Donkey Kong Bananza (NS2) Review

We move from one 3D platformer from an indie to a 3D platformer that is decidedly NOT an indie: Nintendo! Donkey Kong Bananza swung onto the Nintendo Switch 2 last June, but of course in true SuperPhillip Central fashion, I'm not getting to reviewing this game until the following January. 

Kept you waiting, huh? Regardless, no time like the present, better late than never, and any other cliche you can think of aside, we have a new review to get to, so let's banana slam it! 

Ooooooooh, Bananza~!

If you're like me--and as always, God help you if you are--you might have been expecting a new 3D Mario released close to, or along with the Nintendo Switch 2. But if you're also like me, then you realize that one should always expect the unexpected when it comes to Nintendo. That doesn't just ring true for the company's games, but also its release strategies as well. 

That said, what we've ended up with instead is an utter delight. Not only is Donkey Kong back in the limelight in a big way with a brand-new 3D platformer, but it's one from Nintendo's top team at EAD. Donkey Kong Bananza takes Nintendo's grand gorilla on a fantastic deep dive--literally--through magnificent worlds to explore and packs a mighty massive punch too in the process. Methinks Mario can wait!

Donkey Kong Bananza sees DK with his glorious new design as first seen in Mario Kart World, teaming up with a young, precocious Pauline. Legend says that deep in the planet's core is a root that will grant the wishes of anyone that lays claim to it. Pauline wishes to return to the surface where she can have her dream come true of becoming a singer, while Donkey Kong, of course, dreams of bananas and nothing more. Of course, it's easier said than done, as a group of villainous Kongs under the Void Company stands in their way, obstructing them at every opportunity that they get. 

Donkey Kong is back and more expressive than ever before!

The story is relatively light when all is said and done, but when it comes into full swing, it definitely delivers. The character development of Pauline is a highlight, as she's understandably visually and audibly timid and nervous around a massive thousand-pound gorilla through the first quarter or so of the game. As she opens up and gets more comfortable around DK, her excitement and ability to let loose and get gung-ho shines through. It's a nice touch that more importantly feels natural as opposed to feeling forced. 

The world of Donkey Kong Bananza is your oyster. Well, technically, it's less of an oyster and more of an onion since it has literal layers and sub-layers that form the levels of the game. At any rate, these layers show off one of the most impressive parts of Bananza--the amount of delightful, wanton destruction that DK can inflict on the environment. Punch a bunch as you please, DK, as he can smash swaths through rock, cement, and other materials to create makeshift pathways through levels. I was utterly astonished by the tech involved here--something that truly couldn't be done on Nintendo's Switch 1 without serious concessions to the design ethos of Bananza.

The locales known as layers are lovely to explore for goodies and meet new friends along the way.

It's not just mindlessly bashing and brawling your way through the environment, of course. Not all walls, floors, and ceilings are destructible. This is given an in-game story reason as Void Co. has deliberately turned specific materials as impossible to punch through. It also makes it so you can't just beat and bash your way everywhere through the game, completely disregarding the level and puzzle design within the environments. Sure, there are points where you can punch your way through soft walls to create a tunnel to a destination all by sheer force--and many times this is shrewdly highlighted by a telltale sign in the environment--but you can't simply bypass everything in a level for little reason.

DK gives a new definition to the term "mudding".

Truly, Donkey Kong Bananza feels like the next, natural evolution of the foundation that Nintendo EAD's previous work, Super Mario Odyssey, laid. You have your open, playground environments to explore and multiple collectibles to obtain--with the most important of which being that of Banandium Gems, giant crystallized bananas in single and banana bunch forms. Gems are ALL over the multitude of layers and sub-layers in Bananza--hiding in alcoves, earned from completing platforming and puzzle-based trials, entering obstacle course-centric Challenge Rooms, and battling bosses. These Gems serve the Power Moon role from Super Mario Odyssey. However, whereas Moons were merely abundant in quantity, essentially being required to progress to new kingdoms, the Banandium Gems are less needed for progression purposes and more for powering DK up. 

Donkey Kong and Banandium Gems go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Donkey Kong Bananza contains plenty of power-ups and abilities for DK in a skill menu of sorts. For every five single Banandium Gems collected (big bunches of five are usually earned after beating bosses or after a special story progression-based sequence), DK earns a skill point. Simpler skills require less skill points to spend, while the more useful abilities demand more points spent on them. These range from adding hearts to DK's health, expanding his radar range (when DK slams his palms to the ground, the nearby area shows hidden goodies like Banandium Gems and Fossils), supplying him with a further inventory of health-restoring juice, granting him the ability to plow through stronger surfaces, and also upgrades to his Bananza abilities. More on those in just a little bit!

Apart from Banandium Gems, there are Fossils to be found all throughout the landscape, walls, floors, ceilings--you name it. These can be spent at shops to purchase new costumes and outfits for DK and Pauline. Each costume piece, whether a pair of suspenders or a tie for DK, or a full fledged outfit for Pauline, grants different bonus benefits--whether allowing DK to stumble upon more random treasure chests when smashing through surfaces, greater affinity against hazards like lava so he takes less damage upon being burned, or granting DK longer Bananzas.

No doubt if you've yet to play this Switch 2 exclusive and have no concept of the game, then you might be wondering if the "Bananza" in the game's title is more than a clever play-on-words. Well, yes, it's much more than that, indeed! Throughout the game, Donkey Kong learns new transformations that take him from Goliath gorilla to caked-up Kong gorilla, speedy zebra, flying ostrich, among others. Whereas the Kong Bananza is terrific in utility for smashing the crud out of enemies and the environment quickly, something like the Zebra Bananza has more finesse required, as that form is fantastic for running across water as well as walkways that would otherwise have DK fall through as soon as he steps foot on them. 

Many challenges both platforming and puzzle task players with optimizing one's time with each transformation. Sometimes, you'll need to switch between forms on the fly (as easy as a tap of the D-Pad) to overcome trials and tribulations the game throws at you. Like with being able to pound through surfaces and the environment with ease to get where you want to go, a lot of the time with some ingenuity and a little strategy you can complete tasks and objectives by some creative use of these Bananza abilities and forms. That really speaks to how open ended the design of Donkey Kong Bananza is, really. You're seldom locked to a set in stone way of doing things. That said, you're also not able to just completely disregard the game's design, whether intended or unintended, either.

Each Bananza form gets its own theme song, sung by the incomparable Jenny Kidd as Pauline.

