Video Gamer: A so-so ‘EA Playground’

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Tuesday, February 05, 2008

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By AIMEE GREEN
For the Register

The Wii has been touted as a system that’s great for the whole family to play together. So it makes sense that collections of minigames would be a good choice for such gatherings. And there are a few games out there that do it well (”WarioWare: Smooth Moves,” for example).

It’s too bad that one recent offering just isn’t very fun: “EA Playground.”

“Playground” is a compilation of games you would have played on the playground during recess, assuming you weren’t antisocial: dodgeball, paper-plane races, tetherball, etc. You can play it alone or with a group of friends.

The single-player mode has you roaming around the school challenging other kids to their game of choice. If you win, you earn a sticker. The ultimate goal is to challenge the king of the school: The Sticker King.

Most of the games I didn’t find particularly interesting. I had the most fun with dodgeball, and even then it was when I played with real-life friends. Smacking a friend’s character hard with the ball and hearing their yell of anger is definitely satisfying.

However, when I played alone, it wasn’t nearly as fun. The computer characters didn’t put up much of a challenge, and I didn’t feel engaged in what I was doing. Even when the computer put up a fight, it frequently felt cheap.

The controls are OK. I never had any problems with the Wii remote not doing what I wanted, and that’s always a plus.

But in most of the games, you don’t control where your character moves; the game does it for you. This leaves a stripped-down match in which you generally just try to wave the Wii remote at the right time and hope for the best.

The slot car racing and the paper-plane races, meanwhile, have you tilt the remote from side to side to designate lane and direction changes. This works pretty well.

I have no complaints with how “EA Playground” looks; it’s vibrant and colorful. Overall, though, it’s only a mildly interesting game, and even then, that’s only when you’ve got real-life friends or family to play against. I can’t see it being a game you would keep returning to, as the novelty quickly wears thin.

Rent it if you want to check it out.

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