Chris InglisLooney Tunes Wacky: World of Sports is a sports-based party game developed by Bamtang Games and published by GameMill Entertainment. The game launched on September 27 on PC and consoles and provides a fun take on the sports of soccer, golf, tennis and basketball. Setting expectations, there is no FIFA or 2K level of precision in any of the games but as a gamer Dad, this allowed me to show my daughters the Looney Tunes characters in a fun and enjoyable way.
It’s been many years since I last interacted with Looney Tunes characters, in fact I think it was as far back as the original 1996 Space Jam movie. So, when this game was offered for review, I jumped at the chance for another nostalgic trip back to the golden age of cartoons. The game involves playing sports solo with AI npcs or up to 4-player local co-op. The sport options available are 2v2 arcade basketball, 1v1 or 2v2 arcade tennis, 4-player golf, and 4v4 arcade soccer.
Outside of the main cup, you can play the individual sports in isolation in sports mode as well as challenge mode. Interestingly you are offered tutorials for these two modes but not the main championship event. As such, I struggled with learning the controls initially in basketball and golf swings. It doesn’t take long to learn, it just might take some additional instructions if you are playing with your children. There is a tutorials menu item at the bottom of the menu list, but I went straight into playing the ACME Ultimate Cup.
Fans of the Looney Tunes franchise will instantly recognise their favourite characters like Bugs Bunny, Lola Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Sylvester, Tasmanian Devil, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. My wife’s favourite character is Sylvester and I liked the Tazzie Devil and Road Runner. The animations for winning shots or mistakes/losses bought back some great memories from me and some laughs from my 4-year-old daughter, especially Elmer Fudd’s pronunciation of things. Voiced lines for the characters were accurate which added to the charm.
Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports are played in iconic locations from the cartoons such as Galactic Outpost Delta, Porky’s Barn, Foghorn’s Farm, Road Runner’s Canyon, Whispering Woods, Martian Command Centre, Granny’s House, and more, with ACME branded items in the world and we are playing for the Golden Anvil Cup. It was great seeing Foghorn and other characters in the background, and hopefully they may get added with some character DLC in the future. Of the limited sports on offer, I enjoyed golf and tennis the most.
For golf, you control one character and change the angle and power of the swing. A meter on the right shows the distance of your swing and you can see distance to the flag on the course. Sometimes there will be some magical shortcuts that will take the ball further down the fairway. For tennis, it was 2v2 and you can alter the power of shots and hitting targets which will drop some TNT in the opposition’s court. Basketball and soccer were still fun but much more complex due to the team nature of those sports and how they play in this game.
Basketball and soccer involved 2v2 matches with simple controls where you can pass the ball, switch players and shoot for goal with timed button presses. The soccer goalie AI was pretty decent but rather than kicking the ball in, the game resets back to your defensive half. I did like the slide tackles and the opposition uses it to good effect too. I was pretty terrible at controlling my players in basketball and got flogged. Basketball especially had that Space Jam nostalgia to it with the iconic music and characters.
Overall, I had a great time playing Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports with my family. The iconic music and recognisable characters were a great nostalgia trip for my wife and I, while my daughters got a laugh out of the characters mishaps and gameplay. For others, the game may feel limited in scope and replayability but I found this a good balance for short play sessions.
This review utilised a PlayStation 5 key provided by Five Star Games and Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports is out now on PlayStation, Xbox, Steam and Nintendo Switch.
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Johnny