DK is worthwhile even without his Bananza forms, as well. He's freaking Donkey Kong, after all! His repertoire of moves is more impressive than ever before, but never overwhelming either. For example, take his ability of being able to rip chunks out directly from the ground. He can swing the chunk around to beat and bash baddies into submission, but he can also chuck the chunk to hit faraway switches or enemies. Even more interestingly, he can perform a Turf Surf, riding the chunk like a snowboard, using his massive mitts to pull the turf forward along the ground to keep his momentum going. Not only is this great for picking up speed and crossing expansive areas of the environment quickly, but it's also paramount for getting across hazard-laden ground, such as that of brambles, electricity, and more.

No, seriously. The Kong Bananza is caked up, for real!

These abilities are especially a big deal during the boss battles--especially the bashing, smashing, and otherwise destroying that DK does. Boss battles really show the might of Nintendo's main monkey, and instead of the typical "three hits and they're beaten" battles that Nintendo EAD generally likes to employ for their platformers, instead, bosses are bestowed with health bars. Bosses are beaten rather quickly and few truly felt overly tricky or challenging. It was mostly learning their moves, how to evade, when they're left open to attack, and bam! Punch-a-bunch party of two was ready to be seated. While most of the fights were fast and rather effortless, by no means were they anything less than fun. Of course, fights near the endgame as also post-game definitely put DK through the wringer, and certainly took me plenty of attempts to overcome. 

Most boss battles, especially early on, won't get you sweating too much, but eventually they do escalate in difficulty.

As for the layers--or levels--of Donkey Kong Bananza, these are extremely creative and full of secrets, challenges, and things to do. Some are larger and lengthier than others, as some do not possess sub-layers to speak of. Instead, they're merely what you see is what you get, being one area apiece. However, the more involved and decidedly more interesting layers feature lots of sub-layers, many times changing up the atmosphere and locale entirely. The Freezer Layer mostly takes place in a wintry wonderland home to the Zebra tribe, but deeper down in a sub-layer is a hot, scorching, lava-filled furnace that threatens to melt one's face off!

A view of winter in the Midwestern U.S. or the Freezer Layer? You be the judge.

VoidCo causes trouble wherever they go, and each layer requires DK and Pauline to right the wrongs, help out various characters through the kindness of their hearts, and beat down those aforementioned bosses standing out as progression points to advance the story.

Really, one can opt to make a beeline for the story, and merely progress from one plot point to another without scouring the levels for their massive amounts of collectibles. It makes the game more difficult, as a player wouldn't have the skill points to invest into making DK considerably stronger, but that is a nice option to have! I found a mix of exploration and progression to be great for me, as I discovered that attempting to nab every Banandium Gem and Fossil on each layer before moving onto the next was burning me out on the game. Heck, I took multiple breaks from Donkey Kong Bananza because of it--hence the tardiness of this review! That said, once I found a cadence that worked for me, Bananza became even more addicting to me than it was previously. Even still, being able to teleport to various fast travels points and layers quickly through the clever eel teleportation service known as "T-eel-eporting" made collectible cleanup much more manageable for me.

Look at that goofy grin! How can you NOT love Donkey Kong?

A helpful map, too--which in incredible fashion displays real-time damage of the environment and landscape--was a tremendous help in noting which Banandium Gems and Fossils were collected, which still needed finding, and scavenging for other goodies and points of interest. The ability to easily track your progress this way across each and every layer was super beneficial, something that Mario Kart World picked up on with a recent update, thankfully, too.

With Donkey Kong, Nintendo hasn't always pulled too much from DK's history, particularly the Rareware era. However, any fears that I or anyone else may have had with Donkey Kong Bananza are long gone. No, Nintendo made Bananza a celebration of all things Donkey Kong and his 40+ year history with odes to every era. From the opening area of the game, Ingot Isle, featuring the familiar pink girders from the original Donkey Kong arcade game, to specific 2.5D challenge rooms modeled after levels in Donkey Kong Country (especially one that perfectly captures the Bramble Blast-themed stages), DK's history is fondly encapsulated in this game. 

DK says "gay rights"!

And really, Donkey Kong Bananza stands tall, thumping its chest with both fists proudly, as a love letter to all aspects of this long-standing franchise. It takes the modern approach to its design while providing plenty of callbacks to not leave enthusiasts out in the cold. Everything from the colorful worlds that DK stomps around in, to the extremely expressive Donkey Kong himself and other characters like Pauline--it all looks absolutely masterful in animation, design, and presentation. Perhaps the only gripe I can find with Bananza is that of the frame-rate, offering steadiness most of the time, but slight drops do happen. That said, some minor concession with the frame-rate are a small price to pay for the amount of destruction in the environment--again, something that Switch 1 could not do without altering the design of the game considerably. 

He's the leader of the bunch for a reason, and he apparently also led Nintendo's first-party platforming efforts on its Switch 2 for a reason, too. It was a bit of a risk to have DK lead the charge on Nintendo's new system, but Donkey Kong Bananza gives the grand gorilla a fair shake, time in the spotlight, and successfully moves over Mario (even if briefly) from his usual starring role as the lead 3D platforming star for a Nintendo system. While minor frame-rate issues and most of the boss battles being rather breezy might make for some modest moaning from myself, those complaints are quickly diminished by the absolute amount of fun that Bananza delivered in banana bunches to me. This 20 hour epic is one that constantly escalates the action, and keeps it going through the finale and beyond. Donkey Kong Bananza delights and delivers a 3D action-platformer that offers enough open-ended design to kick some serious potassium. 

[SPC Says: A] 

Big Hops (Multi) Review

Let's put our snowboards away from last week, and prepare to get our tongues a good workout instead. Actually, let's leave the tongue-work for the hero of our next game review: Big Hops! For anyone who is familiar with this blog and its writer, you know I love a good 3D platformer. Heck, I sometimes even love a bad 3D platformer. I'll take what I can get nowadays!

Fortunately, Big Hops is the former, and this review, based on the vanilla PlayStation 5 version, is ready to be read! Let's hop to it!

 One giant leap for an indie developer, one big hop for frogkind.

