NapNok’s Chimparty has made it to the PlayLink family and with it the first installment of a Mario Party-esque gaming experience. Is it as good as Mario Party? It’s tough to live in that shadow of greatness, but Chimparty does enough to create a quick party gaming experience that is fun for anyone with a phone. Without anymore monkeying around, let’s dig right into it.
Tell me if you heard this one before, four monkeys walk onto a game board, and then the fun begins. Yeah, me neither, but that’s the premise behind Chimparty. You play as a monkey trying to work your way to a golden couch across a mini-game scattered game board. If you land on a mini-game, then things are golden. You face-off against your monkey peers (sometimes everyone against everyone, sometimes 2v2) in order to become the top monkey to acquire the most points, thus gaining the most stars, which equal out to game board progression. For example, you could win a game with four monkey stars, gain an extra for being the top player, then move five spaces on the game board. It’s an incredibly simple concept.
The mini-games come in a variety of different flavors. Some of the games revolve around soccer (bouncing a ball into a net), some involve grabbing coconuts and trying to slam-dunk them into a basketball goal, and some even involve hitting a target with your monkey. All things involve swinging the monkey or launching the monkey, via a pointing arrow, by holding down a single button on your phone and letting go. Chimparty is built to be simple for anyone to pick up, and it does a great job of delivering in that category. The gaming experience is incredibly simple, yet fun. The kids and I played through 2-3 games of it, even the five-year-old got in on the action, as it really held no limitations, especially after each level has its own tutorial. NapNok makes this game easy to pick up and go, especially with the simplified controls, and visual guides to get people through the experience quickly.
Now, speaking of quickly, the one big concern with Chimparty is how much mileage you can get from the game before feeling like it’s long in the tooth. The positive with it is that the monkeys are adorably funny, which adds some charm and longevity to the process of putting up with repetition. The visuals help to distract from the potential staleness of the game. I do understand that is silly to read, but sometimes visuals simply distract, and the fast-paced visuals that are an unusually wacky help to make the adventure through the game board fun. It brings some off-beat variety to an otherwise standard party game.
The second big plus is that the mini-game gameplay is quick, we’re talking 15-20 minutes quick from beginning to end. It’s so quick, in fact, that you won’t feel like you’re dragging on with the mini-games, even through multiple sessions. That last one is key because that is what makes Mario Party so successful how short the mini-games are unless you’re going through Mario Party 2 hootenanny’s (had a two-hour Mario Party game with that level). Anyway, the Chimparty is designed to be played in short stints, which helps keep you from feeling like the game drags on. That’s not to say that after 2-3 games you’re going to avoid feeling that way, because it does get old at a point, but you’re still going to enjoy the time you have with it quickly.
Finally, like I just mentioned, the game does have its limits. After the third game at home, I was ready to move onto the second PlayLink game we received for review. That’s not to say I won’t return to Chimparty, as I will when the kids are wanting to play it, but it’s not something I am dying to play when compared to a party game like Mario Party. Is that a bad thing? No, it’s meant to be this way. I would rather know that I can get a quick game in before doing something else or before leaving for a family outing, rather than estimate out how long a party game will feasibly take me (like Mario Party). The time to completion feels set and dependable, which makes life as a parent, or a party host, somewhat easy when choosing video game entertainment.
As it stands, the games that have released under the PlayLink moniker have been built to play in short stints, well most (the murder mystery game is pretty cool, but definitely a bit more involved). Chimparty feels like it follows that flow, while at the same time bringing a non-serious personality with it. The game is cheap enough and fun enough to play in small doses, and it works just fine. Again, I’m sure I’ll be returning to it at some point, but the time I spent with it makes it good enough to warrant a purchase. It’s another PlayLink bit of entertainment.
Overall, Chimparty is a fun PlayLink title from NapNok that gives off a nice Mario Party vibe, while not quite reaching the level design that usually comes with a Mario Party. Chimparty is a good family game, though, and a good addition to the PlayLink family.
