Party Animals Review

As an avid fan of multiplayer games, I’m always thrilled to discover titles that bring joy, laughter, and immersive gameplay, like Party Animals. While I undoubtedly enjoy FPS, asymmetrical, and battle royale genres, there’s something uniquely refreshing about the antics in this game. Just imagine the hilarity of knocking opponents off ledges with a lollipop or using a toilet plug to catapult someone off the map—all while playing as a delightful critter! If you’re curious about what “Party Animals” entails, please read on.

Party Animals’ premise is simple. In this physics-based multiplayer brawler developed by Recreate Games, you control adorable animals as they engage in shenanigans-filled battles across various charming and interactive arenas. You can punch, jump, climb, headbutt, and even drop-kick your enemies. These moves allow you to do some funny and interesting combos throughout the matches.

The only thing you need to keep in mind is that the movement is somewhat awkward or janky, which I assume is intended for this type of physics game. For example, just when I thought my character was going to climb, I ended up grabbing someone’s arm. I couldn’t help but laugh, seeing that I ended up holding onto someone who was clinging to their dear life in one of my matches.

There’s also a plethora of items or weapons you can use, which adds to the fun. So far, I’m having the most fun with the random bombs being dropped onto the map. It’s hilarious to carry one with me and see others panicking and scurrying around, thinking that I would drop in anytime. The taser was fun to use as well, and I somehow managed to make half the players get sucked out of the arena just using that in one of the maps.

Again, due to the awkward movement, sometimes pressing the right button doesn’t guarantee that you can pick up an item right away. You may end up grabbing someone else nearby, or your character holds it the wrong way, making it unusable. Honestly, although this movement mechanic took some time to get used to, it adds to the randomness of the game, and it makes it feel like every match is unpredictable, no matter how far you’ve scored or how close you are to winning. You never know what’s going to happen next.

Currently, the game features 20 maps, which can be categorized into three modes: Last Stand, Team Score, and Arcade. Last Stand was the first game mode that I tried, and it has easily become my favorite one. It’s essentially like a battle royale mode where you need to fight your way to be the last man standing. In Typhoon, you’re challenged to fight other players in a sinking submarine as random missiles launch left and right, potentially knocking you off the ship.

There’s also a map where you need to hold onto objects and walls before you get sucked into a black hole that gets increasingly stronger. All the maps in Last Stand have something in common: they’re designed to “deteriorate” in some way, forcing you to knock others as soon as possible as your environment gets progressively more punishing the longer you survive.

Next up is Team Score. This mode divides you into teams and, as you might have guessed, requires you to score as many points as possible to your enemy’s base. A lot of the maps in this mode reflect real-life sports, like football, hockey, and soccer, but of course, with a twist. You can beat your opponents up and use items around you to knock them down or launch them further away from the ball.

Last but not least is the Arcade mode. This mode will divide you into teams with limited lives. Whichever team runs out of lives first basically loses. Unfortunately, unlike Last Stand and Team Score, this mode only has two maps currently. Winter Cabin lets you drink expired milk to get strength, with the tradeoff that you’ll be dizzy. Meanwhile, Final Destination will have you fight in a subway station as you avoid falling onto the tracks.

As for how customization goes, Party Animals offers a wide range of customization options to suit your individual preferences. The game features a variety of adorable and quirky animal characters you can choose to play. Be it a puppy, alligator, cow, bunny, duck, or fluffy cat, there’s an animal for everyone to “main.”

It doesn’t stop there, though. By playing the game, you can also earn Cookies and Nemo Bucks to purchase cosmetics for your adorable critter. Outside of that, the game also has a lootbox system that lets you draw random outfits.

When it comes to the visuals, Party Animals boasts colorful and vibrant graphics that perfectly complement its light-hearted and playful gameplay. The game’s charming and detailed arenas are brought to life with cartoonish visuals that appeal to players of all ages.

The characters, on the other hand, appear very polished and adorable. It almost feels impossible not to want plushies that look just like them due to how cute they look! Also, despite the fiddly movements, the animations surprisingly still look fluid.

The sound design in Party Animals further adds to the game’s lively atmosphere. From the hilarious sound effects of characters getting each other knocked out to the catchy background music, every audio aspect has been crafted to keep players fully immersed in the zany world of Party Animals.

With this kind of game, it’s understandable to worry about its longevity. Considering most party games are generally “simple,” it could eventually feel stale playing the same modes over and over again. However, my experience at the time of writing is far from that.

At the moment, Party Animals is already offering a wide range of maps, and combining that with the game’s quirky and unpredictable physics system adds an element of randomness. Thanks to this, I felt like no two matches ever played out exactly the same way.

Furthermore, Party Animals encourages replayability through unlockable cosmetics. As you continue to play the game and earn points, you can unlock different costumes for your chosen animal character. This provides an incentive to keep playing and adds a layer of personalization to your gameplay experience.