Go Vacation (Switch) Review

Seeking to fill the void of a Wii Sports-like phenomenon for the Switch, the port of Wii game Go Vacation harkens back to the era of mini-game compilation titles – including the mixed bag of quality content.

Despite the plethora of fantastic multiplayer games on the Switch in its young life, we are yet to see anything quite like the Wii Sports series of accessible and replayable mini-games on the current console. 1-2 Switch, the glorified tech demo masquerading as a paid party game, failed to excite players beyond its opening hours of play. Go Vacation offers plenty of content, but very little of it is engaging after the initial novelty quickly wears off.

Set in the holiday resort locale of Kawawii Island, Go Vacation allows to explore its mini open-world setting between the four themed resorts: Marine, City, Snow, and Mountain. Exploring the various settings and goofing around with friends is arguably the most enjoyable aspect of this Wii package, with plenty of transport options generating organic and impromptu fun. Hooning around on jet skis, ATVs, snowmobiles, and horses are briefly fun until it dawns on you that the actual structured content feels flat in comparison.

Playing through the many mini-games, it quickly becomes evident Go Vacation tries to be a jack-of-all-trades, but firmly falls into the master-of-none category. Sure, there’s plenty of races, sports and other miscellaneous activities to do, but very few of these pursuits compel repeat visits to what is otherwise a pleasant resort experience. Why play the shallow races of Go Vacation when the highly dynamic and replayable Mario Kart 8 Deluxe exists? Or when the likes of Golf Story and Mario Tennis Aces yield significantly stronger sports experiences? I understand there is a certain value appeal in playing a compilation game dabbling in a bit of everything, but Go Vacation asks for too much when it lacks the polish of Wii Sports – a free pack-in title back in the day.

While many of Go Vacation’s ventures can feel repetitive or mundane, know that it’s easy to share said mundanity with friends. Several control options exist to allow for various controller configurations, including both singular and dual Joy-Cons, and full compatibility with the Pro Controller. However, be wary of the single Joy-Con configuration, as this forces players to control nearly everything using motion controls. Other control options allow for swapping between motion controls and the far more comfortable control stick variant, but if you don’t have enough dual Joy-Cons or Pro Controllers, you’re stuck in the motion control purgatory. While motion control technology has substantially improved since the original Wii days, navigating Kawawii Island can be an infuriating experience without the use of the beloved control stick. Motion controls are not inherently bad, but the lack of an opt-out option for what is most likely to be the main controller configuration among the target market is undesirable.

Frustratingly, Go Vacation’s annoying little quirks don’t stop there. Mii’s are playable characters, but are devoid of the same level of clothing customisation as the creepy-looking Kawawii natives. Plus, when in multiplayer, changing outfits or other customisables pauses everyone’s action in order to only let one person make changes at a time, despite the split-screen nature of the game. For everyone wanting to change their outfits, you have to exit and re-enter the customise screen for each individual up to four times depending on how many are playing.

When Go Vacation’s main enjoyment derives from you mucking around with mates, anything that halts this kills the mood. That, and instead of being open from the beginning, each resort section must be unlocked by playing through a set number of mini-games before proceeding. Considering the fluctuating quality of Go Vacation’s mini-games, and that the very good Snow resort is the third location to unlock, I don’t feel this is conducive for allowing players to make their own fun. There’s also a villa that you can customise once all the resorts are unlocked, but there’s little incentive to spend time with this due to its solitary nature in what is primarily a multiplayer game.

Go Vacation can provide silly sandbox fun given the right company, but the actual structured mini-game content lacks the same level of polish, charm and depth that other Switch multiplayer games feature in spades. With such conditional dependency on enjoyment for what is a steep initial investment, it is difficult to recommend Go Vacation.

Rating: 2.5/5