A week ago, a strange crate showed up on my front door and I quickly wondered if I had accidentally ordered illegal weapons or something in some sleep-deprived stupor. But as I opened the box, I was pleasantly surprised to find some interesting plush characters known as Squeeballs and a copy of the Wii version of Squeeballs Party. You may have never heard of the game before but, suffice it to say, it provides many various mini-games to play through. Check out the full review below for the details on this very interesting new title.

Squeeballs Party, as its name suggests, focuses on small party games where you can play through various game modes and levels of difficulty. The game features a single player mode where you are given various tasks involving Squeeballs such as hitting them with racquets, cooking them, shocking them, and much more. Each mode has a different way to use the Wii Remote. In Tenpin Bowling, you’ll use the Wii remote like you would in Wii Sports to bowl over pins with Squeeballs on them. In Paint by Squeeballs, you’ll you the Wii Remote to pull back and release paint-filled Squeeballs at a canvas. In all there are 11 unique party games with many levels and areas to unlock with all total over 150 different challenges. There’s really a lot of content to the game. Another thing that was a little shocking about the game initially, is how it’s pretty casually violent. When you shock Squeeballs, they’ll fry into a pile of dust with their skeletons showing. It’s not over the top violence, but may be a little violent for young kids.

From a gameplay perspective, a lot of the games use the Wii remote in ways we’ve seen before, but with some hilarious results. It’s always amusing seeing the little Squeeballs fly through the air or getting knocked over by a bowling ball. Some of the games don’t feel that tight when playing however. For instance, in Tenpin Bowling, you have to rotate the Wii remote as the ball is rolling down the lane to adjust more spin left or right. It feels a little like the original Tiger Woods for the Wii and kinda takes you out of the experience of bowling. Other games however, are implemented very well. In the Shock game, you have to guide a loop along a set of wire with an electrical charge. It requires a sensitive hand and is pretty fun once you get into the later challenges.

Graphically, Squeeballs Party utilizes some great, CG cutscenes that set the tone for each game. They’re beautifully rendered and show a lot of polish. The actual in-game graphics are also very polished and show no signs of frame rate issues, even when there’s a lot going on. The presentation is definitely very good, and better than most other Wii games on the market.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer allows up to 4 players to compete in the mini-games. In this ‘Party Game’ mode, you can select a series of modes and levels to play through with some friends. The game gets a lot more frantic with more players. The game also features a 2-player Head-to-Head mode.

Conclusion

Squeeballs Party is similar to games like Boom Blox, but not quite on the same level. While the game features plenty of game modes, the game is more centered around a younger audience and may lose the attention of other players. Some of the challenges will give you a hard time, but for the most part, it’s not a hard game at all. Squeeballs retails for $29.99, but some veteran gamers may find the experience not worth the investment.

Squeeballs Party gets a 6.3/10