Party Animals Review – Party with a Fight

PARTY ANIMALS GAME REVIEW

4.5

There’s a new party game in town, and it’s bound to leave you in stitches. Party Animals, developed by Recreate Games and published by Source Technology, is not your average multiplayer game.

Developer: Recreate Games
Publisher: Source Technology
Release Date: September 20, 2023

It features a cast of adorable animals engaged in hilarious and chaotic battles, wielding everything they can get their paws on. In this review, we’ll delve into the world of Party Animals and see if it’s a bash worth attending.

A Rocky Road to Release

Party Animals has been on the radar of multiplayer gaming enthusiasts since its demo release on Steam in 2020. It quickly gained popularity, capturing the hearts of gamers with its whimsical charm and physics-based mayhem. However, the road to its official release on September 20, 2023, was anything but smooth. The game faced challenges, including communication breakdowns within the development team and the disruptions brought by the global pandemic.

Despite these setbacks, the developers persevered, and now Party Animals is making its way to MS and Xbox consoles. The release is just the beginning, as the game is planned to evolve into a continuously updated service.

The Animal Brawl

At its core, Party Animals is a riotous party game where cute and clumsy animals engage in various competitive challenges. These challenges range from traditional last-man-standing brawls to inventive mini-games, such as soccer, hockey, and even delivering jelly bears at breakneck speeds. The game offers a plethora of zany animals to choose from, including kittens, dogs, sharks, ducks, rabbits, and crocodiles.

What sets Party Animals apart is its commitment to physics-based hilarity. The animals clumsily pummel each other, swing bats, fire crossbows, and attempt to toss opponents into the abyss.

These critters are no martial arts experts; they’re just as likely to stumble over themselves or inadvertently knock their allies into the fray.

Chaotic and Uproarious Gameplay

The gameplay of Party Animals is an absolute blast. With a wide variety of challenges, each with its unique twist, it’s a constant spectacle watching these animals fumble their way through the chaos. Picture adorable kittens and bunnies battling for control of a lever, only to be sent flying by a mischievous puppy wielding a giant lollipop.

The arenas are a constant whirlwind of action. Allies become accidental adversaries, opponents plummet hilariously off ledges, fallen players cling desperately to the arena’s edge, and somewhere in the midst of the madness, you might witness a couple accidentally electrocuting themselves.

Party Animals boasts over two dozen maps, each with its own set of conditions, adding spice to the gameplay. For instance, some maps feature periodic black holes, icy terrain requiring players to stay near heat sources, or gradually sinking submarines forcing players to climb higher to survive.

Weapons and Wackiness

In addition to their fists and clumsy maneuvers, animals can also wield an array of weapons that add a layer of unpredictability to the battles.

Baseball bats and hammers can instantly incapacitate opponents, shockers deliver electrifying results, and nunchaku should be handled with care, as they may cause more harm to the user than their foes.

The characters’ inability to fully control their actions due to the physics-driven “rag doll” mechanics creates both humorous and frustrating moments. Whether you and your opponent are aimlessly circling while flailing your limbs or engaging in a daring chase, Party Animals constantly produces side-splitting scenarios during its short yet intense matches.

Multiplayer Mayhem

Party Animals truly shines when you bring friends into the mix. While local co-op is available, the network multiplayer experience is where the real excitement lies. Most game modes allow players to team up and face off against others.

The game supports cross-play on MS and Xbox, and its inclusion in Game Pass lets you dive in without purchasing a separate copy.

Unlocking the Fun

For those motivated by customization, Party Animals offers a selection of 30 characters, including various dog and cat breeds and other charming critters from the animal kingdom. Each character comes with multiple color options and amusing costumes.

Unlocking these outfits, whether it’s dressing your duck as Darth Vader, your dog in a SWAT suit, or your owl in a Harry Potter-esque ensemble, can be achieved through in-game or real currency. Eggs of varying rarity, obtained from vending machines, also contain these customization options.

Completing challenges and gaining experience levels up your Season Pass, earning you avatars, costumes, currency, and more.

A Promising Future

Party Animals already promises a hefty dose of fun, but its potential lies in continuous development and keeping the player base engaged. Season passes are expected to fuel motivation by offering new cosmetics, maps, and characters.

The game’s early access success relied heavily on word of mouth and playtests, supported by a competitive price point and Game Pass availability.

Optimization Quirks

While Party Animals generally runs smoothly, it does experience performance dips in arenas with numerous visual effects. This issue is observed on both Xbox Series S and gaming laptops with dedicated GPUs.

Nevertheless, these occasional hiccups don’t significantly detract from the overall experience.

In Conclusion

Party Animals delivers uproarious multiplayer madness with its lovable animals, physics-based antics, and a diverse range of challenges. Its potential to maintain and grow its player base will depend on continuous development and the allure of season passes.

If you’re looking for a game to share countless laughs with friends and strangers alike, Party Animals is undoubtedly a title worth considering.