Review: Family Party: 30 Great Games (Wii)

Generally I don’t mind mini-game compilations because they’re at least some amusement can be had with multiple people playing.  Enter Family Party: 30 Great Games which feels like  a title that can only be described as shovelware, much to my disappointment.  Though there are a few bright spots in the game, it’s overshadowed by bad controls, brief explanations, and horrible play options.

Family Party is composed of 30 party games that have been seemingly ripped from Japanese TV game shows.  You as the player pick a character from a family.  Some family members who you probably wouldn’t see doing these sorts of games are there such as grandma and grandpa.  The activities consist of doing physical activity, either by having your character navigate a gauntlet or balancing which is dependent  of the way you are able to hold your controller.  At first only fifteen are accessible, but as you keep playing and place first in each event, it unlocks the rest.  Each area has six games to play and consist of waggling the Wii Remote for the most part.  A few diamonds in the rough include a balancing game where your character needs to stay on top of pillows.  Another was taking turns walking across a bridge while the other players fired projectiles at you to slow you down.

It may sound good so far, but that’s where it ends for the most part.  The difficultly doesn’t tend to be the skill it takes to perform during an activity, but whether or not your motion is recognized.   Many of the games are hampered by controls and imprecision which isn’t helped by the games using nearly the same control methods.  Those that prove to be fun are diluted by the fact your arm is sore from doing the other games to get up to that point.  There is a party mode to allow you to pick what games you play however, but if you’re playing to unlock all the games, expect a world of fatigue.

If you want to practice alone on any particular game, well tough says the game.  No matter which mode you choose, you’re forced to play with three others.  The only way to conceivably play alone is to have three other Wii Remotes handy and just let them sit there.  Even with this method, the time limit makes this worthless.

Although the game doesn’t handle well, it looks fairly decent for a mini-game compilation.  The characters are well animated and seem to respond appropriately either winning or losing.  A few of the voices I could do without however as they tended to grind on me, particularly when I was attempting to finish up on a game while they were jumping up and down in first place.  Luckily, the background music didn’t prove to be annoying and seemed to fit for the most part.

I usually give the benefit of the doubt on the games I review because there are some redeeming factors.  In this game however there aren’t enough to justify the price tag, even if it is at $20.  The fact that players have to unlock half the content by playing through games that aren’t fun and frustrating make me wonder what the developer was thinking.