PixlBit

There's been a cry, a crook is on the loose
You need to act, before he cooks your goose
Investigate, the where and why and who
Don't hesitate, you know what you must do
You've got to find the guilty party before the guilty party finds you

Guilty party, Find the guilty party!

Oh I must apologize there. You see in order to review this game I started playing it again...and all I have to say is...damn what a catchy theme song. Anyways in this weeks bargain bin buys, mystery fun for everyone awaits in this board game inspired whodunit throwback to Clue. So, let's bring out our magnifying glass and detective’s cap for this week Wii Review-- Disney's Guilty Party. A game I bought for $10

The graphics take on a cartoon  Disney style approach which really works well for this game. The attention to detail in the backgrounds and characters will also draw in gamers who just enjoy nifty nods and throwbacks. The backgrounds are  bursting with items crammed in every room. A good example is a bedroom that has Scooby Doo inspired portraits on the wall, along with a couple of exotic plants, a bench, a makeup table complete with a mirror, another large mirror adjacent to the makeup table and I haven’t even mentioned the large wooden bed with a blue comforter. So when I am talking about bursting...I mean it. All of the rooms are extensively detailed and this continues on in later levels as well.

The cast of Characters is one of the strong suits of Guilty Party with each of the playable characters having a unique personality. For example,  Kid Riddle takes on the typical personality of a hyperactive child who seems to have just drank about 10 cans of Coca Cola and ate about 10 pounds of candy. Surprisingly, my favorite character Butch, a large and masculine man that you would expect to have a rough and tough voice ala Samuel L Jackson, actually has a very high pitched one and sings like an angel. The voice acting in Guilty Party is quite impressive with all of the main characters having unique personalities.

At the core Guilty Party is a Party/Mystery game that will have gamers gathering clues by playing through a board game like environment filled with mini-games. When all the clues have been gathered they will have to be sorted through and used to determine who the “Guilty Party” ultimately is.

The story is centered upon the Dickens Detective Agency headed up by Dorian “The Commodore” Dickens (Say that five times fast!), and staffed by the rest of his family including his sister, his children, grandchildren and even an in-law. The story starts off with The Commodore announcing his retirement and passing on control of the detective agency to the family member that is able to catch and defeat Dr. Valentine, The Commodore’s arch-enemy.  You then choose from a very likable cast of characters: Max, Phoebe, Kid Riddle, Charlotte, Butch, and Ling Ling to begin your sleuthing adventure.

I knew it was You! It's always the evil twirly mustached butler!

Solving a mystery involves two things, The first, involves gathering clues through interrogation and finding evidence by examining objects in your environment. The journal at your disposal includes all of the clues. These will be stored  and used to record four facts: Hair Length, Gender, Height, and Body Type which will aid in the investigation. Most clues will be found by interrogating the characters. When a character is interrogated it will prompt you to play a mini game that must be successfully completed before the clue is revealed. For each mystery, there are useful clues and others that you must ignore. Once you have collected all the necessary clues or find sufficient enough evidence to determine the culprit, you will be able to accuse a suspect. By accusing a suspect you will need to justify your accusation by using the reasons you think they are guilty. These are based on the various clues and evidence you picked up and wrote in  your journal. If you are successful in finding the suspect you will have found the “Guilty Party.”

The second aspect of the game as mentioned above, features a variety of mini-games with some being as simple as using the Wii Remote to pick up money and place it in suspects’ hands to bribe answers out of them, staring down suspects by moving your cartoon eyes over theirs to intimidate them, removing a perfectly obvious disguise, or even tickling suspects with a feather. The mini-games aren't super in-depth, but still fun regardless. And while some of the games may appear to be very simple they can be quite challenging. This was especially the case for the hypnotizing mini game which took me a few tries to successfully beat. The motion controls are fairly consistent in this game, but in some instances can be a little bit of a pain. Another unfortunate aspect regarding the mini-games, are the fact many of them feel somewhat repetitive and that takes a lot away from the overall gameplay variety.

As mentioned previously, the stages are set up like a game board. Each mystery has a certain amount of turns in which you must solve it. At the beginning of each mystery, you are able to determine your difficulty level which is either: Rookie, Detective, or Super Sleuth. You are given a certain amount of tokens at the beginning of each turn that you will use to move or interrogate characters. You are also given a Savvy Card that can be used to counteract a malicious move caused by Mr. Valentine. Mr. Valentine will attempt to slow you down by locking you in a room, turning off lights etc. If you have the right savvy card you will be able to get out. Some savvy cards can be used to help you. For example, a free movement card helps you speed through the level and get a lot more done compared to a normal one.

The story mode isn’t terribly long, but that isn’t too much of an issue because there is a Party Mode available where players can play either Cooperatively or Competitively. In co-op you are working together with up to three other players to solve the mystery and in competitive mode you are racing to solve the case first. The levels available for Party Mode are linked to the levels you have completed in Story Mode. So unfortunately, you have to complete the story to enjoy the full experience of Party Mode. This isn't a bad thing by any means. The story mode is terrifically enjoyable on it's own and as I mentioned, not terribly long. The Competitive mode is certainly the most fun aspect of the multiplayer. As you get to choose what traps, obstacles or sabotages Mr. Valentine will unleash on your opponents. This little touch in the gameplay should be considered into your strategy when going up against your friends. I'm all for co-op, but sometimes I like to be a bit mischievous.

Guilty Party is an excellent party game that boasts nice cartoon graphics, humorous voice acting, a fun and funny story mode, as well as some neat mini games, but having to play Story Mode (Not that it isn't enjoyable) to unlock the wonderfully entertaining Party Mode is a bit of an odd decision to say the least. Especially since the multiplayer aspect is the one of if not the biggest reasons why you would play the game. Disney's Guily Party in it's very definition is designed as a party style video game. You should have multiplayer mode available from the start!

Personal Opinion: Hilarious, Wacky, and Enjoyable. Guilty Party brought out the inner 10 year old in me. 8.5/10

Critical Opinion: A lot of love and humor went into the various characters and story. The whodunit gameplay is enjoyable, the theme song is catchy as all hell, the various mini games are fun, but get recycled and reused with either a twist or fresh coat of paint. The game isn't terribly long, and you have to unlock one of the most enjoyable aspects about the game- the multiplayer! 7.8/10

Overall Determination: 8.2/10 - What a Bargain!