I like to think of myself as a go-to guy for the good people at GameZone. I take on many children's titles because 1) I have children and 2) young childrens' tastes change on a weekly basis, and being able to get a hold of games that may or may not interest them this week is a big perk. Not to mention it helps out in the wallet. But, and I hate to say this, many of the games licensed to young children are not so good. As if publishers out there are only interested in cashing in on a popular license and not putting the most into their product, for shame. 

Sadly, while Penny Racers Party did appeal to my two young boys, I could only shake my head and wonder why this was not made into a downloadable game for the Wii store. You see, the game itself does not do anything new when compared to the not-so-distant cousin found on the Nintendo 64. Yes, you heard me right, this title is a pretty close visual comparison to a title that was on a system, TWO generations ago. Not the GameCube, the Nintendo 64!

There is a lot to not like about Penny Racers, for one, like I said above, this is a very poor-looking title. Since the game takes place in a universe where you control teeny, tiny cars and they drive all over the place, one would hope there was some fun to be had, but for me there was none. I couldn't help but compare this title to the Micro Machine game on my PSP that has a similar idea behind it. But where Micro Machines managed to create some clever level design and serious challenge, Penny Racers can only afford to make the tracks look like they are barely passable. Flat, tired-looking graphics that have no sense of physics, a Wii-mote controller that only has the bare minimum of mapped control in the movement process and a really poor sense of gaming style. Even in some poorly designed games, there is something flashy or clever (even if it is only for a moment) that sparks your thoughts to harken "if only..." Penny Racers Party never gets that far, the game looks bad.

But then why do my sons play it every once in a while. Well, because they are 8 and 5, they never played the N64 version and they don't understand what it means to play a really polished game that fires on all cylinders or play a game that has their favorite character of the week on the cover. But herein lies the conundrum: I look at Penny Racers and see, all sorts of really yucky stuff, and the kids look at it and think, "I wanna play with my cars...," or at the very least, spend 30 minutes playing this title. I know, its baffling, but the folks at Tomy games must have tapped into their inner child and created something that required no above-average implementation and yet is still appealing to the target audience. Weird.

You can play the game with your little brother if you so desire and race around poorly landscaped lawns as a car as big as a 50-cent piece. The multiplayer is about as exciting as the audio and graphics are. And if I failed to talk abut the audio in this title then maybe you missed my previous four paragraphs. The game is a miserable time if you are over 13 years of age.

On a positive note, because I need to find the good in everything, there is more than four dozen cars to choose from, many of which are real cars. I never got into penny racers as a kid, and my boys only have a handful, so I could not tell you with any sort of accuracy if the cars in the game are based on actual toys from the line. I suspect they are since there is a goofy barrell /Pirate car on the game box and in the game, and it certainly "looks" like it should be a toy. Annnnndddd the controls are so simplistic and unresponsive as compared to more modern racing games, that really young kids can get a handle on it.