Developer – Recreate Games

Publisher – Source Technology

Platforms –  PC (Reviewed), Xbox Series XlS, Xbox One

Review copy given by Publisher

Recreate Games and Source Technology are here with their latest casual party game, Party Animals featuring a range of adorable animals, from puppies and kittens to bunnies and otters fighting to be the best animal in the world. If you have been eagerly anticipating Party Animals since its announcement, then you are aware that the game is all about having fun while engaging in wild antics.

Right off the jump, you’ll be put into a Tutorial, teaching you all about the unique physics this game has to offer. Normally for games, I wouldn’t care for the Tutorial, but for this game, it’s very much needed as it teaches you the unique movements, combat, how to throw items, climbing, and how to win a battle against your enemy. After completing the Tutorial, you won’t become the best fighter, but you will gain valuable knowledge and skills. 

Gameplay

Party Animals comes with a unique gameplay style with the Unique Physics Engine where completely physics-driven character movements lead to seemingly haphazard, floppy, and unpredictable encounters. When first playing against real players in this game I noticed that it’s not so easy to land a punch, drop kick, throw enemies, or even a headbutt so keep in mind when first playing this game it won’t be easy despite playing with cute animals.

Another unique aspect of this game is the camera angle which becomes a big part of how you’re going to play this game. Players can adjust the camera angle to their preferred view in this feature. They can choose to see the game from the side or front of their character, providing them with the freedom to customize their experience. The initial camera angle is going to show behind your character as that’s always expected from games, but as a Game Mode accelerates such as Beast Hockey, Ichiban, or Wind Tunnel you might want to move your camera to see what your opponent is up to. 

Initially, I was worried that the camera angle would be frustrating for both me and my fellow players, but in the end, it turned out to be a necessary addition to the game. If you wanted a comparison to Party Animals gameplay think of Fall Guys and Gang Beasts, but honestly, even those games don’t come close to this creation from Recreate Games. 

With Party Animals there are a variety of Game Modes at launch with twenty different maps with three game modes being Last Stand (Duo Rival), Team Score (Squad Rival), and Arcade (Fight Club). Last Stand is a brawl-focused mode where you aim to be the last animal standing or team standing, you can either create teams of two or make it a free-for-all in this game mode.

Team Score, my personal favorite features teams of four players as they compete against each other to score a goal in Beast Hockey, Beast Football, Beast Ball, or compete for safes hung from floating balloons in Safely Afloat. The early consensus within our playgroup is that Team Score is the favorable game mode because the entertainment is endless. 

Lastly, Arcade is a mode where teams of four players start with 10 lives and in order to win you must preserve at least one life. The downfall to the Arcade mode is there are only two maps to play on Winter Cabin and Final Destination which are both great, but it would be nice to see more maps supported for that mode. It seems to be the least supported mode whereas the other two have at least 5 or more maps to play on. 

Party Animals comes with a great lineup of 20 maps, but after playing for hours I feel like the game needs more as you might get tired of playing some of the same maps repeatedly in a Custom Game match. 

You Have Stamina

Another gameplay feature for Party Animals is, believe it or not, Stamina just like many games out there in the world. You’ll notice the importance of Stamina when you are playing sports modes like Football, Hockey, and Soccer as there’s an indicator on the top left of your screen that is circled around your character. I like this attribute of Party Animals as it can make things challenging and for someone who can have a competitive edge, I like that.  

There’s also HP for every character as you can be killed during a Arcade or Last Stand match instead of being thrown off the stage. If you knock an animal out hard enough you can end their life. From what I noticed there is no HP bar so you’ll have no idea what your health is at in this game. 

Visuals

The quality of visuals Party Animals has to offer is incredible from the startup screen to character designs and to all of the stage levels you can tell the team at Recreate Games put care into this project. Every stage you step in has a unique feeling to it making them more iconic than the other which I feel is important for a game like this. A prime example of how stellar this game’s visuals are is the water element on some of these levels blowing away many AAA games out there today. 

The art in Party Animals has that iconic look where you can say “That’s Party Animals” when seeing any type of asset from the game.

Sounds

Party Animals is full of joyful music right when you open the game and the atmosphere of each level has its own natural feel to the sound no matter if it’s a large waterfall, snow storm, or a train coming by. There’s nothing about the audio in this game that’s bad. Even the characters have their own sound effects when getting beat up. 

Level Progression

This game has a wide variety of customization to offer for players from user icons all the way to costumes for your animal. Every player has an ‘Animal Level’ and you level up by playing in games, completing challenges to earn more XP and if you win a match you’ll earn extra XP for doing so. I found myself leveling up fast in this game by participating in Quick Matches, but I’ve also gained XP by hosting Custom Game lobbies. 

Something else I wanted to mention about Party Animals is the nice variety of costumes the animals have. Some have more than others, but I’m sure there will be many new items added to the shop as time moves forward. Progressing through your Animal Levels will allow you to unlock more for your characters. 

What We Would Like To See

Although Party Animals is a fantastic game, we noticed a few things while playing that we would like to see in the future. When playing sports modes like Beast Soccer, Buzz Ball, Hockey, and Football whenever a player scores a goal a replay is shown, but for those who want to get through a game quicker we felt a ‘skip replay’ option would be a neat addition. Along with all the other modes showing the time remaining of a match on top of the screen instead of the last minute even though we all know a match can take up to 15 minutes.

 Overall, Party Animals is a game where cute animals love to hate each other providing hilarious moments and fun gameplay. The world hasn’t seen this type of party game in quite some time and it’s a no-brainer to play it if you’re an Xbox Game Pass subscriber.