Mar 14, 20193 min read

Game Review #190: 30-in-1 Game Collection Vol. 1 (a.k.a. Party Planet) (Nintendo Switch)

Updated: Mar 22, 2020

Reviewer: John B.

Developer: Teyon Published By: Teyon (EU) | Mastiff LLC (NA) Category: Party, Arcade, Multiplayer, Adventure Release Date: 12.12.17

Price (at time of review): £13.49 (EU) | $19.99 (NA - Digital & Physical)

Buy 30-in-1 Game Collection Vol. 1 from the Nintendo UK eShop here.

Buy Party Planet from the Nintendo eShop here.

Buy Party Planet (physically) from GameStop here.

Do you like casual games? How about thirty of them? Teyon and Mastiff LLC have you covered with Party Planet (released as 30-in-1 Game Collection Volume 1 in the UK) for the Nintendo Switch. As my clever intro suggests, it’s an anthology of 30 different mini games intended to be played in a party setting. That being the case, it’s a little strange that there are a number of single-player only games, but I guess if you only party with yourself you don’t have to make any awkward small talk. I think I just talked myself into the concept of a solo party. Or, wait, is this what Miss Piggy and Amy Adams meant by “Me Party” in The Muppets? Anyway, let’s blast off to Party Planet and get this thing started.

A Collection of Casual Classics

I’m not doing thirty individual mini-reviews; we’d be here all day. Frankly, for half of these games I don’t really need to write a review, because any gamer worth their salt already knows them. One game is just the Atari classic Snake, another is Asteroids, and one more is Tank. The games span a lot of different genres, but most of them would be classified as either action, platforming, or puzzle. There are a couple of matching games, a memory game, some infinite runners, and my personal favorite, a game where you punch bears coming at you from different directions. Not every game is unlocked out of the box; you get a score every time a game ends. That score is built up cumulatively, and every so often you gain a rank. Ranking up gets you access to one or two more games to play.

Keep It Simple

All 30 games are remarkably simple, using only one or two buttons and maybe the left directional stick. That’s pretty ideal for a party game, because you can just turn the game on and everyone present can be playing in seconds. The simple controls make each game easy to pick up, and in a party setting they can stay fun as long as you don’t hate the people there. You might run into some problems if you’re playing with more hardcore gamers who expect something a little deeper, though. Unfortunately, the games included make for a mostly unsatisfying experience to play solo. If you’re not playing with friends, this is basically a collection of games you play for five minutes waiting in line at the movies or something. There are a few exceptions to this, including a hexagonal grid-based variation on Tetris called Hex Eggs that was surprisingly addictive, but for the most part there isn’t anything to draw you back to an individual game when the party’s over.

Party Decorations

The bright, colorful, cartoony graphics of Party Planet are about what you’d want for a party game. There isn’t anything here that will blow you away, like, say, whatever big-budget titles Ubi or Squenix are working on at the moment, but everything looks good. The character sprites and background look at least partially hand-drawn, which contributes to an overall attractive aesthetic. You won’t be running out to tell your friends about how good it looks, but it’s not shovelware, either. The music is similarly bright and boisterous. It’s clearly designed to create a fun, relaxed atmosphere, and it very respectably succeeds. Honestly the music kind of faded into the background while I was playing, which, again, is great for a party atmosphere; you don’t want to drown out your friends.

The Party’s Winding Down

Party Planet is by no means a terrible game; it’s actually 30 decent games in one package. It combines a few classic gaming stalwarts, some action platforming, and a variety of puzzle games all on the same cartridge (are Switch games on cartridges or cards? I know that look more like memory cards, but my nostalgia tells me Nintendo games are always on carts). Each individual game is fairly shallow, but that shallowness can be an asset if you’re playing with people who aren’t necessarily gamers. As a solo experience there isn’t much there, however. Must be why they put “party” in the name.