You know what has constantly disappointed me during this generation? The Mario sports games on the Switch. Without exception, all of them felt rushed, formulaic, corporate as hell, and devoid of content. I don’t even care most of the content for these games would eventually get patched months later; first impressions are crucial in such expensive titles, and it’s hard to start to care about them like six months after their first release, when there will finally be enough content in it to (barely) justify their pricetag.

What I never thought I’d ever say one day is that a frigging Looney Tunes sports compilation would, in part, compensate for those disappointing Camelot outings, with some of its sports actually feeling more fun than their Nintendo counterparts. Hear me out on this potential lunatic statement.

Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports is the compilation in question, and I really need to reitarate: IN PART. SOME OF ITS SPORTS. All in all, this is a shockingly competent collection of multiplayer-focused sports titles, with intuitive controls, an actually impressive amount of unlockables, a degree of presentation rarely seen in a lower-budgeted outing by GameMill, and one thing clearly missing from the modern Mario Golf or Mario Tennis games: actual charm. But again, I need to be clear that some sports ended up being a lot cooler than others.

Let me start off by mentioning the “duds”. Football and basketball felt a bit confusing in terms of their controls, especially in regards to changing characters when defending. It’s mostly an issue seen when you’re playing by yourself, against the computer; Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports is clearly meant as a local multiplayer title, but there’s enough meat in this pie to satiate solo enthusiasts, if you can keep up with these occasionally odd controllers. As for the rest of their rulesets, both sports behave quite similarly. They are team-focused, devoid of fouls, and you can throw dynamite or ACME anvils at your foes. Sadly, the basketball game is not Space Jam-themed. Missed opportunity.

My favorite sports in Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports were tennis and golf. Tennis could have simply been a bland recreation of the sport with a dated-but-pretty art style and a tremendous crapton of voice acting, but hey, there’s some creativity put into it. Every now and then, Tweety will fly by the court holding a big fat target. Whoever hits it might get items to be thrown at enemies, not unlike what you could do in older Mario Tennis games. Special focus meters and distinct attributes for each character are also featured. Roadrunner is fast but weak, Bugs is an all-rounder, Yosemite Sam is a brute, and so on.

Finally, the actual star of the show: golf. I don’t even care about future repercussions or pitchforks being thrown at me… this was much better than the last Mario Golf game, it’s not even funny. Between the actually decent controls and surprisingly competent course design, I had a great time playing 9-hole games against the computer. Furthermore, you can add in ACME gadgetry (as in, pure chaos) to the match, and you can even be a cheating b***ard and launch your ball into a portal leading to a shortcut. In essence, you can either play a cartoony but accurate rendition of golf, or pure Looney Tunes chaos. It’s all up to you.

This isn’t a game devoid of issues. The loading times are a bit rough, and, as previously mentioned, football and basketball feature some confusing controls. That doesn’t make Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports any less entertaining. I never thought I’d enjoy this game so much, but it simply nails where it needs to. It’s a pretty charming collection of really fun sports titles, with neat visuals, intuitive controls, and a lot of content. It’s an ACME-sponsored product you can actually trust.

Graphics: 7.5 Even if it looks dated, like a Looney Tunes game from the PS2 era, it’s actually pretty charming. Environments are neat, the framerate is decent… it’s a lot better than I could have assumed.	Gameplay: 8.0 It depends on the sport. Golf and tennis are impressive in terms of how straightforward and responsive their controls are. Football and basketball are a bit confusing, but you’re able to get a hang of the controls after a while.
Sound: 7.0 A big issue seen in most GameMill games is the lack of voice acting. This is not the case. They are all here, and can be actually funny at times. It gets tiresome after a while, but hey, that’s Looney Tunes in a nutshell.	Fun Factor: 8.0 There’s a lot of content, it’s fun by yourself or with a friend, there are quite a handful of unlockables, and it’s charming as hell. Team sports are less fun than golf and tennis, but all in all, I am impressed. This is much better than I could have possibly imagined.
Final Verdict: 8.0

Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PC and Switch

Reviewed on Xbox Series S.

A copy of Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports was provided by the publisher.