I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! (Wii) - Review by Chris

Introduction

Celebrity reality shows have become something of a public fascination over the past 5 years or so and now more than ever, we're subjected to seeing some of the most recognisable celebrities from all walks of the spectrum mingle with not so noticeable celebrities for the enjoyment of the viewers. One such show is I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! which drops 12 celebrities into the heart of the Australia jungle where they take on challenges for food and try to be crowned the king or queen of the jungle. Now, a game has been developed to bring that experience further into the homes of those who enjoy the show.

Gameplay

I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! puts you into the jungle as one of two teams of six made up celebrities hoping to outdo the other and ultimately be crowned either king or queen of the jungle. It brings with it many of the elements seem in the TV show that many will undoubtedly be familiar with. Through the game's main Adventure mode, which is where the majority of the gameplay comes through, you'll choose either the red or the yellow team and then have to take part in a succession of bush tucker trials, bush battles and vote offs. Each team has 6 so called celebrities, none of which are real, and each of these are specialised to specific trials which you'll have to take part in throughout the game so making key use of these traits will ultimately help you in the long run and voting off those in the other team, should you be lucky enough to get the chance, allows you to strategically vote off team mates that have skills that would be needed in subsequent trials.

The game takes a similar route to that in the show whereby the two teams will nominate a team member to participate in a bush tucker trial where the winner will be gifted with food for his or her team. These trials take on various different guises for underwater shooting to dugout canoe racing, but don't bare any semblance to some of the things you'll have seen in the show. As a result, this freedom for difference should have allowed for better integrated trials yet those on offer feel far from providing anything better. They just don't seem to work very well at all for various reasons, with some being incredibly tedious and unintuitive.

The trials are broken up by stints whereby you'll have to take place in bush battles which are specifically designed to pit you against the competition in things like star catching or stone throwing competitions, with the results of these usually paving way for the outcome of the vote off, which happens after these battles. Like the trials, the battles feel repetitive and lack any imagination but they do feel slightly more in line with what the show has to offer. For each trial and battle you compete in, you'll unlock the ability to play them through in the arcade mode, letting you replay them for better high scores or for better times but there is little to no incentive to do so.

There is a multiplayer element to the game whereby up to 4 players can compete through an entire sitting of the I'm A Celebrity format to see who can come out on top. It's a nice touch that allows everyone to get involved but when the games lack any sense of fun, often leading to frustration more than anything else, and are repetitive throughout, it may not be something many will take much time to look into.

Controls

The game employs a mixture of motion based and button based controls with both the Wii-mote and Nunchuk used. Most of the motions involve flicking or circling the controls but they don't work well enough to help the game along. When the trials and battles are already frustrating due to their design then they become even more problematic when fraught controls are added to the mix. The buttons aren't used all too often but many of the games could have used a more tactile form of control instead of the motion controls and in part, this would have alleviated some of the frustration. The Wii Balance Board is put to use in some mini-games which are accessible through a specialised option in the main menu and this works slightly better than the Wii-mote and Nunchuk setup but not much and it's only used sparingly so there's little effect on the overall game.

Graphics

Recreating the Australian jungle on the Wii was never going to be an easy task but this game looks hideous. Graphically, the environments wouldn't be out of place on the Nintendo 64, with everything looking very basic and of a low quality, from textures to design. The game looks slightly better when things move into the underwater trials but there are severe clipping issues which result in fish and snakes appearing and disappearing through the banks and rocks of the river. The character models are the best of the bunch at least looking of a decent quality and some of their animations are well done but most of the time, they move around like stiff puppets.

Sound

Luckily, the developers have decided not to get Ant and Dec involved and as a result, we're saved the offense of having to listen to them babble on. The voice of the presenter they have brought in is good enough but the speech never flows naturally and feels very much scripted and automated. The theme tune and various pieces of music used throughout the show have been brought into play though and are all of a good quality.

Final comments

The TV show is something that would not translate well to a game and so why anyone would bother is beyond me. The final result of what will have been the hard work for many developers over several months is a game that becomes quickly repetitive, holds no feeling of fun whatsoever and will frustrate even the most patient gamers. It's a new release that feels incredibly dated from the get go and for the price that you have to pay to endure this, there are far better titles than this poor licensed attempt.

Pro: Follows the format of the show to some extent, you don't have to endure Ant and Dec
Con: Frustrating and repetitive gameplay, controls are badly done, presentation is shockingly bad
Final score: 2.5

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