Party

Thank you Teyon for sending us this game to review!

Bird Mania is a cute endless runner (well flier in this case) that came out in 2012 for the 3DS.  The $1.99 price tag is reasonable for this single-player game.   Bird Mania Party has the same colorful cartoon styled graphics and even the same peppy violin background music as the original game.  The main difference is that you can now play with four of your friends using the Wii U game pad and four Wii remotes.

The single-player game is pretty much the same where you have to collect as many stars as you can while avoiding trees, bushes, and enemy birds and bees.  If you have enough energy, you can boost into birds and bees instead of having to avoid them.  Charging into birds and running into balloons will increase your multiplier, but ramming into bees takes it away.  Achievements are earned for distance traveled and number of balloons collected.  Then of course there’s the bragging rights of the number of stars you collected before your demise.  Right now I have the most at 764 with my daughter in second place at 752.   

There are two multiplayer modes, a cooperative one and a competitive mode.  The two-player co-op mode has one bird able to collect stars while the other one can only boost.  Whenever the chime sounds, the two birds will switch roles.  When either player gets knocked out, the game will end and the number of stars collected as a team will be displayed.

Party Mode is the main game mode. Up to five players compete to see who can stay alive the longest and collect the most stars.  Since every bird is flying at the same speed, using the boost will be necessary to get a head start on collecting stars before the others.  

Up to four players can join in by using the Wii Remotes, and using the Nunchuck is optional.  Either the Nunchuck or the trigger on the Wii remotes can be used to boost.  Moving the bird up and down is done by moving the Wii remote vertically.  Moving the bird can be smooth using the Wii remote, however we all experienced moments where our movement was not recognized and wound up dying as a result.  Another negative side effect to using the Wii remote is that your arm can get tired after a while. 

Not surprisingly, the Wii U gamepad user was often the last bird to meet its demise.  The Wii U gamepad player can either control their bird by using the stylus or the joystick.  Unlike the Wii remotes, there is no response lag and the controls are always precise.  

Despite the Wii remote controller issues, my kids and I still had fun playing this title.  The price is a reasonable $1.99 on the Nintendo eShop.  As long as you go into the game expecting the Wii U gamepad to have an advantage, there’s a lot of fun and competition to be had here.

First you must divide into two groups.  A player must then be chosen to describe the key word.  The opposite team will select a person to verify that there is no use of forbidden words, abbreviations, or gestures.   When the keyword is guessed, the verifying person presses the OK button.    If a rule a broken, the verifier must press the Wrong button.  When the time has ended, the other team gets to take their turn.  When a team reaches the set number of points, the game is won.  If there is a tie, the team with the fewer skipped keywords will win.  

There are three buttons that can be used in the game.  The skip lets you move past a difficult word.  The pause button can be used to explain things without wasting time.  Last but not least, there is an exclamation button to report a spelling error.  

Although the 20,000 words in the pro version sounds like a lot, there is technically 2,000 usable ones since the included key words are available in ten different languages.  This can be a great way to learn a foreign language!  The ad supported free version has a decent amount of words with 3,000/300. 

The graphics are minimal, but functional.  Throughout the gameplay with my kids, they sometimes pressed the wrong area of the screen to skip or move onto the next word without giving proper credit.  I’m sure adults would be a bit more attentive in this regard.  My kids and I still had fun regardless and enjoyed the wide variety of words.  Sadly, they had no idea who Elvis was so I feel a bit older now.

There isn’t any background music, but there is a ticking noise that starts when there’s only a few seconds left on the clock.  

During our playthrough I didn’t notice any inappropriate words and recommend this app for people of all ages to enjoy.  The price is reasonable and if you’re still unsure, the demo is free to try and easy to convert to the pro version if desired. 

Thank you Askys Games for sending us the review code!

FUN! FUN! Animal Park is a party game that seems to be designed for for ages 8 and under. It has 30 mini games to play- some are single player, and some are 2-player. The single player games include ring toss games, obstacle courses, and races against yourself. Some of the 2-player games are the same as single player games, but with two people. One problem is that when the characters talk, their mouths are sometimes still moving when they are done.

There is pretty good graphics, and OK music. The music is pretty fitting, though. I did not experience any bugs or crashes, either. But the controls are horrible. It has motion controls for almost all of the mini games, and they do not work that well, either.

Solo mode

Doggie Catcher is a game where you throw a flying disc into a target, and there is a dog that catches the disc. Your score depends on where the dog caught the flying disc.

Then there is Giraffe Ring Toss and Meerkat Ring Toss, which are both just ring toss, but with animals.

Penguin Speed Race is where you grab boosters and avoid obstacles. You have to try to reach the finish line as fast as possible. Penguin Crystal Race is where you try to collect as much crystals as you can. If you hit a banana peel, then you lose some crystals. Penguin Panic Finish is just like shuffleboard.

Zig Zag Piglet Race is an obstacle course where you try to get to the end and dodge obstacles. Hyper Zig Zag Piglet Race is the same thing, but more intense (anything with “hyper” in the name is the same as another game but it has more stuff). Doggie Obstacle Course is like this but there is only one lane instead of three, and you only jump and duck.

One Match Mode (I am talking about all the 2-player games that I did not already talk about)

Monkey Apple Catch is a catching game where you are a monkey on a ball carrying a basket. There are apples falling from the sky, and you need to catch them in your basket. If you catch an apple, you get one point. If you catch a golden apple, you get 5 points.

