Developer: EA Canada
Publisher: EA Games
Genre: Action
Region: NTSC
Format:
Release Date: 23 Oct 07

Score 10 (Best) 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 (Worst)

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Overview

EA has really done a good job of really trying to market their games to different platforms, and coming up with a lot of newer IP (intellectual property) rather than just rehashing the same tired franchises or ideas. Today's game for the Nintendo Wii, EA Playground, is an example of this. This is a game that tries to use the strengths of the Nintendo platform to hit a market that has been begging for a game since Wii Sports. So the big question is, does EA Playground have what it takes to take this new game to the top of the Wii marketplace? Read our full review to find out!

Gameplay

So for those who nothing about EA Playground going into this review, it is for a lack of better ways of describing it is a party game with just a big compilation of mini games. This means that there is no one game that you're going to be playing in your experience, but instead a multitude of them. Very few party games have the ability to last the test of time, but can EA Playground be a stand out title and be another must have Wii title?

So the main idea for the single player is for you to pick a kid and to go around the playground challenging other kids to their specialty games. There are some things to collect like stickers and marbles, all of which I really never gave more than a few seconds to really care about. The main goal is to win in these mini games in order to unlock more and more games. Instead of dwelling in all of the games, I will go into some of the more notable ones, first and foremost being dodge-ball.

I am not sure what EA thought of this fascination with the sport of dodge-ball (if it's can be called a sport) but on the cover it says dodge-ball is included. The basic premise is you have control of the movement of your character, or your partners if you're knocked out of the game. You throw with the remote and and dodge by doing a bit of a shuffle motion. The game is too simple for my liking and isn't as exciting as I thought. The mechanics all work pretty well, but things are dumbed down just a bit too much.

Some of my more notable games was Slot Car Racing, which is a pretty basic racing game where you're on one of those circular tracks you would put together when you were a kid and win a short race. The game was very simple yet fun. By far the best game in EA Playground is Paper Racers, where you use the motion technology to guide your paper airplane through a multitude of objects that are set in your path to reach your end goal.

The compilation of games actually isn't bad, but it's just unfortunate that the game is a mixed bag of good and bad mini games. I would say half are really a lot of fun and another half you are just wanting to avoid. It is very tough to please everyone in a game like EA Playground, and there are a lot of things that could have been better (like Dodge-ball) that would have really helped the experience.

Playing EA Playground by yourself is like going on a date with no date, it's just not the way it was created. EA Playground really only is fun when you have a group of friends together ready to take on the game head on. In that sense, this game can really be something special. I had a few of my closest friends sit down for a game and it seemed like everyone agreed that this was just a good fun game that if you don't take it too seriously and just enjoy it.

Graphics

I know why the choice was to go with the very cute and cuddly character models over something a bit more strong around the edges, but if you're going to go in that route, which EA decided to do, I think a bit more detail with the character models couldn't have hurt.The one positive I have for EA Playground was the use of color - the game definitely had a nice palette of colors that worked. I just thought the textures and a lot of the detail in the game was highly overlooked.

Fun Factor

Like I mentioned before, trying to enjoy this game on your own is just not the way this game was intended to be played. In fact, EA Playground is one of those games that most people aren't going to enjoy at all when by yourself, but with a group of friends it's hard not to just let loose and enjoy. EA Playground is also a game that has a lot of room for improvement. In concept it is not very complicated, and it works rather well, but given more time you can only expect better things to come if more games are made for the series.

Overall

I was really struggling with finding the final score for this game. Although it wants to be like Wii Sports and be enjoyable by yourself or with others, it just doesn't get that far. However at the same token, EA Playground when played with others is a really strong experience and it's use of the motion technology comes together very nicely and makes for an enjoyable game to play through.

Gameplay
7.0

Graphics
6.0

Fun Factor
7.0

Overall
7.0

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