PlayStation 3
Published by Sony Computer
Entertainment Europe
Developed by Supermassive Games
Start the Party! Save the World is the follow
up game to Start the Party which was one of the first games (and it’s a
game I have to confess I haven’t played) to make use of the PlayStation
Move controller. Like its predecessor, Start the Party! Save the World
is a mini-game collection that caters for up to four players. Save the
World has some interesting ideas but on the whole the game is
disappointing and at best, only has short-term appeal.
The modes on offer in Save the World are
dependent on whether you’re playing as a group or solo. If there are two
or more of you, you’ll want to select the group option and here you’ll
have the Party and Quick Fire modes open to you. Party mode offers you a
choice of playing a short, medium or long game with the difference being
the number of mini-games you’ll take part in. Players take their turns
individually with the winner of a mini-game being the one who has scored
the most points. Quick Fire is a mode that switches quickly between
three different mini-games per round. A Quick Fire game is played out
over three rounds with the winner being the one who wins the most
rounds. If you’re playing solo, you’ll have the option of playing
Survivor, where you’ll play a succession of games and attempt to keep
scoring points, and Free Play, where you’ll pick a mini-game and try to
set a good score. Neither of these modes offers anything other than a
way of passing a few minutes.
The mini-games are a mix of good, bad and
mostly mediocre. All of them are extremely simplistic and should be
absolutely fine for most members of the family. The games are slightly
humorous, at least to begin with, but the novelty soon wears thin and
you soon see them for how simplistic and repetitive they are. The
mini-games will have you controlling a helicopter attempting to rescue
survivors from skyscraper rooftops, bashing bears with mallets, zapping
aliens and rescuing deep sea divers. There are a decent amount of
mini-games here but some are simply variants of others so the whilst the
number of games is good, the variety to be found here is another matter
entirely.
Rather than make use of multiple PlayStation
Move controllers, the game uses only one with each player taking turns
at the mini-games. Some may see this as a source of annoyance and a way
to make playing the games take longer; however I personally see it as a
plus point. Given the price of a PlayStation Move controller I don’t
think many households will actually own more than one so it’s pleasing
that up to four players can participate with just a single controller. A
standard DualShock controller can also be used by a second player to
assist in the mini-games but it’s far from being an exciting addition.
Save the World’s presentation is what you
would expect from a mini-game collection. Graphically the game has a
colourful but simplistic look. The visuals might not be highly detailed
but everything remains pleasant to look at and easy on the eyes. Support
for deaf gamers is a bit of a mixed bag with the announcer's comments
not being subtitled. When playing a multiplayer game you’ll have to say
your name and this recording is then spoken when you take your turn (you
can clap your hands). Needless to say this is a useless feature for
anyone other than the hearing and there should have been an option to
disable it. You are made aware of any time limits and when playing the
Party mode you will find text tutorial messages (although strangely they
aren’t displayed in other modes).
There are a variety of mini-games available for the PlayStation 3 and given the choice of superior titles on offer, it’s tough to recommend Start the Party! Save the World. As a mini-game collection it’s so basic in many respects. As a single-player experience it’s not even mildly entertaining. Played with friends the experience is decent without ever becoming memorable. Even at the low price of under £15 it’s tough to recommend over one of the better mini-game collections out there. Had this been an in-the-box extra with the Move controller it would have been easy to forgive its shortcomings but as a standalone product Save the Party! Save the World falls disappointingly short.