In Panda Balance, you compete to see who can balance on a ball the longest.

Shutterbug! Snap the Cheetah is a photographing game where you try to take a picture of a cheetah. There is also a chameleon version and an ostrich flock version.

Chameleon Color Panic is a memory game where you have to memorize the color pattern of a chameleon. There is also a monkey version where you memorize poses.

Animal Spotter is a counting game where you try to count the animals. In the hyper version, you count all of the animals, while in the normal version, you count only one type of animal. There is also
a bird version where you count birds and only birds.

Sheep Shearing Race is where you compete to see who can shear a sheep first. Doggie Shampoo Session is the same thing, except you are washing a dog instead of shearing a sheep.

Owl Watcher and Monkey Mimic are both games where you have to match a pose.

Penguin Snow cone is where you spin your controller to cover a penguin in snow.

In Safari Photoshoot, you pretend that your controller is a camera and take pictures of animals. There is a face-off version that is more competitive.

Look Out! Kangaroo Punch is a game where you dodge punches from a kangaroo by moving around your controller.

Cat teaser is a lot like Zig Zag Piglet Race, except there is no obstacles. Instead of obstacles, you just need to make a cat turn so that is does not crash into the wall.

Go Go Flying Squirrel is a game where you use a fan to blow a flying squirrel to make it fly.

In Tour Mode, the directors take you on a tour of Animal Land and you compete to earn medals. This is the only mode that you start with, and it is only multiplayer, which is a shame.

I think that any young children would really enjoy this game. I enjoyed playing it, but I still think that I am too old for it.

Thank you Jackbox Games for sending us this title to review!

Jackbox Party Pack was originally released in 2014 on computer, PS4, and on the Xbox One. The portability of the Switch and low graphics requirements for this title make it a perfect match and a great tool to liven up any party. As long as you have Internet to access jackbox.tv’s website, anyone with a laptop, tablet, or cell phone can join in on these five wacky games.

Here’s a breakdown of the games included in this bundle:

You Don’t Know Jack 2015 – I used to play this sassy trivia game back in the '90s and loved it. The questions are pretty current and many of them are rather humorous. Some of them have sexual innuendos though. Up to four players can join in to see who is the smartest. This game can be played solo as well.

Fibbage XL – This fill in the blank game requires you to submit your false answer in hopes of having your friends mistake it for the correct one. Of course they’ll be hoping that you choose their responses too! This game needs at least two players and supports up to eight.

Lie Swatter – This game has three rounds of seven statements that need be categorized as true or false. Up to one hundred people can join in on this game online. Alternatively, you can play this one by yourself.

Drawful – Artists will have an advantage in this game, but the bad drawings are what make it funny. In this game, everyone is given a topic that they’ll have to illustrate. Once completed, the players will be shown the picture and will have to guess the topic and then vote on which one they believe is the correct one. There are two rounds and the game length depends on how many players there are. The minimum is three and the maximum amount of players is eight.

Word Spud – Your goal in this game is to finish words and have the players vote on your suggestions. The next round will use your word as a starting point. This game may turn racy if you’re playing with a dirty minded crowd. Two people are needed to get this game started and the cap is at eight.

Between Party Pack and Party Pack 2, I think my kids still prefer the sequel because of the Ear Wax game. I’ll also give the nod to the sequel since it has a family friendly content filter in place. In this game we heard a fair amount of language including words like h*ll, *ss, d*mn, and b*stard. The silly bodily noises throughout the game got some chuckles out of my kids. What child won’t laugh at a burp or farting noise? Some of the questions go below the belt and out of my comfort range with young ears and eyes nearby.

If you don’t mind the teen humor, Jackbox Party Pack on the Switch is a great way to liven up any party. The asking price is a reasonable $24.99 which comes to $5 per mini game. I wouldn’t mind the option to purchase them separately as I really wasn’t a fan of Word Spud. My family did enjoy the others though with our favorite being Fibbage XL.

Thank you Jackbox Games for sending us this game to review!

We originally reviewed Jackbox Party Pack 2 on Xbox One in 2015. With the release of Nintendo’s Switch which specializes in party games, it’s only natural that the Jackbox Party Packs get ported over to it. The visuals are not too intensive in this title and it relies on online phones, tablets or computers to play it. Surprisingly, in order to navigate the menus you need both joy-cons or the pro controller.

Not much else has changed other than the newfound portability on the Switch. Bringing this game over to other people’s houses is totally possible as long as everyone has a device that can access the internet. Performance wise it ran really well with minimal drop-offs like we experienced previously while playing it on the Xbox One.

If you’re new to the series, here’s a breakdown of the games from the most liked to our least favorite:

Earwax – This game is by far our favorite. At least three players need to be present and up to eight can join in. A judge is randomly picked per round and the judge chooses the topic or prompt for the players to base their sound effects on. The players will anonymously submit their two sound effects from their limited selection and all players can vote on their favorite combination. A point is awarded to the player that submitted the judge’s favorite sound effects. The first player to reach three points, wins.

Fibbage 2 – Your goal in this game is to fool players into believing your lie and you vote on the answer that you believe is the truth. Fooling your friends is worth half of the points of picking the true answer. If you’re not good at coming up with a lie to fill in the blank, you can have the console lie for you and get half the points as you normally would. If you have played the original Fibbage, there are five hundred new questions in this version! Between two and eight players can enjoy this game.

