I was at Best Buy with my favorite lady this weekend, and she wanted to get Just Dance 2 (Wii). Although I was very, very skeptical, that game is awesome. Seriously. Smart decisions abound from the moment you turn it on, to the fun graphics, to the way the game works with ONLY A STANDARD, NON-MOTION PLUS WII-MOTE!!! I love the graphical style, so far my only complaint is that a lot of the choreography is very feminine. I'll do a more full write up later, when I have played some more.
While at Best Buy, we spotted Family Game Night 3. She squealed with delight, I instantly engaged "I know this isn't good but if I nerd it up to much you won't take me seriously" mode, hinting that perhaps it was a rushed knock off attempting to confuse grandparents.
Well, she was undeterred, so it was purchased. Here is what that game is. First of all, it contains five games: Clue, Life, Twister, Moustrap, and Yahtzee Hands Down. The game features a central plaza (read: menu) that contains each game as well as an outhouse where you can play dress up with Mr. and Mrs. Potatohead. The Potato Heads "host" the games, which means everytime you enter or exit a game there is a 3 minute intro featuring the spud running around either space (yep) or the title of the game. It doesn't make sense, but it is fairly unobtrusive.
TWISTER
So let's go through the games: First of, Twister. Myself and the lady were sort of excited about this one. How would it work, we wondered? Then we turned it on. It is a bad Simon says style rhythm game. Mr. Potato Head gives you a short series of button presses in time to music, and then you repeat them. That's all. It works pretty well, although the game never explains if you need to wave the Wiimote or use the directional buttons for left/right and up/down (we THINK its d-pad). The real problem is that it is just boring. There are three "styles" of generic muzak to choose from, and two "songs" within each style. The songs don't really change anything, just the background sounds, and they are all so forgettable.CLUE
Done with that after five minutes, we exited out, and confusingly watched Mr. Potato Head float through space. Then we picked Clue. Clue is a rendition of the classic board game. Unfortunately, the implementation is awkward. First of all, the "investigation and interview" sequences simply result in revealing a small piece of a picture of the room where the crime was committed. This is displayed to all players. The other "mechanic" is roaming the board, stepping on special spaces to get "rumor points" which then allows you to guess at the location, weapon, and suspect, and be told right or wrong (like the board game always worked). This is the most effective way of determining the crime, so there is no point in ever engaging any suspects. Since the "rumor points" are entirely random, you may be able to get 5 guesses in the time someone else gets 1, simply through luck.Clue's other problem is that some of the game actually says "Everyone else look away from the screen." This is a little awkward. The real problem, is that when you play with the Computer A.I., the game still says "Everyone look away!" Ok, but then it doesn't tell you when the computer is done reviewing the information, so you are left guessing when to resume looking. Furthermore, you have a "Detective Notecard" that theoretically records your guesses, but I was unable to access it during the game. Again, instructions are not the game's strong suit. The computer AI players also both put forth incorrect guesses, eliminating themselves from the game early on... Clue at least has some charm, as after you interview a suspect, your Mii stands over them while they pant on the ground, legs splayed. It is one of those "Oh my god did they really just do that?" moments like in every Disney movie ever.
Mousetrap
Exiting Clue and heading back to Moustrap, we were again graced with Mr. Potato Head in space... Moustrap is very faithful to the original board game. You roll dice, collect cheese, and build the con-TRAP-tion. Unfortunately, the game doesn't really have the same excitement as putting the contraption together that it did when we were six. Also, when you land on a "build" space, you can build either 1,2 or 3 of the 23 total pieces required. To determine how many, you play a "Pipe Dream" minigame. There are sections of track that the marble MUST roll over, and you build connecting pieces to make it happen before the ball rolls too far ahead. While this isn't terrible, it is the ONLY minigame! The rest of the game is simply rolling dice.At the end, you go around in a circle until one player is under the trap, and the other is standing on the "turn crank" space. Watching the Rube Goldberg device go is pretty fun, and the game animates it nicely. The problem here is from the inherent original: it is entirely dice roll dependent. Therefore, you spend a lot of time just rolling dice, watching the characters move, etc, etc.
