Looney Tunes Wacky World of Sports Review: Gameplay Impressions, Videos, Top Features

Looney Tunes Wacky World of Sports from developer Bamtang Games is the latest effort to throw iconic characters into a fun arcade-like experience across multiple sports.

Arriving with co-op and multiplayer for up to four local players, Wacky World gives its take on four classic sports: basketball, soccer, golf and tennis.

Like Mario Party-styled games and similar, though, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Co. will encounter interesting twists and special powers while competing in the traditional sports.

At a glance, Wacky World looks like it could be another sleeper hit similar to other GameMill Entertainment releases such as Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2.

Graphics and Gameplay

Wacky World effortlessly captures the cartoon style of Looney Tunes with some interesting cel-shaded-like graphics.

Screenshots don't really do the colorful effort justice, either, as the game looks great in motion and comes equipped with some unexpected, modern tech features like proper shadows underneath characters.

The game makes full use of this strength too. It does funny, albeit expected, cartoon-like things in motion, such as the classic seeing a character's skeleton when they get electrocuted.

Sound design is mostly a positive too, with the soundtrack fittingly cartoonish and the voiced lines from announcers and characters themselves often funny, though it might have been nice to hear even more of the latter.

Wacky World actually does more on the presentation front, like other sports games, than expected. Each location has its own little unique flyover intro with broadcast style camera angles that show off the main points of focus. And each character has a notable intro, such as Bugs Bunny tunneling through the ground before popping up.

Perhaps the most impressive visual feat pulled off here is the variety and depth of the stages. There are farm locales, castles and other types of venues. Each boasts some really interesting things going on in the background beyond active crowds that offers a nice sense of scale.

Each character has some fitting strengths and weaknesses that players can use. Roadrunner, obviously, feels faster than most, while Elmer Fudd is almost like a tank character in the way he strongly plods across matches. Reflecting this, each character on the selection screen actually has Speed, Strength and Intelligence stats.

Opponents aren't the only obstacles, not when there are power-ups and abilities being used and those dangerous ACME anvils falling from the sky. The latter, at least, is satisfying to dodge once the shadow of the falling anvil appears on the ground.

Each sport comes with its own unique arcade takes, too. Golf is a classic, two-click shot meter, yes, but there are targets players can shoot the ball through as they move down a course toward the green. There are standard, expected things available there, too, like an eagle-eye overhead view of the course to help get a feel for positioning and where a shot might go.

Controls will take some serious adjustments for those familiar with standard sports games, though. In basketball, for example, it's strange to have jump tied to A/X, passing to B/O and shoot to Y/Triangle, for example.

Besides golf, tennis might be the best-feeling sport in the game. It's quick and satisfying to apply different spins on shots and, perhaps best of all, can be loaded as a one-on-one or two-on-two match.

Even then, we're talking about quick, bite-sized gameplay segments with goofy, fun things going on, so it's not too unreasonable to say the odd controls, at times, carry their own sort of charm.

Players will tackle these four sports in the Ultimate Cup, a Sports Mode or can attempt challenges. In Ultimate Cup, the big mode, players can spin a wheel after character selection to see what sport they compete in first and cycle through all of them while a scoreboard tracks the eventual final standings.

There are a number of interesting extras, and the game also includes tutorials. On the performance side, it runs well and there is a nice suite of options that tweak the experience, too.

Conclusion

Wacky World exceeds some baseline expectations in interesting ways.

Some of the swooping camera angles and presentation decisions, as well as satisfying, simple arcade gameplay found in similar titles, makes for a nice mix.

Otherwise, it's exactly as advertised—a fun arcade game for younger audiences with a brief burst of fun gameplay featuring some beloved characters.

While Wacky World isn't going to redefine the party-game genre, it does reach interesting heights and certainly lands in that surprisingly good Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 bucket.