Quiplash – Come up with the best fill-in-the-blank answer and get it voted on by everyone to score points. The player with the highest percentage of votes, wins. Three to eight players are needed for this game.

Bomb Corp – Up to four players are required to work together and defuse bombs by sharing clues and cutting the proper wires. One mistake and it’s game over. How long can you survive?

Bidiots – Up to six players draw two pieces of themed artwork for everyone to bid on. Each player has a clue to what some of the artwork is worth. The artist will get half of the sale amount and can use that money to buy more artwork to hopefully sell at a profit. If a bidder runs out of money they can borrow from Predatory Loans which has some funny jingles worth paying attention to.

Some of the games require user input so filtering that content is impossible. There is an option to turn off some of the adult themed humor and I suggest doing so if this game is going to be played by or around children. Without the filter enabled there were sexual moaning, vibrator, and porn music sound effects in Ear Wax, Quiplash, and Fibbage 2. Also, one of the topics for the round was to pick sound effects for a player’s foreplay session. Filter or not, there will be plenty of fart and toilet sounds available.

If you don’t mind potty humor, Jackbox Party Pack 2 is bound to bring out some laughs. The portability of the Switch is great and makes this the definitive version in my opinion. Before letting kids play this game, make sure to enable the family friendly filter.

Thank you Jackbox Games for sending us this game to review!

While I have not played the first Party Pack game, I am familiar with the makers of You Don’t Know Jack and had high expectations for this title.  Out of the five bundled games in this collection, only one of them was considered a dud by our family. Each game requires internet access and device capable of interacting with the jackbox.tv website to enter the room code and interact with the console/TV prompts.  

Even though the interface is easy to use we have found that the mobile devices occasionally would not respond and had to refresh the website to make it work again.  If the active player’s device wigged out, the game could crash and require restarting.  The responses are all timed and if an answer is not recorded in time, the game will pick one for the tardy player.  

 Here’s a quick summary of each game from the most liked to our least favorite:

Earwax – This game is by far our favorite.  At least three players need to be present and up to eight can join in.  A judge is randomly picked per round and the judge chooses the topic or prompt for the players to base their sound effects on.  The players will anonymously submit their two sound effects from their limited selection and all players can vote on their favorite combination.  A point is awarded to the player that submitted the judge’s favorite sound effects.   The first player to reach three points, wins.

Fibbage 2 – Your goal in this game is to fool players into believing your lie and you vote on the answer that you believe is the truth.  Fooling your friends is worth half of the points of picking the true answer.  If you’re not good at coming up with a lie to fill in the blank, you can have the console lie for you and get half the points as you normally would.  If you have played the original Fibbage, there are five hundred new questions in this version!  Between two and eight players can enjoy this game.

Quiplash – Come up with the best fill in the blank answer and get it voted by everyone to score points.  The player with the highest percentage of votes, wins.  Three to eight players are needed for this game.

Bomb Corp – Up to four players are required to work together and defuse bombs by sharing clues and cutting the proper wires.  One mistake and it’s game over.  How long can you survive?

Bidiots – Up to six players draw two pieces of themed artwork for everyone to bid on.  Each player has a clue to what some of the artwork is worth.  The artist will get half of the sale amount and can use that money to buy more artwork to hopefully sell at a profit.  If a bidder runs out of money they can borrow from Predatory Loans which has some funny jingles worth paying attention to.

Some of the games require user input so filtering that content is impossible.  There is an option to turn off some of the adult themed humor and I suggest doing so if this game is going to be played by or around children.    Without the filter enabled there were sexual moaning, vibrator, and porn music sound effects in Ear Wax.  Also, one of the topics for the round was to pick sound effects for a player’s foreplay session.    Filter or not, there will be plenty of fart and toilet sounds available.

If you don’t mind potty humor, Jackbox Party Pack 2 is bound to bring out some laughs.  While the mobile device issues were annoying, they worked most of the time.  I didn’t have any trouble using my laptop.  The asking price is a reasonable $25 which is not a bad price for five games. Friends, internet access, and a functional jackbox.tv website are required to play this game.  If you have access to all three, it's worth looking into.

Thank you Jackbox Games for sending us this game to review!

My family has been enjoying the Jackbox Party Pack titles sent our way to review. While we haven’t played the third entry yet, the second one is still the family favorite. It’s hard to topple Ear Wax as my kids’ favorite minigame. Fibbage does come close and there are two variants in Jackbox Party Pack 4.

Fibbage 3 has two modes that support between two and eight players. One mode has modernized questions while the other one has customized questions about players in the audience. The “Enough about you” variant was my family’s favorite. No matter which version you play, your goal is to fool players into voting for your lie while discovering the true answer. Both modes have a family friendly filter.

Civic Doodle is fun for those who are good at drawing. I learned the hard way that drawing on a cellphone with a screen protector on it is not ideal. Your goal in this game is to create murals for Doodle Valley. Players finish drawings done by others and the carried over artwork is determined by popular vote. While the drawings are being made, inactive players can share their thoughts via emojis. There is a poop emoji available as well. Three to eight players can share their artistic talents and the family friendliness depends on their creations.

Bracketeering supports the most players with a sixteen player limit. In this game you type in two terms and can make wagers on which one you think will make it past elimination. In the event of a tie during the voting process the players have to tap or click on the answer of their choice. This game does support family friendly filtering. This game isn’t one of our favorites.

