Cocoto Magic Circus

Another arcade shooter on the Wii is like another first-person shooter on the Xbox 360. And even though the mechanics complement both systems, haven’t we seen it all before? In the Wii’s case, Cocoto Magical Circus is a fun, budget shooter, but it’s a standard shooting gallery game that we’ve all played many times over.

At the same time, however, I was greatly surprised by the production values that developer Neko Entertainment put in the game. Over the past few months, I’ve had the privilege (or curse, you might say) of playing some pretty crappy Wii “casual” games. And after expecting Cocoto Magical Circus to be on the same level as a Ninjabread Man, I was very surprised. The art style is clean and vibrant, taking advantage of a cell-shaded look (something more Wii games should use) and an interesting Carnivale-esque aesthetic. All of the characters are interesting, and their animations are smooth and detailed as well. My only complaint is that the different realms and stages don’t look different enough.

 “The NRA has a strong lobby in the Fairy-realm”

The Cocoto franchise is not as prevalent here as it is in Europe, so gamers will probably be a little confused as to what is actually going on. The story is just about as simple as stories can get: there is a fairy, a friend of Cocoto, who is “fairy”-napped by a surprisingly eerie clown (Cue the magical circus). You, as the gun-wielding Cocoto, shoot your way through 40 mini-games in this circus to rescue the fairy.

Forty mini-games is, of course, a slight exaggeration, because many of the games are recycled with only a slight variation to them. There is really only so many ways you can tell players to shoot the enemy or ringed target. But I thoroughly enjoyed playing this game, even if it’s a little short (an hour or two, depending on the difficulty level). Some of the directions in the game are a little vague, like when it tells you not to shoot Cocoto’s friends. I just met Cocoto, how the heck should I know his personal life! In the later stages, you are differentiating between enemies and allies that look nearly identical.

 Also, the game barrels you through the story line (story might not be the right word), with no stops or sense of progression other than a “Cleared” screen. There are different worlds that you go to, but the game doesn’t really inform you of your percentage completed or that you’ve progressed. Other than killing the Boss do you realize that you’re going to a new realm.  But it’s a short game, so it’s not that big of an issue.

But overall the games are actually fun and clever variations of the age-old gallery shooter. Power-ups and penalties float by in the shape of balloons constantly. Penalties float by in the foreground (shoot one and the screen might become blurry, or another and everything will flip upside down) and bonuses rise up slightly smaller in the background (some double points or refill health). It’s clever and the graphical effects are done very well.

Multiplayer will extend your money’s worth with this game, but overall Cocoto Magical Circus probably won’t stay in your Wii for long. The single-player game is very short, and unless you have a friend to play through on co-op with, you probably won’t be too compelled to replay it. At the same time, this is a great game for kids to play with their family and friends. The art style is like a Saturday morning cartoon and the multiplayer is enjoyable for everybody involved.

Gameplay: 6.0
The levels are fun to play and the bonus balloons are a clever addition. This is a barebones shooting gallery, though. More mini-games, not necessarily shooting games, would have been nice.

Graphics: 7.5
While the levels look pretty much the same with little variation, the visuals are clean and colorful. The cel-shaded look is something more Wii games should incorporate.

Sound: 7.5
The sound effects complement the visuals. And the music is good, too.

Difficulty: Medium
Normal difficulty might be too hard for some, but most games require nothing more than a few trial-and-errors.

Concept: 5.0
Good ol’ shootin’ gallery fun, as they say where I’m from. There is little innovation to find here. 

Multiplayer: 7.0
If you play this game alone, you aren’t going to have much fun. While there are only a few multi-player modes to choose from, for groups of friends this will be the meat of the game.