Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports | Xbox Review

Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports from Bamtang Games and GameMill Entertainment is an off-the-wall sports game that brings in other unconventional but familiar controls of more well-known franchise sports games. The animations and follies that fans of the trademark are familiar with are widely prevalent in this entry into the arcade sports genre. Although some of the controls and styles are clunky, this game will give players, especially younger ones, a fun, yet brief, experience.

What A Bunch of Maroons!!

Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports brings back many of the major characters of the franchise including Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. With those characters brings abilities based on their personalities, such as the intelligence of Wile E. Coyote and the speed of the Road Runner. Based on the sports played will add to the strengths of those characteristics. The main premise of the game is to play in the Ultimate Cup for the most sought after prize: The Golden Anvil! (As Tweety will advise…don’t stand under that thing!) The Ultimate cup comprises of the four sports in the game: Tennis, Basketball, Soccer, and Golf.  Depending on your character’s performance in the game, you’ll receive  a higher number of points. Not just for winning the event, but also based on good plays or scores made during the event.

Let the Games Begin!

The sports in the game borrow functions and features mainly from the Mario series of games. Golf is maybe the simplest of all the games. Hitting the ball, at its base, is of the two-button system. The first button hit measures the power of the swing and the second measures the accuracy. You can add a hook or slice to your shot with a nudge of your control stick. Along each of the holes are special areas that if you land your ball in the areas, you’ll warp to different (and many times very advantageous) areas of the hole for better scores. Be warned, some areas offer up Looney Tunes classic traps that will hurt your shots. You can also help your swing or sabotage your opponents with power ups you can collect during your shots.

Soccer is pretty straight forward as well. Similar to Mario Strikers: Charged, you play three-on-three matches with simple or lob passes and by shooting with more power the longer you hold the shoot button. Each player has special shots that are triggered based on game performance and activating the special move meter. As expected, traps and anvils (go figure…anvils) are dropped on the pitch to make the matches more interesting.

Tennis doesn’t borrow as much from Mario Tennis or other arcade-like predecessors, but is a bit more complex than the other two sports mentioned. Standard, lob, and spin shots can be hit depending on the button and can be aimed with a button-hold shot. Like the other sports, various TNT drops are made if you hit a target during your shot and the special, character-specific shots come into play.

Basketball attempts to borrow from the NBA Jam franchise with two-on-two matches and similar play styles with character unique dunks but with the same power ups from the previous sports.

A Slight Merrie Melodie Miss 

Graphically this game is bright and delves the player into the Looney Tunes universe. However, the sprites look too much like last gen or even the gen before. Voiceovers are on point but get repetitive pretty quickly.  The controls between the individual games vary in effectiveness as well. Golf, one has said, plays like Golden Tee for those young at heart and are the most consistent in the game.

Tennis and Soccer controls are fairly solid but the Basketball controls are disappointingly clunky. When you steal the ball from a player, your character is stuck and can’t move with the ball. Gameplay feels slower than it needs to be as well and not just in Basketball but the other sports as well. Not to say the gameplay isn’t enjoyable, but is in short spurts only. Players get the opportunity to unlock new venues and equipment but each unlockable only gives unique backdrops and minor layout actions…nothing more. This game may appeal to younger players and those that aren’t accustomed to more popular and polished sports franchises and especially not accustomed to controls and gameplay of pro sports franchises.

That’s All, Folks!!

This introduction of the Looney Tunes franchise into arcade-style sports games does offer some nostalgia for anyone familiar with the classic cartoons. However, it provides gameplay to a generation that, sadly, might not be as familiar with the toons. A session or two with individual sports on an Ultimate Cup run will provide entertainment, but not for the $50 price tag…not including DLC.

To hear me talk more about Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports, listen to the September 27th episode of The Gaming Outsider Podcast around the 1:28:36 time stamp.

This review is based on an Xbox copy of Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports provided by Sandbox Strategies for coverage purposes. It is also available on PlayStation, Switch, or PC.