Lego Party

Of course, there's no shortage of Mario Party knock-offs, where we play board games interspersed with simpler mini-games, but so far nothing has even come close to the original series that started the concept in earnest. Until now, that is.

Even when Lego Party was announced last summer, more people than me were excited by the presentation. It was clear that Australian developer SMG Studio wasn't going to settle for a Mario Party knock-off, but wanted to deliver something of their own. So they loaded up with different and very distinct Lego worlds, which can of course be customised during a round. And instead of Mario mascots, we get regular Lego characters with more skins than we'll ever need - with even more unlockable as we go along, of course. To top it all off, everything is framed as a kind of sports show, or perhaps more accurately a TV game show complete with commentators reporting live on everything that happens.

There are several modes to play, with the big draw of course being the Mario Party set-up itself. Here you have to buy gold tiles rather than gold stars, but otherwise most of it will be familiar. You walk along a carved track with a couple of alternative paths, collect bounces to buy gold tiles and play mini-games. But... here, you start each round with the mini-game, and make the move after.

It initially seemed like a strange approach, but it soon becomes clear that it is actually better and more logical. Thanks to this, you can usually do something last round even if you're short on cash, by simply winning the mini-game and thus being able to trade a gold cube. In Mario Party, the last mini-game doesn't have much significance other than being the tiebreaker in case of a tie. The very end of the rounds is a bit of an anti-climax though, because in what I suspect is an attempt to differentiate itself from Mario Party, there are no bonuses here. So the final score you reach is what counts. A missed chance to shake things up with some unexpected surprises.

As you might have guessed, there are also power-ups to make use of. You don't roll the dice here, but the set-up is similar and a number between 1 and 8 is randomised. You can then manipulate this in different ways by, for example, taking a power-up that gives you a one and seven eights, offering a huge chance to move forward quickly, go backwards (perhaps to buy that gold tray you couldn't afford last time) or teleport somewhere. SMG Studio doesn't reinvent the wheel in any way, and the stylised icons completely lack the charm of Mario's counterparts - but the bonus items still feel both more thoughtful and fun than the very pale items we find in the otherwise excellent Sonic Racing: Crossworlds.

But... a title of this type obviously requires fun mini-games to keep you entertained - and fortunately, this is where the game is at its best. SMG Studio boasts over 60 mini-games, and we know from Moving Out (and its sequel) that they can create addictive gameplay from simple premises. And this is something they've really embraced. If I'm going to draw an overarching parallel to the Mario Party series, it's a pretty obvious clone after all, there's some deeper mini-games here. I always think Mario's minigames are at their best when there's a bit of subtlety and you can keep going for a while and here they all fulfil that.

The mini-games are a little deeper and in some cases (such as the unicycle race) so tricky that many people barely make it to the finish line on the first try. Others, such as snowboard racing, offer the perfect mix of depth and accessibility, and only get more fun the more you play. Other sports are distinctly meaner than their Nintendo counterparts, where it can often be a tie in the end. Here, there is often a single winner, which makes it more prestigious and exciting.

Winning the mini-game not only gives you more bounces, but also makes you the one to start playing the round (the mini-games are first, as you know). This means that a win means more, and the disadvantage of always being last disappears.

In total, four game boards are offered to choose from, which I spontaneously think is on the cheap side. I suspect it was simply a cost issue, because making courses with this ambition takes time, and as I said, they can also be rebuilt and generally have a little more interactivity than in Mario Party. If this is a success, I hope SMG Studio will be better than Nintendo at DLC and release more courses and mini-games (in addition to the obvious skins). Because Lego Party is a game we will play for a long time and whose durability will only be limited by when we get tired of the content.

I could round off the review here, but I want to take the opportunity to heap on some more praise. That includes the graphics, which are absolutely top notch. Colourful, nicely presented, razor sharp and with great effects. I would also like to highlight the commentators who, after countless rounds, I have not tired of, and who add a life and movement I like. Then it's nice that there are so many skins to choose from. I notice that even adults find it fun to look through the whole range before deciding to play a classic 80s astronaut with a moustache, a Ninjago ninja or maybe something Harley Quinn-like. It's a small thing that I think means more than you might think and helps to give the game a lively and sprawling look.

So... is Lego Party better than Super Mario Party Jamboree? Maybe not - but it's not that much worse either. I'd say that on the first try, SMG Studio has almost managed to match Nintendo's arguably best Mario Party game to date. It's based on the basics Nintendo created, but it's got enough of its own and, more importantly, hugely good mini-games to keep you thoroughly entertained, and my friends have been literally begging to play this for the last few weeks, and I can see why, it's instantly laugh-out-loud funny and a lot of fun to play. If we just get bonuses after completing rounds for a bit more excitement and some extra courses, Mario will have to watch out. Then we have a new party king in the gaming world.