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Nintendo sure does like to party. After all, they basically invented the genre with Mario
Party back in 1999, which they expanded upon with their dozen or so follow-ups, and its
spiritual spinoff Wii Party back in 2010.
And now they're at it again with Wii Party U, this time offering more minigames and more
ways to play. But does Nintendo still have what it takes to host a killer party, or has
it begun to grow a little stale after all these years
So like its predecessors, Wii Party U is built around minigames. And as usual, you can play
them by themselves. In fact, two of the three primary game modes are built around that very
concept, offering a handful of games that are a little more in-depth than the others.
Take House Party mode, for example, which offers several stand-alone games for up to
4-players, all of which use of the Gamepad in some novel way. For example, a minigame
called Button Smasher is basically Twister for your fingers, requiring everyone to hold
certain buttons on the same GamePad and Wii Remote set as instructed by the game--it can
get pretty hectic, but it's also pretty fun. Then in Water Runners, you actually place
the Gamepad on the floor somewhere far away from the TV. Players must then use Wii Remotes
as spoons to carefully carry virtual water from the Gamepad and walk it back to their
container on the TV, without spilling it along the way. It's as crazy as it sounds, and also
quite clever.
Then there's the GamePad Party mode that similarly revolves around novel uses of the GamePad,
but this time, the entire game takes place only on the GamePad. And because of this,
the games are all limited to just 2-players each. So in one game, you'll actually play
a tabletop version of Foosball, as each player grips a control stick to control their entire
team. In another, you'll take turns in a competitive connect-four like puzzle game where you try
to assemble Miis in the proper order.
Finally, there's TV Party mode, which is where is where the bulk of the gameplay resides.
Here you'll find 5 different board game-like experiences that feature mini games sprinkled
throughout the game. Such as in Highway Rollers, which is a straight-forward board game with
the goal being simply to reach the end. But, the amount of dice you can roll at a time
depends on how well you perform in the minigames that periodically appear, so the better you
are at those, the better the odds you'll have in the board game itself.
Now I've really only scratched the surface of the modes and games available, as there's
far too much for me to break it all down here. But this should a general idea of the play-styles
available. But of course, the question is...how well do they actually play?
And answering that's a little tricky.
So before I do, I want to explain why I like party games. Or to be specific, the first
few Mario parties, and that was due to the sheer intensity of the board games, which
was derived from the brilliant interplay of the skill-based mini games and the strategy
involved with the boardgame portion. Yeah, yeah, there was still a lot of luck involved--as
with most board games--but it was never completely out of your hands.
And that's where Wii Party U's TV Party mode goes a bit astray. Take the aforementioned
Highway Rollers for example--the boardgame portion is dependent entirely on luck, as
there's not a single choice you can make throughout the experience. The only influence you have
on the game itself is through the mini games, which again, affects how many dice you can
roll. But since that's the only factor, the boardgame portion feels completely arbitrary.
There's really no more skill involved here than in chutes and ladders, a game made for
3 year olds. It's a little hard to become engrossed or even care about winning when
the winning conditions are left almost entirely to luck
GamePad Island, another TV Party mode, falls victim to a similar fate, though at least
this one turns every dice-roll into a minigame of its own, giving you some influence on what
happens during the boardgame itself.
And though the rest of TV Party's mode aren't quite as egregious in this transparent lack
of strategy, most of them simply just aren't that engaging. Perhaps the best one of the
bunch is Balldozer, which is similar to the Coin Push game found in many arcade games.
Here you'll play through 5 rounds of mini games and the outcome determines when and where to drop the balls. While I
did have fun with this one, it didn't hold my interest for long. And that's really the
main problem that permeates all of TV Party--it's all very shallow, which is basically the exact
opposite of what many look for in a board game
Okay, I know what you're wondering--what about the mini games themselves? And with over 60
of them that you'll encounter in TV Party mode alone, there's quite a few of them. Well,
if you've played a party game before, then you basically know what to expect, as they're
still relatively simple and straightforward--which isn't a negative. In fact, some of them are
fun, like R/C Drifter. Unfortunately, for me, most of the minigames are simply too passive
in nature and don't often allow for direct interaction with your opponents, which frankly
makes them feel a little boring. With that said, I did find a subset of those games to
be far more interesting, as they directly addressed that concern. The 1 vs Rivals games,
that pits the GamePad player vs the others using Wii Remote, can be hilariously delightful,
as both factions have a direct--and immediate effect on each other in almost all 14 available
games. Take Operation Sandbox for example, where the GamePad players controls a giant
tank, who tries to roll over the opponents targeting him with spiked balls. I really
enjoyed most of these games, as they were both engaging and used the GamePad in unique
ways
Unfortunately, the 1 vs Rivals mini games don't appear that often in TV Party Mode
Which leaves you the duller, more passive ones. Now don't get me wrong--the Mario Party
series has its shares of clunkers too, but they're at least propped up by a compelling
board game which added excitement to every game, because you were actually invested in
the outcome. But because the board games in Wii party U, are almost entirely based on
luck and shallow, the minigames are left to stand largely by themselves
Now so far, I've mostly been talking about the TV Party mode, but what about the games
featured in Wii Party U's two other modes, being House Party and GamePad Party.
So the thing with House Party is that all of the games make novel use of the GamePad
and are pretty interesting for that reason--and well, basically only that reason. Because
once the novelty of things such as carrying virtual water from your GamePad to the TV
wears off, there's really not much left to these games. Now some of the games do have
a little more replay value to them, such as Name That Face, which challenges other players
to guess your facial expression, but all of them suffer from a similar lack of depth that
makes them hard to enjoy more than once or twice.
However, I will say that the GamePad party games are actually my personal favorite of
the bunch. These too make novel use of the GamePad controller, but this time offering
a level of depth that--at least for some of them--make them pretty addictive. I love Foosball,
and it's amazing how well Wii party U's version captures the essence of that game. Similarly,
playing Tabletop baseball is far more engaging than I expected. And finally, Mii-in-a-Row
is actually a fairly deep puzzle game that'll leave you and your opponent scratching your
heads.
Whew, clearly there's a ton to this game--and as I mentioned before, I've still only scratched
the surface. And a lot of it is fun...just not that fun, and not for that long. The TV
Party Mode falters with its far-too simplistic boardgames which also winds up taking the
wind out the sails of the minigames. Then House Party, though often creative, has little
else going on for it. GamePad Party, on the other hand, is actually the highlight of the
experience here, though even its games grew tiring after a few play sessions
So overall, I'm giving Wii Party U's multiplayer mode 3/5 stars. It can be entertaining
as long as you have friends., just perhaps not for that long--at least in my case
Now if you're going solo, you should know that not all of the game is playable. And
the parts that are, well, really aren't that entertaining by yourself. Sure, CPU players
will fill in the blank spots of your roster, but there's just not much to be had in taking
them down, which is why Single-Player gets 2-Stars out of 5.
Thanks for watching our review of Wii Party U and make sure to stay-tuned to GameXplain.com
for more reviews and other things gaming too.