Looney Tunes: Wacky World Of Sports Review - That's All Folks
Some games come along that defy logic. Some because they soar well above expectations, others well below expectations, and some games you’re simply left to question why the title exists at all. Looney Tunes: Wacky World Of Sports is one of those latter games. The premise, if the game’s title wasn’t already enough to suggest it, is quite simple – some of your favourite, albeit less relevant than they’ve been in decades, Looney Tunes characters are coming together to compete in a range (cue: four) of sports to determine who is the best among them. All the while, the player is probably hosting their own contest in their head determining which sports party game is the greatest of all, and spoilers, you won’t be choosing this one.
There are a meager four sports available for players to jump into when playing Looney Tunes: Wacky World Of Sports, Basketball, Soccer (Football), Tennis, and Golf. I know that the list of sports that have been translated into fun video games isnt the longest, but the lack of options present here is quite laughable, and even in execution, the game largely falls flat.
Being a basketball devotee myself, it was the first game I jumped into, and my jaw was quickly left hanging when I witnessed just how sterile it was. This devoid of fun take on the sport is a 2v2 fare, and players have extremely limited controller options, you can shoot where it simply requires correct timing on inputs (and the window for success is huge), sprint, steal the ball, and pass directly or with a lob. Occasionally you will collect ACME weapons that you can utilise to either disposses an opponent or to clear them from your path, while the game also has a power bar which gradually fills and allows you to execute a Super Dunk which should sound cool, but completely halts the game for a very lame, slightly fancier, uninterrupted dunk. It’s rough.
Soccer is also pretty lacklustre. Usual passing and shooting inputs are present, while you can also slide tackle and shove opponents until your little heart is content. Like basketball though, the action is quite stilted. Should a goalkeeper get possession the game forces your player character into the defensive half of the screen immediately, out of view, and restricts any ability you might have to strategise, meanwhile, the playing space is too small for a 4v4 match meaning kicks are forever being intercepted and your special shots rarely can be executed because it’s near impossible to create the space to execute them.
Tennis lacks for difficulty and so wiping opponents off the court is something of a breeze. At times the game mode will suffer for a lack of precision due to seemingly inconsistent hit boxes. The mode employs some rock-paper-scissors style of systems with flat shots, lobs, top spinners, and slices all being effective and ineffective against each other, which certainly makes things interesting, but once again, despite overall playing the best of the four sports, tennis just struggles to be exciting.
Golf is the most mechanically sound sport of the four, but is so rigid in its expectations of the player that it deincentivises you to pursue some of a courses higher risk/reward scenarios, simply due to the expectations of the player being too great. Nailing a low-likelihood shot to advance to the doorstep of the green sounds great in theory but when it inevitably doesn’t work out most of the time, and the CPU slots it with ease, the frustrations will quickly mount for players. The courses have overall have been smartly designed to cater to the different powers the player can harness, and the quirks of the Looney Tunes world too. The best I can say about golf though is that it works, and it’s a constant challenge, no matter the difficulty.
Players can partake in these sports through three different lenses, the first being the Acme Ultimate Cup which guides players through several rounds of each of the different sports to determine a winner, whether that’s against CPU’s or couch-co-op pals. If you’re looking to focus on one sport, players can choose to do so, or even take on a range of challenges focussed on one of the four sports. Many of the challenges are laughably easy but successfully completing them, along with the ACME Ultimate Cup unlocks additional cosmetics, levels and more to consume.
Looney Tunes: Wacky World Of Sports walks away from the iconic 2D representations of the iconic characters, in favour of a 3D, cel-shaded aesthetic, and while it’snot 100% faithful as a result, the game mostly looks quite good, and still maintains a familiar feel. Iconic voices for the cast of playable characters reprise their roles and do a good job of selling the way that many would approach a sporting occasion, whether events were working in their favour or not. The musical elements are drawn from source material, but beyond that, the various sound effects are quite simplistic and forgettable.
While I won’t hide from the fact my inner child was excited by the prospect of jumping into something involving the Looney Tunes once again, I won’t shy from the fact that I was completely underwhelmed by all that the game gives you to do. The sports are limited in number and devoid of fun, and modes are also lacking and the challenges pretty forgettable, and while the core mechanics of the sports are sound enough, they’re just not much fun.
Looney Tunes Wacky World Of Sports Review Box was reviewed on PS5 with a code kindly provided by 5 Star Games Australia.
