The setup is rather simple: you pick from a selection of children and are then dropped into a playground. Several other kids are scattered throughout the playground who you can walk up to and play minigames against. By winning the minigame you'll obtain a sticker which can go in your sticker book. After beating an opponent once you can go back and play them again in what is called a dare. A dare essentially requires the player to win again, but with certain restrictions. After obtaining enough stickers you'll unlock another area in the playground which features more complex opponents and tougher dares.
A big kick coming in here.
It's all remarkably easy and there really isn't that much else to it. The game uses only the Wii remote, and you move your child around the playground by using the directional pad, which can be a bit clumsy. Scattered throughout the park are a few little bonuses, such as hidden marbles or smaller on the spot challenges, such as bouncing a basketball on the spot or catching a certain number of bugs. The hidden marbles you collect can be used to purchase extra stickers which will give your child a little bit of a bonus in the mini games. The overall aim of EA Playground is to try and collect all of the stickers and then challenge the "king of the playground".
The reason EA Playground is rather enjoyable is because the mini games are actually quite good. There are seven in total and all of them revolve around the type of games that children may play in the yard during recess, so there is dodgeball, slot car racing (well maybe a private school for that one), tetherball, paper races, wall ball, dart shootout and EA's made-up 'volleyball mixed with soccer' game, 'kicks'.
The highlight of the package is Dodgeball. In dodgeball you need to actually throw the balls with the Wii remote, but you can also catch by pressing B and dodge by shaking the Wii remote. Dodgeball in EA Playground is also a lot safer than in real life, as long as children make sure the Wii remote is strapped on tight, of course Tetherball and Wall ball play much the same, except in wall ball players will need to contend with portals which will speed up the ball or move it to another area of the wall.
Dart shootout probably isn't the game you expect. We went in thinking it would be a simple darts game, but it's actually a mini shooting game, like laserforce. Paper racers is a paper plane type mini game where you need to use the Wii remote to tilt the paper plane up or down while trying to score power ups to increase your speed. Slot car racing isn't a game we used to play in the playground, but it's fun nonetheless. You need to press A to accelerate, double tap A to boost and then try and collect powerups while racing around the circuit. In kicks there are two players on either side of the net and the two players need to try and kick the goal into the opponents goal, it's a bit like soccer but a little vertical. For the most part the mini games in EA Playground are solid. None of them end up feeling gimmicky, and they all seem appropriate for the overall theme of the game.
We want to go to this playground.
Like most mini-game compilations one of the most appealing reasons to pick up EA Playground is the multiplayer support. It’s clear the game is designed to be easily accessible to everyone, hence why the game doesn’t utilise the nunchuk at all. The mini games support multiplayer for up to four players and playing a game like dodgeball with four players is actually quite entertaining.
A report card keeps track of the player’s progress. To get 100% you’ll need to beat every opponent, collect every sticker and complete a few odd jobs. Whether or not most people will collect every sticker is up for debate, but even if they do EA Playground is a game that can be completed quite quickly. While the seven mini games are decent, it would have been good if there were just a few more, downball or hopscotch could have been a clever and suitable additions. One of the sore omissions from EA Playground is the lack of online play. For a game so keen in promoting multiplayer the addition of some kind of online multiplayer would have been appreciated.
Graphically EA Playground isn't exactly pushing the Wii but the visuals still have a cute, appealing look. Some of the areas you'll get to explore are quite large and impressively the frame rate stays solid and there is barely any loading in the game. Sound wise there it's nothing special, with very little to hear.
Kicks: EA's soccer and volleyball hybrid game.
Underneath the cute visuals EA Playground is ultimately a mini-game compilation with only seven games, and that is really the game's biggest downfall. Seven mini-games just doesn't feel like enough and while they are all solid mini-games, the game's longevity is in question. However, if you're just after a mini-game compilation and aren't too phased about the quantity of content then EA Playground is one of the best mini-game compilations on the Wii, and children in particular will get a lot of enjoyment out of this game.
Loading...
