Codemasters to continue Wii's mini-game doldrums with Emergency Mayhem

by Jason Dobson { Dec 19th 2007 at 1:30PM }

Mini-game collections are the bitter spice of life that Wii owners have been forced to swallow time and again during the console's short, but arguably over-enthusiastic life, and while a very small handful of these games have managed to bridge the gap between tedium and genuine fun, we think the bulk of these compilations are better served at keeping sweat rings off the coffee table. The latest to join the Wii's bite-sized militia is Emergency Mayhem from Codemasters, a mini-game extravaganza that asks players to save the unfortunately-named Crisis City from "decidedly slapstick" disaster.

Set for release in the second quarter of 2008, the Wii-exclusive game will let players control police, fire, and paramedic services as they race to save the accident-prone city over the course of 30 time-sensitive missions, which will include such madcap antics as tranquilizing monkeys and using the Wii-remote as a hose to put out fires, which to us just sounds like work, and another day at the office.

Tags: codemasters, Emergency Mayhem, Emergency-Mayhem, EmergencyMayhem, mini-games

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Fernando Rocker @ Dec 19th 2007 1:39PM

Why developers can't understand? This game will not sell more than 50,000 games in his entire life.

If you make good game, with good production value, you will sell millions of games.

I hope this game sell only like 5,458 games.

JJ Rooster @ Dec 19th 2007 1:58PM

Sorry Fernando, but when junk like "Carnival Games" with a Metacritic rating of 56 sells 500,000 copies, it only confirms that the Wii is a dumping ground for mini-games and other casual fare.

Dave @ Dec 19th 2007 1:59PM

Because, given the production values depicted by this screen shot, they won't need to sell more than 50k copies to turn a marginal profit.

Making "good games" is much harder than you think it is. "Good Production Values" cost a lot more than this, and in the current environment of Wii third party games, this is a better bet for any profit at all.

mr nimblewick @ Dec 19th 2007 2:01PM

Oh, I don't know. If it combines the action of Crazy Taxi with some fun, destination-based minigames, it could work.

Of course, the quality isn't going to be there, so it will suck. Now, ware is my shovel?

Zootittles @ Dec 19th 2007 2:13PM

I see what you did there.

Dave @ Dec 19th 2007 2:23PM

Fernando, do you mind telling me how Okami sold? Hm, ok. How about Psychonauts? Ah, alright. Well, surely Viva Pinata? Oh, ok.

No, I'm sure those are just exceptions. Your equation of:

GUD PRODUKTIN VALUS + GUD GAMPLAYE = PROFET

has to be correct.

Zootittles @ Dec 19th 2007 2:47PM

Yeah, I'm pretty sure a blow job is supposed to go somewhere into that equation.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Dec 19th 2007 3:33PM

Those games all lacked one very important thing, MARKETING.

Seriously, some of the budget for games needs to go into marketing.

gonk @ Dec 19th 2007 1:40PM

something a lot more entertaining than this game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sShMA85pv8M

Zootittles @ Dec 19th 2007 2:12PM

Something else more entertaining than this game. (but not the above video- that's classic)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UONERY6zD8

Jason B @ Dec 19th 2007 2:02PM

The Wii's currently popularity is the Cabbage Patch Kid of this generation. It is a fad and will eventually pass.

Jason B @ Dec 19th 2007 2:02PM

edit: current

mr nimblewick @ Dec 19th 2007 2:17PM

I don't see what suggests that. The PS2 was the hot toy for christmas in years past. How is the Wii different?

Ally @ Dec 19th 2007 6:01PM

The PS2 had a much larger libary of good games, infact, it STILL does.

The Wii has, well it has "Emergency Mayhem"

mr nimblewick @ Dec 19th 2007 6:33PM

When the PS2 was the hottest christmas item, its game library was HORRIBLE. Seriously, look back at its first year. Absolutely terrible. The Wii has a better library so far.

bm @ Dec 19th 2007 7:04PM

Tsk tsk mr. Nimblewick, don't you know? The PS2 was born with its entire library complete!

