While games have come for Nintendo’s crown on occasion, by and large, the Mario Party franchise has dominated the digital board game/mini-game compilation concept virtually unopposed. LEGO Party is the latest to throw its hat in the ring, offering Mario Party-style gameplay, but with a LEGO twist. Out of all the Mario Party-style party games I’ve played over the years, LEGO Party is certainly one of the better ones, and in some ways, is more fun to play than the series that inspired it.
LEGO Party takes full advantage of the LEGO brand. Whereas Mario Party has players taking control of characters from the Super Mario series, LEGO Party lets players choose between a wide variety of minifgures or customize their own character. Instead of collecting stars, LEGO Party has players collect gold bricks. Instead of coins, it’s studs. The four different boards, aka Challenge Zones, are made out of LEGOs. LEGO Party also sticks close to the witty sense of humor found in the LEGO movies and other LEGO video games, so while the concept and general gameplay are clearly ripped from Mario Party, LEGO Party still establishes an identity all its own.
Challenge Zones offer the core LEGO Party experience and play out like Mario Party game boards. Players roll a number, move across the board, and then deal with whatever the space they land on dictates. Some spaces offer free studs, others are shops where players can purchase power-ups, and others still may have a negative effect, like losing a gold brick. Sometimes the boards split off in multiple directions and there is some strategy in choosing which way to go. One path might be closer to a gold brick, but if it seems like an opponent is going to get there first, it may make more sense to go a different way.
LEGO Party Requires More Skill Than Mario Party
At times, Mario Party can be frustrating in how it relies on random chance to impact the course of the game. LEGO Party, by comparison, is far more skill-based. Those that perform best in the mini-games are most likely going to win because the mini-games determine turn order for the next round. Coming in first in a mini-game could be the difference in one person being able to snag a gold brick over another, and can completely change the outcome of the game.
The LEGO Party mini-games offer a nice variety and are all fun enough. There are no standout stinkers, and there are a few that are especially fun to play, like the bowling mini-game and the chaotic “golf” mini-game where players smash into each other as they try to sink their ball into the hole first. One of the more clever mini-games is a puzzle that has players construct a figure by giving them the pieces they need and an outline, but without telling them exactly where everything needs to go. There are about 60 mini-games in LEGO Party, including a mix of free-for-all and 2v2 bouts, with players able to vote on four different options each round. This way, players can focus on the mini-games they enjoy the most and ignore the ones that they don’t care as much for.
The boards themselves are exciting, well-designed, and visually impressive. While more than four Challenge Zones would have been nice, the boards that are here get the job done with distinct themes and gimmicks to help them stand apart from one another. For example, the LEGO Ninjago board has players encountering heroes and villains from the show, while the space board challenges players to fight off an alien or risk being hypnotized by it. The boards all have special build sections where players choose between different LEGO objects and areas that become permanent fixtures until the end of the game, and that gives the boards added replay value since it’s not possible to see all the different builds in one go.
Something that works against LEGO Party‘s replay value is the excessive yapping and hand-holding. LEGO Party has hilarious commentary (courtesy of hosts Ted Talker and Paige Turner) and entertaining scenes, like when a player pays a thief to steal studs or a gold brick from an opponent and a group of monkeys is sent to do the job, but these things get old fast and start to weigh things down. Having an option to turn off the scenes or skip them would be great because it can make replaying boards a drag at times, especially the longer that you play the game. LEGO Party‘s need to explain things, like when the game “escalates” at certain milestones, is also obnoxious.
Another mark against LEGO Party is how it treats players that aren’t the host player. While 2P, 3P, and 4P can unlock achievements, there are certain ones that they can not, for whatever reason, or unlock for the host player, even if they did not complete the action. The game will also remember the character selected by 1P, but doesn’t seem to do so for other players. Progression also appears to be exclusive to 1P when playing locally. This is a minor annoyance in the grand scheme of things, but hopefully it’s something that’s ironed out in a future update.
LEGO Party Progression Will Keep You Playing
When playing with friends, most of one’s time in LEGO Party will be spent in the Challenge Zones, but players can also ignore the boards completely and play the mini-games in Minigame Rush, which are playlists of various mini-games, or select individual mini-games to play. There’s also the single-player Score Chaser mode, where players try to earn a high score in select mini-games. Being able to skip the boards and focus on the mini-games is great, but there are still only about 60 mini-games, so party game fans should keep that in mind.
While playing LEGO Party mini-games, players are constantly earning XP to unlock new LEGO minifigures as well as carrots, which serve as the in-game currency. Carrots can be used to purchase even more unlocks, expanding LEGO Party‘s customization options. This sense of progression is appreciated and gives the game more purpose beyond simply playing for fun, but it’s certainly good for that, too.
LEGO Party is a fun time and I can see it becoming a regular fixture of game nights moving forward, but it does feel a little light on content. There are a ton of unlocks, but with only four Challenge Zones and about 60 mini-games, it’s possible to see most everything in only a few hours. Perhaps LEGO Party‘s scope will be expanded with DLC or future updates, but at launch, it is a little light compared to some of its competitors.
Even so, LEGO Party is a polished, fun party game that delivers exactly what its title promises. It’s basically Mario Party with LEGOs, but there is nothing wrong with that. Party game fans will get a lot out of LEGO Party, and while it may not have enough to justify playing it for hours on end in single sessions, it is something that will be easy to go back to on game nights.