by At this time of year, we are often at festive gatherings with people of different ages and tastes. So what’s the best way to stave off boredom, avoid conflict and keep everyone entertained this Christmas? One possible solution is a video game or, more specifically, a party video game. But is it possible to download a dancing, singing or fighting game and instantly attract everyone, both young and old?
To find out, I invited a few friends and their kids over to my house to test out five new party games. Here’s what we found out…
Just dance 2024 (PlayStation 5Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series S/X)
Ubisoft’s dance series has been around for over a decade and has a passionate following. Today, it relies on players downloading a motion-tracking app and dancing with their phones in their hands. Each participant must sign into the game session on their mobile using a six-digit code and, most annoyingly, unless they have Ubisoft accounts, they all appear under the same username as the owner of the game, but with different numbers added. It wasn’t immediately obvious how to change this, which made it difficult to work out who was getting the best scores (reader: it was me).
Anyway, the experience of playing was really fun and chaotic. You choose a song and follow the actions of the character on the screen, gaining points and praise for successful moves. The game comes with 40 songs, from the new ones (Wet Leg, Blackpink and Miley Cyrus) to the classic ones (Pussycat Dolls, Britney Spears and Fall Out Boy). You also get free one-month access to Ubisoft’s Just Dance+ subscription service, which has tons of other tracks. That should see you through the Christmas season.
Some tracks allow two or four people to dance together. The cute two-player routine for Olivia Rodrigo’s Vampire ends with a long hug, which is a great feature if you like to charge your Christmas parties with unexpected romantic tension.
One much-appreciated feature was the ability to filter the track list based on various criteria, including “no jump” or “small space”. Some dances can be done sitting down, a nice option for people with mobility problems. Although my guests would have enjoyed a selection of more rock tracks, and phones needed to be re-paired once in a while, we had an hour of poorly coordinated entertainment.
Party Animals (Windows, Xbox)
Ridiculous multiplayer brawling games have been a party staple since Gang Beasts arrived in 2014. This cute newcomer pits cuddly critters like kittens, puppies and gorillas against each other in arena-based fights with up to four players. The creatures can punch each other, or pick up things like fries to wallop their competitors, but the action is slow and ludicrous, like drunken sports mascots playing fight after a few half-time pints. You can fight in ancient ruins, on the wing of an airplane, and in a laboratory with a black hole that sucks in unwary combatants. It’s full of clever little features, and the kids and teenagers played all night, howling with laughter as they hit each other with baseball bats and sink plungers.
Let’s sing 2024 (PlayStation 4/5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X)
Since the end of Sony’s amazing SingStar series, this has been the annual karaoke game for most players. Setting it up is simple: you buy the game with a USB microphone included or download an app that lets you use your phone as a microphone. 35 tracks are included, but you get one month’s free access to the subscription service, VIP, which adds a growing range of additional numbers. The free selection is fine, with songs from Billie Eilish, BTS and Lizzo, but yes very short on classical tunes, which means older participants may feel a little left out. There are also odd choices: if you’re going to have Disney songs, why include Colors of the Wind from Pocahontas but not Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid or Let it Go from Frozen, for pity’s sake? We also had problems with the delay – our voices coming in fractions of a second after the song was sung, which the calibration of the microphones didn’t solve.
But, this was the win of the night for people over 20 years. Almost everyone got up to play and it was a really great show. At one point, a friend turned to his wife and said, “this is the most fun I’ve seen you have in 25 years of marriage”, which is either a loud endorsement of the game or a damning indictment of their relationship. Let’s go with the former.
Volley friends (Nintendo SwitchWindows, Xbox)
Created by Turkish indie studio Naisu, this is an incredibly simple take on volleyball for up to four players. You only need to learn one move – pressing a button to hit the ball – making it ultra-accessible for non-gamers. It’s all about timing and positioning, with things like troublesome ceiling fans, wormholes and a naughty ball-stealing ghost to add to the challenge. This was popular with younger guests, who loved the quirky characters and fast, unpredictable action, while older players were drawn in by the detached reminders of the classic Atari Pong.
The Jackbox Party 10 Pack (Play Station 4/5, smartphone, NintendoSwitch, Windows, Xbox)
Five events for up to nine players is the latest in this long line of multiplayer quiz games. Once again, each participant uses their mobile phone as a controller, but this is done via a website so you don’t need to download an app, and the process is very smooth and intuitive – lots of brownie points for developer Jackbox Games.
The rounds are varied, imaginative and often funny. Timejinx is a trivia challenge where players have to enter the year they think a series of historical events happened – these were pretty US-centric, but not impossible for British players. Hypnotorious gives each player a certain trait or personality and then asks questions that must be answered in character, while others are based on text and T-shirt design that encourage guests to be more creative. We had the most fun with Dodo Re Mi, a rhythm action style game where each player is assigned an instrument and must play it in time to a set song. The best part is when the game plays back the resulting track and it’s a cacophony of lost beats and wailing trombones.
However, in a slightly regrettable party environment, it was very difficult to get people to focus on the rules of the games, which were sometimes quite complicated. Jackbox is great, but it needs to be the focal point of your gathering, and is best for groups of 10 people or less.
What we learned
If you can, it’s smart to set up two rooms – one for high-performance party games (ie singing and dancing) and one for more traditional video games where people have to concentrate. For games that require smartphone apps, ask your guests to download them in advance and remind them to charge their phones before the big night. Also, make sure you have a backup plan in case your broadband goes down. Monopoly, anyone?
