Reviews of The Amazing Race - Nintendo Wii

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I am a huge Amazing Race fan and that is probably why I liked this game at all. First thing people should be aware is you need two people to play this game. There is no option to play as an individual so while I got it a few days ago, I had to wait until today before my husband and I were both free to play. It should be noted that as of the writing of this review, I have only played through once (11 legs) on the easy mode. Within those 11 legs, several of the challenges for roadblocks, intersections, fast forwards, etc. were repeated. How disappointing that they could not come up with enough different challenges to give you a new one on each leg of the race. Also, the challenges often had nothing to do with the part of the world you were in (I was throwing tomatoes at people on three different continents). Most of the games were easy (of course I was playing the easy mode) type puzzles. Oh what they could have done if only they would have made this compatible with a mat or the balance board so some of the challenges could have been physical. Another drawback was that each leg had a plane trip (you pick the fastest plane you can for the money you have) and a car/taxi/bus ride (again you are looking for the fastest, leaving the earliest that you can afford). By the 11th leg I was dreading doing those for the 21st and 22nd time and was actually ready to be done with the game. What about a boat or bike or have there be a way where you can use the wii remote to run through the streets. Hard to believe people got paid to create this game and this was the best they could come up with. Why did I give it 3 stars then??? Because I LOVE the Amazing Race and this was definitely made from the television show. You do see characters from the other teams, Phil Keoghan's voice is narrating, some of the challenges are fun, and seeing the little plane take you to a new country is neat. I did not hate the game, but will probably only play it a few more times before it joins my pile of dust collecting wii games.

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I posted this review on my blog and on Gamefly (a video game rental service) and was shocked to see one review give such high praises. I wonder if they are still playing it? Here's my opinion of the game:

Being a fan of the tv series "The Amazing Race" I was looking forward to this video game but was let down by its gameplay.

First of all, the game is only a 2 or 4 player excursion. You can technically play this game by yourself using two Wiimotes though.

You begin the game designing a profile (up to 4 profiles can be saved), customizing your avatar characters and then you have access to the main menu, either playing Adventure Mode (2 Players) or Party Mode (4 Players).

Adventure Mode has three different length options: Tour (5 Legs), Journey (9 Legs), Race (11 Legs). Just playing Tour takes about 20 minutes. There's three difficulty options to choose from, and then the mode starts.

Basically, this mode consists of going to different locations and playing mini games. You don't really explore any locations, you just see picture slideshows of the locations. The mini games consist of a variety of types, such as match certain pictures, finding certain items, etc. After the mini-game is over, you go through a travel selection screen to your next destination where you select the best travel option.

There are some mini-games that are single player only (Road Block) and many mini-games do require knowledge of geography and basic math skills. Luckily much of the geography data can be unlocked in the Race Journal feature available in the main menu. So each leg consists of playing mini-games, and then traveling to the next leg. This process is repeated and can get very repetitive.

Perhaps the best feature is unlocking video clips from the tv show. There are 32 clips to unlock requiring certain things achieved from the game.

I was not able to play Party Mode (as I don't have 4 Wiimote controllers), but I'm guessing it's similar. Perhaps one of the most annoying things about the game is the frequent loading screens that you will be faced with. Overall this game is just worth a rental. It could have been so much better.

Pros: Authentic music from the tv series, likeness and voice of Phil, video clips you can unlock from show.

Cons: Many loading screens, no true single-player experience, repetitive mini-games, gameplay gets tiring quick.

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If you enjoy amazing race, you'll probably like this game. I was disappointed that you couldn't import Miis into the game. You have to use pre-fabricated characters, there aren't too many to choose from. The graphics could be a little better, but are average-maybe a little cartoony. The challenges are really varied from a very simple one to a really difficult one. One of the challenges requires you to pump up balloons with an air pump & it seemed challenging for my mom. (She decided to do that Roadblock). The one I tried was a lot easier; so it may be too easy for some & harder for others. The sound is a little on the low side, but that's a minor flaw.

Honest reviews on The Amazing Race - Nintendo Wii

We just purchased and played this game... once. No one in my family has any desire to play it again. It's that poorly made. It could have been so much better if it had been more like Wii Sports Resort, where you control your avatar in doing challenges and running to the mat. Instead, it's a bunch of silly puzzles and overly simplistic activities (like counting down from 15 to push a button to "simulate" sky diving). My family expected so much more! There could have been rapelling, hang gliding, bungee jumping, skiing, kayaking, etc. Waste of money and total letdown. I wonder if GameStop will buy it off us?

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I purchased this as a present for my daughter who is a big fan of the show. She took about 15 minutes to declare it boring. I thought she was not giving it a chance and gave it a try myself and quickly agreed. The many screen loads are simply unacceptable for any game. This detracts from the game experience to such a degree that I would give it a 1 star for this reason alone. There is not a single person play mode, which I find strange. Bottom line if you are a diehard fan of the show, you'll be disappointed in the flow of the game. If you are not a fan of the show, there is not much merit in the game at all.