Survive the Internet is a fun game where the players type in a phrase and your friends have the pleasure of twisting it around with themed headlines. The twisted phrases will be shared on social media, job sites, news, and photo sites. This game can be enjoyed by three to eight players of all ages.

The last game, Monster Seeking Monster, doesn’t have a family friendly option and given the theme of monsters dating, it’s not too surprising. This game supports three to seven players. Each monster contestant has a special ability that isn’t disclosed until later in the game. Their goal is to end the week of dating with the most hearts. The gameplay mostly consists of texting back and forth with your limited number of messages per day. At the end of the date you’ll get to decide who to date. If the date is reciprocated, both players will get hearts. My family didn’t care too much for this game.

Even though I wasn’t a fan of a couple of the games, I did enjoy their theme songs and unique visuals. The overall presentation and polish is quite good in this collection. The asking price is $24.99 which isn’t a bad deal if you enjoy all of the bundled games. If you’ve enjoyed Fibbage games from the previous entries then you know you’ll like at least a couple of the games right off the bat.

Thank you Jackbox Games, Inc. for sending us a review code!

My kids and their friends love to come over and play Jackbox Games at our house. Their favorite game by far is still Jackbox 2 because of the Earwax mini game. None of the succeeding titles have managed to dethrone that one. Even though we really enjoyed some of the games in this 6th collection, Earwax is still their favorite.

Jackbox Party Pack 6 is available on multiple devices and the platform doesn’t really matter as long as everyone can hear what’s happening. All of the interactions are done on separate devices connected to the internet via jackbox.tv and the four letter room code. Anyone who knows the room code can join your game. Most of the contestants use cellphones or tablets to join in the fun.

Before you get your room code, you’ll need to select one of five mini games to play as a group. Each mini game has a different number of players it can support. Here’s a breakdown of each one:

Trivia Murder Party 2 – Up to eight players are trapped in a hotel known for murdering its visitors. Only one can make it out alive. Who will it be? Answering trivia questions correctly will keep you out of the hot seat. If you answer a question incorrectly, you’ll have to complete a challenge to stay alive. Some of the challenges include guessing the player's four letter password or seeing who can follow the most rules before the timer runs out. If you die, you have a chance of swapping souls with the living player in the final round as they try to make their escape.

Role Models is by far our favorite mini-game in this collection. Up to six players can assist in classifying each other into various personality types. You may find out more about yourself or what others really think of you while playing this one. If you’re not easily classified you have to do a tie breaker and may get a consolation role. I earned a Steam achievement for getting a consolation role.

Joke Boat supports up to eight aspiring comedians. In this game you come up with joke topics by typing in various words “Mad Lib” style. You must then string together these topics and fill out a punch line. You can have the game make a joke for you for half of the points it would normally be. Jokes are then performed by the player or spoken in gibberish by the game and read by the contestants. The joke with the most votes wins the round. Some points are awarded to players whose topics/words were used by the comedian. The final round has people rewriting joke punchlines to see if they can outdo the original author. This game has some sexual prompts so be sure to enable the family-friendly mode in the settings. Censoring is also available for the VIP (first player to join the game).

Dictionarium allows up to eight players to define and utilize various words and slang phrases. Even if a definition or sentence doesn’t win the round, players can give runner-ups "likes" if desired. This mini game was our least favorite.

Push The Button supports up to ten players stranded in outer space with an alien among them on the ship. Players have a limited amount of time to determine who the alien is by how they answer various questions and complete random tasks. As the game goes on, the alien will have the ability to manipulate the questions and potentially frame other players so be careful on who you jettison from the ship!

Jackbox Party Pack 6 is rated Teen by the ESRB and I agree with that rating. I’m thankful for the options to disable most of the provocative content. Some games allow the players to draw their faces or type in words and you can’t control their actions. The language I encountered was pretty mild, just some instances of crap. Like other Jackbox Party Pack games, you can expect to hear various bodily noises as sound effects.

If you enjoy the previous Jackbox Party pack games, you’ll definitely want to pick this one up. The majority of the games are good in this bundle, but there are a couple of “meh” ones too. It’s definitely worth adding to your Steam Wishlist and grabbing it when it goes on sale.

Thank you Ubisoft for sending us a physical copy to review!

We have been enjoying the previous Just Dance entries on the Wii U for the past couple of years. While the Switch version doesn’t have video support, the convenience of using the smaller joy-cons is a nice trade off. The Switch exclusive rumble mode is cute and fun to play. The mobile app is a nice option if you don’t have enough joy-cons on hand. Up to six players can dance locally with the possibility of competing against thousands online. During our play sessions, we saw up to eighty players online in the World Dance mode.

The built in Kids mode is great for having them play songs they are familiar with and not having to be worried about the sexual content present in the standard mode. My kids liked the song “Beep Beep I’m a Sheep” and “How Far I’ll Go” from Disney’s Moana. Seeing Blue (Da Ba Dee) in there is nice, but unfortunately it’s a cover and not Eiffel 65’s version. Just Dance Unlimited adds many other kid favorites like “Ghostbusters”, “Let it Go”, “Under the Sea”, “Y.M.C.A.”, “Who Let the Dogs Out?”, and “Prince Ali”. Ninety days of Just Dance Unlimited is included with the game but after the trial period, you can pay $4.99 for a month, $9.99 for three months, or $29.99 annually.

