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Muppets Party Cruise Review - PS2

'Off the Florida Keys, There's a place called Ko Ko Mo… That's where I wanna go to get away from it all!' Oh wait, we're not there yet. Muppets Party Cruise is an intense action game similar to the hit Nintendo series known as Mario Party - the only difference is, a different franchise. The game is obviously aimed at those aged between 6 and 10, and really doesn't have much on offer for anybody out of that age group. If you've ever played Mario Party, the chances of you finding this title interesting are minimal, but none the less GameBiz gives it a go for it's money, and explores the ups and downs of Muppets Party Cruise with Kermy and Miss Piggy in close contact.

Gameplay

There are really only 2 types of gameplay in Muppets Party Cruise, and they are Short Cruise and Long Cruise. The Long Cruise is your adventure mode, and the Short Cruise is your arcade style gameplay mode. With only 30 different mini-games half of which become dull in the first 10 seconds of gameplay, Muppets Party Cruise could have used a major overhaul before its release if it were to become a hit. Apart from the late The Muppets: On With The Show on the GBA, there's never been a Muppets game made on consoles, so you can argue that the idea is new, however if the developers of this game have ever played Mario Party they would know where this game stands against its biggest competitor in the market.

Lets not say that there aren't interesting mini-games, because there are a couple such as a slippery slide game known as Slippery When Wet where you must collect the gems and dodge the dynamite, and a boat racing game known as Power Boatin' where you have to pop as many balloons as you can, however the better games require you to unlock them first and doing this takes a lot of time - more time than the average gamer would be prepared to put in. The ideas are good, but the one-liner comments from the Muppets and the mini-game designs are a real let down.

Once you go into a Long Cruise and select your character and your enemies (you choose 3 enemies out of the 6 characters), you then select a level of the ship that isn't unlocked. On the intro FMV it shows why you start down in the hull of the ship (which is probably one of the most interesting parts of the whole game). To unlock the next level up in the ship, you have to unlock 3 mini-games, and to unlock 3 mini-games, you have to get a certain amount of points in the long cruise. Playing through the long cruise, if you play well, you may earn enough points to unlock 2 games, meaning you're going to have to play through each (continued next page)