A couple of years ago, I watched this really horrible horror B-movie that was streaming only on Hulu and it was called Willy’s Wonderland.  In the movie, a drifter takes a job as a janitor in a run down kids’ indoor amusement area called Willy’s Wonderland.  But when the animatronic animal robots come to life in the restaurant, the janitor must fight for his life.  If that sounds like a rip off of Five Night’s At Freddy’s (FNAF), it certainly is.  But I think this came out a year before the FNAF movie.  Either way, the movie is NOT for kids, as it’s pretty violent and has a gross and unnecessary sex scene in it.  But then, FNAF isn’t for kids either but they seem to be drawn to it for some reason.  As a kid, I was never really scared of the Chuck E. Cheese robot singers, but then, I was more interested in the arcade games.  The funniest thing about Willy’s Wonderland is that Nicholas Cage is the star, but he has NO lines.  All he does is fight robots, take breaks, and drink a soda every ten minutes.  The only thing he says is sometimes after drinking a soda he’ll go, “Ahhhh!”  And now you can play a game based on the movie!  You’d think it would be similar to the FNAF games, but it’s actually a side scrolling beat ‘em up.  It was originally on mobile devices, if that gives you an indication of the quality.  But now you can play it on current consoles (reviewed on PS4 here).

In the game you can choose between two characters.  The Janitor and Liv.  I don’t remember Liv in the movie, but it was such a bad flick I really wasn’t paying that much attention. Two can play at the same time as well.   You’ll travel left to right visiting locations in the restaurant like the main hall, rooftop, air ducts, arcade, and more.  You’ll fight all manner of zombies as well as the animatronic crew such as Arty Alligator, Sara Siren, and Willy the Weasel himself.  Break open crates to refill your health and nab other power ups.  If you lose all your lives in a stage, it’s Game Over.  But you can at least start at the last stage you were on.

By pressing the buttons, you can punch, kick, jump, and do a dash move, spin attack, and refill your energy if your meter is full.  Which you’ll need to do a lot, since the game is so hard.  That’s really the main problem I had with the game is it gets way too hard about halfway through.  Plus it’s not that great of a beat ‘em up, plagued by poor hit detection and abysmal graphics.  It’s not the worst beat ‘em up I’ve ever played, but I’ve certainly enjoyed way better ones, like Streets of Rage 4 or TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge.

Kid Factor:

Willy’s Wonderland: The Game is rated T for Teen with ESRB descriptors of Blood and Violence.  Surprisingly, the game is way tamer than the movie.  But there are still blood splatters on the artwork and on the floors of the stages, and you punch and kick all manner of zombies and cartoony robot animals.  But because of the more adult subject matter in the movies, I’d say this game is best for older players.

Tags: Game Reviews, Movies with Children