Six Flags Family Fun Park

When I first began to look for a new Wii game to add to our library, my husband and I decided it needed to be somethign that our young nieces could play when they came to visit. Most of the games that we owned, with the exception of Wii Sport were way above their heads. Of course, we had Guitar Hero, but the thought of turning a 4 year old loose with a set of drumsticks, quite frankly scared me!

So we headed to the store to search out a family game that would be easy enough for the girls to play, but would also be something that perhaps wouldn't just sit on the shelf and gather dust when they weren't visiting. What we decided on was Six Flags Fun Park. It's 40 games that are based on the arcade/carnival games that we all grew up playing. Not only at Six Flags, but the County and State Fairs that circulated through our area in the fall!

As soon as we got it home, my 19 year old daughter and I popped it into the game console and chose multi-player. There is an adventure mode that you play with a single player as well, which I'll cover later. It wasn't long before we were laughing so hard at the other's attempts to abduct a cow that we were out of breath. Yes, I said abduct a cow.

One of the games is called Alien Abduction. Your controller causes a space ship with a beam of light coming from the bottom to circle over a field of cows. Get one within the space of your beam, and hold down the "A" button. Shake the controller back and forth, and the cow rises from the ground, and is turned into a steak, giving you points, depending on the size and color of the cow. Be careful though! If you pick up a cow patty...you lose points!

Our next stop was Kalamari Krush. Remember Whack a Mole? Well this is it, with a twist! You literally move your controller like you're whacking the tentacles of this huge octopus. You have to keep him from destroying your ship. I have to tell you, that I am decent at Whack a Mole at Chuck E Cheese...but I could not kill this stupid octopus!

My favorite stops at the county fair was the shooting game, where you point a water gun at a target and make the car, duck, animal etc...move across the booth before the rest of those playing with you. Rescue Rookie has you shootin water at targets inside the windows of three buildings that are side by side and on fire. Your firetruck is parked at the ready full of water to pump into the hose. Should you fun out, simply shake your controller back and forth, and you will immediately hear the "Glug-glug" of the tanker filling back up!

Growing up in the 80's and remembering the original Atari games. I was delighted to see that Six Flags offers it's own version of Space Invaders called Martian Blast. The object is shoot all the martians out of the sky before they reach the ground! I'm proud to say that I'm as horrible at Martian Blast in 2009 as I was at Space Invaders in 1982! In this case, older does NOT necessarily mean better!

Unable to sleep last night, I snuck into the livingroom and put Six Flags on the Single Adventure Mode. With some practice, this could be fun, as you can unlock new games that can be played in multi-player games. But I wasn't nearly as impressed with the single player mode as I was with multi-players. Perhaps this was because of my competitive nature and being able to go head to head with my husband and children. But more than likely it was because there was no park map, and no specific direction in which you were supposed to go. There are supposed to be rides, but I didn't find any. I spent the better part of an hour simply walking around the park, picking up trash and pulling weeds to earn coins, then playing the exact same games that I could play by myself on multi-player by simply choosing only one controller.

I just didn't see the point. The instruction booklet that came with the game is vague at best. I would have loved to have seen a list of the games and what each one was supposed to do. Especially for the adventure mode of play. You were supposed to be able to get a job working at the various restaurants to earn coins/tickets. It said to ask the Mayor. But when you go up to the Mayor, nothing is said about employment.

But, would I buy this game again? Yes, I certainly would. The family fun that exists on the multi-player version far outweighs those of the adventure mode. It is awesome for those with young children, because most of the games have directions that are easy to understand and easy to learn.

I showed my 4 year old niece how to play them a couple of times, and now she comes over and can play all by herself without me having to sit beside her and explain, read and help. It enables me to play with her, sharing memories that will last a lifetime!