Calvin Trucker’s Redneck Jamboree – WII – Review

So the stage has been set – once a
year Calvin Tucker invites all the redneck families in the area to compete in
a series of events that will determine, for that year, who the greatest
redneck is. Sort of like deciding which hot sauce is the hottest, doesn’t
matter in the end, we all suffer. Well, in this case the winner gets to move
his or her family into the big double wide trailer for that year. Truly a
prize worth fighting alligators and bears for.

Yes, I said it in my last Wii
review, the collection of mini-games seems to have found a home on the Wii
whether we like it or not. No other system has embraced this type of genre
more than the Wii and quite frankly, the quality of the games and the
off-the-cuff fun they are supposed to generate has been declining steadily for
a while now. A bar raiser in this genre is definitely needed, although I see
nothing on the horizon to save us. In this compilation, we have 12 games that
apparently rednecks enjoy doing. Shooting stuff, blowing up fish, running
through the wilderness to go to the bathroom, you know, things we all face in
our everyday life.

 
"Glad to see that John Goodman is still
getting work."

What really irks me though, is
that the game requires you to play, quite a bit, the first six games in the
collection in order to unlock the next six games. Which quite frankly is a bad
game design decision. Playing these party-style games is supposed to be
spontaneous and fun, unlocking a single additional game after two and a half
hours of playing is insane. In fact, the way you do unlock these games is to
buy it with bottle caps, and you only get a couple when you win an event, and
it takes like 150 to unlock a new game … ridiculous.

Redneck games is a hodgepodge of
semi-capable graphics. The shooting sequence, which should provide decent
physics and animations is about on par for a 7-8 year old game. Really. Poor
color schemes, shoddy texturing, the game just shouts last generation, and
that’s insulting the last generation of games. Clearly the folks at Zoo games
are working on a tight budget and fast deadline. Only by suggesting
redneck-inspired games are they being original and creative. A really,
sloppily put together game.

You could apply the same thing I
said above to the audio portion of the game. Underdeveloped sound effects and
a poor soundtrack just don’t cut it. It probably would have doubled the game’s
budget, but having the "Dueling Banjos" from the movie "Deliverance" would
have brought some sort of legitimacy to the game, although it would have been
short lived. Sawing logs, shooting guns, exploding dynamite, all really
underpowered and thin sounding. No self-respecting redneck would be caught
dead shooting stuff with a BB gun when a .22 rifle is lying right there by the
baby.

 
"My Ma and Pa wuz also my Uncle and
Grammy."

Playing with friends is only
barely more tolerable than playing against the computer, and that’s because
it’s more entertaining listening to your friends make fun of how bad this game
is. I wanted to like this game, truly, but there is just too much going
against it, including the rather hastily designed controls for the different
games. Take the redneck horseshoe toss, which is played with toilet seats.
Adjustments can be made, but it’s just a matter of luck that you score any
points. You could swing the Wii-mote the exact same way three times in a row
and you would never hit the same spot twice. We know this is possible, because
we have all done it in Wii sports while playing golf. Yes, there is
dramatically different actions for all the games, but there is no sense of
stability in the controls. One time you are completely dialed in, four seconds
later you are not where you need to be.

Gameplay: 2.8
Poor design, ineffective controls,
no sense of equality from move to move.

Graphics: 3.0
A game that could have been made on the GameCube, but then it would
still look poorly made.

Sound: 3.1
Thin sounding sound effects,
repetitive back woods muzak.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard
Because each time you play is like
playing it for the first time. Oh sure you’ll get the hang of some things, but
there’s even a game that you don’t even control where you pick a square and the
computer sends an animal out to sit on one of the squares. 

Concept: 3.0
The idea of a series of games
based on the redneck style is intriguing, but then you play the game and
wonder what might have been.

Multiplayer: 2.9
This game can only be improved
with friends and beer, sorry.

Overall: 3.0
I felt bad cause I beat the game
up so badly, but then I played it again, and now I don’t feel so bad.