At this time of year we often find ourselves at festive gatherings with people of different ages and tastes. So what’s the best way to beat Christmas boredom, avoid fights and keep everyone entertained? One potential solution is a video game, or more specifically, a party video game. So, is it possible to download a dancing, singing or fighting game and instantly involve everyone, young and old?
To find out, I invited a group of friends and their kids over to my house to test five new party games. This is what we discovered…
Just Dance 2024 (PlayStation 5Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series S/X)
Ubisoft’s dance series has been running for over a decade and has a passionate fan base. Nowadays, it involves players downloading a motion-tracking app and dancing while holding their phones in their waving hands. Each participant must log into the game session on their mobile phone using a six-digit code, and frustratingly, unless they have Ubisoft accounts, they all appear to be under the same username as the game owner, but with different numbers attached. It wasn’t immediately obvious how to change this, making it difficult to figure out who had the best scores (reader: that was me).
Anyway, actually the gaming experience was fun and chaotic. By choosing a song and following the movements of the character on the screen, you earn points and praise for successful moves. The game comes with 40 songs, ranging from new songs (Wet Leg, Blackpink, and Miley Cyrus) to slightly classic ones (Pussycat Dolls, Britney Spears, and Fall Out Boy). You’ll also get a free month of access to Just Dance+, Ubisoft’s subscription service that has dozens more tracks. This should see you through the festive season.
Some pieces allow two to four people to dance together. The lovely two-act routine for Olivia Rodrigo’s Vampire ends with a long embrace; This is a great feature if you want to fill your Christmas parties with unexpected romantic tension.
One much-appreciated element was the ability to filter the track list by different criteria, including “no skipping” or “small space.” Some dances can be done sitting down, which is a good option for people with limited mobility. Although my guests would have preferred more rock tunes and phones had to be re-paired every now and then, we had a poorly coordinated hour of fun.
party animals (Windows, Xbox)
Ridiculous multiplayer fighting games have been a party staple since Gang Beasts was released in 2014. This adorable new game pits adorable creatures like kittens, puppies, and gorillas against each other in arena-based combat for up to four players. Creatures can punch each other or pick up items like frying pans to deal blows to their opponents, but the action is slow and ludicrous, like drunken sports mascots playing fight after a few halftime beers. You can fight in ancient ruins, on the wing of an airplane, and in a laboratory with a black hole that sucks in unwary warriors. It’s full of clever little features, and kids and teenagers played it all night long, crying with laughter as they chased after each other with baseball bats and sink plungers.
Let’s Sing 2024 (PlayStation4/5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X)
Since the end of Sony’s amazing SingStar series, this game has become most gamers’ annual karaoke game. Setup is simple: You either buy the game with the USB microphone or download an app that allows you to use your phone as a microphone. There are 35 tracks included, but you also get a free month of access to the VIP subscription service, which adds a growing number of additional numbers. The free selection, which includes songs from Billie Eilish, BTS and Lizzo, is okay but A lot It’s shorter than classical tunes, which means older attendees may feel a little left out. There are weird options, too: If you’re going to have Disney songs, why include Colors of the Wind from Pocahontas but not, for God’s sake, A Piece of Your World from The Little Mermaid or Let it Go from Frozen? We also had issues with latency; Our voices started coming in much less than a second after we sang, and calibrating the microphones didn’t fix the problem.
But this was the highlight of the night for the over 20s. Almost everyone stood up to perform and it was truly a spectacular show. At one point a friend turned to his wife and said: “This is the funniest thing I’ve seen in your 25 years of marriage.” This is either a brilliant endorsement of the game or a damning indictment of their relationship. Let’s continue with the previous one.
Volleyball Friends (Nintendo SwitchWindows, Xbox)
Created by Turkish indie studio Naisu, this game is an incredibly simple version of volleyball for up to four players. You only need to learn one move – pressing a button to kick the ball – making it extremely accessible to non-gamers. It’s all about timing and positioning, and there are things like wonky ceiling fans, wormholes and a mischievous ghost who amps up the challenge by stealing the ball. This was really popular with younger guests who loved the quirky characters and fast-paced, unpredictable action, while older players indulged in tearful memories of the Atari classic Pong.
Jackbox Party Pack 10 (game station 4/5, smart phone, Nintendo’sSwitch, Windows, Xbox)
The latest in this long-running multiplayer trivia game series features five events for up to nine players. Once again, each participant uses their mobile phone as a control device, but this is done through a website, so you don’t need to download an app and the process is truly seamless and intuitive; Lots of brownie points for developer Jackbox Games.
The tours are diverse, creative and often funny. Timejinx is a trivia challenge where players must enter the year in which they think a series of historical events occurred; these were very US-centric but not impossible for British players. Hypnotorious gives each player a specific trait or personality type, then asks questions that must be answered based on the character, and there are others based on messaging and t-shirt design that encourage guests to be more creative. The one we had the most fun with was Dodo Re Mi, a rhythm action style game where each player is assigned an instrument and must play it in time to the designated song. The best part is that the game plays the resulting track, and it’s a cacophony of missed beats and wailing trombones.
But in a somewhat noisy party environment, it was really difficult to get people to concentrate on the rules of the sometimes quite complex games. Jackbox is great, but it needs to be the focal point of your get-together and is best for groups of 10 people or less.
What did we learn?
It would be wise to arrange two rooms if you can; one for performance party games (e.g. singing and dancing) and the other for more traditional video games where people really need to concentrate. For games that require smartphone apps, have your guests 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 connection goes down. Is there a monopoly?