Rio: The Multiplayer Party Game
- Format: Playstation 3/Xbox 360/Wii
- Genre: Party Game/Rhythm/Adventure
- Publisher: THQ
- Release: April 2011
The party game genre is changing. They aren’t finished or failing, that is for sure; the Kinect, the Wii and Move have all secured the fact that party games will be a huge part of developers release lists for the foreseeable future.
This is the strange thing about Rio, it’s controlled via a classic controller; no motion controllers are involved at all. In an age where party games are becoming more interactive and children want more hands free technology (they just want to throw themselves around the room), it seems like the developers made a few strange choices.
In Rio, you and three other young-folk take control of various characters from the animated movie of the same name, and take part in 40 plus mini-games. Because it’s set at Brazilian carnaval time, the game is very pleasing on the eye. Bright colours fill your eyes and up-beat-samba-style music fills your ears; if there’s one thing you can say about Rio, it’s that the display is certainly not dull.
Included is exactly what you would expect from a mini-game collection; ball dodging, item collecting, throwing balls at one another, jumping over various objects of different sizes and shapes and bashing buttons furiously. This game is for fans of the movie, and therefore most probably children; so if you do have any youngens in your life (or you are a youngen yourself), this game could be for you.
Though nothing will exactly surprise you (or your children for that matter), Rio does have some entertaining strings to its bow; a couple of enticing mini-game gems, that contain a couple of unique concepts. The game called Wave Chicken, involves you running out to sea to collect fruit and then return in time so the wave doesn’t catch you; a mechanic that hasn’t often been replicated in party games.
When you say 40+ mini-games, it sounds like an impressively high number; however, after a few playthroughs the games get a little tiring, and you begin to realise that some of them are only slight variants on games you have played ten minutes ago.
Rio is easy enough for children to get hooked on, but probably too easy for adults to join in with (and have a genuinely fun time). The game is almost good fun, and if four young-folk got together, I’m certain they would end up having a fun time with it. However, with motion controllers being the new and exciting thing, I think even they would tire of the instant fun mini-games after a short while.
Edward Lewis