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Wii Party great for social holiday events

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  • by lance clifton
  • Originally published November 24, 2010 at 12:45 p.m., updated November 24, 2010 at 12:45 p.m.

  • IF YOU BUY IT "Wii Party" was released Oct. 3 and is available at most retail stores for about $50.

Everything's a party with Nintendo's "Wii Party," a new multi-player party-based video game.

The program pits up to four players against each other, using a collection of more than 70 mini-games. Some modes take as little as five minutes, while others can take an hour or more.

Each mini-game lasts about one minute and includes anything from being the first to calm a crying baby, to fighting your fellow competitors while dressed in superman capes.

All included games and game-modes are straight-forward and easy play.

The game is roughly based on the long-running Nintendo game-series "Mario Party," a collection of simple games that players must complete while moving across a variety of board-game style environments while playing alone or with friends.

"Wii Party," a revision of the series, is more scaled-back and intended to be played by a wider audience in party-like environments. So, while "Wii Party" offers several modes that can be played alone, the game is best suited for multiple players.

Of all the modes offered, "Board Game Island" is my favorite. In this game, players roll dice to advance spaces just like a traditional board game. However, in "Wii Party" version of a board, you do more than just roll dice. After every turn, players are required to play one of a variety mini-game challenges. How a player does in a mini-game will determine bonuses that influence the value of your dice roll and affect your position on the board. This aspect of gameplay adds a lot to the traditional board game, which is primarily luck-based.

Most game modes center on playing mini-game challenges, with the game mode altering how the challenges are presented.

Most of the modes will provide good fun in a crowded environment, but I did find that a few were not quite up to par. The "Bingo" mode for example seemed a bit dull, and offered little more than its paper counterpart.

Graphics and visuals are fairly simplistic yet polished; if you've played the Wii's popular "Wii Sports" or "Wii Play" titles, you will feel right at home with the style.

Playability of "Wii Party" is fairly simple, making it a title that any age-group can play and enjoy, with decent controller responsiveness overall.

"Wii Party" is a great game for social events, but you will find it offering little for you if you primarily play games alone or with less than four people.

I can only recommend purchasing this game if you have frequent gathers or live in a house with at least four people.

However, with the Thanksgiving holidays here, now would be the perfect time to give a rental.

Lance Clifton is a computer science junior at the University of Houston-Victoria and has an associate degree in digital multimedia and information resource design. Clifton is a student in UHV's print media class. The Advocate is partnering with the class to publish student work.




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