Life
Full disclosure: The Game of Life is the favorite game of the lady and I. So that may color this slightly. Nonetheless, it was really, really fun. This is the classic game, not the newer "Twists and Turns" version (oh god, discussing various iterations of Life...). However, it also has some minor tweaks. There are now a few extra branching paths, including the "Go back to school" path, the "family" path, and the "risky" path. These are nice additions, and thank god, the game actually explains how each differs when you get to them.Other changes inciude new minigames. For example, when you get a job, you play the "sort the job offers from the junk mail" minigame. This determines the number of jobs you get to choose from, although it ultimately is still pretty random. On buying a house, you play a Concentration style game to determine which ones you can choose from. When you get married, you play the Twister rhythm game described above for your "first dance" to determine the amount of your wedding gift. These games are all pretty easy, I scored max every time, but they are a cool variation, and something children or casual gamers would love. They also aren't game breaking. One player could score max, another could score 0, and it wouldn't entirely tip the balance.
Life does suffer somewhat from poor directions. There is a lawsuit minigame where you sue another player. The directions say, "Shake the Wii mote to make your case!" So, you start shaking like mad. Of course, the bar does nothing. After the game, you discover that it really meant, "Defendant player shake the wii mote to defend yourself from the suit!" From this point on it is fine, but that first time is a real bummer. Also, the way the game totals up your money after each turn is a bit confusing, and the game's handling of loans makes it very easy to borrow a ton of money, and then not realize you have a loan on the books later. Younger players may need some help with this. Finally, there are special cards that can block other players from using bad actions against you, but you never really know if you have any and how you got them, and they play automatically. Many times you land on a space and are completely surprised when "Player 2 plays Share the Wealth and halves their debt!" Player 2 is equally surprised.
The game is awesome, however, in that it handles all the money transactions automatically, making things much easier. You can also speed up spinning (WHERE IS THIS IN THE OTHER GAMES!!!) as well as almost all the other animations. When everyone finishes, the game totals up the amount of money in a way that makes it impossible to know who won until the last Life card is cashed in, which is tons of fun. The game pulls from your system's Miis, meaning that my girlfriend ended up marrying my dad, and I ended up marrying my mom. However, when you decide to have more children you hug, and babies drop out of mid air, so its pretty easy to laugh it off. It was actually funny when my girlfriends pretty Mii was standing next to a bald guy with glasses in a tux. It should be noted that the animations in Life are nicely done. They are colorful and ooze charm, and almost never intrusive. The board also looks beautiful.
Other Games/Features
We didn't try the Yahtzee card game, mostly because we play Yahtzee dice once a week and have tried the other variations (including Showdown, Poker, and this one, Hands Down) and tend to not enjoy them as much. Also, after each game you unlock a "mascot" but we never found where they actually exist in the game. The Mr. Potato Head dress up isn't really explained either, he had one costume after we played for a few hours. The game does a cool thing in that it tracks player's score across the whole session. When you win a game, you get 1,000 points, second gets 500, and so on, so that at the end of a few rounds of Twister, a game of Life, and some Clue, you can see how everyone has done for the whole session.Each game has both the full game and quick game option. The quick game options shorten the games, but don't lessen the fun. They are a nice addition, especially in Twister where short rounds are more fun than marathon sessions. There are also "Remix" options for each game as well as "Classic." We did not try any "Remixes" which is why this isn't a full review.
Family Game night is a decent game collection plagued by a few design choices. On the one hand, the generally simply mechanics and fast moving games will appeal to a younger or more casual players who want to play family games without having to keep track of scores and lots of tiny pieces. On the other hand, the lack of direction in game controls and mechanics often means an adult or serious gamer needs to be on hand to teach new users how to play. To be honest, this is a great game for a gamer who wants to be able to bring non-gaming friends into gaming. As a single player, or traditional game, it has little to no merit.
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