I must admit that I never played the Wii version of Carnival Games. When I saw the commercials for the game I wanted to give it a try simply for the Alley Ball game. But due to other games and review commitments I just never bothered to pick up the game. With the release of the DS version I figured why not give it a try. While the game might not be the best DS game on the market it certainly fits the title of Carnival Games.

Simply put, Carnival Games is a collection of mini games that you might find at your local amusement park such as Sea World, Six Flags or traveling Circus. The variety of games will probably please anyone looking for their favorite carnival game. Alley Ball, Going Nuts, Test of Strength, Nerves of Steel, Wild West Showdown, Frog Leap, Buckets of Fun, Balloon Darts, Dunk Tank, Clown Splash, Spilled Milk, Hoops, Meter-O-Love, Loud Mouth, The Great Swami, Star Shootout, Clown Bonk, Honey Falls, Bumper Boats, RC Raceway, Radio Replay, Bubble Gum Battle and Shooting Gallery make up all of the games you find at this virtual carnival. Believe me when I say the game covers almost every single game I’ve ever seen at a circus or amusement park. Some of the names might be different but games are still the classics you’ve seen or played before.

You start off the game by creating your own character and selecting from several different faces, hair and clothes designs. You then start at the entrance to the carnival on the bottom DS screen and the map of the park on the top screen. You simply move from booth to booth and press the A button to play a particular game at that booth. However, the actual gameplay for each mini game ranges from "this works great" to "what where they thinking?"

The shooting mini games were extremely easy to play with; you only having to tap an item on the screen to hit something. Alley Ball was easy as well with just flicking the balls towards the top of the screen to roll them. But other games were just overly complicated for what I was expecting, especially on the DS. The Hoops basketball game was played out by having to tap a 1, 2, 3 button in sequence before you could shoot the ball. The Clown Splash game almost requires you to use two hands on the touch screen, which is almost impossible. You have to pump water into your gun by pressing a handle up and down, but still maintain your aim to fill up the water gauge in the clown’s mouth. Dunking Booth has you trace a line from the left of the screen to the dunking booth target. If the path is off by just a little you won’t sink the person in the booth. I’m sure many players will probably skip several of these games simply because the controls just weren’t as smooth as expected with the DS touch screen.

Once you played the game you earn either tickets or prizes, just like a regular amusement park game. The tickets can be collected and spent on various items for your character such as hats, jewelry and clothes. If you do really well the prizes you win are usually just the same type of items you can purchase. Once you’ve won an item you can use it (equip it) immediately after the mini game is over. Honestly there are plenty of prizes but nothing that really offers any unique value to the game. If you’re happy just changing the clothes you character wears all the time they you will probably get plenty of enjoyment out of the prizes.

Carnival Games for the DS tries very hard to offer a compelling collection of mini games. There is plenty of variety when it comes to the games but the actual gameplay just falls flat for several games. The overall length of the games is also disappointing since I really didn’t want to have to keep pressing replay over and over again to keep going in Alley Ball. Yet there isn’t a free play mode that lets you just keep playing continuously. For half of the games you probably will get plenty of enjoyment but the other half will have you looking for the exit out of Carnival.

Gameplay 4.5
There isn’t an even balance for the entire game. Some games play great but are too short. Other games are too confusing to play properly using the touch screen.

Graphics: 6.0
Visually the game isn’t a mind blowing experience for the DS. The mini games themselves all look just like their amusement park counterparts. Many of the prizes you earn in the game are sometimes hard to make out on the small screen because your character is really small as well.

Sound: 6.0
The music in the game is a light hearted arrangement of music that will remind you of being at an amusement park or carnival. The voice acting of the carnival leader sounds way too over the top for all of the mini games. His voice gets annoying after a few minutes so thankfully you can adjust the voice levels in the options.

Concept: 6.5
The game really does try to give you a good balance of games that use the capabilities of the DS. Some games require the touch screen, some require you to speak into the microphone and others just use the direction pad. Unfortunately the actual gameplay falls flat for many of the mini games regardless of the controls.

Multiplayer: 6.0
The game does let you share three games (Dunk Tank, Leap Frog and Buckets of Fun) with other players only using one DS card.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Some mini games are simple enough for anyone to play even if they’ve never played the game before. Other games can be confusing to adjust to the unique controls.

Overall: 5.8
Carnival Games does an OK job of trying to replicate an Amusement park like experience on the DS. If the gameplay was more balanced across all of the games this could be a worthy title for your collection. But if you’re a Carnival Game junkie on the Wii, then you will probably have to pick this one up anyway.