EA Playground review

The search for a successor to Wii Sports or at least a rival, continues with the arrival of EA Playground. However those expecting a treasure chest of variety, depth and game play will be very disappointed by what Electronic Arts have put together in this primary school package.On paper the idea seems decent enough and would certainly cater for the widespread demographic of Wii players. EA Playground should be a game that entertains all ages but somehow will only occupy the very young. The ultimate aim is to rule the playground by conquering the various types of games and opponents within the school grounds. Success opens up new areas that mainly offer more of the same type of games albeit with new challenges or dares to overcome. Initially, most of games in this package on offer are available and the race is on to open up the remaining few so you can play these in the Quick Mode. For the majority of players this is the only aim, as the main mode fails to add any sustainable enjoyment. EA Playground is mainly a collection of mini-games that lack the quantity seen in Raving Rabbids or the playability of Wii Sports. Unlike these games you can unlock enhancements to each of the mini-games by defeating opponents and finding marbles that are scattered across the landscape. Yet there is no escaping the fact that EA Playground only offers just seven mini-games and these have not been expanded upon to any great degree, and include some bizarre selections.Marbles can be spent to buy stickers and power ups from the local dealer. These additions inject more velocity into many of the games on offer, which at first seem threadbare and lack urgency. Only the Slot Car Racing mode has any emphasis on speed although scratch beneath the surface and it is a very basic driving experience (lacking steering) that only requires limited input from the player.Very few of the mini-games actually offer an experience worth repeating and a couple will only see the light of day, as you pursue the stickers and dares in search of total playground domination. Dodgeball is, as youd expect with a three on three competition, as you try and hit your opponents. Kicks is a bizarre combination of football and volleyball that doesnt really gel together and tries to hard to be another version of tennis. The pacing is pedestrian and at times luck rather than skill seems to be the vital ingredient.Wall Ball is a street take on squash again fails to hit the spot, as does Dart Shoot Out. The latter is an attempt at paintball but without the paint or fun, and as you purely control the aiming and firing a somewhat tepid experience. Paper Racers is the closest that Gamestyle has come to Pilot Wings on the Wii but does nothing to quench our thirst for that title. If anything in mini-game form you really want more of Paper Racers, but thats not the order of things in EA Playground. The other offering is Tetherball which Gamestyle suspects weve all played and enjoyed in real life at sometime in our youth, but us Europeans know it as swingball. It is unsurisingly limited and only comes to life when you have unlocked several of the power moves, but in Playground terms it is one event you will seek out and enjoy. The presentation is very sweet, with EA Playground adopting a cute Sims style approach. Electronic Arts has always managed to do justice to the Nintendo Wiis graphical capabilities and in this respect Playground does not disappoint. The nature and style of the visuals are not to everyones liking, but at least its not another Alien Syndrome, which really did look awful. EA Playground is limited in its ambitions and the scope that the developer has applied to the project. Throwing seven mini-games into the mix does not make for a full game, especially when they have been executed with a five year old in mind. There is however potential here but EA must pick the correct playground games and fully realise each of them. It may prove a modest distraction for thirty minutes or so, but soon enough youll be reaching for that copy of Wii Sports. The search continues.