Neighborhood Games
Encyclopedia
Neighborhood Games is a party
video game developed by Jet Black Games
and published by THQ
. It was released for the Wii
in North America on January 12, 2009.
Neighborhood Games offers players 24 versions of neighborhood games, including football
, basketball
, baseball
, golf
, tennis
, lawn darts
, horseshoes
, and bocce
. Games can be played just for fun or competitively in a tournament mode, in which players battle "backyard bosses
" to conquer the neighborhood. Players can also create their own customizable and playable characters. In multiplayer games, when it is not a player's turn, they can "taunt [...] opponents from the sidelines to break their concentration".
.
Anise Hollingshead of GameZone
gave the game an overall score of 6.0 out of 10. She enjoyed each minigame's design, but found that the "unpredictable" controls made many of them frustrating to play. The visuals were appreciated by Hollingshead, who noted that they would appeal to kids because of their inviting atmospheres. She found the game's overall presentation adequate, remarking that its concept is not new to the Wii. Concluding the review, Hollingshead called the game a good idea, and wrote that its flaws are "a shame, because there are lots of varied and attractive games included in this compilation. Best for families with older children that don’t frustrate easily."
IGN
was particularly disappointed with the game's music, which it said "has to go". They criticized the game as having poor controls, and called the character designs "truly bad". They were also unhappy with the game designs, describe all of them as a "lob the Wii Remote" design.
Party game
Party games are games that some people play as forms of entertainment at social gatherings. Party games usually involve more than one player. There are a large number and styles of party games available and the one selected will depend on the atmosphere that is sought to be generated...
video game developed by Jet Black Games
Jet Black Games
Jet Black Games is an independent video game developer and technology provider located in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company specializes in developing original and licensed IP for the Nintendo DS and Wii....
and published by THQ
THQ
THQ Inc. is an American developer and publisher of video games. Founded in 1989 in the United States, the company develops products for video game consoles, handheld game systems, as well as for personal computers and wireless devices...
. It was released for the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
in North America on January 12, 2009.
Gameplay
Gridiron football
Gridiron football , sometimes known as North American football, is an umbrella term for related codes of football primarily played in the United States and Canada. The predominant forms of gridiron football are American football and Canadian football...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, lawn darts
Lawn darts
Lawn darts is a lawn game for two players or teams. A lawn dart set usually includes four large darts and two targets. The game play and objective are similar to both horseshoes and darts. The darts are similar to the ancient Roman plumbata...
, horseshoes
Horseshoes
Horseshoes is an outdoor game played between two people using four horseshoes and two throwing targets set in a sandbox area. The game is played by the players alternating turns tossing horseshoes at stakes in the ground, which are traditionally placed 40 feet apart...
, and bocce
Bocce
Bocce is a ball sport belonging to the boules sport family, closely related to bowls and pétanque with a common ancestry from ancient games played in the Roman Empire...
. Games can be played just for fun or competitively in a tournament mode, in which players battle "backyard bosses
Boss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
" to conquer the neighborhood. Players can also create their own customizable and playable characters. In multiplayer games, when it is not a player's turn, they can "taunt [...] opponents from the sidelines to break their concentration".
Reception
The game was given "generally negative reviews", receiving an aggregated score of 49% from MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
.
Anise Hollingshead of GameZone
GameZone
GameZone is an American multiplatform video game website. GameZone's daily coverage includes reviews, previews, news, hints & cheats, and editorials. Additionally, GameZone offers downloads, a child-targeted website and in association with GameStop, hosts GZGameShop, an online retailer...
gave the game an overall score of 6.0 out of 10. She enjoyed each minigame's design, but found that the "unpredictable" controls made many of them frustrating to play. The visuals were appreciated by Hollingshead, who noted that they would appeal to kids because of their inviting atmospheres. She found the game's overall presentation adequate, remarking that its concept is not new to the Wii. Concluding the review, Hollingshead called the game a good idea, and wrote that its flaws are "a shame, because there are lots of varied and attractive games included in this compilation. Best for families with older children that don’t frustrate easily."
IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
was particularly disappointed with the game's music, which it said "has to go". They criticized the game as having poor controls, and called the character designs "truly bad". They were also unhappy with the game designs, describe all of them as a "lob the Wii Remote" design.