Wii Party
Oh Mii oh my...
Posted October 5, 2010
Developed by the same developer that created Mario Party for the Big N, Wii Party is a very similar collection of mini-games. These mini-games allow you to use your own Miis just like Wii Sports, Wii Music or Wii Play. The presentation is typical Mii style, devoid of any specific characterization, but lightly playful. The developer made the game very simple to get the hang of without going into much explanation on how each mini-game works. That being said, it’s clear that the humdrum presentation is worse off for not including some sort of stronger Nintendo branding.
Assuming you have four Wii Remotes, you can play the game with three other friends. There are a variety of game modes including board game, globe trot and house party. The board game mode pits you against the other players as you race along the board by rolling the dice and have to complete mini-games successfully to move faster than the other players. If you place in a mini-game, you are given bronze, silver or gold dice depending on your rank. Gold dice allow you to zip along faster than your competition. Unfortunately, you have no choice over the mini-games and often get penalized because the game chooses the winner randomly rather than skill. Globe Trot is somewhat similar to board game, but with an added layer of strategic thinking. You are required to purchase souvenirs around the world and spend coins earned from the mini-games. Money can also be spent on traveling faster to get those souvenirs, so it’s a balancing act of sorts.
House Party mode is probably the most entertaining mode though. There are hot potato style games that require you to pass around bombs between players required to do tasks like hitting a button in time or figuring out the next word. There are also games that send sounds to the Wii-Motes and require you locate the correct remote. This could be anything from identifying the correct sound playing from all four different remotes or searching the room for a chirping remote that your adversaries have hidden from you.
Unfortunately, many of the mini-games rely more on chance than skill to determine the outcome and have an overly helpful AI for the players in last place. If you are dominating the competition, the AI will often give the player in last place an awesome roll of the dice or make them the winner in the next mini-game that’s purely chosen by chance. It’s an incredibly cheap cop-out that ties into the mentality that everyone should be a winner, despite all the successes other players had in the game. This gets even worse when you have to assign extra players to be CPU controlled. It is also evident in other modes in the game that are all chance, Bingo and a Wheel of Fortune knock-off.
Opposite from the very entertaining Guilty Party, there's no cohesive point that holds Wii Party together and drives you to continue playing the game with friends. There aren’t even Nintendo trademarked characters to help bring any character to the game (similar to Mario Party). It’s just a collection of 80 or so mini-games that aren’t going to get you to call the buddies over for game night. Even for families, Wii Party lacks the entertainment value of other party games on the console or the challenge for that matter. If you are looking for a new party game to enjoy with the kids, I recommend picking up the vastly superior Guilty Party over the incredibly bland Wii Party.
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Assuming you have four Wii Remotes, you can play the game with three other friends. There are a variety of game modes including board game, globe trot and house party. The board game mode pits you against the other players as you race along the board by rolling the dice and have to complete mini-games successfully to move faster than the other players. If you place in a mini-game, you are given bronze, silver or gold dice depending on your rank. Gold dice allow you to zip along faster than your competition. Unfortunately, you have no choice over the mini-games and often get penalized because the game chooses the winner randomly rather than skill. Globe Trot is somewhat similar to board game, but with an added layer of strategic thinking. You are required to purchase souvenirs around the world and spend coins earned from the mini-games. Money can also be spent on traveling faster to get those souvenirs, so it’s a balancing act of sorts.
House Party mode is probably the most entertaining mode though. There are hot potato style games that require you to pass around bombs between players required to do tasks like hitting a button in time or figuring out the next word. There are also games that send sounds to the Wii-Motes and require you locate the correct remote. This could be anything from identifying the correct sound playing from all four different remotes or searching the room for a chirping remote that your adversaries have hidden from you.
Unfortunately, many of the mini-games rely more on chance than skill to determine the outcome and have an overly helpful AI for the players in last place. If you are dominating the competition, the AI will often give the player in last place an awesome roll of the dice or make them the winner in the next mini-game that’s purely chosen by chance. It’s an incredibly cheap cop-out that ties into the mentality that everyone should be a winner, despite all the successes other players had in the game. This gets even worse when you have to assign extra players to be CPU controlled. It is also evident in other modes in the game that are all chance, Bingo and a Wheel of Fortune knock-off.
Graphics
- Remember Wii Sports? Wii Party looks just like all the first party Wii Something games, barely scraping the graphical capabilities of the Wii. The color palette is diverse and bright, but the details is severely lacking. Animations are fairly stiff and you have to wait through the preset celebration / failure emotions to get through the matches.
Audio
- Cute, light music populates the menus and mini-games. Similar to the graphics, it’s nothing that you haven’t heard before. The sound effects are just as forgettable. Obviously there are no voiceovers since this is a Mii filled game.
Conclusion
Opposite from the very entertaining Guilty Party, there's no cohesive point that holds Wii Party together and drives you to continue playing the game with friends. There aren’t even Nintendo trademarked characters to help bring any character to the game (similar to Mario Party). It’s just a collection of 80 or so mini-games that aren’t going to get you to call the buddies over for game night. Even for families, Wii Party lacks the entertainment value of other party games on the console or the challenge for that matter. If you are looking for a new party game to enjoy with the kids, I recommend picking up the vastly superior Guilty Party over the incredibly bland Wii Party.
Discuss This Game on Our Official VGT Forum