Game Review #145: Stunt Kite Party (Nintendo Switch)
Reviewer: Bradford “TheWaffinator” Ekstrom
Developer: HandyGames
Publisher: HandyGames
Category: Party, Sports, Action
Release Date: 02.08.2019
Price (At Time of Review): $9.99
Buy Stunt Kite Party from the Nintendo eShop here.
A Bird… A Plane… No, Just Lots of Kites
You ever just go to a beach or park on a beautiful day and fly a kite? I honestly can say that I have only done it once, and I was so terrible. I think my kite had more crashes recorded than the most destructive demolition derby. Just as I started to get the hang of it, it got cloudy and started to rain, and that was the end of my kiting career. I thought I had buried that part of me deep, deep inside, and would never give it a try again; that was, until now… That was, until Stunt Kite Party.
Oh no! It’s raining outside, and you and the family wanted to go fly them kites! Well, don’t worry, HandyGames has you covered with Stunt Kite Party. Stunt Kite Party is a whole new party game that is good for 1 player or even 4. You have multiple characters that you can play as and unlock, and 10 different game modes to choose from for hours of fun. Most of all, there all kinds of kites and power-ups with which to punish your opponents!
That’s right! Did you really think this was a cute little simulator where you are just going to fly kites together? WRONG! This kite game is all-out war, just like all other party games! You want to be first and leave everyone in your dust. Move over Monopoly, there’s another party game that is going to turn family members against each other and make them rage-quit. Or who knows, maybe not; you’ll just have to give it a try on your next family fun night.
Out of all the game modes that you can play, it is hard to pick. But if I was forced to pick one of the 10, I would have to say one of my favorites was the Asteroid Mode, where you shoot asteroids as they appear on the screen. I totally got my butt whooped in it, but it was fun. In fact, there was only one of the game modes where I came in first, and that was the Bumblebee Banquet, where you are collecting honey combs and trying to get them to the Queen Bee without dropping or losing them. I mean, my kid on the other hand, his favorite was TnT Tag, where there is someone who is “it” and you have to tag other players before a bomb timer goes off. Needless to say, the fun variety of mini games will have something that you are good at, and some you will need to practice if you want to claim first place.
Controls
The controls of the game and all the different-style game modes are nice and fluent, and very user-friendly. You have the Left thumbstick for controlling the movement of the kite, the A-button to launch the kite, and a few other buttons for controlling the speed and using power-ups, but not too many. I loved not having to explain the controls over and over again to the family. This allowed us to enjoy going up against each other, instead of getting frustrated at the controls, which really allowed for a better time.
Audio/Visuals
This game had it all with regard to the style of graphics and audio for a fun party-style game. As soon as I started playing this game, I for some reason was reminded of another game to which I was addicted: Subway Surfers for the mobile games. I don’t know if anyone reading this has ever played Subway Surfers, but if you have, do you see what I see? It is very crisp and colorful, and the characters are very entertaining, not just because of their cartoony charm, but the way they talk. They have that nice mumbled and excited random noise when it comes to talking, which is always good for a quick chuckle. “Argh,” “huh,” “mumble,” “meh.” All sounds you hear instead of talking while reading the dialogue of the story, amongst other sounds. It really kept the kids entertained while doing the story mode.
Wrapping Up
Not too many party games offer a story mode, but this game did. And you know what? It may be a quick story, but holy moly was it hard! This was me most the time while playing the story mode, to be quite honest. When playing the story mode, if you fail a challenge two times in a row, you can “skip” and just go to the next part of the story. If that wasn’t there, I would have had to rage-quit the story as soon as it started. In fact, the only reason I was able to beat the story is because of skip feature. If Dark Souls could take on a human form and have dreams of unicorns and cotton candy while eating Skittles and Starbursts, it would look like the story mode of this game. Hopefully everyone out there reading this can prove me wrong!
So, just one question remains: are you ready to be the next kite master?
Score: 8/10
Buy Stunt Kite Party from the Nintendo eShop here.
Follow HandyGames
*Review Code Provided by HandyGames