An all-platform alternative to Mario Party has been a long time coming, and we're pleased to report that LEGO Party is all that and more.
Nintendo has long reigned over the party game space with the Mario Party franchise, combining board games and minigames into a single experience that will have you squabbling with your friends and family in the best possible way. Unfortunately, the franchise has been available only on Nintendo's platforms, leaving the likes of PC, Xbox and PlayStation without a solid alternative with as much staying power as the Super Mario franchise.
This is where LEGO Party, developed by SMG Studio, swoops in. The game leverages the star power of the LEGO Group's iconic elements and themes to provide the perfect excuse for a genuinely fantastic party game at a competitive price.
Make no mistake: LEGO Party follows the naming convention of Mario Party for a reason. The new game takes the best parts of Nintendo's formula and applies a LEGO paint job to them, while making the experience accessible across all platforms. Players will be able to battle against one another or some challenging computer players to travel around a LEGO board, with plenty of twists and turns on the board itself to keep you entertained for an hour or more.
Four boards, here named zones, are included in the game. These are Pirate, Theme Park, Space and NINJAGO. This is just enough to satisfy, but at least one more would have been appreciated. Despite this, there's a huge variety of minigames to play along the way around the boards, and much to my surprise, almost everything is made of digital LEGO elements.
This is a fantastic touch for detail-obsessed fans, occasionally distracting you from the minigames themselves. These minigames are tremendously varied, covering a wide swathe of control schemes, topics and LEGO knowledge. A personal favourite involved trying to identify a build based on the parts being used. For once, I managed to beat the CPU players in this minigame, but LEGO enthusiasts won't always have such an advantage to keep things fair, no matter your prior experience with LEGO.
The biggest differences between Mario Party and LEGO Party come in the form of the commentators and the minifigure customisation. The LEGO game includes the option to make your own character using a vast array of official elements, encouraging you to mix, match and continue playing more rounds to unlock more pieces. This adds to the game's replay value, and the number of minigames ensures that no two rounds will be the same.
The voiced commentators have lines specific to each board, and they include some genuinely funny jokes. This is something that Mario Party has never quite nailed, giving LEGO Party a distinct advantage over the Nintendo franchise.
At the time of writing, I have explored all but the space board in just over three hours of gameplay, and of those I've found myself enjoying the NINJAGO board the most for how knowledgeable the commentators have been regarding NINJAGO lore. Add to that the number of NINJAGO minifigures and parts you can use to customise the characters, and it's much more NINJAGO than I was expecting in a party game.
For anyone seeking the Mario Party experience beyond a Nintendo platform, look no further than LEGO Party. This is a wonderful, whimsical, funny and creative take on the familiar genre that builds on what has been successful before, elevating the experience to a new level. NINJAGO fans will find a lot to love in this game too, and at the suggested price it has more bang for your buck than Nintendo's party game franchise.
LEGO Party is available now for PC, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S for £34.99 / $39.99 / €39.99.
This game was provided for review by SMG Studio.
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