Hey folks, Valkor here. This Christmas, after all the presents have been opened, after the dinner is consumed, and everything is right with the world, why not gather the family around the LCD (or plasma), whip out the Nintendo Wii and get some Balls. That's right; I'm talkin about Squeeballs Party.
Squeeballs party is a party game involving balls with their own personality, and you will really put them to the wringer… and I mean that quite literally. You get 11 mini games and over 150 different challenges. You won't be needing the Wii chucks this round as the Wii-mote will be all you'll need. Check out just a few of my favorite games:
Shock – Guide a ring from one end to the other, if you succeed you'll shock the lil Squeeball to ash. But if you touch the line you'll lose some charge, shocking an innocent bystander.
Crazy Lanes – This is bowling with a twist as you'll toss your ball down some seriously twisted lanes. Lava bowling anyone??
Cooking – Squeeball sausage, sushi, pancakes, casserole, and more. You'll grind em, slice em, dice em, and boil em till their well done. And when it's prepared El Toro awaits to have his appetite appeased.
Cannon – As Squeeballs are fired at you, you swat em back to try and score big. There's also a nice variation involving bombs… and splatter… mmmmmm…. Squeeball splatter.
Stampede – Squeeballs love you very, very much. And they're willing to show you too, so to keep em at bay you gotta shoot em down.
You also get different modes to play each game such as Single player, 2 player, party mode, and Challenge ladder, where you'll begin to unlock other areas of play. Squeeballs is simple, effective, super cute, and easy to get into. But what did yours truly think?
The Good:
Squeeballs party is definitely a blast to play. It's very easy to get into because the game shows you how to tackle each stage, so there's no learning curve - simply pop it in and go. Graphically the game is pretty solid, with some really nice brights and well animated Squeeballs. Though they don't do much but giggle, squeak, grunt and groan. I guess this means you won't feel so bad when you're abusing the little fellas. Finally the music is most fitting for each level, though most repeat, you really won't mind because it's just so damn cute, but not overly cute to be syrupy sweet.
The Bad:
As much as I love the cooking game, it's too much of a work out than it needs to be. I mean you'll really get those arms pumping. I'm also not fond of "Paint by Squeeballs" because you'll think you got most of the picture covered only to find out at the end, you weren't even close. Oh and I know this is supposed to be a family game, but if you're gonna grind a live Squeeball into a sausage or other form of food, you might wanna up the screams a bit. Hehehehe.
The Ugly:
N/A
Overall Squeeballs Party is a definite favorite around the Val-Cave and I'm sure it'll be a hit in your home too. Great control, good graphics and tons of games make Squeeballs party a must have this holiday season, or any day of the week. Out of TOV 5 stars I give Squeeballs party on the Nintendo Wii, 4.5 stars. And it's been Valkor tested and TOV Approved. (Also look for Squeeballs on the Nintendo DS, Apple iTouch and iPhone, and next year on the Xbox 360.
