Minigame collections are some of my favourite games so I generally pick up and enjoy most of these games when they release. Party Friends is a budget 1-4 player couch multiplayer game containing 21 minigames that are genuinely varied. Whilst some of the controls are a bit woolly, this is a game that offers good variety for the price point.
If you don’t have four players, AI will always fill out the other competitors and they are largely very competent and can offer a challenge. This is because Party Friends has a few games where you must play as teams or in a 3 against 1 setting. These include games like tractor pulling (good old button mashing) or canoe racing which requires both players in the canoe to steer in the same direction. The 3v1 games have someone in a snow plough clearing snow and bashing the other players out the carpark whilst the other players try to spread more snow around, with the winning team being who cleared or laid the most snow. There is also a water cannon round where one player tries to soak the other. Controls are simple and the mix of co-op and one against all additions is a plus.
The other games are all against all, or you can force a 2v2 team mode if you want to. These range from rhythm wood chopping to cooking which ingredients to cook on a BBQ to sneaking out of a monster dungeon with only limited flashes of your lantern to see where you are going. The beach, forest and ice worlds give the minigames visual themes and sometimes that extends to the games such as bomb volleyball in the beach theme or bug hunting in the forest. There’s an ice skating oval race, sheep herding and some light brawling and collectathon games too. None of them feel too closely related though and this is one of Party Friends’ biggest strengths. All 21 games have unique goals and gameplay and that goes a long way to making things enjoyable.
A couple of the minigames are a little confusing. One minigame involves holding a button to eat a sandwich but to stop pressing it when a seagull is about to steal it. Sadly the visual cues as to whether you are eating or hiding are way off. Another diner dash style serving game has very confusing colour based controls that I struggled to understand half the time. There are a couple of really top tier minigames too. Stargazing has you rotating outlines to match star patterns in a race to beat the others. There’s also a mountain climbing minigame where you can climb into dead ends and make one single mistaken move and fall off. You can play for points or pure wins and either play all 21 games or customise which games you want to play too (and how often they loop).
Whilst some of the controls are a bit woolly and reminiscent of a polished Wii title, Party Friends offers variety for a cheap price point. It isn’t quite in the top tier of party games but I’ve played similarly competent games for more than double the price (looking at you Garfield Lasagna Party). Party Friends feels like a recommendation for genre enthusiasts of families looking for a cheaper alternative to a middling minigame collection often sold for much more. Cheap and cheerful.
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