Party Games 15 in 1

Genre: Party Game / Minigame Collection

Players: 1-4 Competitive (Local)

Game Company Bad Behavior Profile Page: Piotr Stalski

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Review:

Party Games 15 in 1, AKA Game Party 15 in 1, is a Compilation of Party games released as an asset on the Codester Asset Store in 2019 as Game Party – 15 Games in 1, brought to Nintendo Switch in 2020 as a low-effort asset flip. This game includes 14 different minigames that… yes, you read that right, this 15-in-1 collection doesn’t even include 15 minigames – the 15th “game” is a “tournament” consisting of either a random or selected combination of the other minigames. You know, something that it any of the game would be considered an option.

Anyway, here’s what I thought of each of thee minigames:

Game	Genre	# of Players	Grade
Ghost Attack	Party	1-4 Competitive (Local)	D
tl;dr Run around and avoid a ghost that’s chasing you, with anyone touched by the ghost becoming another ghost. This game is absolutely pointless with 2 players because you can always outrun the ghost. With 3-4 players it’s not as bad, but “ghost” players being able to chase whoever they want kinda’ makes it unfair for whichever human player they decide to focus on.
Stickman Run	Auto-Runner / Party	1-4 Competitive (Local)	F
tl;dr Players automatically run forward and must tap a button to reverse gravity to avoid obstacles. The lag in response to the button is so bad here that this game is nearly unplayable.
Tank Battle	Arcade / Party	1-4 Competitive (Local)	D-
tl;dr Players control spinning tanks with a single button that makes the tank move forward and fire in whatever direction the tank is facing when you press it. The lack of control here really holds back any fun this game might be, and it feels like an unnecessary constraint of this minigames in this collection only letting players control with a directional input or a button press and not both.
Race	Top-Down Racing / Party	1-4 Competitive (Local)	C
tl;dr This Top-Down Racing Game is decent, but not especially noteworthy. Press in the direction you want your car to go, account for inertia and obstacles, try to be first to make it three laps. Not much else to say.
Soccer	Sports (Soccer) / Party	1-2 Competitive (Local / 3-4 Team Competitive (Local)	C-
tl;dr Simple Soccer game where all you can do is move your character. Not terrible, but very basic and lacking in nuance.
Sea Battle	Party	1-4 Competitive (Local)	D
tl;dr Players use their control stick to aim a slingshot and release to fire at ships of opposing colors. Far too simple and the awkward controls make things worse, not better.
Stick’N’Ball	Arcade / Party	1-4 Competitive (Local)	C-
tl;dr Players use a single button to move their character back and forth in a four-way Pong-like game. The basic concept is sound, but once again the lack of control here is frustrating and makes the game worse.
Color Switch	Party	1-4 Competitive (Local)	C+
tl;dr This game’s rules are confusing because it doesn’t explain them to you – players color tiles they walk on with their own color, but only score points when grabbing stars, earning as many points as the tiles they’ve colored. Once you figure this out, this is actually a fun little minigame, but it could stand to be deeper.
Ninja	Party	1-4 Competitive (Local)	D
tl;dr Players have ragdoll-esque characters they move around trying to fight, but it’s not exactly clear what counts as a hit on your character and what counts as a hit on an opponent (other than that the head is clearly a vulnerable part). In any case, it’s not fun.
Chickens	Party	1-4 Competitive (Local)	D
tl;dr Players grab chickens and bring them back to their own pen. Despite the chickens running away, there’s no mechanic to herd them, you have to individually bring them back. This may be the only game in this collection that uses both directional input and a button, but ironically this is a game that might’ve worked better with just the directional input.
Knock Coins	Party	1-4 Competitive (Local)	F
tl;dr Be the first to hit the box to win what’s inside, good or bad. This is so simple it’s pointless and not at all fun.
Push All	Party	1-4 Competitive (Local)	D-
tl;dr A “King of the Hill on Ice”-style game, with this one having players spin around until they use a button to charge forward. Would have worked better with simple directional controls.
Bank Heist	Party	1-4 Competitive (Local)	C+
tl;dr This game is a little like Frogger, but with a bank robber theme, challenging players to keep bringing money from the bank to their getaway car without getting run over. Surprisingly fun, but not very deep.
Shockwave	Party	1-4 Competitive (Local)	C+
tl;dr Move to the safe squares before the explosion goes off. Mostly good, but sometimes it feels like there’s not enough time to move to safety.

And that’s it. Maybe a third of the minigames here are even halfway-decent. As noted in some of the individual games, one of the problems here is that for some odd reason most of these minigames are designed to use only a button press or directional input, not both, and this limited control makes for frustrating control schemes in games where you don’t have good control over your character.

For the games that aren’t ruined by this, many are just ill-conceived or poorly-executed overall. Why does Ghost Attack not add more computer-controlled ghosts when players evade the first one for too long? Why doesn’t Ninja make it clearer where your character is vulnerable? Why doesn’t Chickens allow you to use the herding mechanics it seems designed for? Because of this, many of the games here feel half-baked.

For the presentation, this game uses mostly simplistic cartoony visuals and cheerful, annoying music. There’s nothing noteworthy here beyond the rough visual filter that has been applied across the board here seemingly to make this game have a unique “sketchy” look, but it’s nothing impressive or artistically inspired. Anyone can add a Photoshop filter to an image.

Oh, there is one other odd thing of note here – at any time, during any minigame, Player one can automatically return to the main menu by tapping the B button. This can easily make for ending a game prematurely because that player accidentally tapped the wrong button (or “accidentally” tapped the button). That this odd quirk was allowed to persist in the final release makes this game feel even more rushed and unfinished than it already does.

In the end, Party Games 15 in 1 seems like it has some decent ideas for good minigames, but most of the minigames here are either poorly-executed, half-completed, or both. On top of that, there’s no unified theme here, no memorable characters or music… nothing to set this apart from countless other far better party games. This seems like it may well be a case of an asset flip that really should have been developed into something more substantial rather than regurgitated onto the eShop as-is with a Photoshop filter.

tl;dr – Party Games 15 in 1 is a Compilation of 14 minigames (that’s right, 14), with a few that are decent, but most being half-finished or poorly-conceived. Most of the content here isn’t very fun, or isn’t very deep. If you want a fun Party Game on Nintendo Switch, you have much better options than this asset flip.

Grade: D-

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