
	Platform Wii Genre Party Publisher Namco Bandai Developer Ganbarion ESRB E (Everyone) Released October 25, 2011

- Fun, themed environments - Lots of variety in gameplay and modes - Fun colourful graphics

- A little too easy if you are older than 12 - It’s another Wii mini game collection! - The people have no souls

Review: Just Dance 2 (Wii) Review: Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Wii) Review: Super Swing Golf (Wii)
Newsletter
Be notified of site updates. Sign-up for the Newsletter sent out twice weekly. Enter E-Mail Address Below: Subscribe \| Unsubscribe

Active Life: Magical Carnival

Score: 6.5 / 10

I have to admit that I’m surprised how much I actually like the Active Life games. This one, the latest in a series that includes Active Life Explorer, Outdoor Challenge and Extreme Challenge is no exception.

The game includes twenty-five different mini games that are broken down into five areas – the Haunted Zone, Circus, Carnival, Fantasy and the always present Pirate Zone (a staple in almost all video games today). There are various play modes such as “Party at the Park” which allows up to 10 players to work together (great for

Advertisement

- Wii Game Reviews
- Games Published by Namco Bandai

team building) or the more usual “Dream Attraction” which allows up to four players.

Before I get too far I should mention that you’ll need the Active Life play mat to go with this which can often be found in a bundle. Essentially, it tracks your feet while the Wii remote tracks your hands. The mat is very similar to a dance mat

Advertisement

and plugs into the GameCube controller slot. This is probably a good time to remind you that if you’ve got a newer style Wii that doesn’t have GameCube backwards compatibility you will be out of luck playing this game.

The games range in style from action to memory games and vary in difficulty. Even with the four included difficulty settings I don’t think anyone is going to find these games all the difficult to complete, however. What will most likely keep you coming back to this one is the multiplayer, which is fun. I also appreciate the fact that you can use the “Free Play” mode to just go into any attraction without having to earn the right to do so. If you are really feeling ambitious you could even venture into the “Let’s Go Out” mode and send an invite to anyone in your Mii plaza for some two-player party.

This game is not an exercise game per se but you will get up and moving and have fun with it. I am happy to say that with the inclusion of some of the extra modes it looks like the developers cared enough to put some other extras into it. Overall, it’s a good game (but not a great one) and if you already have the Active Life mat then this is a no-brainer.

- Syd Bolton

(February 27, 2012)

Syd Bolton surrounds himself in thousands of classic video games as Canada’s top video game collector at the Personal Computer Museum (www.pcmuseum.ca) in Brantford, Ontario, Canada