Party Hard [PC/Steam]
Again, this is another review from my huge backlog of reviews to be done and reviews that I stupidly had already done, but saved as opposed to publishing! So, apologies again. As you can see, I'm now in the process of uploading/posting them all, so lots of stuff to read these next few days (doing them over a few days rather than all at once).
Moving on...
This game is addictive, fun and frustrating as all hell. The basic premise of the game is that you play a guy who finds it hard to sleep due to parties going on nearby. Sooo, he decides to do something about it. And by that, we mean massacre everyone.
EVERYONE.
The objective of the game is simple. Complete the task of killing everyone at the party, without being caught. There are various ways to help prevent your capture: 1. Never be seen mid-murder/near bodies, at least enough to raise suspicion. 2. Pin the blame on someone else when the cops arrive (can generally only be done once per level) and 3. Run from the cops: dodging out of windows, taking shortcuts and just trying to stay as far from them as possible.
Now, evading capture isn't always easy. If someone spots you killing (or is suspicious enough to think you may be the murderer), they will call the cops. If you can kill them before they call, then that prevents the cops from arriving. However, this could easily lead to someone else spotting you, in your mad-dash to kill the first witness, the second witness and so on and so forth. If the cops arrive, one will chase after you. On the first try, he'll get tired out quickly, and will give up chase fairly fast if you keep your distance. If they arrive because of a body, but you weren't seen (therefore the call was just about the bodies piling up, and not because the murderer was found), you can pin the blame on someone else (which will be signified by a little pair of handcuffs above their head), causing them to be arrested instead. You still have to finish the level, though, so doing this means you pretty much won't be able to do it again this level. There's also disguises, various shortcuts to help you stay away from the cops (however a Mario type character will appear if you do this too much, forever blocking that shortcut), and a variety of hiding spots for you to plank bodies after killing them unnoticed.
It's a fun yet infuriating formula for a game. And one that I enjoyed immensely. The average level can be done in a short amount of time (at least once you've gotten better at the game), so it's a great game to come back to whenever you've got a couple of moments to spare. It also has a variety of different levels to choose from, which are in different locations with different themed parties.
On Steam, which is where I played it, I've racked up a decent amount of game-time on it, considering I don't tend to play games on my laptop too much, as I'm more of a console player. However, it has now been released on Xbox One and PS4, so I'm eager to play on those, too.
Some reviews have pinned the game as being sick, and bemoaning the lack of remorse of the character(s), as the game is solely about killing - no choice like a lot of other games, where players might sway into the killing side of things, such as GTA - but honestly, in my opinion, sure there are bad people in the world. Sure, the media likes to blame games for promoting this kind of violence, but come on. People need to stop undermining gamers. It's a game, pure and simple. If I play Farmville, does that automatically mean I'm gonna go start up my own farm? Or Arkham Knight... and go be a masked vigilante, à la Batman?
No, it doesn't. Same way as films don't do this, either. Anyway, that's a rant for another day!
Have you played Party Hard? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to tinyBuild for the Party Hard Steam review code!
