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LEGO Party Review
In this episode, we review LEGO Party, a delightful multiplayer game that draws inspiration from the beloved Mario Party series. With engaging mini-games and a vibrant presentation, it promises a fun-...
LEGO Party Review
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Interactive Transcript
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This is IGN.
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Block Rock & Feats This is your IGN review of Lego Party
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by Tristan Oglevy.
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Given that the Lego brand has been slapped onto almost every kind of family-friendly multiplayer
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game you can think of at this point, from kart racers to super smash brothers clones
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and even a rock band spin off, it's surprising that it's taken this long for the world's
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biggest brickmaker to construct its own monument to Mario Party.
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Lego Party is something more than a block-based knockoff of Nintendo's long-running virtual
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board game series though.
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Sure, it might use Mario Party's fundamentals as a base plate to build upon, with a host
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of wacky mini-figs in place of the mushroom kingdom's finest, but every last piece here
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is absolutely pulsating with personality, and there isn't a single stud-based dud in
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the 60 mini-games on offer.
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If lots of laughter is what you're after, Lego Party has all the right parts for assembling
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a fun night in with friends and family.
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If you've ever played one of Nintendo's party starters before, then the basics of Lego
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Party will be as easy to grasp as a tiny coffee mug in a mini-figs fist.
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In this instance, the goal is to collect gold bricks and studs instead of stars and coins,
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as you and three other players move around four uniquely themed game boards, littered with
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various stud-sapping hazards, and potentially lucrative event spaces to land on.
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Depending on the board you choose, each session can be as short as six rounds or roughly
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45 minutes, but can be extended all the way up to three hour long 24-round epics, and
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each round pits all four players against each other in a mini-game designed to be easy
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to pick up for Lego juniors and old-timer technic fans alike, but tricky to master.
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Everybody can carry up to three power-ups that can be bought with studs at the shop or
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collected from Wheel of Fortune-style spins, and these can have dramatic leaderboard leveling
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impacts, like teleporting your mini-fig directly to a gold brick space, or slowing your
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roll so you can increase your chances of moving the exact number of spaces you need.
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Many of these basics have been established in the Mario Party blueprint several times over,
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and Lego Party takes an if it ain't broke, don't fish the dog-eared instruction booklet out of
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the toy chest and rebuild it approach to keeping many of these proven core concepts intact.
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However, there are some key elements to be found in Lego Party's pirate,
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Ninjago, Space, and Theme Park boards that set them apart. For starters,
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each mini-game is chosen democratically by moving your mini-fig in front of one of three options
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presented at the beginning of each round, and I like that it meant my party was given a bit more
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control over which events we were able to enjoy in each evening session. Of course, if you
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prefer more randomized mini-game experience like Mario Party, you can opt for that too. I also
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prefer Lego Party's system of letting the results of each mini-game determine the order of turns
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in each subsequent round, as opposed to Mario Party's more rigid setup of dictating the order via
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dice roll at the start and sticking with that all the way to the end. I find that Lego Party's
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results-driven method increases the ab and flow of each board and brings extra incentive to do well
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in each mini-game. From memory testing challenges to physics-driven races and rhythm-based dance-offs,
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Lego Party's roster of mini-games is as diverse as it is diverting, dripping with personality
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and creative flair. Besides, it's always a great indication for how immediately engaging multiplayer
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mini-games are when players get caught up in the competition without realizing they haven't
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even left the pre-game practice screen, which has been a regular occurrence during my time with
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Lego Party so far. Some mini-games are a terrific toy box tribute to other titans of multiplayer
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mayhem, such as the obstacle course dash that feels straight out of fall guys, or the zero gravity
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space shuttle soccer that's very much in the same orbit as Rocket League. Others lean into the
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familiarly tactile feel of playing with Lego itself, like the one that involves trying to build
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monsters out of a pile of different shape blocks without being provided any instructions.
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There's one challenge with four soccer goals to defend from an ever-increasing number of balls
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that plays out like an inverted game of hungry-hungry hippos, and another that sits each mini-fig on a
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unilating course like a cutesy recreation of trials HD. Lego Party doesn't completely reinvent
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the tried-and-true Mario Party formula, but it does introduce some welcome tweaks to its structure,
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a uniformly high-quality collection of mini-games hard-tuned for hilarity, and an enjoyable
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silly game show-style presentation that's yet to overstay its welcome. The four game boards
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might be a few less than Mario Party Jamborees collection, but the transformative nature their
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layouts brings welcome variety and surprise to each session, and the considerable mini-fig
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customization options are a joy to tinker with. Creative, colorful, and a consistent crack-up,
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Lego Party is purpose-built to turn any boring old knight into a blocked party filled with belly-lasts.
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Lego Party's IGN score? 8 out of 10. Thanks for listening to IGN. My name is Tony Jackson,
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and for the latest updates on Lego Party, visit us at IGN.com.