Hasbro Family Game Night Volume 2 Review

Written by: Darren Cartledge Posted: 30th December 2009

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Hasbro Family Game Night Volume 2 Details:

Goto Hasbro Family Game Night Volume 2 Game Page

	Mini-game Compilation
	Nintendo Wii
	EA Games
	EA Games

Out Now

1-4

EA's family game night wasn't terribly well received when it was released last year, but despite this EA hasn't hesitated in bringing Family Game Night - Volume 2 out in time for the Christmas holidays. But does this second edition make for a better experience than last years game?

The line-up of games featured in Volume 2 has been overhauled and features digital versions of Operation, Connect 4x4, Bop-It, Pictureka and Jenga. For the most part these games suit the Wii far better than those that were featured in its predecessor so there’s a positive straight from the off. Of the five games featured Operation and Bop-It are the standout examples making the best use of the Wii’s abilities. Operations sees your patient laid out on a table with a scanner running down his body, each player has to quickly locate the part they need to remove within a set time limit. Once located a mini game launches in which you have to guide the piece through a series of gates the same shape as the piece being removed by twisting the Wii remote. Crashing the piece into the gates subtracts a couple of seconds from any remaining time you had. The bop it game has you pulling swinging and thrusting the remote in order to match commands shouted out by the on-screen bop-it controller. If you’ve ever played the real bop-it this will have a very familiar feel to it as it’s near enough the same experience the game offers.

The three remaining games featured in Family Game Night 2 are all fairly basic, only requiring you to point the Wii remote in order to perform the necessary action to play the game. Just like last years game there is the option to play remixed versions of each game, allowing you to play with various different rule sets that put original twists on these classic games. Connect 4x4 also allows you play the original Connect 4 that was featured in last years game.

As with any game compilation Family Game Night 2 is best played with friends and the game supports up to four players for most games. Also in addition to the individual games, players can also compete in Game Show mode which sees you undertaking challenges from the featured games using various different rules from the standard and remixed rules. This mode adds a little variation and is a pretty good way to play with friends.

Despite clear improvements over last years game, this years version isn’t all good, firstly the games presentation is pretty much the same. Mr Potato Head returns to the hub to introduce the games when you select them from the apartment style menu. Again just like the original game, your awards and prizes are stored in the apartment for you to view at anytime, mainly so you can gloat when you have friends around I guess. The visuals of the games are pretty good, and I would go as far as to say that the games have been presented quite a lot better than those that were in last year’s title. The games audio design in pretty much what you would expect from this type of title with much the same music as last year and fairly standard sound effects, despite being fairly unoriginal they do get the job done. The biggest problems arise from the difficulty of some of the mini games, which may make certain aspects of Family Game Night 2 inaccessible to younger gamers. This is predominantly a problem in the Jenga game which requires very careful movement of the Wii remote to remove pieces from the stack, but even taking this approach will regularly cause wobbles, potentially ending the game early.

Despite having a very similar feel Family Game Night 2 offers an overall better experience then last years game due to the selection of games on offer in the title. Don’t expect a thrilling single player experience though as this isn’t what the games about. If you’re looking to spend time together as a family or regularly have friends around then Family Game Night 2 might be for you,