Disney Guilty Party Preview
- February 24, 2010 21:00 PM PST
Andy may have been guilty of judging this Disney-based sleuthing game as a kiddie title, but it quickly overturned that judgment. Read on to learn more about the bizarre partnership between Disney and the team behind Stubbs the Zombie.
The result of a collaboration between Disney Interactive and their newly acquired developer Wideload Games, better known for the comical action game Stubbs the Zombie, Disney Guilty Party is a mystery game for all ages, though its plentiful laughs should please the older crowd as well. Nintendo gave journalists a first look at the game at its Nintendo Summit 2010 in San Francisco.
At first glance, gamers might want to write-off games like Disney Guilty Party as "too" friendly toward the younger crowd-it has cartoony graphics, silly characters and not a drop of blood in sight. I felt similarly, but within a few minutes and after hearing some of the game's sharply written dialogue, I swiftly changed my mind. Players take control of one of a number of different sleuths, and begin putting evidence together to solve the mysteries. The goal of each level is to gather enough evidence to be able to pinpoint who the culprit is, and players will have to choose between a number of different, and silly suspects.
Disney Guilty Party allows up to four players to go head to head or play cooperatively in order to solve a variety of different mysteries, though all seem to have a general air of silliness about them. The tutorial level involved trying to find out who stole the pudding of Commodore Dickens, the leader of a rag-tag group of would-be sleuths. Players can question any suspect in an area, gathering clues along the way to point them in the right direction. Gathering evidence sometimes involves playing a short mini-game; one involved paying off a butler to divulge information about the pudding thief. Eventually I gathered enough evidence to finger Dickens himself, and his response was "of course I ate the pudding, it was my pudding!" Laughs among my demo partners ensued.
I was also able to see a later stage, which took place on a big cruise ship with many more potential culprits on board. The captain of S.S. Stupendous approached the group of detectives and declared that the anchor was missing. When asked what happened, he informed us that he didn't know, but that the steering wheel was also missing. When asked how he would steer the boat, he exclaimed "why should I care, I'm on a cruise!"
The humor in Disney Guilty Party is definitely a strong point of the game, but the game's many modes should help it appeal to both young gamers. The story mode allows one to four players to chase down the mischievous Mr. Valentine through seven different mystery situations. Additionally, players can set up custom matches in Party Mode that can be as long or as short as the players want. The Nintendo rep on hand told me that there were an endless number of mystery permutations players can go through in Party Mode, singling out parents who might want to play a short game with their kids before bed or a long afternoon match on the weekend.
There's still plenty more to see of Disney Guilty Party, as the game is set for release sometime in the second half of 2010, so keep your ears to the horn for more info on this family-friendly Wii title.
