Best Party Game of 2021 - Article
by Christian Evans , posted on 12 January 2022 / 2,421 Views
The party game... that traditional past-time or holiday experience, when family and friends try to prove who is king, or queen, under the guise of 'fun', by testing your knowledge and abilities in a variety of ways. In video game form party games would appear to encourage a Machiavellian attitude, especially in local play; I mean, who doesn’t have an anecdote from years past about a school friend going home from a sleepover because everyone kept targeting them when stealing stars in Mario Party...
The beauty of modern-day online capabilities is that they mean gaming victims no longer need to be present in person when you want to administer a virtual beating. The last person alive, Battle Royale-inspired genre is strong here, as games like Crab Game and Pac-Man 99 demonstrate. However, as Big Brain Academy: Brain vs Brain and the Jackbox series highlight, there's a thirst for somewhat more cerebral quiz-based party games, especially in the streaming arena. Not to be left out is the under-explored party game application for VR, with 2021’s Potato Party: Hash It Out trying to make an impact here. And of course there are the perennial Nintendo staples in this field: Mario Party and WarioWare.
The Shortlist:
WarioWare: Get It Together!
Mario Party Superstars
Pac-Man 99
The Jackbox Party Pack 8
The Winner:
Mario Party Superstars
Runner-up: The Jackbox Party Pack 8
Winning the 2021 party crown relatively comfortably is Mario Party Superstars, fending off the eighth party pack entry in the Jackbox series. In truth, it wasn't the strongest of years for new games in the genre, with no breakout hits really emerging and going viral like Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout did in 2020, or the seemingly ever popular Among Us. It's testament to the longevity of such games that they become evergreens though, and Mario Party Superstars will no doubt join that list.
It helps that Superstars is as good as the series has been for a long time, which is slightly ironic as it's essentially a compilation of the best of earlier entries. Taking five classic boards from the N64 games, and 100 mini-games from across the entire series, the whole experience is much closer to what fans have wanted in recent years. It's the epitome of the family party game, the ultimate friend-tester, and well-deserved winner of this award.
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Absolutely deserved. Such an excellent return to form
No one could beat the literal party which is Mario freaking party!
Surprised by the runner-up. Never played any Jackbox Party Pack games.
Pac-Man 99 is fun. Pac-One has a funny ring to it, lol.
I only played 'You don't know Jack' back in the day, which I think has evolved into these Jackbox games. You don't know Jack was cool and fun in a group, because of it's relatively good voice acting (by "Jack"). The game was a simple trivia quiz, but every question and answer was commented in a funny way and also reacted quite well to player inputs. For it's time that was good, but I think since then we have seen more of it. I don't know how the game series evolved from there.
My cousin has one or two of them on the switch. Not sure which ones. They still have the trivia mode, but the other modes are where the game really shines. If you have 4 or more people (up to 8 or 10), it can be really hilarious. Kind of an apples to apples/cards against humanity vibe if you've ever played those games. Points are given by a judge or by voting and some of the games having you pick from a random selection of choices.
Not sure about the price, but they can legitimately be really fun.