The platformer, especially one in the 3D realm, is so difficult to nail. It doesn't matter if your game has incredible level design or the cutest platforming mascot around--if your game does not FEEL good to play, offer tight and responsive controls, then all of the clever design was for not. I've seen many games suffer this fate, and it's always a sad thing to think of "what might have been". Fortunately, Big Hops does not fall victim to this fate. Instead, it offers surprising fluid and fast platforming action, good feeling movement, and plenty of appreciate within its 8-12 hour runtime. While this frog certainly doesn't croak, does Big Hops offer enough of a "ribbiting" experience to stand as an indie darling and fondly thought of classic?

Big Hops begins with precocious young frog Hop hanging out with his little sister around their forest home. Hop yearns for adventure and getting out to see the world. He eventually stumbles upon a mysterious voice who turns out to be an ultimately annoying character named Diss, who grants Hop his request for adventure--whether our frog-tagonist likes it or not! In order to get home, Hop must venture through three unique biomes to find airship parts in each, all the while doing Diss' dirty work of acquiring otherworldly elements known as Dark Drips. 

Every story starts somewhere, and in Big Hops, it's here at Hop's home, the forest.

As the story progresses, the purpose as to why Diss wants these Dark Drips collected is revealed as the main overarching plot, while each of the three biomes delves into separate quests for Hop to collect each airship part. Really, some aspects of the story don't mesh well at all, and the inability to skip cutscenes completely when desired (instead, you have to mash a button to skip different dialogue individually) makes for its own headaches. That said, the dialogue itself, whether as part of the main plot or uttered by NPCs sprinkled about the game, is quite humorous at times, so it's worth listening to, all the same.

Big Hops isn't your standard 3D platformer. There's no direct combat to speak of, first of all, other than the two boss battles that appear through the duration of the game. Hop's only real enemy is the environment-- having Hop take damage from falling into pits, drowning, or getting hurt from fires, electricity, or thorns. 

What Hop lacks in true enemies, he makes up for in mobility and maneuverability. This frog does have big hops in him, as well as a nifty kit of other platforming skills. From being able to climb walls (as long as his stamina gauge has energy in it), run along them, jump and dive on the ground to gain momentum, and most notably, use his tongue to engage with the environment in myriad ways, Hop has a small repertoire, but chaining these together results in some speedy and super impressive platforming feats.

If you ask, "what that tongue do?", the answer would be, "Quite a lot!"

Hop's tongue, specifically, has a multitude of uses. It grants him the ability to interact with switches, buttons, and levers, asking of the player to pull away from them to flip them on or off. Like any tongue, it's also good for taste--eating food to replenish his health or stamina. Additionally, Hop's tongue is worthwhile for being able to grab onto floating red balls in the air, performing aerial acrobatics through swinging from them to cross chasms or reach new heights.

Ew! Hop, do you realize where that floating red ball might have been? How unsanitary!

Perhaps the most interesting mechanic within Big Hops in theory is that of various veggies. Throughout the game, Hop comes across plants with growing veggies that upon being grabbed and thrown has unique results. The first introduction to this is in the tutorial forest level, offering mushrooms that can be used as springs to bounce Hop up to higher places. There are acorns that grow beanstalks that are climbable, cactus fruit that let loose tightropes used to cross chasms and many otherwise insurmountable gaps, and also bubble fruit that burst open to reveal bubbles that Hop can pull himself towards with his tongue, enveloping himself in it to reach new areas.

There are various veggie types found in Big Hops, and some have more utility than others. For instance, the red peppers are hardly good for anything than burning up tumbleweed blocks. While others, like the mobility and platforming-focused veggies, offer much more in the way of capability, especially to those who experiment. This opens up the potential for solving platforming puzzles and challenges in different ways. With this mechanic, in combination with Hop's previously mentioned platforming abilities, it brings some emergent gameplay to Big Hops. 

The flow of Big Hops has you completing objectives across myriad environments and locales, furthering the story along. However, just following along with the story and completing the required tasks will make a given player miss a heck of a lot of the content within the game. It's very much worth scouring the game's multiple maps for special wares in the form of Dark Drips, the main collectible within the game, of which there are 100 total. These come in Super Mario 64 Power Star-styled goodies earned from completing platforming challenges in and out of the game's Super Mario Sunshine-like obstacle courses called Challenge Rooms, and assisting characters with their personal problems and dilemmas. You also earn Dark Drips from collecting enough smaller Drips scattered around the worlds that add up to form one big Dark Drip apiece. 

Whether in standard (seen here) or small sizes, Dark Drips are a good idea to nab in Big Hops!

Upon earning enough smaller Drips that a big piece is made, Hop can then find Diss in one of his many locations around the game in order to craft a new Trinket. These are equip-able patches that can be attached to Hop's backpack to grant various effects, from using up less stamina when climbing, allowing him more backpack space, granting Hop shop discounts or ways to earn more coins in general, to pinpointing the general direction of collectibles and points of interest to Hop's compass.

There is a fair amount of things to collect within Big Hops--the aforementioned Dark Drips, of course--but also things like bugs, mixtapes, flower petals, and outfits for Hop to become his inner frog fashionista. Unfortunately, one aspect that I don't exactly love about the game is that there is no broad or general collectible menu to see what worlds and areas in the game you have collected things in. Yes, there are collectible Trinkets that inform you of how many Dark Drips have been collected out of a certain amount, but you have to be physically within the area to see this info. With worlds containing up to a dozen different areas, you have to painstakingly visit each area across three worlds to determine which contains the last Dark Drip, missing mixtape, overlooked Challenge Room, etc. has not yet been found. Completionists will discover quickly how much of a genuine pain in the butt 100% completion in Big Hops truly is. 

Nice and steady, Hop, within this particular tightrope-heavy Challenge Room.

The unfortunate part here is that it was deliberately designed by the developer this way as to not create an overwhelming checklist for players, but I'd argue that the audience who plays a 3D platformer is one who aims for general completion or at least maximizing their enjoyment of collection. Thus, ironically, not including an in-game checklist is the thing that makes this game overwhelming in trying to blindly stumble upon missing collectibles!

My issues with Big Hops don't end there, unfortunately. While this has since been patched, my first playthrough on the PlayStation 5 version of the game started out well enough with stellar performance. However, as I went deeper into the game (let's say, after the first biome was completed), I encountered ungodly amounts of stuttering and hitching graphically, essentially resulting in noticeable and disruptive hitches every five seconds or less. Thankfully, this has been ironed out, but still happens, though at a drastically reduced rate--maybe once every minute or so, if even rarer. 

