As soon as you open up the box, you know it's not good news. The game comes in a cheap, slip-sleeve case like it came out of a bag of cereal. It also comes with a big, orange, gun attachment like at an arcade. It's much better than the Zapper, and is the only good part of the package.
However, it doesn't work well with the game it comes with, because the gun puts the Nunchuck as the trigger, and the Wii remote as the stock. But in the game, the Wii remote is used as the trigger, and it's really awkward with the attachment. Of course, you can't change the control scheme.
Even the main menu sucks. It plays generic carnival music that sounds awful. There's no options other than adjusting the volume. Like I can't use my TV remote for that! And their idea of a tutorial is a simple diagram. Yeah, I could look at that in the manual, so why not include a real tutorial?
As soon as you start a game, you get treated to an awful story about a clown who gets replaced by robots and decides to destroy the circus as revenge. Luckily, the worlds most disturbing looking kids have stepped up to challenge him! You've probably guessed that these cut scenes suck, too. They're just text with pictures, and the text actually has typos in it! Did no one even TRY to make this thing any good?
The game play is even worse. This just might be the worst light gun game ever made. Tiny, indecipherable, icons indicate your weapons, and they're impossible to figure out. The graphics suck. Is this an N64 game? The programming is so bad, at one point the enemies just walk through solid walls.The controls are almost broken. The special move only activates every fifth time you press the button, it feels like. Bosses load you full of bullets, and there's no way to avoid their shots. There are no redeeming aspects to this game at all.
So, another cheap, crappy, game stains the Wii's library. Why no one outside of Nintendo seems to care about making good Wii games is beyond me, as the system would be much better off without all this crap cluttering up it's selection of titles.
Final grade: F