Customer Reviews

Family Party: 30 Great Games

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Although I have not played this game too much I figured I would write a review for those wondering what this game is even about. First, this is suppose to be a "family" game, yet as a 21 year old I found some of the games difficult to "win." If you are looking to get this for young children I would advise you not to. Also, you have to unlock many of the games, which I have yet to do so when you get the game you only have about 18 of the 30 games to play. The controls are sometimes difficult to operate and most of them involve the same motions. I played with 2 players and you play against 2 "computer" plays as well. The computer players were pretty good at the games and I'm not sure if you can change their levels. All the games are really short, 2 minutes or less and are timed. If you don't complete it in the set time the game is over. The games that I played didn't require the nunchuk, only the remote. Overall, this game is "ok" but don't expect too much fun or hours of entertainment.

There are reviews at: familyfriendlygaming, gamechroniicles, gamespot, IGN & gamevortex. all give medicore scores.
all agree the graphics have nice details, but having ALL gameplay in 4 quadrants even in single player mode is annoying, lazy & makes it hard to see.
the instructions are vague but the controls are complex. I found the controls to be interesting complex like an old arcade game, but I couldn't understand what they wanted exactly. you never use the nunchuck for any game. all agreed the simpler the controls, the better it worked. I had trouble with response with even lifting/lowering flags in one simple mini-game & felt that you really had to put oommpphhh into your movements for it to be recognized (or maybe this game is really that broken sometimes).
there is debate about how broken/responsive the controls are or how much the A.I. cheat. some reviewers had trouble with the balance, but I excelled at it & easy for me such as balancing on cushions or running balance. I found the barrel throw was impossible as you have to hit A at the right time & then lift the wii mote in perfect even balance. I found that you needed to have split second millisecond timing for all movements in all the games which is VERY frustrating like it wanted to be a simulation. even firing a cannon had the arc & slowness for further distances like real life or running on a barrel had delayed response like reality.
This game would have been better if there was some humor involved, some of the sound bites help, but there's not enough & the A.I. movements are on a loop before/after or even during a game.
the only customization at first is choosing a family member from kid to grandparent.
There are different sections to play in a tournament, but you have to win all those games to unlock more games. only half the game is unlocked. you can do battle/quickplay of 1 or more games with 1-4 players at any time, but it won't unlock anything.
be prepared to see "FAILED" a lot & a lot of forced replay until you excel at games in order to unlock more.

this game had some great ideas in terms of use of controls & more complex sport mini-games to keep interest & focus, but because of poor instructions, small screen so you can't see ahead to time your responses, non-warned sim complexity, quirky A.I., inability to have different A.I. difficulty & obvious lazy/poor programing, this game only manages to frustrate.
wisely, I only rent all my games first.

Kids got this for christmas (12, 10, 7). Played it once and then tossed it aside. They said it was weird and really not any fun. I think they need to give it another chance but they are not interested. We saw it at the store for $20.00 and daugther 10 said "Well, what do you expect from such a cheap game?"

Since when is $20.00 cheap?


I think it is not user friendly enough.

This game is awful. If you are using a "smaller tv" the four quadrants make things very difficult to see. The controls require too much coordination and the games that are on the front aren't even ones that are unlocked. None of the shooting games are unlocked nor are the strategy. I am very disapponted in this game and wish it was possible to return it and get my money back.

It would have been nice to know that you only get half the games unless you are skillful enough to unlock the other half. Some of the games are hard and frustrating but you have to play them if you want to unlock anymore. We have been trying for almost three weeks and still have not been able to unlock any other games.

I bought this when I first got my Wii because I wanted to have some variety...and play something other than Wii Sports for awhile. This game was a great deal, I thought, at 30 games for $20. I've got to say...the game WAS kind of fun...but only because everyone was shaking their controllers like crazy and failing over and over again. It's difficult to get the game to do what you want it to do. The controls are WAY too sensitive, and if you don't move JUST RIGHT, you will never win. Also, the screen is divided for 4 players, even in single player mode, so the graphics are very small and there is too much happening on the screen that doesn't even apply to what you are doing.

Overall, it's good for the price and for a few laughs, but too frustrating to play for more than 20 min or so at a time.

Perhaps it's just because my family and I are not coordinated enough, but we all found this nearly impossible to play. For example, in one game, you are reqired to shake the wii remote back and forth while pressing both A and B. At just the right time, you must release A and then press A again a split second later - while still shaking the remote and pressing B - you have to let go of B later in the course at just the right time, but I never made it that far. We are just not that coordinated! Not all games are quite this complicated, but most are very difficult to figure out and time just right. I rarely win anything - usually time out. However, when our whole family plays (and you don't play against the computer), someone has to win. . .that's usually my 13 year old son.

The games themselves are fun and varied. The idea is GREAT! It could be a lot of fun playing with your family if you are willing to practice the movements over and over. It's just so discouraging to constantly lose, fall down, etc. that you just aren't motivated to try. Now, my husband and I do find it more intertaining than Mario Cart or something where you just ride along on a course. This has tons of variety and takes some skill! Unfortunately, you won't see the complete 30 game variety right away because half the games have to be unlocked before you can play them. And you unlock them by winning - which as I said is very difficult. . .vicious cycle.

To be fair, I should also say that not all games are difficult. I have won a couple of them - log cutting, for example. I think with more practice, I can get better on several more - I've second several times. And maybe that is a good thing - to have to work and practice for success. That's not a bad thing at all!!

I agree with most of the other reviews of this game. It seemed like a great idea at a great price, but the games are simply too hard to play with the working of the remotes impossible to master. I'm usually a pretty good gamer, but I have tried each of the unlocked games many times and have only been able to come in first on two single games, one time each and have never been able to get on the podium with anything but "failed" as my reward. At 12.95, it is a good compilation of games with quite good graphics and lots of noise, for people with incredible reflexes and a complete mastery of the wireless remote. Unfortunately, I have yet to meet such a person. If nothing else, it is a good diversion for a good price if you only have a couple of other WII titles and want somthing new to pass some time with.

The games have lots of potential to provide much fun. However, bad implementation causes lots of frustration and no fun at all. Below are some of those problems.

1. Can't Randomly Select The Game You Like
There are 6 areas. Each of them contains 5 games. The annoyance is you have to play them in the order pre-arranged by the manufacturer. You can't random select the one you like!

2. Can't Play The Next Game Until The Computer Finishes Playing Its Turn.
There are 2 modes Challenge and Battle. Challenge is meant for single player. Here, you're able to control only one player.
In Battle mode, you can select up to 4 players.
The biggest frustration is no matter what mode you play, 4 players always take turn to play the games. That means in Challenge mode, after you finish playing your character, you'll have to wait for 3 other players to finish. However, they're automatically controlled by the computer. You can't control them at all. In short, you're wasting time watching the computer playing. You can't continue the game until the computer finishes its turn. Grrr!

3. Difficult To See Things In Battle Mode

In Battle Mode, even if you choose 1 or 2 players, the computer always shows 4 players at the same time. The extra ones are controlled by the computer. To do that, the screen is divided into 4 quadrants. Each quadrant is for each player. Consequently, the characters are very small. It's very difficult to see the movement unless you stand very close to the screen.

4. Can't save the name for the character you choose.
That means any time you play a new game or inset this disc into the console, you'll have to select the player and create its name again!


5. Only 15 out of 30 games are enabled. You have to successfully win them all before others are activated.

The good thing is some games provide some fun. All the games require skills. They take time to win. They're not suitable for kids.

I traded it in after playing it for one hour.

Big waste of money. Games are too difficult for kids. Not fun to play, which is the worst thing you can say about any video game.