Twenty-six cases, a chance at $1 million, and all the suspense you could hope for really doesn’t save this game at all. Deal or No Deal for the Nintendo Wii is almost identical to the television game show except everyone seems to be in Mii form. There are 26 cases with 26 ladies holding the cases. The player picks one case from the lot to keep. Once he (or she) has a case, Howie Mandel will tell you how many cases you have to choose to open. Once the case is open, you lose your chance at that money. For example, if you open the case with $1 million inside, you will lose your chance at that prize. Then, at the end of every “round,” the banker will offer you an amount of money for your case and you can take it and leave, or you can keep playing for a chance at more money. This is essentially the “Deal or No Deal” part.

The Nintendo Wii takes use of the Wii-mote with a point-and-click control scheme that does work well. It’s very simple to use. You just point at the case you want to pick, and click A to open the case. Its ease of use is a good thing about this game. The game also goes through the same cinematic scenes every time you play a round of Deal or No Deal. Howie says the same thing, and it gets quite annoying. The game does have a 'skip the scene' option though, and this is definitely a necessity.

The graphics of the game were sub par. Instead of giving a more realistic look to this game-show video-game, the game instead uses Mii versions of everyone including Howie Mandel. Although quite hilarious, I think the game would have been more pleasing if it had more realistic graphics. The sound of the game is Ok. There isn’t much of a soundtrack, and it doesn’t change from game to game. It is the same sounds and sound effects every time you play a round.

The concept in the game is sub-par as well. I believe the game could have been better with more modes, in which to play Deal or No Deal. To the game’s credit, it did have a few different modes such as Double or Nothing, Double Dollar Value, Higher Top Value, and a Million Dollar Mission, which presented the $1 million prize multiple times. Even with this, the game would have benefited more if it had added more modes to play the game show in. Multiplayer for this game was awful. Most players would not enjoy it at all. It had three mini-games, which you could play with up to four players on. The mini-games are Push Your Luck, Sharp Shooter, and Black Jack. Push Your Luck is a game that wasn’t fun at all; it lists six cases with a money amount inside for each player, with one of the cases being empty. The players go until they hit the empty case. Whichever player has the most money at the end wins the round. Sharp Shooter was somewhat fun. A multitude of cases with a money amount in them fly through the air for you to shoot at - very Duck Hunt like. The person with more money at the end wins the round. Then, Black Jack is the same just with money amounts and cases. There is also another mode you can play inside the mini-games called Marathon, where you play all three mini-games with another player and whoever has the most money total at the end wins. Overall, a very dull multiplayer was put into Deal or No Deal, and there is absolutely no online play.

If you intend to buy this game, you will probably spend all your time playing the actual Game Show mode of the game trying to get the coveted $1 million, and that’s fun. Otherwise, this game lacks a good multiplayer and enough modes for it to stand out in Wii gaming.

Gameplay: 6.0
The only fun part in the game is actually playing the game show. Controls are simple, and the quest to get $1 million dollars is fun. Otherwise, the game needed more modes to make it interesting.

Graphics: 6.0
The graphics could have been better. The game took a “Mii” approach to the graphics, and it would have been better with more realistic graphics.

Sound: 5.0
There wasn’t much variety in the sound. The main theme and sound effects were good, but that’s pretty much all there was to the sound in this game.

Difficulty: Easy

Concept: 7.0
The concept of this game was almost there. It just needed more modes so players would keep playing and enjoying the game.

Multiplayer: 4.0
Multiplayer was almost non-existent. There was no online capability, and it consisted of only three mini-games.

Overall: 5.8
The bad aspects in the game just overtake all the good it tries to accomplish, resulting in just an average game-show game.