Back in 2008, developer TT Fusion and Warner Bros. Interactive put out a game that you probably haven’t played. It’s Guinness World Records: The Video Game for the Nintendo Wii.
Guinness World Records: The Video Game was released on November 11, 2008. In addition to the Wii, a game by the same name was also released on the DS at the same time. Although I have only played the Wii version, there are likely differences between the two due to hardware differences.
The Wii version is based on the concept of trying to break records similar to the ones you might see in the book of the same name. As such, in terms of genre, it falls in with the other games that are basically a compilation of a lot of minigames. I can’t say that I’d compare this game to Wii Sports Resort, though, as the games in that are far more complex.
The minigames in Guinness World Records are more similar to the party games in a Mario Party title, to be honest. The controls are as simple and repetitive as most such games. The difference, though, is that this game can be enjoyed by a single player. After all, you’re trying to get a record distance, time, or some other type of record instead of strictly trying to do better than an opponent, although multiplayer is possible in it.
And the winner for worst game goes to…
Guinness World Records has you traveling around the world trying to break various records. Each location in the game has three games available for you to try to break records in. Unfortunately, only the first game in any location is available at the outset. To unlock the other games, you have to earn coins.
And how do you do that? You earn them based on your performance in other games. Each game has different levels of record that you can attain: a regional record, a national record, and a world record, so there’s plenty to strive for in this game if you really want to put in the time to do so.
Back when this game was released, if you got a particularly good score, you could use the Wii’s online capability to submit your highest score. Then you could compare it to other people who had submitted their scores. It is a feature that helped this game stand apart from its nearest competitors at the time.
I will give this game credit where it is due. The minigames included here make sense given the license the game is based, and the controls for each game make sense for the type of game. Even the names make sense.
However, the credit ends there. Most of the games feel more like chores than anything with any real entertainment value. This game was clearly intended more for people who want to be able to demonstrate their superiority to others. It’s not for people just looking for a fun gaming experience.
Conclusion
This game is surprisingly decent at doing what it set out to do. It just happens to be the case that what it set out to do is not a very entertaining premise. Still, not every party-style game in the world needs to be Wii Sports Resort or Mario Party, and this game did set its own niche.
