Start the Party!

While Start the Party lacks on the overall mini-game count, the combination of the varied gameplay, the zany presentation and the dead-on Move controls still makes it a solid choice for those looking to add some group fun to their early Move collection.

while it's fun with friends and family, it's just not one you'd bother with alone. [Issue#196, p.93]

At its heart, the game features a collection of mini-games which some work and some just don't. Just like all casual party games, Start the Party does target the younger gamer, more specifically those under 15.

"Quotation Forthcoming"

Core gamers looking for a deep experience, or loners wanting a solo affair will be gravely disappointed in Start the Party. However, those of you who buy it for what it is meant to be are in for a real treat.

Start The Party! is a bright, colorful and well animated game. The visual style is a little on the wacky side, and there's plenty of comical voiceovers and sound effects all throughout.

This game reminds us of Eye Toy and the PS2. The first sessions with Eye Toy were great but after three or four playthroughs we put it back in the shelf. Start the Party! is having exactly the same problem. Technically it is way better than Eye Toy but after some entertaining hours the game become boring. Like every other Party-Game it is only entertaining with a group of friends.

There's not much depth here. This game is likely to be abandoned after a few breakthroughs. It'll give a group a lot of fun before it stops though.

This collection of Move-powered minigames is fun with friends but has little to offer solo players.

Start the Party! Is a fun mix of minigames and great to play with your friends. The PlayStation Move is well integrated and works perfect with the many minigames. The only sad part is that the game isn't pretty big and that not every minigame is playable as a standalone game.

Well, the first play-through is fun, but if your party is scheduled to last longer, you'd better have an alternative title in the back of your hand.

Start the Party! is great for younger kids, but the young at heart will find the fun is spread pretty thinly. The game also doesn't completely live up to its title as a 'party starter', or its exclamation point for that matter. This mainly because 'multiplayer' is a missed opportunity thanks to it relying upon a pass-and-play style rather than head-to head. [November 2010 p67]

The novelty of playing around with augmented reality will quickly wear out under the weight of the game's shallowness and obnoxious demeanor.

Sadly, the minigames collected here are an uneven bunch. Some are just so incredibly simple as to be entertaining no more than once (like painting shapes on the screen or swatting bugs); while others, including the rescue copter I mentioned and the more creative offerings (haircuts done to spec), have more staying power.

Start the Party's problem is that at £30 the content on offer feels too slight and the fun will start to run out a lot sooner than you'd like.

A serviceable showpiece, but there aren't a lot of modes to explore, and the short-lived mini-games get repetitive pretty quickly. It's fun in short bursts, but it doesn't approach the staying power of the most memorable party games.

This party is more lulls that LOLs.

With a short single player lifespan, Start the Party! is produced well enough, but is truly a multiplayer game at heart.

At around $60, Start the Party is more of a game to show off what your new camera and motion controller can do to easily astounded guests. It could be good to rent, but to buy? Maybe when it hits the bargain bins.

These flashes of inspiration can't stop Start the Party from being an extremely fleeting experience.

Start the Party as a single player experience is seriously lacking, but like most casual games the experience improves when played with friends.

It's not going to change the world and the fact that it's one player at once is a real shame, but it's highly likely to get the grandparents giggling like kids, and, to be honest, when you're buying a game like Start The Party, that's all you can ask for.

You can't go far wrong for some cheap multiplayer laughs with Start the Party! but there simply isn't enough long-lasting content to warrant the asking price.

Nine unspectacular turn-based mini-games, none of which you're likely to play alone or on a long-term basis. No matter how much you've been drinking.

Start The Party is an HD clone of Wii Play, created for PS3 and Move with a 5 years delay. The mini-game compilation is not too bad: some games are better than others, and the gameplay is always easy to understand and execute. Anyway, the entire experience is not so interesting.

The game has not quite fulfilled its potential, with overall good minigames but not enough variety.

Ultimately, Start The Party! is an inoffensive suite of party-centric minigames; they range from amusing distractions to boring EyeToy Play rehashes.

Start the Party! guarantees a fun evening with its 20 mini-games. The singleplayer is boring so be sure to have a lot of friends in the room when you play this one.

"Quotation Forthcoming"

Look out for this one in the bargain bins.

All good clean fun, then, but it's not really anything we haven't seen before. [Nov 2010, p.95]

Start the Party offers a small set of mini-games designed to draw you directly into your television. While it may provide some fun for a small gathering of people, there are not enough mini-games to make you return for a second round.

Fun for playing with friend while doing a party at home, but it's too casual and it doesn't take advantage of the PlayStation Move.

Start the Party uses the PlayStation Eye and the Move controller to deliver a forgettable line up of twenty augmented reality party games. Simply put: Casual gamers deserve better.

This is a very unoriginal spiritual sequel to the EyeToy-games. After the fun you have because of the precision of the Move-controller wears off, there are nine mini-games that you rush through and that'll leave you bored. There's also no real multiplayer, a huge missed chance.

Sadly, this party will end quickly and the guests will leave unsatisfied. [Nov 2010, p.70]

The appeal and fun are immediate but disappear in the short term and nothing new is done here.

As a Playstation Move launch title, it does a great job of showing off what could potentially be done with the hardware in the future, but as an actual game, it stinks.

Start the Party! is quite a good party-game, which uses the capabilities of the PlayStation Move very well. The problem is that we actually just can "start" a good party with it... You will quickly want to move on to something else, as it quickly becomes tiresome. Blame it on a glaring lack of events and game modes.

By no means the worst mini-game collection there's ever been but in terms of genuine party entertainment it's only a few steps above the Tory Conference.

A shame then, that marvelling at the cartoon tennis racquet pretending to be in your hand is immensely more enthralling than anything you'll actually do with it in the game.

An easy to understand but extremely shallow mini game collection for kids.

A terrible clone of Wii Play and Mario Party that never should have left the developer's building.

Start the Party in a nutshell ? Dispensable.

If you have children, they'll be delighted, but if you're over the age of twelve, the party will decidedly end the moment you put this game in the disc drive.