The third game in the Electronic Arts series of the My Sims, is the MySims Party for the Wii. The concept is similar to many of the Wii party games; get a bunch of friends together or your kids and have a ball participating in mini-games that range from all different activities that require you to shake, throw, and hit things.
You begin the game by choosing a character, each of which are wide eyed and block headed. To actually pick your avatar that will represent you throughout the game, one must go through pages of options, which may make cause a child on the young side to loose focus.
Once the character has been completed, you enter the game and read through a tutorial on what your Sim is doing and how to play the game. I struggled with it holding my attention, so I can hardly imagine how someone younger may feel. You can start the game by either choosing “Mini-Games” or “Festival” mode. I recommend starting with the mini-games. There are fifty to choose from, so there isn’t much repetition. Even though the mini-games aren’t that creative, they are the best of what this game has to offer.
Like similar games, for instance Littlest Pet Shop – successfully wining mini-games earn you points or coins that can be used within the game. The same is true for the MySims Party.The mini-games do a good job of being entertaining and requiring you do special things to keep the game moving along. The tasks don’t require much brain power just aggressively pushing buttons. In festival mode you’ll earn cash and be able to buy more clothing or furniture for your MySim.
Controlling the Wii remote is the one part of this game that should be easy for any age group to handle. The mini-games kept the remote usage pretty basic and simple. Mashing buttons is required to catch a bus or mash a button to blow up a ballon. You know, your basic button mashing game. But just like real kids – the MySims get tired too after playing and your avatar starts to grow tired after each game. Which means you will have to pick another character to continue with. You can alter a characters attributes with the concept of playing cards. By the choice you make, the cards will either better your chances at winning or greatly hurt them. This option is only available in Festival mode.
Conclusion:
The game in itself is a little too old for the ‘tween set and should be avoided by adults. That said, we can see it having the appeal of being played at a cocktail party or in a very casual, non compeitive environment where players can jump right in and play immediately. Also, MySims Party allows you to interact with shops and the in-game community. Like most other Wii games of a similar vein you’ll be able to customize your character over time by winning mini-games and other activities. Of course it’s best to play with friends and up to 4 players can participate. There are over 40 mini-games to play and 12 festivals. However, the constant reading will distract most players who just want to play a challenging game. Although there are a lot of mini-games to choose from, the whole overall theme gets to be a little too repetitive and I think kids in this day and age can probably handle just a tad more of a challenge instead of a dumbed down game.
The Good: Another creative addition the MySims series of games. Great for little kids just starting to play games that doesn’t require much thinking.
The Bad: MySims Party could have taken a different direction and broken away from the standby mini-games concept. Eventually even little kids will get bored after an hour.
