Wii Party (Wii)

Platform: Nintendo Wii

Publisher: Nintendo

Classification: 3 (PEGI)

Nintendo seem adamant to put out a board style video games that will click with the public. The recent Mario Party games haven't been up to scratch so now they're taking a different route – Wii Party.

Don't be fooled by the name, Wii Party isn't a game that would go down particularly well at a party. If people don't know what to do prior to playing and they don't know what each of the squares mean, they'll be spending half their time wondering around the board aimlessly and the other half scratching their head.

The 80-or-so minigames packed within the recesses of the disc are perfectly fine on their own, and could even be considered as easy to play at a party, but the glue holding it together is terrible – it's more pritt-stick than super glue.

The core element of Wii Party is obviously the board play that works as a hub and overall ranking system for the minigames. There isn't much detail in what the squares mean, so it's often a case of trial and error.

Globe Trot is by far the best mode available and sees players Mii's moving around a board, each move determined by the cards in their hand and each player striving to get to as many locations as possible. Again though, it's the minigames, that make it so fun.

The other games are a little random and don't generally require as much skill. This may be okay for younger players but for people that are old enough to realise it , they will feel cheated.

Although it could be fun to play with a couple of mates for an evening, you're not likely to keep reaching for it to have a little blast – playing on you own isn't too much fun.

There's nothing visually impressive in Wii Party, it's all a little bit too standard and 'make do'. A lick of paint and some general tarting up would have gone a long way.

Dull, lifeless, boring and sleep inducing – maybe it should be called Wii Slumber Party.

SCORE: 3 / 10