While multi-event games have been around for quite a long time, back to the earlier days of the likes of Track n’ Field in the arcades, or perhaps the Summer Games series by Epyx, they traditionally revolved around sports of some kind. Then, with the release of the original Mario Party way back on the Nintendo 64, Nintendo changed things up by going more in a free-for-all direction of all-ages mini games and using a traditional board game format for the festivities. I remember playing it quite a bit with family and friends, generally having a great time, but over the years the series has absolutely had its ups and downs and lost some of its luster. While there have been a variety of attempts to steal some of the thunder from the series in the indie space, none of them have really gotten close to hitting the mark, but that has changed with the release of LEGO Party!

Unapologetically cribbing Mario Party’s style seems to be the thrust of the effort here, but that’s hardly a bad thing, assuming you can pull off the variety and general quality of the overall experience. Thankfully, the folks behind this effort have absolutely managed to do just that, but rather than merely mimic the franchise from top to bottom they’ve made some crucial decisions that absolutely set it apart, many of them directly tied to the use of the LEGO license. While perhaps some may be disappointed that this isn’t making full use of the licensed LEGO muscle in the form of top-tier entertainment properties, the quirky themes and sometimes outright silly characters do ensure you’ll have the chance to create a character all your own, further enhanced by unlocks you’ll gain the more you play. Especially when playing with younger gamers there’s a lot of room for creativity just in this initial phase, and since you’ll be seeing a lot of your characters, you may as well be sure you have something that suits your style in some way.

What’s great is that the LEGO creativity also helps to deal with one of Mario Party’s biggest problems over the years, and that’s the tendency for its different boards to begin to feel stale after a few runs on each. Using a uniquely LEGO concept, build spaces that pepper each board help to ensure that each time through them can have its own flavor. At each location you’ll have two options, and each of them presents different challenges and opportunities for the players that dare to go for them. These can include free golden bricks, opportunities to play specific mini games that can net you studs, and just some generally silly flavor the franchise is associated with. This does speak to a focus on the potential longevity for the experience over the course of months as each time people making different choices can shake things up a bit.

What may be most critical about the game is that its 60 mini games are focused far more on skill-based challenges of some kind, completely skipping over what has come to feel like Mario Party’s many obligatory random chance games that often take the steam out of contests between people who’d really prefer to go head to head. While a few of the mini games, specifically the ones with the rockets, weren’t a hit with anyone in the family given their very touchy controls, on the whole the options are solid across the board, and the fact that everyone gets to vote on what they’d like to play among 3 choices every time helps ensure that mini games nobody likes just won’t enter the rotation. Throw in the lack of game-changing participation trophies awarded at the end to potentially alter the results of play, and this feels like a more adult-friendly affair, removing the abundance of luck that could dominate sessions in Mario Party, while not eliminating the board game element of luck that will always be present. I do wish  that the game were more enjoyable playing solo, since you can’t skip CPU turns and even on Easy they can be brutal to match up with, but given that’s something even Mario Party hasn’t ever perfected, it isn’t as bitter a pill to swallow. While I’d love to see follow-ups or DLC that go with licensed themes to really take this series to the next level, it’s a very strong opener and points to the potential of it knocking Mario Party out of the throne with a few more tweaks and refinements.