Party games are some of my favourite and Microids have recently been putting a few of these minigame collections out over the last year or so. Garfield Lasagna Party is one of these and I picked this up for PS4 with a free PS5 upgrade. It contains 32 minigames and a board game mode to add in some additional Mario Party spin.
Before we get into the minigames, I must call it out immediately – the board game section of this game is odd. To try and spice up the minigames, the board game sees everyone rolling dice to move around the board and battle for lasagne pieces which are awarded for board game actions and winning minigames. Its very long and drawn out because whenever you roll dice the player can use a skill to alter the number… but then so can all three players afterwards. It means you can’t really say you used any skill to do well on the board game because I don’t think at least half of my turns actually moved the spaces I’d thought I’d move. It all felt too soupy and confused and with one board and only four characters, its a very minimal affair even if the board looks vibrant.
Thankfully, the minigames are largely much better. There are 32 but some are variations on themes. There are a few rhythm games that play out either like a music game or a fastest finger first to strike a pose. Quite a few games play like Olympic sports too. Running away from dogs is like playing a hurdles game and many games require an aim and throw to score points. How each game controls the throw is slightly different though so whilst you may have full control throwing pizzas into ovens, its more timing based when lobbing lasagna onto a dog kennel.
Garfield Lasagna Party also has a few arena brawler style minigames too. Some involve rolling up snowballs to squash others, or just bashing each other off of the platform. There is a cool snake style battle game which is surprisingly tactical too. Then a few see you all in an arena trying to avoid or trigger traps. Dogs running across the space to take you out, or shouting at an angry dog to make it charge at opponents and hit them – they are variations on a theme but work well. Then we have arena collector games such as bringing and stealing plushies and bringing them back to your bed, or a game where you shovel toys into other player areas. Some of these non-direct combat games were my favourite. There are also a few 3D levels which whilst switching up the stance and graphical style, felt a little unpolished at times.
Interestingly, it was the games were Garfield takes a more unusual path that I enjoyed most. One is tracing a crayon line on a wall as precise as possible. Another was carving pizza up so that every slice had the same amount of pepperoni. A top down game of tag where you can run into rooms and lock doors behind you was also frantic. There are some top tier minigames hiding here that can withstand multiple rounds of fun.
I had most fun with Garfield Lasagna Party when focusing only on the minigames. AI bots fill in for any of the 4 players missing and on hard, they do offer a decent challenge. I will say that the PS4 version of this game has some really choppy framerates across the board though. It feels like the game is wanting to crash and I used the footage for my video review. When I tried the PS5 version it ran infinitely better. The controls also felt more refined too – probably because the graphics and inputs were less choppy. Just be aware going in that not all editions feel equal.
Is this a Mario Party killer? Not at all. It does have some limited fun though. The theme of Italian food, cats and dogs is well translated throughout the game and it is certainly upbeat and lively. The board game modes are quite a misstep but if you focus on the minigames alone, there’s a few hours of good minigaming to be had.
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