Forty new songs are introduced in Just Dance 2018 and there’s plenty of variety in artists, music styles, and time periods. The oldest song in the game, “Carmen (Overture)” is from 1875; "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini" comes in second place from 1959. I also enjoyed Queen’s “Another One Bites The Dust.” Most of the songs in this game are hits from the past couple of years from artists like Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, Hatsune Miku, Selena Gomez, Nicki Manaj, Ed Sheeran, Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Shakira, and many more.

I like how many of the songs are locked until you play a couple of songs beforehand. I found it funny that some of the locked songs are still playable in the Kids mode. If you enable the sweat mode, you’ll see how many calories you burn in each song. To keep things interesting there are shuffle and non-stop options.

The gameplay remains the same where you have to mimic the moves of the dancer on the screen. Some of the songs have multiple dancers to choose from so make sure you’re following the correct one! Depending on how accurate you are, your movements will be rated as ok, good, perfect, or not counted at all.

You’ll earn experience and mojo coins for each song you dance to. You can spend your mojo coins in a vending machine to earn new skins, avatars, songs, and alternate dance routines. Dance Lab scenarios can also be unlocked through this vending machine. Dance Lab has you switching between several different routines/roles per song. It’s pretty fun. If you’re a member of Ubisoft Club, you can unlock a free song that’s only available for a limited time.

While there are many kid friendly songs in this game, there many more that are not. Like other Just Dance games, many of the songs talk about love, hooking up, and drinking. Some of the dancers are shown in bikini-like outfits and their dance moves can be sexual in nature at times. If you have Just Dance Unlimited activated, you have access to most songs from previous games that we’ve called out for various reasons.

Overall, Just Dance 2018 is a solid entry to the series and offers plenty of new content to justify its purchase. Like all previous games in the series, there are some questionable lyrics and dance moves. The separate Kids mode is a welcome addition. If you don’t mind suggestive lyrics, skin shown, and twerking in the normal mode, there’s plenty of fun to be had and calories to be burned by playing this game.

Thank you Ubisoft for sending us this game to review!

It’s hard to believe that the Just Dance series has been around for ten years. We’ve enjoyed covering most of them! One of the new game modes in Just Dance 2020 is called All Stars where you get to play a song from each game in the series. Once you get to Just Dance 2020, you’ll permanently unlock the song High Hopes which is worthwhile in my opinion.

In total, this game offers up forty new tracks from artists like Ariana Grande, Skrillex, Katy Perry, The Black Eyed Peas, Khalid, Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber, and Selena Gomez. Most of the songs in this game are recent hits. Many of the tracks are pop, rap, dance, and even some K-pop is added for variety. Some of the songs are in Spanish, and eight of the tracks are kid-friendly and featured in the Kids mode. Children will enjoy dancing to hits like Baby Shark and Frozen’s Into the Unknown. The full track list can be found on their Wikipedia page.

Like previous entries, you’ll get a thirty day pass to Just Dance Unlimited where you can download and play over five-hundred songs from the previous games. There have been many good tracks added over the past decade. After the trial is up you can renew it for $2.99 for one day or $3.99 for thirty, 90 days is $9.99 and a whole year is $24.99. High-speed internet is recommended and the video quality isn’t the best right away as the quality gradually gets better as the song begins, presumably due to video buffering.

The gameplay remains the same where you have to mimic the moves of the dancer on the screen. Some of the songs have multiple dancers to choose from so make sure you’re following the correct one! Depending on how accurate you are, your movements will be rated as ok, good, perfect, or not counted at all. As you dance through the song, you can earn up to five stars. The dance movements can be tracked by Joy-con or through a mobile device using Ubisoft’s Just Dance app.

You’ll earn experience and mojo coins for each song you dance to. You can spend your mojo coins in a vending machine to earn new skins, avatars, songs, and alternate dance routines. Since I had a save from Just Dance 2018, I got a free avatar.

If you are a Nintendo Online subscriber, you can partake in the World Dance Floor which lets players worldwide vote for and compete against each other one song at a time. Even though this game has been out for a few months, there are still several hundred players online at any given time. Competition is pretty brutal. With that many players to compete against, every point helps! I like how it shows the stats on the number of players and countries who partook in the dance battles.

While there are many kid friendly songs in this game, there many more that are not. Like other Just Dance games, many of the songs talk about love, hooking up, and drinking. Some of the dancers are shown in bikini-like outfits and their dance moves can be sexual in nature at times. One of the songs, Lean On, has Hindu themed dance moves. If you have Just Dance Unlimited activated, you have access to most songs from previous games that we’ve called out for various reasons including LGBTQ references.

If you’re looking for a fun way to burn calories indoors, Just Dance 2020 has you covered. The unlimited mode greatly expands the music library and is worth considering if you plan on playing this game longer than the thirty-day trial period. The online community is very active and will keep you on your toes!

Thank you Ubisoft for sending us a copy of this game to review!

Many people like to sing along to their favorite songs and some are less shy than others.  If you don’t like singing, then this game is not for you.  If you’re afraid that you don’t sing well, then it’s worth mentioning that this game doesn’t penalize or force you to compete against others.  The party mode lets you sing solo or with up to four people.

If you think that you have the chops to compete against others, then you’ll enjoy the battle mode where you can see which singer wins the most medals for their performance.  To check out your competition, you can watch videos uploaded by the Just Sing community.  The videos that you make can be saved for private or public viewing.

