Graphics: Since there are so many budget party titles being churned out for the Wii, developers need to employ a bit more visual creativity to make their games stand out. The graphics in Game Party 2 are unremarkable, with a very simple color palette, basic shapes and substandard, repetitive animations. In games like this, the gameplay experience should take precedence over graphics, but I do think that the games shouldn’t look like they could have been developed in the previous decade. Unfortunately, Game Party 2 is a classic example of this problem.

Interface: Game Party 2 gets you into a game quickly by offering simple controls and rules. Unfortunately, this is also a little bit of a curse because many of the games are played in exactly the same fashion, offering no real difference in interaction from game to game. Also, the menu system was somewhat confusing to me. At first glance I thought “tournament” indicated a manner in which I could set up a chain of games to play at once, but I eventually discovered it was just a way for more than 4 players to play at the same time. What I found most annoying was that many of the games had various options, but I had to guess what modes such as “Lightening” or “Jackpot” entailed because they weren’t adequately described. Also, Game Party 2 has approximately six preloaded player avatars with some available customization, but every time I see this functionality on the Wii, I always wonder why I can’t use my existing Miis.

Gameplay: Game Party 2 has received a great deal of criticism, and while I agree with some of the major issues, on the whole I liked it. This might be because in real life I love playing the games that are featured on the disc, like Shuffleboard, Darts and Ping Cup. It is very true that once you play Beanbags, you’ve already played Lawn Darts and Horseshoes, which are all essentially the same thing, however, most of the remaining games can be fun depending on the folks in your party. There’s no way any gamer is going to choose this title for its solo gaming experience, but I can see a group of kids or adults at a party having a few laughs with it.

Multiplayer: The biggest drawback to Game Party 2 is that it’s really best for only two people at a time. All of the games can theoretically be played with more, but the Trivia Game is the only one in which all four people can effectively play at once. QB Challenge, Skill Ball and Hoop Shot all work with four players, but because of the poor graphics, it’s not a great experience. You wouldn’t want to play this by yourself, but with a friend (or a bunch of them who are patient and enjoy watching others make fools of themselves) it’s not a bad experience.

Sound Effects: There’s not much here sound effects-wise, aside from a few crowd cheers and boos depending on how well you perform. Everything sounds like stock effects, such as you’d hear in almost every other party-type game.

Music: The music in Game Party 2 is surprisingly catchy, with some fairly recognizable melodies, with some sounding vaguely like tunes from the last 30 years thrown in for good measure. This was a surprise, but definitely a welcome one.

Difficulty: The difficulty in Game Party 2 varies depending on the game you play. I found it nearly impossible to score in Lawn Darts and Horseshoes, as I consistently under or over-estimated my throws. I was also bad at Darts, but the people I played with fared just fine, so I’ll chalk that one up to user error. Hoop Shoot and Skill Ball are extremely easy, and Shuffleboard and Puck Bowling fall somewhere in the middle. Trivia has the biggest difficulty curve, with questions ranging from the name of the first U.S. president to the name of the spaceship in the Firefly TV series, which is an awesome question, but is probably a little obscure and meant for a specific audience.

Overall: I feel as though I’m being kinder to this game than I should be, and there’s a part of me that knows this is just a carbon-copy budget party title, but I still enjoyed it. It could be the nostalgia I hold personally for these kinds of games, having played them at countless family parties and gatherings, but whatever the reason is I’ll say that you can have some good fun with Game Party 2. It’s a game to be enjoyed with the right group of friends, regardless of your age; however, I’d definitely suggest renting it before paying full price.