As with all Disney movie releases, Tangled has spawned it’s own Wii game. On the surface, it seems standard Disney tie-in fare, but the on the Wii Tangled is actually sort of clever on a level. It’s very much a kids game, but it’s one Wii game you won’t mind picking up and playing with your kids from time to time, as it offers a unique and fairly interesting co-op mode.
The co-op mode is easily the star of this game, as anyone who has kids has heard the eternal argument over whose turn it is at the controller. While the game is billed as four players, two players don’t actually control any of the action, and instead are relegated to picking up items and slapping around enemies with the Wii remote to help the main two players. The first two players have the job of guiding Flynn and Rapunzel through the Disney Tangled universe, working together to solve puzzles and defeat enemies. The single player mode is plagued with AI problems, as most movie tie-in games tend to be, but as long as you have a second player, the game tends to be on the fun side.
The game isn’t overly long, within ten hours depending on your level of skill with the remote. It’s a good introduction to the Disney Tangled franchise, and although the game is definitely designed with girls in mind, boys will enjoy playing the part of Flynn and helping advance the story. Voice acting is either done by the cast of the movie or very good approximations of them, as they don’t sound chintzy or cheap. Figuring out where to go is as easy as following your token of choice: Flynn gets to collect coins, Rapunzel must collect sun drops. Following each gives the player a clear idea on where to go, although maybe not so much what to do.
This is one of the downsides of the game, especially given the young audience a Wii Tangled game would appeal to. The controls can be a little vague sometimes, and it can take a while to get the hang of them. They don’t always register like they should, which is par for the course with most Wii kids games, but it’s certainly not in the realm of other, much worse games. As mentioned before, there are issues with the AI, and occasionally some sound glitches (which were extremely rare) but other than that there’s nothing to say that the game is completely broken.
All in all, I would say the game is more of a rental instead of a purchase, especially if you subscribe to a subscription-based rental service. It’s a cute tie in to the game, but the Wii Tangled iteration quickly loses it’s charm after repeated playings, and the lack of a true four player format limits the kind of play available. It might be alright for smaller kids, but most kids will want a more active role. That being said, it’s definitely worth giving to your local flock of Disney Tangled fans to give a try.