XBox Game Pass Review: Party Animals

Sometimes you download a game onto your home console knowing exactly the kind of ride and adventure you're about to go on, and sometimes you are forced into playing a game so bizarre that even after somewhat working out what the heck is going on, you still have no idea what the heck is going on. For me, that game is Party Animals, a game that I innocently assumed was a cutesy brawler turned into a bundle of pure anarchy as animals of various types and mythical status flew across the screen like ragdolls as the punches and kicks flew in every direction... and that's just the ball games!

As this is the very first game review I will go through how these reviews will work. I will be breaking this and every game I review in the future down into five different aspects... General Gameplay, User Friendliness (how easy the game is to pick up and play), Controls, Graphics and Overall Verdict. After discussing each point I will give them a rating out of 5 stars (no half stars) with the Overall Verdict taking all other aspects into consideration.

General Gameplay

True to its name, Party Animals is a "party" game, meaning that whilst it does have a central control scheme and gameplay theme running through the core of the actual game, each stage has its own set of rules and all them have a unique feel to them. These are selected prior to each match by the participating players from a randomised pool of three different stages.  This in itself feels a bit restrictive given the unique personality every stage has, to be given the choice of just three could lead to some disappointment with certain players, though this is a minor niggle as I'm sure most players will be able to find a stage they'll enjoy playing regardless.

Ball games are on offer as well as brawling stages

Every one of these stages use the same, set control system of grabs, punches, kicks and headbutts (more on those later), and whilst these are more obviously applicable to the brawler type stages where the objective is to knock out or knock off your opponents, it does make the ball games much more anarchic as everyone tries to floor the person in possession of the ball with fists and feet.

Now it is worth mentioning at this point that Party Animals is an online game only which feels like a massive missed opportunity and I genuinely believe this game would have benefitted from a solo mode, or at the very least a local play mode with bot fillers. This isn't a game of sweeping, war torn vistas of a Battlefield/Call of Duty map, nor is it a specifically designed MMORPG that is constantly worked on as a live service in which online play is explicitly in the core of its DNA, it's a cutesy party game where every stage can fit on one screen so I have no idea why Recreate Games felt it necessary to leave the option out entirely.

Overall the gameplay is fun. It's simple, clean, pick up and play fun with some cool ideas, but it doesn't bring to the table any real originality that hasn't been seen anywhere else, and not having an option for solo play I think really hurts its accessibility for some players and may deter a few players who have no way to get to grips with the insanity they will be greeted with other than just sitting down and playing online against people they don't know (unless they have a hardcore crew of Party Animals lovers to join them).

User Friendliness

The first time you fire up Party Animals, you are not confronted with a title screen, nor are you presented with a menu. You are dropped face first, no breaks into a tutorial level that runs through the control schemes and gives you a stage by stage break down of most moves you can perform, and by most I mean they miss out some moves I wish I knew going into the online matches such as the iconic flying drop kick. Also, rather annoyingly when you get to the brawling parts of the tutorial you'll probably find yourself being knocked out time and time again with the full length recovery time that you would expect in a standard game. This utterly destroys the pace of the game from the get go and made me feel very frustrated as my learning of the controls was constantly interrupted by a lizard knocking me out every time I stood back up.

The picture on this wall sums up my learning experience

All of this would not have been so bad, however had the tutorial level actually resembled an actual stage you'd be playing on. Instead the tutorial level was just a linear series of rooms that consisted of simple tasks such as put this cube on the pressure plate, run away from this mechanical dog, leap over this gap etc. and in fairness they do a good job of getting you used to the controls, but they don't prepare you for an actual match. The only time they ever give you a taste of how an actual match plays out is at the end where you are literally just dropped into a stage with no warning, no explanation of win conditions and still no synopsis of what to expect from the game. Then, when you lose (which you inevitably will since your head will be spinning at this point) you are taken to the main menu where you have the options of quick matches or forming a lobby, at which point you have to rely on the school of hard knocks to learn the game instead of any offline practice matches.

For a cutesy party game that feels directly aimed at younger audiences, this set up seems poorly thought out and difficult enough for older players to get to grips with let alone kids, and that feels like a real shame as, with a bit of forethought this could have made for a very fun learning experience.

Controls

The control scheme for Party Animals are a bit of a mess, but in a lot of ways that works in the game's favour. For starters whilst moving there is a definite top-heavy feel to your character as the creatures flop about like animated rag dolls, pushing and pulling them in the direction you point in, yet it always feels purposeful and rarely frustrating, especially during online games when you are fully aware that everyone has the same thing going on. It becomes a clumsy dance of animals humorously trying to smack each other cartoon style that is hilarious to watch and even funnier to partake in.

Games become a floppy free for all

Then you get to the matter of the various moves you can perform, namely jumps, grabs, punches, kicks and headbutts. Pretty much every part of the environments in Party Animals is grabbable, including the players themselves which makes for some hilarious moments where players will try to take you down with them when they fall off the stage and know that defeat is inevitable. The moves are also somewhat combinable, for example performing kicks whilst jumping will allow you to drop kick your opponents and certain other moves are combinable with particular items. These combinations aren't always obvious either which, for the most part works pretty well as you experiment on the fly to find out what works and what doesn't, but can also be incredibly frustrating as you watch everyone else use items with ease and you're stuck with holding the wrong end of a hammer.

Graphics

This is probably the section where this game shines the brightest in all honest, the bright colours and overly cutesy graphics really work for Party Animal's aesthetics and potentially are what make the controls so forgivable, after all it's fine when a stuff toy walks around like a ragdoll but you wouldn't be happy playing God of War if Kratos was flopping all over the place!

The animals have a really wide range of expressions

Despite where Recreate Games may have lacked in previous areas, they have nailed the perfect balance of simplicity and detail with Party Animals. The stages don't look needlessly messy and convey as much detail as they need to, the variety of animals on display have a hilarious range of emotions with plenty of character and the overall style they use is very easy on the eyes. Overall a very solid effort on the aesthetics front.

Overall

Party Animals is a very fun game with plenty of playability but falls so short on quality of life features that are just standard in so many other games you can't help but wonder who actually play tested this game, or at the very least why this game hasn't been patched yet. It's a game that once you know what you're doing it's a hugely fun party game that you will have a good laugh over for an hour a piece, but it is also a game that seems to be so unwilling to help you in that department that without anything really to keep you hooked you're more likely be put off by the lack of any explanation as to how the game actually works.

In summary, if you're looking for a quirky and oftentimes hilarious party game that you don't mind learning as you go along then you can't go wrong with Party Animals, but if you're the kind of gamer who likes to learn in their own time, or the type of gamer who doesn't like to be forced to play against other players online then I would personally advise skipping this title.

- D J Driver