Available on: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Played on: Switch
Move over Mario, there’s a new party in town! On one hand, Lego Party is a shameless clone of the minigame filled party series from Nintendo. On the other hand, Lego Party also has an undeniably strong IP and a delightful charm all on its own. And most importantly: excellent minigames!
Read on for our review of Lego Party!
Ted Talker & Paige Turner
Lego Party is themed like a game show, with 1-4 players (and/or bots) arriving as contestants to see who can win the most Golden Bricks (in Challenge mode), or the most mini-games (in MiniGame Rush).
Challenge mode features four different board game-like zones: Pirate, Ninjago, Space, and Theme Park, ranging from small, medium, and large.
As with Mario Party, players take turns moving around the board and activating different spaces. At the end of each round, players compete in a random minigame to earn extra coins — as well as determining turn order for the next round.
The zones make full use of the Lego IP and building themes, with bright colors, funny minifigures, and everything made of plastic bricks. I especially love the few areas where the first player chooses which part to build, permanently altering large sections of the zone layout. The Ninjago Zone is a real standout, according to my Ninjago-loving kids, with tons of fun references and cameos from the series.
The larger Theme Park zone has a weird balance, however. While I love building out the park with different areas (from Haunted Houses to Candy World), players can always buy the Golden Bricks from the central plaza. That means if one player keeps doing well in minigames and earning coins, it’s better to simply keep doing laps in the plaza and keep purchasing Golden Bricks, bypassing most of the park. Efficient, but not terribly interesting.
The entire game is hosted by two legitimately funny game show hosts: Ted Talker and Paige Turner. Ted and Paige introduce minigames and players, and provide commentary throughout each game and match, from congratulating players to playfully dunking on them. Thanks to solid voice acting and good writing, the pair remain funny and additive to every match, injecting just the right amount of personality.
Everything is Awesome
The 60 minigames are the main highlight of Lego Party, from rhythm games to racing, building, platforming, and more.
Tumble Time is a clever scenario that gives each player a maze they can spin (by running in either direction). The goal is to drop items into the scoring area — but not the bombs. Read the Instructions is a fun play on memorization using classic Lego build instructions. Slug it Out turns each player into a slug as they play a simple but hilarious game of tag, while Rocket Ball is 2D Rocket League with actual rocket ships.
Many of the games are physics-based and utterly chaotic and fun, whether it’s racing forklifts full of bricks, dirt bikes over hills, or poorly-balanced unicycles. I honestly didn’t play a single game I didn’t like. Every game uses at most one button and the joystick, keeping things simple but fun, and features a familiar practice mode before jumping into the action. Still, a few of the games were a bit too complex for my 5yr old.
Minigame Rush features a series of minigames without the whole board setup. It includes several pre-designed groupings, such as vehicle-based, teams, or kid-friendly, but players are free to build their own gauntlet of their favorite games
Finally, there’s Score Chaser, which is a half-baked single player mode featuring a few of the games that involve scoring — easily forgettable, especially as Minigame Rush can be played with the more than competent CPU players. In fact, an early patch changed the CPU difficulties to Normal, Hard, and Expert, as the developers acknowledge that the easiest bot was still pretty darn competent!
I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention the fabulous minifigure customizations. Players already start out with well over 20 different minifigures. Playing games and matches earns experience that unlocks additional figures, as well as carrots, which are used to purchase new options in the wardrobe store — where dozens more await! Plus, any minifigure is fully customizable, swapping whatever body parts and accessories. A brilliant use of the Lego IP and its vast collection of minifigures.
The Rating
Lego Party has been rated E for Everyone by the ESRB, with Comic Mischief and Mild Fantasy Violence. Minigames and board actions feature some violent actions, such as explosions and smashing, but it’s all played for laughs with the Lego toys and minifigures. See our game entry detail for Lego Party for details.
The Takeaway
As a Mario Party veteran, I was fully prepared to bounce off this obvious clone. I’m so thankful I gave it a chance. Not only is Lego Party a fantastic multiplayer party game, but I think I actually enjoy it more than Mario Party Jamboree, thanks to its slimmed down rules, streamlined power-ups, customizable figures, and less annoying endgame shakeups. But most importantly, the minigames are just so darn fun to play.
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