To continue with the technical issues, clipping and falling through floors and environments happened more often than I'd like. Weird little presentation quirks, like Hop literally passing through the airship entrance and walking from out the other side as the screen transitioned to the loading screen, or hitches between areas being loaded, reminded me that this was a small dev and a budgeted effort. 

Also, I found the tongue mechanic to be a bit clunky in execution to use. When two items or things of interest that can be latched or grabbed by Hop's tongue are in close proximity to each other, this can oftentimes result in the wrong thing being grabbed. While this is usually not a costly issue health-wise, it absolutely antagonizes when Hop is over a chasm, and instead of him latching onto a floating red ball to save himself, he inexplicably grabs onto something else (perhaps like something flying by in the air). Thus, the pit becomes Hop's new home. 

Hop says, "I'm the captain, now. ...So... How do I get down from here?"

Despite these niggling gripes and issues I found with the game, Big Hops delighted more often than its issues detracted from the experience. It delivers some clever puzzles, both platforming-based and environmental, some superb design in general, as well as both linear/focused levels and wide open areas of exploration to be found. Its vivid, vibrant art style and colorful cast (both visually and personality-wise) absolutely gave me plenty to look at and--in the case of the dialogue--laugh at, too. 

Big Hops is one visually stunning game, where the draw distance is phenomenal!

When it comes down to it, Big Hops nails the most important aspect of a 3D platformer--its movement is fast, fluid, fun, and feels right. Everything else is gravy, really, and while some of it fares better than other parts, overall, Hop's first adventure shows a stellar amount of understanding of what makes a modern 3D platformer enjoyable: with its remarkably tight controls, genuinely delightful level design, and mostly impressive presentation. If you're seeking out a new 3D platformer and don't know whether to try this one, my advice is to "hop" to it and simply do it.

[SPC Says: B-] 

SSX 3 (PS2, GCN, XBX) Retro Review

We move from Sonic last Sunday to snowboarding tonight with the SSX series, namely the third entry in the series: SSX 3. Does this snowboarding game stick the landing, or does it wipeout and eat some snow in the process? Here's the SPC review for that answer, for those uninitiated. 

A literal peak snowboarding game, but is it figuratively peak as well?

Back when extreme sports were all the rage in the roll over to the new millennium, game publishers and developers followed suit to cash in on the craze. Fortunately, unlike something modern like many publishers going all-in on controversial at best and stupidly harmful endeavors like the pursuit of AI, the cash-in on this particular craze was one that greatly benefited gaming with a robust and quite frankly, embarrassment of riches of great games. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater no doubt led the way in general, but for what THPS did for skateboarding video games, SSX arguably did for snowboarding. 

With multiple entries spanning three console generations and multiple platforms, SSX has since taken a slumber, but the clamor for a new entry is intense for many to this day. With the winter season upon us (at least where I am), I figured it'd be a good idea to finally dive into the series. Of course, a smart person might have started with the first entry, the PlayStation 2 launch title and original SSX. "No," said I! I went for what most consider to be the greatest entry of them all--SSX 3--because like Frank Sinatra once sang, "Nothing but the best is good enough for me." Ah, yes... A Frank Sinatra reference in an extreme snowboarding game review. How appropriate and timely as always, Phil. 

Whoever said "look before you leap" didn't play the SSX series.

At any rate, SSX 3 sees players challenge three different and unique peaks within the main mode of the game: Conquer the Mountain. Here, the main goal is to obtain enough money earnings through various methods and means in order to qualify to upgrade your rider's pass and move on to the next peak, where understandably, the courses, the competition, and the mountain itself all become much more unwelcoming and challenging. 

Each peak has a selection of races and freestyle events to participate in, each of which are three rounds basically. Races are point A to point B downhill competitions against five other competitors where knowing the course and its multitude of shortcuts--and I do mean that, as each course contains A LOT of alternate paths--is partially a way to ensure victory. Even still, it takes more than course knowledge to overcome the odds, as execution and nailing tricks, not bailing, and wise boosting are what it takes to outrace your rivals down the mountain. 

Chill, bruh--the race only just started. Plenty of time to take the lead.

Part of knowing the course is realizing what paths and overall routes are best to take of the dozens upon dozens available on any particular course. Just because it's optional doesn't mean it's always the fastest way down, but usually if a shortcut takes a good amount of work to discover or reach, it's typical worth the effort to nail it. Sure, "SSX Out of Bounds" glass panel signs are meant to be ignored and smashed through to reveal alternate shortcuts and ways down courses, and these generally shave plenty of seconds off your time in practice. Some shortcuts aren't marked so clearly, and these demand being in the zone mentally to nail without completely screwing up--the latter I did more than I'd care to admit.

Freestyle events forgo the need for speed, and instead require you to trick as much as possible down the course, whether long-form courses or short super jump or halfpipe challenges. Either way, discovering the subjectively correct line to take, all the while nabbing midair trick multipliers, keeping your combo going, and making sure not to bail in the process, is the key to placing at the top of the podium. 

With about a dozen riders, loads of customization opportunities, and lots to unlock, 
you won't get bored of SSX 3 quickly by any stretch of the imagination.

Really, the jump from racing to freestyle is humbling at best and downright frustrating at worst. SSX 3 essentially feels like the type of game that expects you to have working knowledge and expertise of past entries to fully grasps all the intricacies of the multiple systems the game possesses. There's learning not to fall flat on your face or butt every time you attempt to do a flashy trick, for one; there's experimenting with the combo system, trying to control your rider's snowboard especially on inertia-inducing, slippery surfaces like ice, attempting to make death-defying leaps over steep drops and falls, and this is all the while chaining tricks together to get enough points to even feel like you're competition-worthy. 

Dude, now's not the time for a high five.

At first--and if you're at least like me starting out--you won't be. Your rider will suck snow--sometimes literally. Between learning when to leap off jumps, holding the shoulder buttons to do grabs, pressing the D-Pad left and right to spin, or up and down to flip--these moves can be quite the challenge to pull off initially. This is especially so when your rider starts out with limited stats. Fortunately, the money you earn in competitions, from performing tricks in the free ride mode, finding collectible snowflakes scattered all around the courses and peaks, and otherwise snowboarding like an even more pumped-up Shaun White (he's still a reference folks will get, right?) can be spent on boosting your given rider's attributes. From speed and acceleration to how a rider's toughness and stability when riding, all of these stats go into beefing up your character to make him, her, or them this mountain's worst enemy.

