Developed by Pinokl Games
Published by tinyBuild
Released for Xbox One (4/2016)
Also on Android/IOS/Linux/Mac/PC/PS4
Party Hard is another one of those "8-bit" pixel-styled games. I would compare the graphics to something like Retro City Rampage. They look nice and despite being simple they boast quite a bit of detail. The music all sounds like its straight out of the '80's, so depending on your taste this could be either a good or a bad thing. The premise of the game is that your character is tired and can't get any sleep due to the partying neighbors. The insomnia drives our character insane because your objective on each stage is to eliminate each and every person, all the while trying to avoid anybody witnessing the act taking place. It's definitely a pretty sadistic premise, not all that different from the original Postal game on PC, but it's hard to be offended by the simple pixelized representation of these heinous acts.
Each stage features a different party for you to crash, ranging from rooftops, casinos, party bus and college campus among others. The entire stage is visible at any time, making for a busy screen that at times can be tough to track your character among everything going on. You do have a dance button that helps if you get lost as it will highlight your character while also annoying anybody near you. There are several objects laid out on most of the stages that your character can interact with. You can set traps, such as an exploding gumball machine or bear trap, that will activate once your prey walks on them but they are all in designated spots (would have been fun to place your own traps!). There will also be certain areas you can use to dispose of bodies, like garbage bins and ice chests (nice Psycho reference) which definitely help in keeping the heat off you.
The face-to-face killing is done by simply hitting X and your character will do a quick stab animation, there will be no firearms used in Party Hard. If there is anybody standing nearby looking in your direction that witnesses you do this they will immediately dart for the nearest phone and call the police (the game takes place in the '80's so no cell phones). NPC's will also contact the police if they find a dead body lying around, which is why it's always a good idea to hide the bodies on stages that allow it. If the police know you're the killer, they'll head straight for you and unless you're able to lure them into a trap you will inevitably get arrested and have to restart the level. You can't use your stab kill on police officers, but if you do manage to kill one with a trap than the feds can show up. They are like the police but a bit more relentless in pursuing you but can still be killed with traps. Some stages also feature security guards that work pretty much the same way as the police except you can sneak up behind them and stab them.
That's basically the game, kill everybody while avoiding the police. You are able to unlock some extra characters that are fun to mess around with, including a psycho wielding a chainsaw and a ninja. The game is fun, but the simple concept doesn't really have any variation throughout the game. It's just pretty much the same thing with different stage layouts. I enjoyed it enough to play it through to the end and definitely appreciated the various themes differing the levels from one another. There are some bugs you can exploit in your favor, including manipulating the cops walking path and avoiding arrest quite easily on several of the stages. A special mention goes out to the achievement "Clubber" which is easily among the worst I've ever encountered, requiring you to boot-up and play the game 100 times. That's just stupid and should have just been to restart stages 100 times or something. If the premise sounds fun and you don't mind the retro-styled graphics, I'd say give this one a go.
Final Verdict: If a game with nice pixel-art where your aim is to just simply kill everything sounds like a good time to you, Party Hard might be right up your alley.
Related Links:
Buy Party Hard - Microsoft Store
Party Hard - GameFAQs
Pinokl Games - Official Site
tinyBuild - Official Site
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