Wii Playground

My husband picked up EA’s Playground for the Wii for me thinking it would be fun for the two of us to play together, he was right. We are both kids at heart and truly enjoy this game. You can play this in single player, multi player, and quick play.

First you create your own profile by picking a kid. You can either keep the kids name or rename the kid to have your name. You can have up to three profiles saved at time. For small families that’s not a big deal but if you have a larger family this can be a problem. However, you can erase a profile at any time and start a new one.

There are four areas that make up the playground-the schoolyard, Goby Park, the Stadium, and Rabblewoods. At first you only have access to the Schoolyard after you have won a certain amount of games your able to unlock Goby Park where you play against more challenging kids at the same games. Once again you have to win at so many games before you can then unlock the Stadium. In the stadium you have the chance to play a few new games and some of the same games at harder levels. Lastly you will unlock Rabblewoods.

When you win the first time against a kid you earn a Golden sticker for your sticker book this also unlocks the game in quick mode for that level. You will earn marbles for games, high-five’s, and randomly found marbles in the different levels. Marbles can be used to purchase super stickers which are special moves that can be used in game play (I’ll go more into that later).

There are two different ways to keep track of where you’ve been and how you are doing. There is the sticker book which shows you what games you’ve unlocked and which special moves you have. The sticker book also lets you save your game, quit the game, and turn music and on and off. Then there is the report card. It shows you where you’re at in the game like 70/75 hidden marbles found or ?/? High-five’s done that sort of thing. The main down side to the report card is it starts you off with a D grade. How many kids or adults want to see that they have a D already when they first start a new game? It doesn’t seem fair but I guess then again life isn’t fair.

As I’ve mentioned there are “collectibles” such as marbles. You will find bags of marbles scattered all over the different areas just waiting to be scooped up, you can earn them winning games, and for completing side activities. These marbles are important because you can take them to the sticker king and trade them in to get super stickers, which brings me to the next collectable Stickers. When you win a game you get a golden sticker to prove it. And you collect the super stickers to get special moves which come in handy when playing against tougher kids.

Once you beat somebody at a game, you can go back and accept their dare for a chance to win more marbles. Dares are a little bit harder than the normal game. Earlier I mentioned side activities let me explain those now before I go into the main games. There are high-five’s, dribbling, free throw, and bug hunt. High-fives are very simple you go up to a kid with a bubble over their head (game boss) and flick your remove sort of like a high five. The first time you high five a game boss you will get marbles from him or her. Dribbling is much harder. You have to locate a bouncing basket ball (simple enough) but then you have to flick your remote forward when the basketball is in the target circle. Dribble the target number of times in a row before the time runs out to win marbles. The tricky part is if you miss it you have to start counting all over. Free Throws are not as difficult because you don’t have to do it in a row but could be tough for a kid to do in the harder levels. You flick the remote forward to shoot the ball. You want to shoot as soon as the purple arrow is over the center of the net, and use just the right amount of force to the flick to get the shot meter in the green zone. The arrow speeds up as you shoot more baskets. My husband completed this one but just constantly flicking his remote on the first level after that there’s a purple arrow over the basket and you have to pay more attention to it to get the timing just right. Bug hunt sounds simple but really it’s a pain in the neck. Bug hunt is a timed game where you have to locate the butterflies, swing your remote like a net to try to catch the butterflies in your net. The timing seems to be off. Neither of us has been able to beat this “simple” task.
Here are the games…

Dodge ball: you use your arrow keys to make your kid run forward and side to side yet you flick the remote left and right to dodge the ball. You flick the remote forward to throw the ball, push the B button to catch or block if you’re holding a ball. If you press and hold the down arrow you’re supposed to be able to do a fake throw (harder than it sounds). The special moves that come with stickers are Quick boost off the line, power throw, and mega throw. In the earlier levels this game is pretty fun once you get the hang of it but the harder levels can be very frustrating I would recommend playing only when you have enough sleep and patience for it. Not so fun in single player mode but fairly fun to play on the same team in multi player mode.

Kicks: is a strange game. Kicks is sort of like a cross between soccer and volley ball. You have two people on your team and you play both of them but you have to click the A button to switch between team players. The special moves for this game are Mega kick and power block. Not really fun in any mode.

Slot Car Racing: you race your car using the remote tilt to turn, switch lanes, and bump other cars. Accelerate your car by pushing the A button. This game reminds me of Mario carts for an older version of the Nintendo. There are blocks that give you random things, batteries to add boost to your car, zap to give the cars in front of you an electric shock knocking them back, tacks to slow down the car that runs over them, a firecracker which explodes on which ever car is stuck with it (get rid of it fast by bumping into another car) and a shield to protect yourself temporarily from zaps, tacks, and the dreaded firecracker. This one is by far my favorite in any mode. Once beaten in single player I recommend you play in quick play to complete to beat your own high score.

Tetherball: is just like it is in the real world. Fun if you’re matched up against someone with the same skill level otherwise it’s just frustrating. I can’t picture a little kid enjoying this one. The special moves for this game are mega serve and mega punch.

Paper Racers: for this one you throw the paper airplane and race against the clock to beat it for the first game but the dares are far more difficult. You throw the airplane by pushing the remote forward, steer by tilting and trust the remote forward for a speed boost. In single player mode it’s not that great but can be fun in multi player if you are evenly matched.

Wall Ball: is a ton of fun. You serve the ball by swing the remote in an upward motion however it doesn’t matter how quick you do it. You swing the remote to left/right to hit the ball back at the wall, here it does matter how you angle it. The special moves are mega serve and mega swing. As you progress in this game they add power ups to the wall. Warp ball sucks the ball into the warp and spits it out at a random spot thus confusing your opponent, speed bounce adds some extra power to the ball, and mega charge which charges your meter up so you can use for a mega swing. This game is fun in single player and multi player. This game is one of my favorites on the disk.

Dart shootout: is most like paint ball you shoot certain targets for points but you don’t want to shoot the smiley face targets because that will subtract points. The game moves you from one spot to another in between levels. After a few they add people who shoot at you and you shoot at them. The multi player is a little different. You both shoot like you’re on the same team but you keep your points separate and whoever has the most points wins. We both enjoy this game.

Over all it’s a fun game but I wouldn’t recommend it for younger children or adults who easily become frustrated.

*UPDATE*
The sound track is annoying if you are sitting there just listening to it however if you’re playing the games you are not likely to really notice it. If the music proves to be too much of a distraction there is always the option of turning it off. To turn off just the music in the game mode click the + key to the right of the A button to pull up your sticker book and it’s on the right hand side panel near the bottom. Personally I found it kind of strange to have the music off so I keep it on when I’m playing.

The graphics are in a very charming style. The characters are done with sort of a Japanese cartoon approach. The whole design is incredibly simple, cute and child like. I am defiantly a fan of this technique but I am aware not everyone is. You should know that the front of the package over plays how the game looks during game play. In some games such as slot cars and paper racers you don’t even see the characters. The best two games graphic wise are wall ball and tetherball. In dodge ball and kicks the kids are fairly small which adds to the frustration of these games. Dart shootout has reasonably decent graphics. During single player mode you get to wander the playground. The playground seems to be where most of the effort, graphic design wise, went into.