Just Sing comes with forty songs from a wide variety of artists and genres.  The genres include: '80s, additional genres, country, dance/electronic, hip hop, pop, rock, and soul.  More songs are available for purchase through the store.  Songs are available in packs in exchange for tickets which sell for $9.99.  There are multiple Disney packs and a bundle with even more songs from the eighties available.  If you’re a member of Uplay club you can unlock some free songs like Silent Night and Happy Birthday with points you earn in-game.

The base library includes many good songs including some Disney favorites like “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” “Colors of the Wind,” and “Let it Go.”  Every decade since the 1950s is represented with at least one song.  The oldest song in the catalog is Elvis’ “Hound Dog” and the most recent songs are from 2015.  Some of my favorites from various eras include “U Can’t Touch This,” “Torn,” “Take on Me,” “Stand By Me,” “Radioactive,” “My Heart Will Go On,” “I Will Survive,” “Don’t Worry Be Happy,” “Counting Stars,” “Call Me Maybe,” and “…Baby One More Time.”  Not all of songs are available right away; some like “What’s Up” become unlocked as you play the game.   I was surprised to see the Christian song, “Hallelujah” in the game until I found out that it wasn't the classical hymn version.  While it has Biblical references, it doesn't confirm or glorify God's existence.  

While the song selection is great, their quality is rather disappointing since many of them are covers and not sung by the original artists.  Granted, it’s your voice that’s supposed to be the highlight, but the bad rendition of “Love Shack” and many others is unforgivable.  Not all of the songs are covers thankfully as Adam Levine’s vocals in “One More Night” are hard to replicate.

Singing in this title can be accomplished by using a USB microphone or the free phone app.  Instead of digging up my old Rock Band Mic, I used the phone app which is pretty easy to use and connect to the PS4.  

The music videos have several themes to choose from including tropical, monster, cat, and night club.  Many of them become unlocked as you play.  The video switches between the optional PS4 camera and the phone app.  After a song is completed you can choose to save it locally or publish it online on YouTube or make it available for other players to see via the Watch menu in-game.  There’s a sixteen video limit so choose carefully on which ones you wish to share.

When singing you’ll see the lyrics appear on the main screen as well as on the phone.  For the most part the performances went smoothly but we have experienced some disconnects due to network issues or server maintenance.  For the maintenance we were given warnings, but the frequent disconnects got rather irritating.  There is an option to play offline, but by doing so you won’t have the option to share your locally saved video online at a later time. 

Despite some of the songs having cusswords in them (“All About That Bass”), they are removed in this game.  Other songs have the equivalent to OMG in them.   Most of the songs are family friendly, but some of them do talk about intimate relationships occurring before marriage.

In the end, this game was a bit of a disappointment for us.  Between the bad covers and the frequent disconnects it gave us little incentive to sing which took some persuading to get my kids to do in the first place.  When my daughter worked up the courage to sing “Let It Go” it kicked her back to the title screen and she didn’t even get to see a partial recording of her performance.  If you’re into Karaoke this title is worth looking into, but I only recommend it to people who go out of their way to sing.

Thank you Those Awesome Guys for sending us this game to review!

Move or Die is a collection of fast-paced mini-games that are best enjoyed with friends (locally or online) or with complete strangers on the internet.  Playing offline against bots is possible too, though the only way to unlock new character skins is through online gameplay.  Experience is earned if you do well against others and if you drop out of an online match, you could be penalized by not gaining experience for a while.  In other words, don’t drop out of the game if you’re losing.

Winning or not, the game modes are hilariously fun and worth sticking it out since they last about a minute apiece.  Add mutators into the mix and your gameplay experience is bound to be unique each time.  Though violence is a given with the title, it’s all in good fun and there is no blood or gore anywhere.  As the title suggests, you must keep moving in order to regenerate your depleting health bar.  Some of the mutators reverse this mechanic by requiring you to stay still to regenerate health or by having to touch another player in order to live.  Other mutators will cause you to kill players upon touching them, randomly drop bombs or change gravity like the game VVVVVV.  

Homages to other games are shown by having a Shovel Knight skin and a SUPERHOT based level where the bullets move in slow motion.  Some of the other levels my family enjoys playing include:

Chainsaw Backstab – Each player is equipped with a chainsaw that works from behind.  If attacked from the front the chainsaws from both players will go flying.

Boss Fight –  One randomly selected player is a boss while the others try to attack it with their short range tazers.  Can the boss survive the attack and win?

Sugar Rush – Candy is randomly dropped and whoever can eat the most of it and say alive, wins.

Spike Ball – Avoid the spiked ball at all costs!

Ghost Scare – Players are mostly invisible and they have to sneak up and scare other players to death.

Shifty Ground – Avoid the deadly areas that change every few seconds.

Loot Grab – Collect the randomly dispersed loot and bring it to your chest.   Make sure others don’t steal from your collection!

Speed Run – Try to get to the end before the rest of the players!

Static Bounce – Avoid the static balls that appear when players collide.

Jump Shot – Try to shoot the other players, but your gun only fires in the air.

Hat Chase – Attempt to get the hat and wear it as long as possible.

Falling blocks – Avoid the falling blocks that will kill you upon impact.

Fizzle Floor – The ground randomly disintegrates; try to stay on the good parts!

Bomb Tag – One random player has a bomb strapped to them, keep away from them before it explodes or gets strapped onto you instead!

