Game Party (Wii)

With not owning a Wii myself, I have always been overly intrigued about playing one of these new and definitely very cool looking games consoles. It just happened this bank holiday that I ended up spending some time with my boyfriend and his mum's Wii. Having bought a new game for the console earlier that day I was persuaded after a little while to play against him. Not that putting me in a competition situation is a good idea... Especially against him..!

~~ Packaging ~~

As with any console the games are always cased in the distinctive DVD style packaging with the trademark Nintendo white background with the Wii logo in the top right hand corner just so the customer knows that it is for the Wii console. The cover features the words 'Game Party' is an orange oval in white writing, and features pictures of all the games featured on the disk, including pictures of darts and basket balls, and a Wii remote with the jacket on. Which you have to use now as the company will not be liable to breaking TV's..!
The disk is encased in the white plastic which looks like the DVD case, with the orange and white writing of 'Game Party,' the disk is actually blue with the Wii logo engraved out of the blue colour and certain information that quite frankly being someone not brilliant with complicated technological things I don't understand..! Doesn't stop me playing the game though..!

~~ The Games ~~

The games on the disk are;
· Darts
· Hoop Shoot
· Ping Cup
· Shuffleboard
· Skill Ball
· Table Hockey
· Trivia

All the games as you would expect on the Wii are slightly difficult as getting the aim right and pushing the right buttons at the right time does get a little tedious when you keep getting it wrong. Never the less they are all so much fun and get you moving and get competition flowing between whoever is playing the games. Some but not all are multiplayer, the only single player games are, 'Skill Ball,' and 'Hoop Shoot.'

~~ Darts ~~

On the game this is my personal favourite, it is not tricky at all simply aim at the place on the dart board hold the A button and throw..! This is a fairly competitive game for two - four players. At first it is quite difficult to actually score points as the darts are quite prone to bouncing of the metal on the board. Leaving your character with a red face and looking amusingly angry..! The scoring is exactly the same as on normal darts you could play in a pub.. The graphics on this game are average as they always are on Wii games, with the characters shadow on the board sometimes it does get a little annoying to try and hit the bottom sections off the board.

~~ Hoop Shoot ~~

A single player, with the object of the game in a minute or two, to slam as many virtual basket balls into the hoop as possible. It is easily useable with just a flick of the wrist with the Wii remote to get the balls in. It all depends on where your Wii sensor is played to how easily you can get the balls in..! Although the graphics are quite funny as the balls go out of the confined area where the hoops are and end up hitting the characters surrounding your character..! Being only a single player again it isn't as fun as some of the others as you do not get the competition value and I did find it boring watching and playing..!

~~ Ping Cup ~~

I will apologise in advance about my rambling of this game..!
Oh my how long was I stood around this Sunday afternoon playing this game… For a starter working out how to get the balls into the oppositions cups is a nightmare. I began to get bored after I had tried 4 or 5 different button combinations and others trying to do the same… We eventually worked it out but I have no idea how..! It is a matter of releasing the A button half way up to your TV screen and flicking your wrist..!
When you finally work out how to play this two player game it is worth it as, it is so competitive, as if you bounce the ball into the cup two of the ten are removed but if it just drops in you only loose one… It is a lot of fun and the characters are quite amusing when they see the side they're on are loosing they bury their head in their hands, this is enough to make me want to play the game..!

~~ Shuffleboard ~~

This game is two player and could cause fights and revenge, each player gets four pucks(?) to slide as far down the board as possible without going off the edge and score as many points as possible, in denominations of 1, 2, 3, 4... There is four rounds before the player who has the highest points gets their points then the game carries on, until you get bored, or annoyed with the person who's winning.. Or if your anything like me you end up revenge sliding pushing your oppositions pucks off the table..! The characters and graphics on this are as similar as the other games, although the characters this time do spend a lot of time brushing themselves down which again is quite funny..!

~~ Skill Ball ~~

A remake of a classic arcade game, throwing a ball into numbered holes which are dependant on which amount of points you get, from 10 points to 100 points. This game also gives tickets, on the ticket menu on the game it says it gives tickets for every game, however I have only encountered tickets for 'Skill Ball.' When you do reach 25 tickets though you can change the colour of your ball, there are around five different colours to pick from. You are given 10 balls to begin with and every time one goes in a numbered hole you get that many points but if it fails to go in you get it back and can have another go..! This game is only single player which does make it a bit boring either watching or waiting for your turn and even more frustrating when you cannot get enough momentum in your controller to get the ball in a hole..!

~~ Table Hockey ~~

Similar to air hockey you can play in most arcades, concentration is essential on this game more than the others because the characters are so much more sensitive and I lost my patience with this game and ended up scored 4 own goals. After a while it does get frustrating, but out of all the games on this disk I have to say this pone does get you moving more and is more animated than the others as it is quite likely you will get mad with your opposition..1 But the fun of these games is the fact that you do get the competition and the laugh with whoever our playing with.

~~ Trivia ~~

Out of all the games I will say this is boring the questions are for an older player rather than a teenager, as questions about old films and old presidents are not within my knowledge a great deal..! Although it does mean that we learn something new..! The best bit about this game is the spinner to chose the category of questions which include, Film and TV, amongst others. By holding the A button and flicking the remote down you can spin the board..! If that interests me this shows just how boring the actual game is..!

The characters, there is a choice of about 6 characters, none of them are especially resembling human form but its only a face for a game I guess..! Those characters that are available, can be extended through playing games with more tickets...
The music, well what can I say someone in particular who knows who he is spent the whole time we were playing dancing to the music, but I must say it is incredibly cheesy not something that I think anyone would buy..!
Although the sound quality will of course depend on your television but on a normal TV it is of a good quality, and the graphic despite the fact they are highly amusing they are good quality and will keep you entertained while playing these games..!

Prices;

Game Station - £19.99
Game - £17.99
Play.com - 17.99
Amazon - £14.96 (including postage)