Yuccadude @ Dec 19th 2007 2:06PM

The mayhem! It's off the charts!

cold school @ Dec 19th 2007 2:11PM

you mean that besides the 1st party releases (which are pretty much done) theres nothing else to play on a nintendo console?? what shocking, non-obvious, news.

Mr Khan @ Dec 19th 2007 4:44PM

yup, it's not like we're getting the first NiGHTS game in 11 years

No, that isn't true at all

cold school @ Dec 19th 2007 5:16PM

Its called 'Nights: Journey of Dreams' for a reason;
ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz

mr nimblewick @ Dec 19th 2007 6:35PM

You can insult the Wii, but will NOT insult NiGHTS on my watch, buddy.

And by my watch, I mean "I'm so terribly bored at the moment."

Blazur @ Dec 19th 2007 2:12PM

Oh goodness this is just laughable. Just play GTA IV, it's sure to be alot more fun.

Zootittles @ Dec 19th 2007 2:46PM

GTA IV: Automatically amazing, huh?

lol @ Dec 19th 2007 2:23PM

this picture is a metaphor for its own quality. And I'm not talking about mayhem.

Zootittles @ Dec 19th 2007 2:45PM

Dear Codemasters,

Mini-game collection = Do not want

New Ultimate Stuntman game = WANT

Sami @ Dec 19th 2007 2:48PM

Again Joystiq with the minigame bashing. How many minigame collections are there TOTAL on Wii? Something like ten, including stuff like Wii Sports and Wii Play? And most of them are good!

This game could be interesting if it has some of that Incredible Crisis feel. Keep the minigames coming!

Dave @ Dec 19th 2007 3:35PM

Damn you, sir.

Damn you right to hell.

Jonah Falcon @ Dec 19th 2007 2:50PM

It isn't that Joystiq is bashing minigames. It's bashing a glut of minigames on the Wii.

In other words: "Is that all the Wii good for? Minigames?"

Sami @ Dec 19th 2007 2:56PM

List those minigames. Go on, list them. See if they make a "glut".

Jonah Falcon @ Dec 19th 2007 3:02PM

Name another type of game on the Wii, save platforming.

mr nimblewick @ Dec 19th 2007 3:10PM

Um.. First person shooter? First person adventure? Adventure? Surgery? Racing? Ever hear of these things?

JBourrie @ Dec 19th 2007 4:15PM

Wii Sports
Wii Play
Links Crossbow Somethingorother
Monkey Ball
WarioWare
Raving Rabbids
Trauma Center
Carnival Games
Bomberman Land
Cooking Mama
Chicken Shoot
EA Playground
Emergency Mayhem
Game Party...

I've only hit G in the alphabetical list of Wii games on Wikipedia, but I'm already bored and think I've made the point.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Dec 19th 2007 4:41PM

Except Links crossbow training, Monkeyball, and Trauma Center don't belong on that list. Wiisports doesn't really belong on the list either, unless you consider real bowling, tennis, and golf to be "minigames".

Might as well add Bioshock to the list of 360 mini-game collections because it has a hacker minigame, or Mass Effect because it has an unlocker minigame.

mr nimblewick @ Dec 19th 2007 4:49PM

This list should be:

Wii Play
WarioWare
Raving Rabbids
Carnival Games
Chicken Shoot
EA Playground
Game Party...

JBourrie @ Dec 19th 2007 4:55PM

I'm not trying to bash on the Wii... in fact, I love my Wii (nightly, with lube).

But Links Crossbow Training is most certainly a minigame collection: it didn't have a single central gameplay mechanic, instead opting to alternate between three different types of games that most people would refer to as "mini". Wii Sports even more so... none of those games would stand on their own as a retail game without significant additions.

Monkeyball is arguable, since the minigames are in addition to a full game. Plus, it wasn't anything new to the Wii: they've been doing minigames in monkeyball since day one.

I've never played Trauma Center, but from everything I've seen it looks like a clever metagame wrapped around a minigame collection. I might be wrong here.