Rocket Run – Avoid the homing missiles.

Cleanup Crew – Who can clean the most spots before time runs out?

Mind Control – Touch a player to look like them.  It is possible to keep track, but it takes more work. 

God Gun – One random player is given control of an overly powerful gun that can blast the ground and nearby players; survivors will get a chance to return the favor.  

Building Blocks – Quickly build your own platforms to survive the approaching deadly floor.

Hoops – (My family was bad at this one) Your goal here is to make as many baskets as possible.  

As you can see there’s plenty of variety in the mini-games.  Just when you get the hang of some of the modes, a mutator may be implemented that will make it even easier or more challenging.  It’s hard to complete a speed run in the dark or to keep track of your character with hundreds of random decoys running around.  The jetpack and stabilizer mutators are handy though.  Some of the mutators are silly like the NSFW one which blurs out the players.  

Since its launch there have been over one hundred free updates to the game.  The developers are very responsive to player feedback and don’t nickel and dime you for DLC.  The base price of $14.99 is reasonable, but this game has been 50% off in Steam sales and is worth every penny.

If you like challenging multiplayer games and have a short attention span, then Move or Die will be a perfect fit for you and your loved ones.  Although there isn’t any blood or gore, there is some potty humor with character skins showing butts or looking like poop.  If that doesn’t bother you, add this game to your wish list!

Thank you Team17 for sending us this game to review!

Onion Kingdom is being attacked by a very hungry spaghetti monster.  Unfortunately, your team doesn’t have the necessary coordination to appease its ferocious appetite.  As a result, the Onion king sends your party back to 1993 to hone your cooking and teamwork skills.   In the beginning the kitchens and recipes are manageable, but that changes before long!

Each level in the co-op campaign will give you between one and three stars depending on how many successful orders were completed within the time limit.  Unfulfilled orders subtract from the score.  Levels and new chefs become available as you earn stars throughout the game.  As your teamwork improves, be sure to go back and get three stars on all of the easier levels.  

At first you’ll be working with soups which involve chopping up and adding three of the same ingredient to the pot on the stove.  Every few seconds, a new order will be added to the queue.  You’ll have to coordinate with your team to chop up the correct items and add them to the boiling pot before it catches fire.  If it catches on fire, you’ll have to extinguish it and dispose of the ruined soup before starting a new batch.  Successfully completed soup has to be placed in a bowl and sent out on the conveyor belt to finish the order.  Most, but not all of the kitchens have a limited number of bowls/plates so the chefs will have to wash dirty dishes before being able to re-use them. 

Besides soup, other meals to prepare include hamburgers, fish and chips, burritos, and salads.  While the soups typically have three of the same ingredients, the other meals have various combinations.  Prepping ingredients ahead of time saves work, but some levels have rats that will come by and steal it off of the counter tops. 

As if rats and tricky orders were not enough to contend with, the kitchens themselves can be overwhelming at times too.  Some of the kitchens have narrow pathways that only allow one chef through at a time while others split apart and come back together due to earthquakes or moving vehicles.  One of the levels takes place on a pirate ship and the rough waters caused the counter tops to shuffle around with the roaring waves.  If you like Steam achievements, they are often earned after completing notorious levels.

Communication is key if you want to succeed in completing successful dishes in a short about of time.  Sadly, my kids didn’t appreciate my bossing them around in a louder than normal tone of voice.  While I didn’t cuss at them verbally, the Y button on my Xbox One controller showed my chef cussing using silly symbols.

Getting four controllers to work on my computer took some effort.  We hooked up one Xbox One controller, two Xbox 360 controllers, one wireless and the other hard wired.  Finally, we added the Steam controller which seemed to be the least favorite for this game.  Keyboard support is available as well but the gamepads work the best in my opinion.  

While playing cooperatively is fun, there is a verses mode where chefs compete against each other for the best score within the time limit.  When my daughter and I competed we each had to control one other chef by using the shoulder button to switch between them.  The single player mode plays the same but quite frankly, this game is designed for cooperative play so if you don’t have anyone nearby to play alongside, don’t bother picking up this game.  Sadly, there is no online multiplayer.

If you’re looking for a good couch co-op game that’s fun for the whole family, be sure to check out Overcooked. Just be warned that it may strain some relationships as voices are bound to be raised in the heat of the moment.  As the saying goes, “If you can’t take the heat, then stay out of the kitchen!”   

Thank you Team17 for sending us this game to review!

We originally reviewed Overcooked on PC when it first released in August. Other than my kids not liking me yelling at them so much (Cut the onions!, Wash the dishes!), we had a pretty good time serving up meals in kitchen obstacle courses. Because of how fun and clean this game is, it was listed in our 2016 Christmas Buying Guide.

Overcooked on the Switch is a good fit with the ability to easily connect four players. Hooking up four controllers on a PC is a bit of a hassle. Unfortunately, the biggest drawback to the Switch version is that the console itself is a bit underpowered and the frames per second noticeably dip at times. The game is still playable, but not as smooth as its counterparts. Another drawback is the long loading screens.

If you don’t mind the slower frames per second and loading screens, this title still has a lot to offer. Not only does the Switch version come with the main game, it also has two content packs, The Lost Morsel and Festive Seasoning. Between the two add-on packs you’ll have access to six new campaign levels, eight co-op maps, and eight new chefs to unlock. The chefs are merely cosmetic and do not affect gameplay whatsoever. These content packs are pretty challenging and are intended to be played after completing the main campaign.

