Looney Tunes: Wacky World Of Sports Review

Many cartoon characters have become world famous and deserve that status, the roster of animated goodness that is Looney Tunes is part of that. The Looney Tunes name has been known for nearly 100 years with loads of integration within cartoons, film and even video games. It’s been a few years since we have seen any of this looney lot though, with the last one being Space Jam: A New Legacy The Game with some featuring Multiversus. This time around the cast of Bugs Bunny and Co will be donning their shorts and t-shirts as they embark on a range of physical activity in Looney Tunes: Wacky World Of Sports.

Looney Tunes: Wacky World Of Sports allows you to play alone with AI opponents or in local co-op with up to four players. So you better get digging out those extra controllers if you want some same-screen couch action. I was very surprised to see no options for playing online whatsoever, not even with your friends. So if you’re in the mindset of online play, you may want to dismiss this one. For a price tag of close to a full AAA game release, I found this baffling, especially for a sports game that would have replayability. The game features four sports, Golf, Tennis, Basketball and Football (Soccer for you Americans).

Clunky But Enjoyable

You’ll be offered some pretty in-depth tutorials on each sport and I feel like these are needed to understand how to engage with the mechanics of each sport. Everything feels a bit like the Sonic and Mario sports titles with their inspiration and borrow parts from other similar games I have played. For instance, the football feels a little like Mario Strikers on Nintendo Switch but the fun wears off pretty rapidly. It also played very similarly to basketball with its array of shots, dodges and power shots and sadly it never feels as fluid as I’d like it to. Often it felt pretty clunky with some delay in laying off shots and passes with pretty spontaneous outcomes. Some of the power-ups like custard pies to your opponents are pretty fun, but the simplicity of the gameplay loop doesn’t do well to make every game feel different.

I turned a lot of my attention to the Golf which felt like it had much more replayability and flexibility in how it played out. This mode comes with three courses with different unique designs and felt like a watered-down version of titles like Everybody’s Golf or even Mario Golf. This was the go-to sport of choice when it came to firing up the game each time and admittedly the first time I had introduced my son to what Golf even was and how it works, so have to thank the developers for this core moment. There is enough depth here to make it difficult to achieve perfection yet still be simple enough for younger ones to enjoy with its simple control scheme.

Visuals & Audio

Perhaps the strongest point of the entire game is the presentation and the art design team has done a sterling job of transitioning these iconic cartoon characters into the world of sports. The voice acting during the tutorial segments and surrounding experiences is witty and humourous and raises a giggle here and there. When it comes to the game mechanics, it shines in some areas but not in others sadly but I’d imagine it is difficult logistically to have a free-flowing sports game with hand-drawn animations. There are opportunities throughout the game to unlock cosmetic items which weirdly look like they can only be achieved in single-player modes. Loading times on this game seem quite lengthy for an experience that isn’t exceptionally demanding.

Final Thoughts

Looney Tunes: Wacky World Of Sports is one of those games you’ll want to perhaps explore if you’re looking for options to play with your family with same-screen fun. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t feature any online multiplayer which I found a bit odd as this would have easily increased the longevity and replayability. Whilst the overall presentation of the game is very charming with characters I’ve grown up watching as a kid, the game does get stale very quickly. Playing alone allowed me to discover everything in just under an hour of gameplay which isn’t great for a game that is £39.99/£49.99 to purchase. That said, I did have a couple of hours of fun and laughs with my six-year-old.  So whilst I recommend this as a game to factor in for time with younger ones, it doesn’t justify its high price tag in return for its content.