I'm not trying to argue semantics here: lets remove all three of these from the list. That still leaves 11 games on the list just off the top of my head and up through the letter G on Wikipedia. Point is, designers are so giddy about having a new control device that many of them are coming up with loads of gimmicks that end up getting piled up into a minigame collection, while never getting fleshed out into a full working game.

I just hope this fad passes soon.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Dec 19th 2007 5:14PM

When you put a little more thought into it, a minigame collection really is one of the first attempts to wrap their designers minds around a new form of control. How many mini-games came out for PC when the mouse first started making market penetration? Tons. How many mini-games for the DS? Also tons.

I still say: Give it time. This will pass. And from the sounds of this game, this is the least minigame-ish of all the minigame collections.

Something else to keep in mind. People were developing software for 360 and PS3 months before either console launched. Wii didn't get 3rd party support (starting development) until months AFTER launch. [patcher]2008 will be a year with lots of 3rd party software that isn't minigames.[/patcher]

Dave @ Dec 19th 2007 5:44PM

"When you put a little more thought into it, a minigame collection really is one of the first attempts to wrap their designers minds around a new form of control. How many mini-games came out for PC when the mouse first started making market penetration? Tons. How many mini-games for the DS? Also tons."

That isn't called thought, you vapid fanboy. That's called "Making crap up to validate one's own point."

Also known as: denial.

Early computer games that used the mouse weren't minigames at the time. They were full fledged games by the standards of those times.

"I still say: Give it time. This will pass. And from the sounds of this game, this is the least minigame-ish of all the minigame collections."

We're all going to give it time, because there's nothing else we CAN give it. Frankly, if you twist things right, I'm still giving my Saturn time to rise and surprise me again, aren't I? The difference is that most of us will just play other things while we wait for the Wii to validate itself.

"Something else to keep in mind. People were developing software for 360 and PS3 months before either console launched. Wii didn't get 3rd party support (starting development) until months AFTER launch. [patcher]2008 will be a year with lots of 3rd party software that isn't minigames."

I'm actually pretty sure that it did. There was this amazing beta Wii called the Gamecube that developers had for years before the Wii hit shelves...

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Dec 19th 2007 5:46PM

Dave, point is that most of the "minigames" are cash ins from developers who got caught with their pants down. They had no budget or plan for wii games until the wii started selling like gangbusters.

mr nimblewick @ Dec 19th 2007 6:38PM

Some of you have to realize that some people like minigames. I enjoy the occasional minigame. I bet you have as well. They aren't the scourge you make them out to be to have a talking point against the Wii.

I do agree, however, that a lot of minigame collections are poor quality, but really, most games are poor quality.

Dave @ Dec 20th 2007 1:03AM

We'll see, Crono.

The upcoming release list isn't quite as bright as I'd hoped when I bought in. I'm just really sick of the apologists. I suppose enough Kool Aid and I'd start to think that the Wii's library was competitive too.

Geist @ Dec 19th 2007 2:53PM

Well if you name a city Crisis City, you're sure to have a few problems. Sheesh, these city designers nowadays....

ThePassenger @ Dec 19th 2007 3:26PM

Fair point. I wish all towns where named after what the city designers had in mind when they created them. I can imagine the Google Map:

Turn left to 'Can't Be Arsed', go straight through 'Pay The Bills', pass 'Dont Know What I Had In Mind', and you'll eventually arrive in 'Someone Had To Do It'.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Dec 19th 2007 3:36PM

I have a better question: What defines a minigame collection?

cold school @ Dec 19th 2007 3:58PM

umm... anything in a Wii box?
no, wait, wait,
the Wii's top selling genre?
wait, I change my answer.
Something only drunk or old people play?

Dave @ Dec 19th 2007 4:04PM

Any game in a white box where you spend more than 70% of your time waggling.

Geist @ Dec 19th 2007 4:32PM

Oh please, people, Viva Pinata: Party Animals is being released on the 360, and I'll give you three guesses what genre it is.

Anyway, a minigame compilation: I would describe it as a series of games that are meant for quick bursts of play that have little or no connection to each other, often without a plot to follow either.