Of course, it's not just spins, flips, and grabs that are available to you to trick out with your snowboard out. Instead, as you perform well and successfully land tricks, a special meter called the Uber Gauge rises and increases in amount. As it fills, you can opt to exert some of it with some boosting, or you can let it fill all the way to be able to perform special tricks known as Ubers. Continually pull off Uber tricks to spell out SUPER UBER to get the ability to perform... well... Super Ubers, coincidentally enough. These massively cool, customizable (in the sense that you can choose which ones to equip to your rider), and challenging to pull off tricks are the keys to scoring massive amounts of points, keeping your speed high in races, and otherwise pulling moves off that even Jagger would be like, "Slow down." (We're really running the gamut of musical references here in this review, aren't we?)

The halfpipe is perfect for gnarly trick potential. ...Gnarly is good in snowboarding, right?

That said, there are frustrations to SSX 3. Again, so much of the game and its systems--whether movement or trick-based--seem to imply understanding and expertise of past entries. This is especially so in the free ride-exclusive BIG challenges. These are generally easily failed, incredibly difficult snowboarding tasks that range from jumping through rings, gathering collectibles in a tricky snowboarding line, or worse yet, having trick types called out at you to nail. The latter is a bit taxing due to not knowing an Indy from a Stale Air, or hell, even an Illinois, if the game is trying to talk Midwestern States to me instead. What do I know--not what button combo does any trick--that's for sure!

Speaking of BS Rail, sometimes approaching and connecting to rails TO grind can be some serious BS!

Upon smashing through the races and freestyle events (sometimes with your rider's probable broken bones) of a given peak and winning enough earnings, you get the opportunity to take on your rival in a solo, one-on-one race as well as a trick-off competition. Both race and freestyle disciplines and mastery types against your rival stand in your way before you can board a plane to the next peak. 

Perhaps one of the coolest aspects of SSX 3 is how the three peaks are interconnected. The final challenge of each peak is a race down multiple locales from that given peak in order to beat a specific time or in a freestyle event, a specific score. Snowboarding, racing, tricking, and so forth down one continuous, interconnected, lengthy series of courses without a loading screen in sight is one hell of a trick--caverns and such being obvious loading screen masks aside. It all leads to the Peak 3's ultimate challenge--a ride down all three past peaks, featuring a number of different courses from all three peaks. It's an absolutely awesome ride, and generally you'll have your snowboarding sh*t together to perform admirably enough that time isn't a factor. Nothing like the idea of failing a thirty minute ride down the entire mountain, right?

Wait a minute. Why is the city upside-down to my rider? ...Oh, dear...

SSX 3 sports a career mode, the aforementioned Conquer the Mountain mode, for every playable rider in the game. Each starts from scratch in their respective careers, so that means that the concept of completing the game could theoretically have a particular player want to beat each and every character's career 100%--winning gold in every event, finding and collecting all Snowflakes, and clearing every BIG challenge, too. ...I'm decidedly just happy clearing Conquer the Mountain somehow only the one time... and that could have shaved some years off my life with how stressful it was at times, too. 

I got me some big air, baby!

I was amazed by just how much went into the production and presentation of this game, as an aside. DJ Atomika delivers cool radio riffing and brilliant banter between songs, of which the song selections offers myriad genres--from R&B, to rap, to alt rock. If you want something to boost your adrenaline, you'll get it with the SSX 3 soundtrack. Graphically, the game is a stunner still, especially the particle effects like most obviously that of snowfall. Seeing your snowboard realistically carve a path through the snow is something pretty much required for this type of game, and SSX 3 doesn't disappoint here either. Lighting effects like the sun shimmering in the distance, lens flare, and moonlight glistening on the snow make for delightful visuals, as does awesome plane flybys or fireworks lighting up the sky while pulling off tricks off a huge steep drop or while simply soaring down the mountain. It all makes for a spectacle of a snowboarding game that is most welcome.

I'm like that Wii U Miiverse "water guy", but for me, it's a good sunset that gets me going.

This being my first SSX game aside from the Wii's SSX Blur, I can't make an informed enough judgment to say whether this third entry in the series sits at the top of the mountain or not. I can, however, say that I definitely see the reasoning and arguments from franchise veterans as to why SSX 3 is so highly regarded and loved. That said, it can be a damn frustrating experience for beginners with a high challenge level, steep skill barrier of entry, and loads of wipeouts and bails to be found as you attempt to "get good".  

Whether the initial bouts of immediate frustration are worth the reward of slowly (and I do mean slowly) but steadily learning the ins and outs of the game is another subjective thing that will depend on your resolve and level of patience. For me, and not just because I wanted to review this game, I'm glad I gave it a proper chance and stuck with it. I LOVED the course design so much, and how there are a plethora of pathways, secrets, shortcuts, and ways to go about traveling down each track. I enjoyed eventually gaining some skill in becoming able to be competitive in freestyle events and even go as far as to win gold on them all. Sure, for every event I won, I had dozens of attempts of frustrating falls, fails, bails, crashes, and wipeouts, but it was rewarding to me in the end. So much so, that I have a copy of the original SSX heading my way as I write this review.

If it's nothing but downhill from here for the rest of the series' games that I sample, then I'm at least glad to have experienced the creme de le creme here with SSX 3. Either way, this third entry is one hell of a snowboarding package, both overwhelming in positive and negative ways, but well worth playing for any extreme sports enthusiast or just gaming fan who wants a proper challenge and enjoyable snowboarding title to play.

[SPC Says: B+] 

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds (Multi) Review

I'm slowly but ever surely getting through my backlog of reviews! That's essentially what the start of 2026 is about on SuperPhillip Central, at least! Let's now take to the track, to the waters, and yes, the skies, too, with Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds.

Race rings around the competition with Sonic and friends. 

Sonic the Hedgehog is synonymous with speed, so there's no wonder why he's taken to the track for several racing games multiple times in the past. Whether it's within a car against SEGA's all-stars, on a board against the Babylon Rogues, or yes, also on foot a la Sonic R. The last time Sonic's friends and foes gathered for a race was the somewhat ill-fated Team Sonic Racing. While the game itself was highly competent, it had the misfortune of releasing shortly after Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled, which if that game hadn't already taken the wind out of Sonic's sails (or is it "the speed out of Sonic's shoes"?), the lack of cross-play meant the game was dead on arrival for long-term entertainment.

