Oscar Wilde once said “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery….” In the gaming industry, that’s definitely true. In fact, imitation is probably the biggest thing that creates competition. At the same time, creativity can get the best of game developers when it comes to trying to not rip something off (I’m looking at you, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale).
After getting our hands on LEGO Party, it’s unapologetically Mario Party, and that’s fine with us.
First announced during the Summer Game Fest Showcase, LEGO Party! was also featured on the SGF Play Days show floor, and it was one of the most active booths at the show. It’s Mario Partybut with LEGOs, and that’s really all there is to say to describe it.
LEGO Party! sets itself up like a game show, pitting up to four people against each other in Challenge Zones derived from known LEGO sets like LEGO Pirates, Space, NINJAGO, and more. With it being four player, we played with a bunch of friends from other publications for the chance to win a golden LEGO minifigure trophy. I personally have never been a LEGO person, but I’ve always found them fun and I like shiny things, so the fact that we were competing for something tangible definitely motivated me.
The demo we played was a six-turn game that took roughly 40 minutes after we chose our favorite LEGO avatar. (I chose a LEGO Grandma, for those wondering).
Oh you bet your booty some messed up stuff is going to happen on the LEGO Pirates board.
If you’ve played Mario Party, you know what it’s all about. There’s a game board where you take turns moving across several spaces that have a different effect on the game. In between every turn, you play a minigame that’ll award players with studs that are used as currency to purchase golden bricks. Whoever has the most golden bricks at the end of the game wins. We ended up on a LEGO Pirates board in this demo.
Then, like clockwork, I got MarioLEGO Party!’d.
Instead of using dice to decide turn order, LEGO Party! thrusts you into a minigame, which is a welcome change. Unfortunately, I lost. If memory servers me right, it was a game where you have to snowboard down a hill from the perspective of the snowboarders coming down to you, avoiding trees and other hazards along the way that’ll slow your progress. It’s worth noting that like Mario Party, the objective of every minigame is shown before you start with the option of as many practice runs as possible when playing. While this is a great addition (or ripoff), I’m someone that thinks you should just jump into the minigame and figure it out as you go–especially since this was a demo appointment and it takes up valuable time when you have other things to do, but that’s my take. Either way, hopefully this is something you can turn off, as you can in Mario Party.
Fortunately one of our own, Adriana, won the first minigame. When the game really started, she rolled a high enough number to get to the golden brick space and buy one (for 50 studs), and just like that, she had a commanding lead, so I’m wondering if winning the first minigame at every board gives you this immediate head start advantage.
One other thing LEGO Party! does differently is stargint the turn with a minigame vs. after every player’s roll, so that’s something to keep in mind as you plan your strategy each board. Every minigame we played was enjoyable and had that same combination of polish and jank that really gives Mario Party its charm, and LEGO follows suit. It’s the same case with the board’s gimmicks as well–you can expect the poultry-shooting volcano, a kraken, and the pirate ship to enhance the game or screw you one or way or another.
LEGO is the king of customization, and they’ve said they plan on having a billion minifigure combinations from iconic LEGO sets. That’s a lot. We’ll see.
From there though, for better or for worse, it’s really all the same. As the game starts to wind down on turns, spaces on the game board have double the effects, and when you get to the last turn, things get crazier: not only do the spaces double the effects again, but spaces like shops that are useless in that turn because of Chance spaces, which drastically change the game. From giving or trading your studs or golden bricks, this is where the stupidity really occurs.
Thankfully, at least in this demo, there was no bonus bricks given out. By the end of the game, our friend Kurosh won. He wasn’t representing us though, so he can shove it.
You can look forward to playing and being absolutely screwed by LEGO Party! when it comes out later this year on pretty much every platform, and we definitely do plan on reviewing it when that time comes.
Oscar Wilde once said “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery….” In the gaming industry, that’s definitely true. In fact, imitation is probably the biggest thing that creates competition. At the same time, creativity can get the best of game…
Oscar Wilde once said “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery….” In the gaming industry, that’s definitely true. In fact, imitation is probably the biggest thing that creates competition. At the same time, creativity can get the best of game developers when it comes to trying to not rip something off (I’m looking at you, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale).
After getting our hands on LEGO Party, it’s unapologetically Mario Party, and that’s fine with us.
First announced during the Summer Game Fest Showcase, LEGO Party! was also featured on the SGF Play Days show floor, and it was one of the most active booths at the show. It’s Mario Partybut with LEGOs, and that’s really all there is to say to describe it.
LEGO Party! sets itself up like a game show, pitting up to four people against each other in Challenge Zones derived from known LEGO sets like LEGO Pirates, Space, NINJAGO, and more. With it being four player, we played with a bunch of friends from other publications for the chance to win a golden LEGO minifigure trophy. I personally have never been a LEGO person, but I’ve always found them fun and I like shiny things, so the fact that we were competing for something tangible definitely motivated me.
The demo we played was a six-turn game that took roughly 40 minutes after we chose our favorite LEGO avatar. (I chose a LEGO Grandma, for those wondering).
Oh you bet your booty some messed up stuff is going to happen on the LEGO Pirates board.
If you’ve played Mario Party, you know what it’s all about. There’s a game board where you take turns moving across several spaces that have a different effect on the game. In between every turn, you play a minigame that’ll award players with studs that are used as currency to purchase golden bricks. Whoever has the most golden bricks at the end of the game wins. We ended up on a LEGO Pirates board in this demo.
Then, like clockwork, I got MarioLEGO Party!’d.
Instead of using dice to decide turn order, LEGO Party! thrusts you into a minigame, which is a welcome change. Unfortunately, I lost. If memory servers me right, it was a game where you have to snowboard down a hill from the perspective of the snowboarders coming down to you, avoiding trees and other hazards along the way that’ll slow your progress. It’s worth noting that like Mario Party, the objective of every minigame is shown before you start with the option of as many practice runs as possible when playing. While this is a great addition (or ripoff), I’m someone that thinks you should just jump into the minigame and figure it out as you go–especially since this was a demo appointment and it takes up valuable time when you have other things to do, but that’s my take. Either way, hopefully this is something you can turn off, as you can in Mario Party.
Fortunately one of our own, Adriana, won the first minigame. When the game really started, she rolled a high enough number to get to the golden brick space and buy one (for 50 studs), and just like that, she had a commanding lead, so I’m wondering if winning the first minigame at every board gives you this immediate head start advantage.
One other thing LEGO Party! does differently is stargint the turn with a minigame vs. after every player’s roll, so that’s something to keep in mind as you plan your strategy each board. Every minigame we played was enjoyable and had that same combination of polish and jank that really gives Mario Party its charm, and LEGO follows suit. It’s the same case with the board’s gimmicks as well–you can expect the poultry-shooting volcano, a kraken, and the pirate ship to enhance the game or screw you one or way or another.
LEGO is the king of customization, and they’ve said they plan on having a billion minifigure combinations from iconic LEGO sets. That’s a lot. We’ll see.
From there though, for better or for worse, it’s really all the same. As the game starts to wind down on turns, spaces on the game board have double the effects, and when you get to the last turn, things get crazier: not only do the spaces double the effects again, but spaces like shops that are useless in that turn because of Chance spaces, which drastically change the game. From giving or trading your studs or golden bricks, this is where the stupidity really occurs.
Thankfully, at least in this demo, there was no bonus bricks given out. By the end of the game, our friend Kurosh won. He wasn’t representing us though, so he can shove it.
You can look forward to playing and being absolutely screwed by LEGO Party! when it comes out later this year on pretty much every platform, and we definitely do plan on reviewing it when that time comes.
by Danreb Victorio
