Wii Party U

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If you’re thinking of what party game to get the family this Christmas, why not choose Wii Party U.  This is Nintendo’s biggest party game to date and is exclusive to the Wii U.  It’s a party game that will keep the kids (and adults!) entertained for many hours.

When I received Wii Party U last week to review I didn’t expect much of a game
bearing in mind that it came bundled with a Wii remote plus.  I still remember buying Wii Play just so I could get my hands on an extra controller.  However I’ve held off publishing my review for the past week because my eldest daughter has been playing this game non stop.  I’m really pleased and at the same time annoyed because on the one hand she is starting to take a real interest in gaming, and the other is that I didn’t get my lie in this weekend because she wanted to be up at 7 o’clock playing “Fast Food
Frenzy”.

There are plenty of minigames (80 in total) that make good use of both the Wii U gamepad and Wii remote.  This is definitely a party game that must be experienced with lots of players in order to have the best experience.  Wii Party U is split into 4 modes which are: TV Party where you compete against players through mini games on a game board (similar to Mario Party), House Party which are mini games more focused on turning your living room into the playing area, Gamepad Party which are games aimed at using the Wii U gamepad (Tabletop Football is my favourite) and Minigames, which is like TV Party but without the game board.

I was initially joined by my 4 and 5 year old (as it should be!) when playing Wii Party U for the first time.  Because there was so much to choose from we decided to select “Suggestions”, which suggests a game to play for the number of players you have. We started off by playing “Highway Rollers”, a board game from TV Party that requires players to get to the finish line first by rolling dice to move spaces and completing various mini games along the way against their opponents.  This was a thoroughly enjoyable experience for me as I remember playing board games with my family as a kid, however, now I’ve got my own family we’re just playing board games on a virtual platform.  There are spaces along the way which can propel you a further 20 spaces or those that place you dead last.  Unfortunately I was the one who experienced the latter, which was really annoying because I was one space away from winning the game.

In House Party my girls and I really enjoyed “Water Runners” and “Fast Food Frenzy”.  “Water Runners” is clever because you place the gamepad on the floor, which then acts as a river, and with your Wii remote you have to point the controller at the gamepad screen to scoop up water and transfer it to a jug on the TV screen.  With “Fast Food Frenzy” the gamepad turns into a cash register (like the ones you see at any fast food restaurant).  One player then takes on the role of cashier whilst the others pretend to be hungry customers and shout out their orders from the menu displayed on the TV screen.  This is our favourite mini-game at the moment because it taps into the girls imagination play.  We’ve set the living room up to resemble a fast food restaurant.

In Gamepad Party Beth and I are constantly challenging each other to “Tabletop Football”, which is very clever.  You have to turn the gamepad sideways and each player gets an analogue stick to control their team.  I try my best to let Beth win but it’s really hard when she keeps scoring in her own net.  There’s also “Tabletop Baseball” which again uses the analogue sticks to either swing the bat or throw a pitch.

It’s no surprise that the Miiverse message board has nothing but high praise for Wii Party U.  Because of this game I would recommend any family to considering getting a Wii U for Christmas.  There’s a nice library of games now available and more to come early next year such as Mario Kart 8 and Donky Kong Country.  The Wii Party U Basic Pack comes with the white console, Wii U gamepad, Wii remote plus and copies of Wii Party U and Nintendoland.