam-packed with mini-games galore. The big difference? Instead of observing the island from a distance, only visiting it during the games themselves, Go Vacation offers up an open world mechanic that allows players to romp around the island's various areas in between the mini-game mayhem. This substantially adds to the experience, especially considering the numerous transportation options the game provides.
From Marine bikes to roller blades to horses, traversing the island proves engaging in its own right, and makes for an excellent way to add some much needed depth to this oftentimes shallow genre. Each of the different options handles incredibly well, especially roller skating (which you do by alternately moving the Wii remote and nunchuk up and down, steering by tilting side to side). Traveling the world doesn't get old either, considering it's essentially optional since you can access games you've played from a menu rather than tracking down their whereabouts.
The big downside to this otherwise great idea comes from the fact that the illusion comes crashing down when you try to interact with any of the game's NPCs. For whatever reason, you can't speak with or in any way interact with these characters, making Kawawii feel like some sort of Stepford/Twilight Zone hell where everyone but yourself is actually a robot. You can even run them over with a vehicle (trust me, I tested this extensively), and they'll simple reel back, then two seconds later have a huge smile and a music note of happiness popping out of their head. Unsettling, to say the least, and a real buzz kill for what, in concept, is an amazing idea.
As for the mini-games, you'll find 50 of them spread across four different Kawawii Island resorts - Marine, City, Mountain and Snow. Each area offers a variety of different activities to participate in, such as table hockey, ATV races, snowball fights, scuba diving and so on. The actual mini-games vary in caliber - some turned out terribly fun, while others didn't do much to inspire subsequent playthroughs. Sky diving, for instance, has the player tilting the Wii remote and pressing the D-pad to maneuver their character into different positions, but in practice it didn't offer much of a challenge and got boring fast. The same goes for volleyball, which felt really clunky, especially because you don't actually move your character during the game, you just use the Wii remote to hit the ball.
Such poor execution doesn't occur too often, however, as the majority of these games handle really well. Racing on a marine bike (tilting the Wii remote and nunchuk side to side to steer) felt great, as did shoving the Wii remote forward to launch the Pac-Man puck in table hockey. Even though some of these games didn't quite hit the right note, with so many to choose from you'll have no trouble finding something fun to do.
Curiously enough, Go Vacation utilizes pretty much every obscure peripheral Nintendo has created for the Wii. Not only does it support the use of Motion Plus (which adds an extra layer of precision to the game), it encourages players to bust out their Wii Zapper, Wii Wheel and Wii Balance Board too, which have likely been collecting dust in a drawer somewhere. While you can play the games without these items, I found it kind of fun to have an excuse to play with them, and refreshing to see a mini-game compilation make use of the Wii's various bells and whistles.
You'll certainly find some kicks playing through the game alone, but Go Vacation really comes alive in multiplayer mode. Playing locally with buddies will keep you occupied for hours, though I'm curious as to why you can't take the game online. While having no online component knocks the experience down a notch, it doesn't detract from how much fun you'll have playing with buddies locally.
©2011-10-13, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved