Squeeballs Party (Wii) – Review

A WiiNintendo review by hattrick.

Game: Squeeballs Party (Wii)
*also available on Nintendo DS
Obtained: Review Copy
Control Method: Wii Remote

When first looking at Squeeballs Party, one might wonder what it is all about.  Personally, I thought, “I have never heard of a Squeeball, and why do they want to party with me?”  After spending some time with the game, I can tell you what a Squeeball is, but I am not sure they really want to party with you.  On the other hand, they do not seem to have a choice in this frantic, 4-player motion-controlled mini-game collection.  Squeeballs Party will release October 15, 2009, suggested retail being set at $39.99 for the Wii and $29.99 for Nintendo DS.  However, most stores seem to be selling it for less (including WiiNintendo’s online store).

Overview & Story
To find out what the story behind the Squeeballs was, I had to turn to the game manual, which was one of the first times I have read one in quite a while.  According to the manual, “Squeeballs are toys made on a secret island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Before they can be sold, they must be tested. Only the best Squeeballs make it off the island. You are the tester.”  So, in order to make it through the testing, Squeeballs must endure being cooked, thrown out of a cannon, smacked, cut, shot at, and even inflated.  If this sounds somewhat demented, you are correct.  In fact, this game carries an E10+ rating for good reason, even though the target audience is 6-14 years old.  I think the worst example of this is when you have to cut up, squeeze, and then cook some Squeeballs to feed to another one named El Toro.  The cut scenes, while done well (more on this later) are quite disturbing at times.  All of the mini-games are played with one Wii Remote.  In fact, that is all you need to enjoy the majority of Squeeballs Party.

Gameplay
Squeeballs Party boasts 150 mini-games and 11 main games.  Basically, this means there are 11 types of mini-games with 150 different variations.  Among the 11 games are Bowling, Golf, Paint by Squeeball, Cooking, Feeding Frenzy, Pumping, Shock, and Stampede.  To play them, you must first unlock the games in single-player Challenge Mode.  In this, you must “test” Squeeballs by playing through a preset order of mini-games.  For instance, you start our bowling, then move to Canon, Cooking, Paint by Squeeball, and so on.  After you unlock a new game type, you must play through another round before unlocking a new one.  While this works to draw you into the game, to unlock everything, it is somewhat annoying when you first pick up the game and want to play a competitive multiplayer match.  I liken this to “Wario Ware: Smooth Moves,” where you not only had to unlock the games, but you also had to unlock multiplayer, in general.  If the game name includes “Party,” then there is no reason why you should not be able to pop the game in right after opening it, and play a plethora of games with your friends.  One minor complaint I found while going through Challenge Mode was that the cut scene and instructions come up each time you go to a different mini-game type, even if you have already played it.  Sure you can skip past them by repeatedly pressing A, but this does get in the way.  The other single player game mode includes playing through all the games you have unlocked in order to get a high score.  A nice addition would have been an online scoreboard.  Where the game shines is in the multiplayer modes.  While 2-player head-to-head is an option, I opted out of that for the one that made more sense – Party Mode.  Up to 4 players can compete in an array of different types of game parties.  You can put together your own string of games or pick one of the many Squeeballs Party already has prepared for you.  One complaint I have about this game, again like Smooth Moves, was that you must use one Wii Remote.  While this makes the game more accessible to those without 2 to 4 Remotes, it would have been nice for everyone to have their own.  Even so, I admit it was fun competing with 3 of my friends, smacking around Squeeballs and laughing at the crazy sounds they make.  All the while, I kept wondering if I was testing the Squeeballs or were they testing me…

Mini-Game Review
In order to give this game a more accurate representation, I feel the need to review each of the mini games separately.

Bowling: This is the game you start off playing in the Challenge mode.  It is your basic Wii Sports style of bowling, where you aim, push B, motion your hand, and let go of B to roll your ball toward 10 pins. The only difference is that these pins have Squeeballs on top of them.  While this was fun, I would rather play Wii Sports Resort bowling.

Canon: Squeeballs are shot at you from a canon, and you must swing your tennis racquet to smack them for maximum distance.  This was one of my favorites, especially in later modes where you would get them shot in rapid-fire succession, all the while trying to avoid the bomb Squeeballs.  While the controls were not always spot-on, this was a fun mini-game.

Cooking: As stated earlier, El Toro is hungry, and he wants to eat.  In fact, he will eat. If you do not get his meal cooked in time, he will eat you.  Chop, cut, stir, fry, grate, salt, grind, and serve Squeeballs to El Toro in a race against the clock.  Each element of your cooking is a quick-time event – they tell you what to do with your Wii Remote, and you do it as fast as you can.  While this was fun for one of my chef-to-be friends, I did not have as much fun.

Paint by Squeeball: Shoot Squeeballs from a sling shot onto a canvas.  Each time the Squeeball smacks onto the outlined paint-by-number-style painting, they explode covering the canvas with “paint.”  Try to get a certain percentage of paint on the canvas or race against the clock to paint it all.  I enjoyed this, and it was one of my favorites.

Squeeball Shock: Guide a hoop around an electric wire with a steady hand in order to shock a Squeeball.  While being one of the more disturbing games, it was also my least favorite.  Most people I played with, including myself, tried to twist the remote as they went around the curvy wire.  This was not needed, and in fact, it only made them lose.  While not a big deal, I believe this is something that should have been caught during testing.

Stampede: Shoot at a multitude of Squeeballs and other things that are running toward you.  This was one of the more fun games of the bunch.  Shoot with B, reload with A, and repeat.  As long as you have a steady hand and a good aim, you are sure to revisit this one.

Feeding Frenzy: Similar to Stampede, you must shoot Squeeballs. This time you are shooting the right color Squeeball at larger, and hungry, Squeeballs.  The colored small ones are set to your control pad. Aim and shoot before they eat you.

Crazy Lanes: While the back of the box makes this look like bowling, it quite different.  This mini-game allows you to steer your Squeeball through lakes of fire in order to hit a target at the end.

Pumping: Move your Wii Remote up and down to pump up your Squeeball, and then shoot him toward a target.  On your way there, you can guide him through hoops and stars for more points.  Be sure to read the instructions on this one, as I made my Squeeball explode several times before understanding I needed to press B before I filled him all the way.  After that, this became a favorite.

Golf: Line up your shot, press B, and swing your Squeeball around and around.  Your goal is to sling him out of some catapult-like contraption toward a target.  Just like real golf, you have a par, and your goal is to make it in that amount of attempts.  This was definitely one of the more difficult games, especially in the later courses.

Squeeball Testing Belt: Similar to Cooking, this is a quick-time event game where you follow the on-screen instructions in order to test Squeeballs.

Graphics
I am going to be open and say once again that I am not a graphics-only gamer.  I think they are nice, but gameplay is definitely more important to me.  With that being said, Squeeballs Party is actually quite pleasing to the eye, especially in the cut scenes.  One of my friends even commented about how good the game looked.  Granted, another one followed up with how he did not agree, but that is beside the point.  The colors are vibrant, and it definitely fits the feeling the game tries to give off – this is a happy little island (even though we know Squeeballs are being murdered left and right).

Sound
While I do not believe every game must look beautiful to be fun, music and sound does rank high on my list of necessities.  While Squeeballs Party does some things right with the sound effects, especially the screams and squalls of the Squeeballs as you put them through various tests, it does other things not so well.  The music is quite fitting for the game; however, it gets old very quick.  Sure that bouncy happy beat will make you want to tap your foot at the beginning of the game, but after an hour or so of hearing the basically the same music over and over, you will find yourself heading to the menu to either turn it down or off.

Controls
As mentioned earlier, the entire game is played with the Wii Remote by itself.  The mini-games are primarily motion-controlled, using buttons sparingly.  For the most part, this works.  Nevertheless, there were times of confusion and spotty response time.  The majority of these instances were found in the quick-time games like Cooking.  It would have been nice to incorporate Wii Motion Plus, but it might take some time to get all developers on board with this new technology and control method.

Conclusions
Squeeballs Party can be a entertaining game for a group of friends.  With its crazy elements and frantic mini-games, most people will have fun, especially when found at the bargain $29.99 price tag.  Yet, it does have its flaws – repetitive at times, annoying music, and some control problems. To those wanting a strong mini-game collection, I suggest turning to Wii Sports Resort, Raving Rabbids, or Wario Ware.

FINAL SCORE: 3 out of 5

For the WiiNintendo’s Podcast “Nintendo Fuse,” where we initially discuss Squeeballs Party (about halfway through), click here.  You can also subscribe on iTunes by clicking here. Expect more discussion in next week’s podcast.

Purchase Squeeballs Party (Wii) online at WiiNintendo’s store by clicking here.

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