Now, Sonic and friends are back on the track with one past issue solved--cross-play is indeed a feature in the latest racing effort--Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. Though this time this Sonic racing game has a Super Mario-sized shadow casting over it with Mario Kart World's prior release. Just kidding--both games can co-exist merrily, and any supposed rivalry is best left for playground squabbles. Let's get to brass tacks, hm? Or... gold rings, rather.

Sonic and company speed into multiple new worlds.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds forgoes any kind of story mode this time around, instead focusing on cutthroat racing on super speedy circuits and little else. That isn't to say the game lacks content--it's more that you're getting to the main attraction without much in the way of detours. The main mode is that of the Grand Prix, of which there are eight cups total, featuring 24 tracks total. Grand Prix cups are comprised of four races each. In a clever twist on the formula, the fourth race is a combination of the three previous races, each a lap apiece.  

Make your selection, but be quick about it!

In an even cleverer twist and true to the namesake of its subtitle, CrossWorlds are a primary feature of races in general. The first and third laps of a given race see competitors speed through the main circuit, while on the second lap, a CrossWorld is introduced--this is an entirely separate track destination from the standard circuit being raced on. Leading up to the second lap, a choice of two CrossWorlds presents itself to the racer in the lead--selected by driving in the left or right half of track representing either option. Upon the selection being chosen, a portal appears, seamlessly transporting racers into a wholly new environment. These lap-long CrossWorlds, of which there are 15 unique ones, range from Sonic Unleashed's icy and arctic Holoska and Sonic Colors' Sweet Mountain, to deep cuts like Sonic and the Secret Rings' Dinosaur Jungle. There are also completely original sights like Steampunk City.

Dinosaur Jungle, it is, then! My, what big teeth you have!

Whether races or CrossWorld circuits, the 39 in the initial package present plenty of technical turns, lovely locales, and ample opportunities for shortcuts. While races aren't as transformative or as dynamic as Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, they'll still very much keep you on your toes... or wheels... or whatever! I've mentioned the second lap's CrossWorlds, which truly keep races feeling fresher than they do already, but even the standard races mix things up, too. 

On the first lap of a race, everything is unassuming enough (or as unassuming as a race in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds can possibly be), allowing players to get a little accustomed to the track before adding some last lap hi-jinks into the fray. Such hi-jinks include stronger boost pads, turning some into hyper-energizing blue ones. More interestingly, some races--such as the very first track of the game, E-Stadium, bring about shortcuts that are only accessible on the final lap. In this case, it's a narrow ramp that leads to a portal, transporting players ahead a little distance where a Red Ring rests.

Yes, like almost all 3D Sonic games Colors and on, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds features five Red Rings on each track in the Grand Prix mode to collect. These award an in-game currency called Donpa Tickets for collecting them, among other in-game tasks and achievements. Donpa Tickets are not only spent on second, third, fourth, fifth, etc. chances on Grand Prix races--for if the current race didn't go the way you wanted, you can restart it for a price without having to redo the entire cup--but they're the key to unlocking new vehicle parts, too.

Shadow's no-nonsense attitude takes to the track.

Customization is a huge part of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, offering the ability to mix and match various different vehicle parts together to form your own awesome machination creations. Depending on the vehicle type--speed, acceleration, boost, power, and so forth--the parts equipped affect your vehicle's top speed, acceleration, boosting ability, turning capabilities, and more in various ways. You can also fully customize your ride with decals, paint jobs, and much more to very much make your vehicle your own.

Adding to the customization aspect of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is that of gadgets. Gadgets are equip-able gear that you essentially use to conform to your play style and ability level. Some gadgets allow you to have three item slots instead of the standard two, while others make drift boost occur in a faster fashion, or make it so turning whilst in the air is sharper and quicker. If you want to start with a certain item at the beginning of the race, there's a gadget for that. If you want to make your maximum rings you can hold even higher (thus increasing your max speed), yep, you guessed it--there's a gadget for that, too. There are eventually up to six gadget slots available, but the more subjectively stronger gadgets take up more slots (up to three slots at a time). And with five loadouts available, you can experiment, switch, and change things up to your heart's content. 

One of the worries I had with Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds stemmed from learning that Sumo Digital--the previous dev behind CrossWorlds' predecessors--had nothing to do with this game. I hold Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, and less so but still so, Team Sonic Racing in high regard due to how tight and magical the feeling of driving, drifting, and controlling each vehicle was. The games were fantastic to boot, especially Transformed. Fortunately, my worries were unfounded, as while the controls are not 1:1 to Sumo Digital's works, they still feel tight, responsive, and just plain awesome in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds.

Drifting is a different beast in CrossWorlds compared to Sumo Digital's efforts, and forgive me for constantly comparing the games--but after three impressive outings by the developer, it's difficult NOT to use Sonic's previous racers as a comparison point. Drifting requires the standard holding of a trigger or button (depending on the control option chosen), but to get the tightest type of turn, you'll want to ease off the accelerator now and then. It takes some getting used to, and with many kart racers or mascot racing games, it goes against instinct and muscle memory, for sure. That said, it quickly becomes second nature, and by the third race in a Grand Prix, I was feeling incredibly comfortable taking sharp turns via drifts.

Like Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, vehicles change on the fly when they reach certain designated parts of track--from cars to boats, or boats to planes, for instance. Each have different feels to their controls, different hefts, different ways they drift, etc. With boats, you can hold the drift button on a straightaway to charge up, and then release to perform a jump boost. This is not only a great way to get some extra speed, but it also can assist in reaching otherwise inaccessible item boxes or even shortcuts!

Take flight (or just the wheel) as one of over 25 different racers!

Speaking of items, those expecting a highly skill-based racer like Transformed was, won't exactly feel right at home with CrossWorlds. This is meant to be a more accessible racing game, sort of borrowing some concepts from Mario Kart. That isn't to say that skill isn't important--far from it. It's more that between the copious amounts of items used during races and the resulting chaos that comes from all of that, you're going to be on a more level playing field to everyone.

The items featured in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds each have their own counter, and many of them have a Mario Kart equivalent as well, whether that's green boxing gloves that bounce around the track like green shells, red boxing gloves that hone in on opponents ahead of you like red shells, or even the blue shell equivalent, King Boom Boo. Though to be fair, each item in CrossWorlds tweaks their familiar inspirations just enough to keep things fresh, and even in the case of King Boom Boo, keeps things fair, offering counters and affecting players directly behind the blast radius.

