Mr. Bean is up to his outrageous antics again, this time on the Nintendo Wii as players fight their way across man-eating plants and angry bees in order to rescue the kidnapped Teddy.
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Mr. Bean has always been the benchmark for modern slapstick comedy. The man-child character created and played by Rowan Atkinson would go into real-life situations and act in a manner totally unbefitting a civilised adult. Who could ever forget the infamous “turkey on the head” scene in “Merry Christmas Mr. Bean”? Or the naked Mr. Bean streaking down the hotel corridor in “Mr. Bean in Room 426”? The success of the show led to a short-lived animated series in 2002, and while not as funny as the original, garnered a lot of fans as well. The Mr. Bean Wii game is based on this cartoon series.
In the game, various clips from the animated show are interspersed between levels. This can add a sense of nostalgia for fans and is a welcome relief from some of the game’s more mundane quests. The plot centers on Mr. Bean’s best friend, the inanimate Teddy, who is kidnapped by a mysterious fiend. The ransom involves 1,000 cat biscuits which you must search for on all twelve levels of the game. However, this is no easy task, as deadly traps and foes are littered all throughout the stages.
The Wii Mr. Bean game is a straightforward platformer with a lot of item collecting. Aside from the aforementioned cat biscuits, you also have to look for keys, treasure chests, and green jigsaw puzzles. Standing in your way are wild plants, bees, dogs, bottomless pits, and a variety of bombs. If this isn’t wacky enough, then Mr. Bean is armed with a rather peculiar set of items – a saucepan, bug spray, and a slingshot – which you can use to fend off your foes. The levels sprawl across different cartoony locations from the local park to a factory tunnel.
As an added bonus, mini games are available as you progress. You can play together with a friend for some multiplayer action. The games available are whack-a-mole, jigsaw puzzle solving, searching for buried treasure, frog catching, a racing game, a shooting game, and tennis. The second player plays as Mr. Bean’s love interest Irma Gobb. All famous characters from the animated show also make their appearances throughout the levels such as the cranky landlady Mrs. Julia Wicket and the one-eyed feline Scrapper.
A huge drawback for the game is the difficulty level, which is extremely easy even for kids. The target demographic is best placed at six and below for this game, as children older than that might easily get bored. However, if the interest is maintained after the first few easy levels, the game does become more challenging.
Besides the occasional puzzle solving and the animated clips in the main campaign, the rest of the action is repetitious and similar. It’s fun doing all these things in the guise of Mr. Bean, but stripped of the character’s popularity and the game is nothing but an average platformer. Controls are responsive but standard, and the action gets tiresome as the game drags on.
The minigames also suffer from the same effect. Although they offer some variety besides the standard sports games found in every other Wii title nowadays, Mr. Bean’s Wacky World wasn’t built with the same finesse as, say, Wii Sports. The tennis is pretty abysmal, and the racing game is poor. The only upside is the fact that you’ll be playing as Mr. Bean and Irma Gobb, and the wackiness of the show somewhat seeped into the minigames to give them that unique feel. But if you’re looking for an excellent party game, you’re better off elsewhere.
Mr. Bean’s Wacky World is available for the Wii console and can be played with up to two players.
The Wii Mr. Bean’s Wacky World game is excellent for kids aged six or so. The puzzles, platforming, collecting, and animated clips will definitely hit a sweet spot with children as well as adults who were fans of the animated show. However, gameplay is average and won’t hold the interest of players for long. The minigames offer plenty of variety, but they don’t hold much weight on their own either. It’s best to get this game only if you’ve seriously considered it for a long time. For what it’s worth, Mr. Bean’s Wacky World will give you wacky adventures as promised, but not of a quality you would expect given the character’s success and popularity.