Game Party

Game Party
A review by Shade



Game Party is a Nintendo Wii game that features seven party games, from trivia to basketball. These games are:

Trivia: Various trivia questions that can be about any topic. Spin the wheel and test your knowledge.
Hoop Shoot: A miniature version of basketball. You try to score as many baskets as you can within one minute.
Skill Ball: Roll the ball up the ramp and into the slots to score as many points as you can with nine balls.
Darts: Play a traditonal game of darts. Hit the target and get the most points.
Shuffleboard: Slide your pieces as far as you can without making them fall off. Get the more points by making the piece go closer to the edge at the end.
Air Hockey: Use a small puck and use your "paddle" to hit the puck into the other person's goal.
Ping Cup: Bounce a small Ping Pong ball into all of the cups to win the game. These small party games can be quite fun, but onyl for so long. Find out why in this review.

Gameplay


Air hockey gameplay.

The gameplay was unique in few ways, and Game Party has what you would expect out of a party game. You have odd controls related to the game being played and each game is more like a minigame. That is absolutely right. Once you complete a game, you get tickets. You use tickets for unlockables, and since the unlockables are limited, this game would have done fine without that feature. One thing I would have liked to see is the ability to play as your Mii, not the characters already on the game.


Shuffleboard gameplay.

Gameplay - 8/10 - It was fine. Could have used some more to it, but it was fine.

Controls

Game Party makes various use of the Wii Remote. For example, in basketball, you hold down the B button and shoot, letting go as you swing the remote. BUT, in basketball, your character will throw the ball to the side of the hoop even if your swing is perfectly aligned with the sensor bar. I found myself turning to the side just to make a basket. And for Air hockey, this shouldn't have even been attempted. The camera angle is supposed to make it seem like you are in First Person, but the camera actually is above the arena. Awful, just awful. The controls were fine, but they were often non-responsive and difficult for beginners. The controls were not all that great to be honest.


Air hockey, one of the games with the worst controls.

Controls - 5/10 - Often non-responsive, difficult for beginners.

Graphics

The graphics for Game Party were not what you would expect out of Super Mario Galaxy or Metroid Prime 3, but they are good enough to actually tell what the characters is doing. They aren't bad at all, but I'm saying they aren't good either. Basic graphics, and that it what I expected out of this game.


Game Party screenshot.

Graphics - 7/10 - I wasn't impressed, but I wasn't disappointed either.

Sounds/Music

The sounds were alright, but they were slightly fuzzy at times. The music was carnival related, which made it seem like you really were at an arcade. The music set the perfect mood. The sounds are what could have used some work. Some of the sound effects were unrealistic.

Sounds - 7.5/10 - Could have been better.
Music - 8.5/10 - Set a great mood and made it seem like you really were at the arcade.


With the poor controls, I don't know this guy managed to do this.

Overall

7/10

This game has ups and downs, and I wasn't pleased with the controls very much, but some of the games were catchy and nice. This game is also slightly addicting. But, I wanted more out of this game and I feel that it was not put together well enough.

SECOND OPINION
5/10

After playing this for a little while, I have changed the score. This game isn't worthy of a 7, more like a 5/10. At first, I thought it was okay, but now that I played it for a bit longer, I don't really know.

Pros and Cons

Pros
- Featured 7 extensive minigames
- Had great music to set the mood

Cons
- Poor controls
- No Mii playability