Outside of Grand Prix, there is a lot yet to sink their fangs (or Nacks, if you prefer his older nomenclature--though he's not in this game, unfortunately) into mode-wise and option-wise. The Race Park is a mode I spent a lot of time in, and is essentially the game's PvE mode. It has you taking on a series of rival teams, attempting to win three races against them, thus earning a reward and the right to take on the next team. There's a multitude of race types to choose from, such as team or individual-themed races. The team-based ones are especially interesting, as they have different objectives outside of just crossing the finish line ahead of the competition, such as collecting the most rings, performing the most boosts, etc. 

Several familiar locales open themselves up to race on, such as Sonic Adventure 2's Metal Harbor.

Time trials, an old standby for games of this nature, also are available, but in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds I actually felt compelled to complete them and compete for optimal times. This was not just for the reason of carrot-on-a-stick achievements, but also because completing them netted me new songs from throughout Sonic's 3D history (and some from his 2D history) within the jukebox feature of the game. This allows players to change out the standard music of the game for an assortment of tracks--a best of, if you will--within Sonic's greatest hits and games. 

The time trials themselves were just enjoyable to do, too, as the game offers an ideal racing line to try to follow, multiple opportunities to collect item boxes that serve as boosts to use to shave precious seconds, and rings to collect too. The optimal path usually means getting as many rings as possible to max your count, thus maximizing your highest possible speed, while also occasionally aiming for those aforementioned boosts. However, not all boost boxes are created equal. Some actually are a detriment to your track times, demanding you take the outside of some turns, costing precious seconds, so there's clever bits of strategy to consider with these, too.

As if the amount of racing goodness wasn't already enough, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds has loads to offer for online players. Again, the game supports playing with online friends no matter their platform, so if you're on Switch 2 and your friend is on PlayStation 5, you can race against or with each other. Friend lobbies, random lobbies, and even occasional festivals where players compete in team-based races while trying to complete what is essentially a free "battle pass" for rewards are available in the game. There are also both paid and free DLC in the way of characters and tracks, though the latter are only available to own as part of the paid DLC. It's also a bit disconcerting and disappointing to have the game released and already a heftily priced DLC package is available. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth, personally.

Take your customized vehicles out for a ride for the whole world to see in online races.

What quickly sweetened that bad taste in my mouth was remembering just how much fun I've had with the game, and also how amazed and delighted I was with the presentation package of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds in general. From the silky smooth frame-rate while racing, to the various quips and interactions characters make with one another (especially when facing your rival in Grand Prix mode and some out-there callbacks are made to little-known or all-but-forgotten Sonic series trivia), to the absolutely awesome soundtrack, I was in awe all-around. The latter part, the music, might be a point of contention for some, as the third lap of each race features synth vocals that won't be everyone's cup of tea. I personally enjoyed it, much like the remixes of familiar Sonic tracks and wholly original music, too. 

It's no dream, I assure you--NiGHTS is one of the free DLC additions to the roster.

Whereas I feel the previously and briefly mentioned Mario Kart World has an excellent foundation that just needs some further expanding upon, I believe that Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds has a foundation that is already well-trodden and doesn't really have much else to expand on. Overall, the addition of CrossWorlds definitely keeps races feeling fresh and somewhat unpredictable, and I'd love to see more added down the road. SEGA and Sonic Team both seem committed to keeping up with updates and bringing more goodies to the game, which is fantastic to see after Team Sonic Racing. They have an incredibly good thing going here with the base Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds package--plenty to love, some minor frustrations, but mostly all positives. It feels great to control, it gives Sonic fans copious amounts of way past cool callbacks, and it's got a ton of love and energy under its hood. 

[SPC Says: A-] 

LEGO Party (Multi) Review

Happy New Year, to all readers of SuperPhillip Central, past, present, and hopefully future, too! There's nothing like ringing in the new year with a party, and that's exactly what we're going to do here at SuperPhillip Central, specifically a LEGO Party--and being specific even further, a LEGO Party review!

A good, old-fashioned block party

Ever since its arrival on the game scene in the late 90s, Mario Party as a series has found success with both casual and veteran gamers alike. There's something for everyone in the genre--skill-based mini-games, luck-dependent turns, and last-minute victories stolen from the jaws of defeat. It's no wonder then that multiple mascot-oriented franchises in the past have taken aim to dethrone the Mushroom Kingdom's top plumber as master of ceremonies, king of parties.

Despite decades of games under the property's proverbial belt, LEGO hasn't quite delved into Mario Party's territory before. Until now, of course, with the latest in the massive and illustrious LEGO line of games: LEGO Party! Playing similarly to Mario Party to feel familiar while also offering some clever twists to the formula to distinguish itself from its main source of inspiration, LEGO Party offers enough fun to rock your block off.

No doubt players familiar with virtually any entry of Mario Party will find themselves comfortable with LEGO Party. Studs are the game's version of coins, studs are used to purchase Golden Bricks (taking Toad's traditional old place as Star-giver is Mr. Gold), which are the game's version of Power Stars. The player with the most Golden Bricks by the end of the game is the winner.

Golden Brick? Don't mind if I do!

One of the key changes to the Mario Party formula is that mini-games, a popular mainstay of any party game worth RSVPing to, don't happen at the end of every round. Instead, they initiate the start of every round. Not only does placement in these mini-games offer studs, the currency of LEGO Party, but it also determines the order of turns in each round unlike Mario Party where the turn order is stagnant once it's determined at the beginning of the game.

Mini-games start each round of turns, and it's up to the four players to choose which one is played. There are four tiles: three with different mini-games on them, and one tile that selects a random mini-game. The tile that has the most players on it after the countdown ends is the mini-game played. In the event of a tie, one of the games chosen by players will be played at random.  

Do your LEGO Party civic duty and vote on the mini-game you want 
(or the one your opponents hate) at the start of each round.

Thankfully, the 60 total mini-games within LEGO Party are mostly winners, too. Really, the only mini-games that stand out as less than stellar usually involve controlling rockets, which unfortunately, there are a handful of those. The rockets don't feel good to handle, nor do they make for anything other than frustration for the most part. Additionally, one of the mini-games, though totally non-rocket-related requires outside knowledge of art to successfully win--or at least be good at guessing. Either way, if you discover a stinker of a mini-game type, you can use the accessibility menu to shut the category off entirely. While I would prefer being able to turn off individual mini-games instead of categories, it's nice to have some options there all the same.

In Gra-feet-i, cover the most area in your paint color by walking over it before time runs out.

