Wii Party Review

Wii Party will release in North America in time for the all important Christmas shopping frenzy. Nintendo has already announced several other highly anticipated games for the fall of 2010, but Wii Party looks to be their attempt to copy the smashing success of games like Mario Kart Wii and New Super Mario Bros Wii. While Nintendo has gone out of their way to please the traditional gamers this year with releases lika a new Metroid, Donkey Kong country and Sin and Punishment, Wii Party is squarely a so called bridge title. Nintendo's intention with Wii Party is to offer a game that will appeal to established gamers as well as the huge market of new or casual gamers.

Wii Party is destined to receive a cold shoulder from many traditional gamers, the word 'party games' has turned into somewhat of a kiss of death this generation. The already casual reputation of the Wii and a push for a party game on the console is already having parts of the audience turning their noses up. When rejecting something before trying it you always run the risk of missing out on a gem, and people who are already discounting Wii Party will find themselves in that situation.

Wii Party follows a similar structure as the established series Mario Party. One major change is that Wii Party is no longer set in the mushroom kingdom, instead players use Miis to play the game. However, players still compete on a game board and engage in a multitude of mini games to determine who will reign supreme at the end. The mini games are short and intense and frequently very strange. Players will compete in activities as different as horse racing, kart driving and keeping babies from crying. The games are very simple and easy for anyone to join mostly relying on motion controls or very simple use of the directional button.

The beauty of a game like Wii Party though is not in complexity in game design, but in the fun that can be had with others. This is where Wii Party truly shines. It is obvious that Nintendo has focused very hard on making the multi player experience as much fun as possible. The competitiveness of the mini games is just intensified by progressing on the game board with all its built in hazards and bonuses. Anyone who has played Mario Party knows the intense joy of coming from behind to win a game thanks to a spectacularly unfair twist of the game.

The standard party mode of Wii Party brings a much appreciated fresh feeling to the basic Mario Party formula, but Wii Party has more tricks up its sleeve. The game has two additional game modes that increase the appeal of the game. First is the Pair Party mode where two players have to cooperate to reach a common goal. A typical example is the fishing game where both players have to pull their line at the same time to be able to catch the fish. The mode also has games like canoe paddling where players naturally help each other out as well as the balance game that has been shown many places. Players take turns placing Miis on the masts of a ship trying to keep it from tipping over.

Finally, Wii Party introduces a brand new set of game mechanics in the Living Party mode. This unique game mode transforms the wii remote into the game piece. The mode again consists of a series of mini games, but they now revolve around using the wii remote in imaginative ways. For example, one game has the players hiding their remote somewhere in the room, and the other players trying to find it based on a sound the remote is playing. My favorite game in this mode is the pass the bimb game where the wii remote acts as an unstable explosive device. The object is to hand the remote to another player, but if you shake or bump the wii remote too much it will go off and take your Mii out of the game.

Wii Party is predictably a lot of fun, as long as you have friends and family over to play with. The game is definitely best when competing against other people, but this is common for all games and especially for party games. With solid game play, tons of Nintendo charm and new and innovative game modes, Wii Party should be a huge success for Nintendo this Christmas.