Video Game Review: Cranium Kabookii for Wii

Cranium Kabookii, the fun and imaginative family board game has been brought to the video screen. This creative and highly interactive game has garnered high acclaim around the world; can it continue to do so as a video game? Read on and discover if this dining room sensation becomes a video game smash or crash.

This game is very interactive, involving creating artwork using different formats. Players answer questions, learning about the world around them. You'll find yourself singing, memorizing and acting as well as solving puzzles and codes. Forget about tossing dice or flipping cards, this game will get you really moving! At least that's what it was supposed to do.

The game is set up for a minimum of four players; there is no solo play at all. This is meant to be a party game, not something to do by yourself. Players spin an on-screen carousel which is broken up into 15 separate activities. Some of the activities include playing music, answering geography questions, painting on the walls and solving riddles. Interaction with the game comes from using the Wii Remote and a pair of Decoder Glasses that come with the game. The glasses are used to show you on-screen secrets that can only be seen while wearing them. Each time a player spins the wheel, it opens up into a little game, which tasks players with one of the aforementioned activities.

The graphics on this game are of poor quality. Animation is clumsy and the few on-screen characters are badly drawn. This game looks more like a high-school computer lab project rather than an expensive game for a high-end console. While the game does manage to get its point across, the graphics are shoddy and lackluster. Audio is another area this game missed the boat with. The game narration seems fine at first, but soon becomes incredibly repetitive and annoying. There is a little background music but it's sketchy and underwhelming. There's really no way around this, the audio and video on this game are just plain bad.

Game play is also on the low end with this game. Even though it seems like there are a lot of activities to do in this game, most are in fact very similar to each other. This quickly devolves in to a rather dull and repetitive game. Game control is also a little spotty. In some aspects the controllers work well enough but in other areas, they just don't work well at all. Any game involving acting simply won't work, leaving players annoyed and frustrated. This is a giant problem because a large percent of the games involve some sort of physical mimicry.

This game should have been a real blast for family night or when guests are visiting. In reality, this game is a waste of money and time. It will leave you fed up and frustrated and I recommend you pass this up and buy the board game version instead.