Party time, again!
The party gaming genre has really exploded on Wii, with most big publishers offering their own fun mini-game collections to a very receptive audience. Meanwhile, Electronic Arts has enjoyed great success with its MySims series, a cutesy version of the mega-successful Sims titles, where cartoon people build pastel-coloured towns and decorate their own little homes with cool furniture. With MySims party, EA has shrewdly combined the two successful concepts into one charming package. How could it possibly fail?
Well, in most ways, it doesn't. MySims Party is a bumper collection of 50 simple but entertaining mini-games. You start by creating your own avatar, using the large selection of hairstyles, clothing and features on offer. Then you and up to three friends enter the MySims world, a pretty little village which provides the central hub of the game.
Fest of fun
How you play MySims Party is up to you. You can choose to try out any of the mini-games in any order. Alternatively, you can take part in one of the festivals, each of which provides a themed-selection of events - it might be sports, or food, or music - whatever you all feel like doing. Then the fun starts.
And when we wrote 'simple mini-games' we really meant it. In MySims party players will have to try everything from carrying luggage and preparing food, to snowboarding, dancing and finding mummies with a torch. They're short, they're snappy and the interface is pared down to the absolute minimum, so if you can hold the controller, you can play. Taking part usually involves waggling the Wii Remote, or copying an onscreen action - for example, there's a wood cutting game where you have to make extravagant chopping motions to slice through the trunk as quickly as possible.
You'll be doing everything from carrying luggage and preparing food, to snowboarding, dancing and finding mummies with a torch.
If you've ever played a Wii party game before all this should sound very familiar. What MySims Party doesn't require you to do is travel along any sort of onscreen boardgame, like the Mario Party titles. If you like, you can just whiz from game to game, so the pace remains frantic and nothing gets in the way of your fun.
There is a tactical element too. Each player must choose from a selection of MySim competitors at the beginning of each game, and all of them have different stats for strength, endurance, speed and luck. Making the right decision here is often key to winning, which means it's not all down to who can shake a Wii Remote the fastest.
Loosing control
What you don't get from MySims Party is the whacky humour of, say, Raving Rabbids TV Party or WarioWare Smooth Moves. The gameplay matches the visuals - soft and quaint, and very much tying in with the look and feel of the other MySims titles. Also, as with a lot of other party titles on Wii, the controls can be a little unresponsive and inaccurate at times, although you probably won't notice if you're just having a laugh with friends and family.
MySims Party is probably one for younger and less experienced players. There's plenty of fun to be had, and if this is chucked on to your Wii during a family get-together everyone will want a go. But experienced Wii party fanatics might find themselves unchallenged. Still, this is a polished, and fun-packed edition to a very busy genre.
GAME's Verdict
- Maintains the MySims look and feel.
- Loads if different games.
- Extremely accessible.
- Not as wacky and stylish as other mini-game collections.
- The games are very simple.
- Controls can sometimes be a little inaccurate.
Review by: Keith 'Party Hard' Stuart
Version Tested: Wii
Review Published: 19.03.09