If you are not familiar with the story of the game, read on! Onion Kingdom is being attacked by a very hungry spaghetti monster. Unfortunately, your team doesn’t have the necessary coordination to appease its ferocious appetite. As a result, the Onion king sends your party back to 1993 to hone your cooking and teamwork skills. In the beginning the kitchens and recipes are manageable, but that changes before long!

Each level in the co-op campaign will give you between one and three stars depending on how many successful orders were completed within the time limit. Unfulfilled orders subtract from the score. Levels and new chefs become available as you earn stars throughout the game. As your teamwork improves, be sure to go back and get three stars on all of the easier levels.

At first you’ll be working with soups which involve chopping up and adding three of the same ingredient to the pot on the stove. Every few seconds, a new order will be added to the queue. You’ll have to coordinate with your team to chop up the correct items and add them to the boiling pot before it catches fire. If it catches on fire, you’ll have to extinguish it and dispose of the ruined soup before starting a new batch. Successfully completed soup has to be placed in a bowl and sent out on the conveyor belt to finish the order. Most, but not all of the kitchens have a limited number of bowls/plates so the chefs will have to wash dirty dishes before being able to re-use them.

Besides soup, other meals to prepare include hamburgers, fish and chips, burritos, and salads.  While the soups typically have three of the same ingredients, the other meals have various combinations.  Prepping ingredients ahead of time saves work, but some levels have rats that will come by and steal it off of the counter tops. 

As if rats and tricky orders were not enough to contend with, the kitchens themselves can be overwhelming at times too. Some of the kitchens have narrow pathways that only allow one chef through at a time while others split apart and come back together due to earthquakes or moving vehicles. One of the levels takes place on a pirate ship and the rough waters causes the counter tops to shuffle around with the roaring waves.

Communication is key if you want to succeed in completing successful dishes in a short amout of time. Sadly, my kids didn’t appreciate my bossing them around in a louder than normal tone of voice. While I didn’t cuss at them verbally, it’s possible to do so in-game. The foul language shows up as random symbols.

While playing cooperatively is fun, there is a versus mode where chefs compete against each other for the best score within the time limit. In the competitive mode and single-player mode you get to control two chefs simultaneously. It takes some getting used to but it is not nearly as fun as cooperative play in my opinion. There is no mention of online multiplayer for this title (yet).

If you’re looking for a good couch co-op game that’s fun for the whole family, be sure to check out Overcooked. Just be warned that it may strain some relationships as voices are bound to be raised in the heat of the moment. As the saying goes, “If you can’t take the heat, then stay out of the kitchen!”

Thank you Mastiff for sending us a physical copy of this game to review!

According to the game box, there’s a party and the whole planet is invited. Party Planet dubs itself as the ultimate collection of games for party lovers and solo adventurers of all ages. In this collection of thirty mini-games, there are ones that can be enjoyed with up to four players and a few that only allow one player at a time.

Not all of the thirty games are available at first. In order to unlock other titles, your Switch profile user has to rank up by earning bronze, silver, or gold stars on games that are currently playable. I like how the star progressesion status bar on the right hand side shows how close or far you are to earning the next level star.

My kids enjoyed playtesting this title with me and one of their favorite games is the first one available called Bouncing Fish. In this game, you have to prevent your fish from touching opponents and other threats like bombs, spikes, and saw blades. If a fish dies, its body can be used to bounce off of. Bouncing is necessary, as the controls are limited to accelerating and jumping.

Many of the games are knock-offs of popular games like Asteroids, Snake, Air Hockey, Memory and Balloon Fight. I must say that I like the name Super Vegan Anaconda better than Snake though. The Memory game was much more challenging when playing on a team than by myself as I’m used to.

Aside from Air Hockey, there’s another sport themed game called Lava Golf which none of my family members managed to score in. We all enjoyed the platformer game Hopper Jump. In Hopper Jump you have to keep jumping higher and higher to avoid the water creeping up from the bottom. Some of the platforms are brittle and there are some other environmental hazards like snowballs to avoid as you make your way to the top.

Many of the single-player games are fun and can still be enjoyed by others as long as you share the Switch and give everyone a turn. I enjoyed Dodo Breakout where I had to control two different dodo birds simultaneously and prevent them and their young from getting attacked by carnivorous plants. River Defense is another fun one where you have to shoot colored bubbles to make groups of three to have them disappear. If the chain of bubbles gets too long, it’s game over. Thor’s Thunder requires you to hold down the arrow and a matching button/rune symbol to call lightning down and remove attacking Vikings. Another game with cartoon violence is Viking Defense where you have to punch bears before they can maul you. Other than the cartoon violence and references to Norse gods, this collection of games is family friendly.

All of the games are colorful and cute in appearance, though some games are more fun than others. A few of the titles we don’t plan on revisiting any time soon. On the other hand, some of the games gave me the “one more time!” problem.

The sound effects and soothing background music are nice. Everything ran well on the Switch and we didn’t experience any performance issues. A couple of the games had controls that were (deliberately?) hard to use.

In the end, Party Planet is a nice collection of games that’s bound to entertain players for quite some time. Due to the lack of originality, quality, and multiplayer on many of the games, I think the $40 asking price is a bit steep. It’s definitely worth picking up on sale though.