Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports (Nintendo Switch) – Le test

We grew up with Looney Tunes. Taz, Titi and Grosminet, or even Bugs Bunny strike our heartstrings. To be honest, we were excited when Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports was announced for Nintendo Switch. A sports game with the Tunes took us straight back to Space Jam. However, controller in hand, we were very quickly disenchanted. Here is our test of Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sportsan overly expensive game (fifty euros), available since September 27, 2024 both physically and on the eShop, for far too limited content.

A game that makes you want it on paper…

Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports is, as its name suggests, a compilation of four sports mini-games. For fifty euros, you can play Basketball, football, Golf and Tennis with the Looney Tunes gang.

Let’s get to the heart of the matter: Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports is a game with variable handling, accessible and pleasant on certain sports but unpleasant as possible on others.

Golf is one of the “good surprises”. Overall, you will have to choose your club, aim, adjust the power, and off you go! You can earn bonuses by hitting targets on your way and who knows… maybe there are a few shortcuts hidden on the green!

You also get a special move after a few turns which simplifies your next shot. If the passages where the AI ​​plays are a little long, it is possible to speed them up! As in every game of golf, you will win based on your number of shots.

Tennis is not very interesting, but accessible and manageable. You can play 2v2 or 1v1. You will have a button for the forehand, another for the lob, the lift, or the slice.

You will have to get closer to the ball, press once to charge the shot then a second time to hit the ball. You can add a direction to your ball but strangely it is not always responsive.

There is also a special shot, almost impossible to stop, which charges during the exchanges as well as objects to collect like dynamite to throw on the opposing court.

Tennis is a sport that is certainly accessible but lacks rhythm. Boredom quickly sets in during the exchanges, the fault of fairly heavy handling and unintuitive movements; our character shifts enormously for a simple joystick movement.

Basketball is a disaster: the mini-game is neither manageable nor accessible, and people who have never played basketball will take time to find their bearings.

But which is sloppy, not fun, and with very limited content

Overall, you will have one button to pass, one button to shoot, one to jump (in order to counter, jumping is useless for a rebound). The button to shoot becomes the one that allows you to push the opponent in order to recover the ball.

Basketball is torture to play, there are no other words. The terrain is too small, the movements are not pleasant, the maneuverability is erratic, and the pace is too slow.

We end with football, which is similar in handling to basketball. Instead of jumping, you can do a little dodge to avoid an opponent’s stroller. Whether for basketball or football, the developers offer a Mario Strikers on the cheap, with uninteresting handling, unintuitive handling and a slow pace.

Some fields have mutators but this is not enough to bring a little fun or pleasure to the game. As with other sports, there are also objects to throw but we very quickly take a look at what is on offer.

The playable characters (there are nine) each have different characteristics. They have a level in power, intelligence or even speed. These characteristics ultimately have little impact in the game.

Even after several hours of play, we don’t see what intelligence is for. Does it allow the AI ​​to position itself better? Does it allow you to shoot basketball better? And what about golf?

Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports offers several game modes but we go through them (too) quickly. The ultimate cup mode allows us to play sports one after the other in order to win the ultimate cup against three other players (bots or real players).

For team sports or tennis, we are “randomly” placed with an opponent (in reality, we alternate each ally). We earn ten points for every sport we win (five points are given to losers), and we can earn bonus points awarded in a rather strange way.

Four sports only for fifty euros

The first player to make an ace in tennis, make a super shot or even counter an opponent in basketball will earn a point. In the end, we can be the one who earns the most points even if we lose the mini-game. This ultimate mode also allows you to unlock new stadiums.

The “sports” mode allows you to redo the mini-games individually by modifying a few options (such as the number of sets in tennis). We can also play with motion detection in tennis and golf.

However, the gameplay is not suited to motion gaming, and what could be a good idea becomes a new ordeal. For tennis, we will have to wave our arm once to load the ball, then a second time to shoot. What a crazy idea! It is almost impossible and counter-intuitive to chain the two arm movements together to hit a ball.

Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports has a challenge mode with very limited content. It is made up of four to five challenges per sport which will be repeated and become more complex until the point of overdose.

For example, for tennis, you will have to manage to make a super shot before time runs out. Later, you will have to land two super shots before time runs out. Repeated twice…

Challenge mode allows you to win customization elements, such as a ball in the shape of a ball of wool or even new golf clubs.

Nostalgia is not everything

We can only recommend that you flee this Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports. We repeat ourselves, but the game is unwieldy, not very pleasant, not very fun, and even the license Instants Sports offers better and more extensive.

Mario & Sonic at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games offered around twenty sports and thirty-two characters at a price of sixty euros. Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports, for fifty euros, offers four sports and nine playable characters… And we’re not even talking about the intrinsic quality of the four sports available…

Nostalgic fans will certainly be frustrated: the game only offers English voices which are repeated very quickly and even become boring. We feel that developers want to tug at players’ heartstrings without worrying about the quality of the experience.

The artistic direction is interesting and offers a pretty cartoon graphic touch, however, everything is blurry and ultimately not pleasant to the eye. The stadiums are empty and the public is sorely lacking in life. There is frustration when we see spectators repeating the same animations to life eternal

The soundtrack, despite the iconic theme when starting the game, ends up being repetitive. We have already talked about the voices but there is little music and we were, on a personal level, disappointed not to have iconic music like Let’s Get Ready To Rumble of Space Jam during basketball!

We are attaching a video made by us of more than thirty minutes, so that you can see the gameplay for yourselves.