Thank you Microids for sending us this game to review!

The Sisters: Party of the Year is a party game designed to accommodate up to four players. There are 24 very diverse minigames, and the story mode has a huge map where you can collect different items and complete sidequests at your own pace. There are several different ways to play the minigames, too. There’s a mode where you can just choose whichever one you want to play (with or without friends). There's also an option where you can play in a minigame tournament against AIs or against friends, as well as a game style where you can have each person pick one when it’s their turn. A mode where you play all the minigames back to back exists as well. Unfortunately, there are no online capabilities.

The Sisters stars Wendy and Maureen, the titular siblings. The player can choose which sibling they want to play as when they launch the game. Each character doubles as a save file. The story starts when Wendy decides she wants to host a party, but Maureen steals her idea and tells their parents first. Since they’re only allowed to have one party, the sisters decide the terms for how the party will be sorted out: whoever successfully completes 24 challenges will be the winner, and the winner hosts the party.

The challenges themselves are very different from each other, and executed in very creative ways. They range from button spamming to full on sports and games of chase. I actually somewhat enjoyed most of them, which was surprising to me because it’s clearly designed to be a kids’ game. They don’t have to be played in the context of the story mode, though (but that’s what I ended up doing the first time around). Before each challenge, there’s a little guide telling the player the controls for the various functions in the minigame.

There are several different modes in which the user can play the mini-games, and all of them but the story mode have the capacity for multiplayer. There’s an option where the player can choose any minigame that suits their mood, and can either do it by themselves or play with more people. Another possibility is participating in a tournament, in which there are three minigames chosen, and the players battle it out, all the way down to a final winner. Another option is entitled “all or nothing”, in which the user and any potential other players do all the minigames back to back to back. The final mode that the user can choose to participate in is entitled “around the world”, but this is not in any way an online mode. Instead, it’s a mode that gives each player a turn to pick a minigame to challenge the rest to. The minimum number of turns per game in this mode is five, meaning the intention is that the game stretches out after the first round of turns.

While the challenges are the focal point, there are other aspects to The Sisters. When the user starts in the game, they have the ability to investigate various aspects of the house, and upon entering the outside world, there are sidequests for them to embark on, as well as items to collect. When they complete quests, they can earn tickets to change their character’s look. Once they complete any collections, they unlock a bit of décor for the fountain in the center of town.

There are several different kinds of quests. Some involve searching for a belonging, others involve doing favors for people, and still others can take you around the map trying to take care of animals. There are more quests than that, too, which keeps the player on their toes. The quests tend to help the user know what to do in order to fulfill them (with the exception of the animal quests for some reason, I was never able to figure out how to complete those). The player has the option of going into the (heart-shaped) map and creating a target for the game’s natural GPS to guide them to. Depending on the purpose, the directional arrow changes color: yellow is for games, blue is for player-chosen locations, and red is for quest objectives.

The final party that is thrown when all the challenges are completed ends up being displayed through a (skippable) CG cutscene. Thankfully, the player has the ability to go back and complete any collections and quests after said party is thrown.

The graphics in The Sisters are fairly impressive, as it’s decked in full 3D. Some of the characters seem recycled at parts, but it’s hard to notice if you aren’t looking for it. A child playing this game certainly won’t. Some parts are glitchy as you walk through them, and it takes some effort to restore it back to normal gameplay.

The sound in The Sisters is overall pretty good. There is voice acting in most portions of the game, and the sound effects used are pretty realistic. The music, while not super memorable, fits the theme of the game and I don’t remember minding it too much. The voice acting is a little bit cheesy, and the lip syncing is a little off in the cutscenes.

There are twelve outfits to unlock in the game, and they vary in normalcy. One of the outfits shows a little bit of midriff, but all the rest of the outfits are perfectly appropriate. However, that doesn’t mean they’re all realistic. One of the outfits is literally a panda suit minus the head. Hairstyles can also be changed, but I haven’t played too much with that option.

Overall, The Sisters is a fairly well-polished game. There are some typos, which are mostly misspelled words, and a few glitches as well, but nothing too major. I did have to restart the game one time to undo a glitch, though. I noticed the game was translated from French, so the typos, while somewhat disappointing, are a little bit understandable.

Morally, there aren’t many issues, but they do exist. As the premise of the game is literally based on a conflict within the family, the potential buyer of the game might have to consider that this kind of fighting might accidentally be pushed as positive. Some of the games also contain playful kinds of violence, like pushing other players out of the way to ensure victory for themselves. One game even relies on hitting a goalie with a soccer ball to score points. And when it comes to other categories, like fashion in this case, there is an outfit that shows a little bit more skin than it should.

Overall, this is a nice, fun game for any younger girl looking for something to pass the time with or without friends. It’s better than I thought it would be, which means that any child will almost certainly enjoy it.

- Kittycathead