This is, admittedly, another demo that I went into without any prior experience. Not only that, but it was something I figured wouldn’t interest me much. That was an incorrect assumption, however.
Wii Party U is a collection of minigames and other relatively short-burst activities, and is aimed at gamers and non-gamers of all ages. There’s only a slight learning curve, meaning that anyone can play and have fun. It’s a great selling point, but it’s one that has been used to death over the last decade or so.
Is this one different from the rest? It seems to be, but my limited time with it didn’t allow for too much experimentation, or much research. I watched a couple of people play a neat-looking foosball game, which seemingly used the GamePad for two-player action, and they were having a ton of fun. However, when it came to my time to play, those who joined me wanted to play minigames. As such, my ten to fifteen minutes with Wii Party U were spent playing variations of standard party game experiences, like avoiding a giant fist or trying to take out a large tank before it hit my smaller tank. Yes, they were fun, but they weren’t revolutionary.
Control-wise, it’s tough to complain about this one. Most of my experience was with the WiiMote as the GamePad was in use, so I can’t comment on that much. However, I can say that there wasn’t a lack of polish in the modes we demoed. Everything played well and looked good, without any hiccups.
This is one I’ll need more time with before I can truly comment on how good I think it is, but I’m cautiously optimistic that it will avoid the party game curse.
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