Medieval Games is not a game you nor any self-respecting gamer will buy. However it is a game that may be end up being bought for you, usually by an ill-informed Aunt at Christmas for “the Nintendo”. Such is the current state of the Wii third-party support right, there are numerous identikit “party” titles clogging the shelves, each promising to become a “favourite for all families”. Nintendo have shown the way time and time again (Wii Sports Resort) and cornered the market for family entertainment, developers still fall at the first hurdle or conversely, are deliberately rushing low-budget titles to quickly capture casual market audiences.

Medieval Games at least has the decency to class itself as a budget title and allows gamers to “travel to the land of Veloria to help King Falderol overcome the hardships that plague his kingdom and find a bride for his son, Prince Beemish” – do keep up. Basically this entails controlling one of 8 stereotypes, from a Knight to a Wizard, over 30 single and multiplayer mini-games, ranging from jousting and sword fighting to archery. With 30 different events it actually amounts to a fairly substantial package, and who doesn’t want to fight dragons and lance their friends?

Sadly the biggest flaws of Medieval Games are all encompassing; illogical design choices and poor presentation. Rather than quickly setting up tournaments with friends, each and every title screen is accompanied with a 1-2 second loading pause. Loading times on the Wii are nothing new, but loading for nearly every screen is completely unacceptable and ruins any flow to match the rapid-fire events of each rou

Speaking of which, the events themselves are uniformly poorly designed and all feature ineffective and often unresponsive Wii Remote implementation. Why not first-person swordfights to rival Wii Sports Resort over the poor side-scrolling effort here? Also the less said about Medieval’s version of Archery the better. Despite the abundance of playable events, each is as misjudged as the next and when even Wii-perfect events such as jousting fail to arouse excitement, we’re left with a catalogue of missed opportunities.

Graphics-wise we’re in sub-Gamecube territory, accompanied with manic British accents that are dying for a mute button. Presentation overall is very sloppy and relies on a blurry palette and uninspired art design. Even younger audiences will find the full package confusing, unresponsive and downright irritating, leading one to ask – who exactly was this game aimed for? With Wii Sports Resort and Rabbids Go Home providing mini-game mayhem this season, there is still hope for the humble Wii, though titles such as Medieval Games are quickly becoming the rule, rather than the exception. Accept no substitutes for your stocking this Christmas and let King Falderol sort out his own mess.