I've broached about the weaker of the mini-games in LEGO Party's varied collection, but for every one mini-game that stands out as arguably annoying or ho-hum, there are at least two or three that absolutely rock and rule. From piloting helicopters in an auto and side-scrolling course of rings to fly through for points, to drilling holes in a grid-based iceberg to trick and trap your opponents into falling off, to taking turns riding and rolling on a giant bowling ball across a lengthy, wavy track to knock over pins, the mini-game options in LEGO Party are indeed mostly winners. 

[Speaking of mini-games, be sure to check out my video of the TOP TEN LEGO PARTY MINI-GAMES!] 

Turn your miniature maze around by walking over it to pour the beakers of your color into the
 tank. Just be sure to avoid the bombs!

Aside from the mini-games that play out as free-for-all matches, landing on a Battle space introduces a Team Battle. As you can probably guess, these are two-on-two battles featuring an exclusive lineup of mini-games. What you might NOT be able to probably guess is that each Team Battle awards the winners with individual Golden Bricks. These no doubt can shift the tide of a game in a swift fashion! Just be sure to cooperate well with your teammate, or else you'll lose out on the Golden Brick opportunity!

Speaking of spaces, there are plenty of other space types apart from Battle spaces in LEGO Party. Variety IS the spice of life of the party, after all... or something to that effect. At any rate, from spaces that bestow or steal studs from the player, to Lucky spaces where players spin a roulette to determine their reward, to Power-Up spaces that grant a random Power-Up item to a player, there's a lot of discoverable variety to be had.

Thankfully, Ted, chance is the one deciding this for Player 3!

Power-ups are wonderful additions to LEGO Party, and these are basically just items from Mario Party 2 and beyond, but these have various uses to them. They can be used to benefit the player or utilized to mess with other players. From multiplying the number of spaces they roll, to adding five spaces to their roll, to switching positions with another player, to transporting them to a specific space (whether that be to a Battle Space or Mr. Gold himself), players can use Power-Ups strategically to put themselves at an advantage or other players at a disadvantage. Up to three can be held at a time by an individual player. 

As for the boards themselves where all these spaces stand and where all Power-Ups are played, LEGO Party sports four boards known as Challenge Zones. While this may seem like a small amount of boards... well... it sort of is. Sure, you'll want to replay boards multiple times not just to see every event and possible outcome on each board, of which there are many, but you also earn experience points for each respective board upon playing and finishing games. These unlock rewards upon reaching experience levels such as exclusive Minifigures, the player avatars of LEGO Party, and carrots, used to, well, buy more Minifigures from the in-game shop. 

That said, three of the boards--or rather, Challenge Zones--I found immensely enjoyable, but one of them, the Space Zone, I found to be a bit underwhelming. The concept is nice, but by the midpoint of each game, an alien pops up, and this results in a long (by comparison to other events in the game), unskippable cutscene that just breaks the flow of the game entirely. 

In the NINJAGO Zone, a flame-breathing dragon sets fire to the center bridge at the start of every third
 round, causing any unfortunate player standing there to lose half their studs.

While the Space Zone isn't the greatest, Challenge Zones like the Pirate Zone, NINJAGO Zone, and Theme Park Zone more than make up for it with lots of fun. They offer different ways to earn free Golden Bricks (such as defeating monsters by properly timing a button press on a spinning wheel in NINJAGO Zone's case), as well as potential to mess over your opponents--which, let's face it, is a huge part of the fun and ruining of friendships in these types of video games. 

A free Golden Brick? Don't mind if I do!

The Theme Park Zone in particular is a great pleasure to play on, as Mr. Gold is always in two locations, and always at the center circle of the board at opposite points of the plaza. Each time a Gold Brick is purchased, Mr. Gold's positions switch 90 degrees. In the final turns, Mr. Thief is added--the Boo equivalent of LEGO Party--who players can opt to visit instead of Mr. Gold. With Mr. Thief, who also appears in every other zone in the game, players can choose to steal another player's studs for free, or opt to steal a Gold Brick from a player for 75 studs. Studs aren't hard to come by in LEGO Party, so you can imagine how quickly chaotic games with Mr. Thief's presence can become!

LEGO Party is of course easy enough to play in some good old fashioned local multiplayer mayhem. If you lack four human players, the remainder can be replaced with CPUs of varying difficulties to choose. However, LEGO Party also sports the potential for online play, which is awesome in theory and thankfully in practice, too. A host can set a room code for their friends to join--Super Mario Party-style--and each game saves progress after every round. Cross play is an option, meaning that if you're on the Nintendo Switch with your copy of LEGO Party, but your friends have a copy of the PlayStation 5 version, that means you can still play a game with them. An incredible feature to have!

The world was apparently against Player 3 in this vase-busting mini-game.

On the presentation side of this plentiful party package, LEGO Party shakes things up with the banter of two co-hosts: Ted Talker and Paige Turner. The two offer oftentimes humorous, sometimes even hilarious dialogue between one another, and it really plays to the game show environment LEGO Party presents to players. Occasionally either Ted or Paige will cut themselves off, especially if a mini-game ends mid-sentence, and by the third or so game of LEGO Party, you'll be hearing a lot of repeated phrases, but they seldom grow tiring or too repetitive. The music is serviceable, though aside from main theme (which is a bop) I can't recall a single melody or jingle in the game.

Graphically, LEGO Party is stellar and impressive. Every facet and piece of the environments throughout the game, whether in studio, in the mini-games, or within the Challenge Zones, is comprised of carefully constructed and assembled LEGO pieces. It's like a massive set come to life in this wonderful world and party package. There's occasional slowdown, however, but this affects non-gameplay moments, such as a cutscene showing the construction of a segment of the Theme Park Zone, for instance. 

All in all, I'm surprised by how much I absolutely enjoyed LEGO Party. The developers really did a fantastic job with this party game, offering mostly well-crafted boards with relatively fast paced rounds (not looking at you, Space Zone), a colorful and creative collection of mini-games (some stinkers notwithstanding), and plentiful amounts of charm thrown in as well, with that latter part being expected from a LEGO game. The developers are also listening to feedback within the community, such as adding bonus Golden Bricks at the end of games, something that LEGO Party lacked by the time I finished up the Platinum trophy on the game a month ago. All this, plus a budget price, deliver a party worth having for any kind of player, young/old, casual/hardcore, and so forth.

[SPC Says: B+]