Game Details
Price
  • $29.99
Available on
Genre
More details

Game Party 3 (Wii)

common sense media says

Third entry in kid-friendly series adds little new content.


parents & educators say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this compilation of easy-to-learn mini-games is safe for the whole family. Most of its 19 activities are the sort of games that parents and their children might play in their backyard, basement, or local amusement center. Game Party 3 also promotes social gaming, with support for up to four players in some games and tournaments that can accommodate up to 16 players. The only activity parents might want to closely moderate is the trivia challenge. Many of the questions will be too difficult for younger children, and a couple feature references violent acts, including one that asks the player to name the body part that Mike Tyson bit off of his opponent during a boxing match.

Educational value: Players may learn the rules of a few somewhat obscure real-world games, such as bumper pool, bocce ball, and cricket.
Positive messages: This game promotes the notion of friendly competition among up to 16 players in the same room.
Positive role models: Player characters cheer when they do well and frown when they don’t. Non-player characters root on game contestants. None of the characters speak or interact with one another.
Ease of play: All of the activities are very easy to understand. Controls are efficiently explained in a single illustration while the game loads.
Violence & scariness: Some of the questions in the quiz mini-game reference violent acts, such as one which asks players to name which part of his opponent Mike Tyson bit during a boxing match. Also, players hit pop-up troll heads whack-a-mole style.
Language: Not an issue.
Consumerism: This is the third game in an ongoing franchise of party games for the Wii. It features no recognizable brands.

More on Game Party 3

What to talk about

Talk to your kids
Families can talk about what it takes to throw a successful video game party. This game offers tournaments for up to 16 players, but not all of those players will be playing at the same time. What could be done to keep people interested between turns? Perhaps they could play the real-world versions of some of the games and compare their performance? What sort of game-themed food and refreshments might you provide?

What's the story?

What's the story?
GAME PARTY 3 adds eight new activities to the Game Party series, bringing its running total to 19, all of which are available on this game disc. New games include billiards, bumper pool, miniature golf, smack-a-troll, bocce ball, croquet, racquetball, and a remake of an old arcade game called Root Beer Tapper, in which players fill mugs with root beer and then push them along counters to knock down approaching picture cards. As in the first two games, most of the activities come with several variation. Billiards, for example, offers players a choice of 8-ball, 9-ball, or straight pool, while darts lovers can play 301/501/701, cricket, or baseball darts. As usual, players can create their own profiles and character avatars, earn tickets that unlock new avatar options, and enter tournaments for up to 16 players which can range from head-to-head competitions to simpler “loser-go-home” or “winner-moves-on” formats.

Is it any good?

Is it any good?
 

Until now, the Game Party franchise has been one of the better Wii Sports knock-offs, offering plenty of variation, pick-up-and-play controls, and good multiplayer options. And, to be sure, all of these statements hold true for the series’ third iteration. Controls are boiled down to a simple illustration displayed while each game loads, and we’ve been given plenty of different ways to play each of our favorite games, alone or with others.

The problem with Game Party 3 is that it offers only a handful of new games, and most of these games aren’t very much fun. Billiards is too imprecise to let players do any sort of satisfying strategizing, smack-a-troll is too simple to be fun for more than a couple of minutes, and mini-golf is just plain glitchy. The two best additions are bocce ball and croquet, both of which do a decent job mimicking their real-world counterparts. But do two new games make a $30 upgrade worthwhile? Game Party 3 is a decent value if you don't own either of the previous games, otherwise not so much.

Game themes & details

Game Details
Available on: Nintendo Wii
Not available online
Genre: Party
Developer: Warner Bros. Games
Released on: October 6, 2009
Price: 29.99
ESRB Rating: E for Violent References
Screenshots

This review was written by Chad Sapieha
 
 

Review It

 

Review Game Party 3





Hang on! You need to be a member to post your review.
A safe community is important to us. Please observe our guidelines.
 

Most useful reviews by all members

mrbookworm01
teen, 13 years old
 
Pretty good game
I have this game and it's pretty good. It's really fun to play with others, but it's also ok when playing alone. Most of the mini-games are pretty easy to play, so young kids can play. Good for kids 7+. Violence: The trivia games have some references to violence, and there's a :Whack-A-Troll mini-game where you use a hammer to hit plastic trolls, but you don't hurt anything living. Consumerism: Part of the "Game Party" series, so kids might want to play the other 2 games after playing this one.

An independent voice for families
Age-appropriate reviews
 

vote now

Will you play Game Party 3?


Already played it? What do you think?

 

Great alternatives handpicked by our editors


About our rating system
ON: Content is appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child, some content may not be right for some kids
OFF: Not age appropriate for kids this age