PixlBit

When I started playing through Squeeballs Party, it reminded me over and over again of Itchy and Scratchy; the cartoon cat and mouse on the Simpsons who loved to try and rip one another to shreds. Within this game, all of the squeeballs are constantly either trying to do harm to one another, or falling into hysterics at another's misfortune. The characters themselves are incredibly full of personality, and most certainly add something unique to this game. Unfortunately the gameplay itself is full of rehashes of familiar party games which only remain fun for so long.

The game is features four modes: Challenge Ladder, Single Game, Party Game, and Head-To-Head Game.

Challenge Ladder is split up into the game's several overarching game categories, which include themes such as Paint by Squeeballs, Shock, Cooking, and Cannon. Each of these categories are separated further by individual games which increase in difficulty as players climb the ladder. The more individual games players successfully complete in the Challenge Ladder mode, the more categories that will unlock.

Single Game is very similar to Challenge Ladder, with the exception that it automatically transitions players from one challenge to another within a particular category. Only games from categories that have been unlocked through the Challenge Ladder mode can be played in Single Player.

While these single player campaigns have a fair bit of humor and substance to keep them entertaining, as the game's name implies, it is best served as a party game. Head-To-Head allows two players to compete by selecting one of the many pre-sorted arrangements of games. There's challenges comprised of only winter games, easy games, harder games, and even those that require plenty of waggle.

Party Game allows four players to compete, and it seems as though this is where the game will truly shine. Similar to Head-To-Head mode, players will once again choose one of the pre-sorted arrangements of games and then begin the round. The biggest difference is that Party Game only uses one Wii Remote, allowing many players to join in on the fun even if the party host is short of extra remotes.

The one aspect of Squeeballs that I must commend is its generally good implementation of motion controls. While certain titles such as the 10 pin bowling felt a bit rough compared to the smooth experience of bowling in Wii sports, the rest of the games felt very fluid. There were rarely ever any choppy movements, or moments in which I simply could not get the games to work; a good feature when taking into consideration who this game is really designed for.

Squeeballs Party is truly a game designed with children in mind, as the games are simple and accessible for kids of all ages. The silly humor will undoubtedly appeal to them, as will the many different characters they get to play with.

The downside to Squeeballs Party, is that since the games take such a short time to complete, there really isn't very much play time to be had with the game. While there are a large number of games to play within each of the categories, they still all conform to an overarching theme, making them feel incredibly stale and repetitive after a while. Perhaps if Squeeballs Party had taken a more WarioWare approach, differentiating the subgames within the categories, the game wouldn't feel so bland.

Regardless of the fact, Squeeballs Party makes for a great group game for the younger crowd. There may not be much variety in the single player modes, but the dozens of pre-arranged challenges in the multiplayer mode will make for a decently fun time that will be entertaining while it lasts.