I've set my sights on a bunny sporting an armored jacket in Party Animals. The adorable fuzzy fiend decked me with a shovel in the previous round of the Last Stand mode, which has teams fight it out on a platform with the aim of, as the name suggests, being the last one standing. As soon as the new round begins, a duck sporting shades topples over a corgi wearing an astronaut outfit, while a dinosaur takes swipes at my labrador teammate who's dressed as a knight. Despite all of this mayhem, I leap and flop my way over to my newfound rival. Their adorable visage doesn't fool me, I know how deadly they can be. Before long, I've got the bunny in a headlock, desperately trying to pull it over to the edge. See, if you fall off the platform and don't manage to climb back up, you're out.
Unfortunately for me I get overly ambitious, and in my attempt to send the bunny flying, I send myself hurtling over the edge. My rival has now turned into my nemesis. During my hands-on session, I got to dive into two different modes in the upcoming multiplayer experience Party Animals, and it was every bit as cute and chaotic as I'd hoped.
Cute competition
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Party Animals is host to a variety of adorable playable characters, ranging from a moose to a cat and an alligator and much more besides. Every delightfully fuzzy animal also has a selection of outfits to give yourself some added flare. With so much choice, I find it hard to decide which one to pick. Frozen by indecision, the timer forces my hand and I opt for an otter complete with a stylish hairdo and jacket. We're thrown right into the Last Stand mode to start with, which has three teams of two duke it out on a stone platform. Not unlike Gang Beasts, the animals move around in a humorously floppy style. But even as they flop about, these animals can still pack a punch.
With the aim of getting your opponents off the platform, you can take swipes at them directly, headbutt them, latch onto them, or use one of the items that falls onto the ground over the course of the round. From frying pans to bats and a gun that freezes your foes on the other teams, it wasn't long before each one of us was frantically decking each other with all sorts of objects. If you fall off the edge, you only have a certain amount of time to climb back on up, or else it's game over for you.
As the round progresses, green gas will also start to fill the platform that will wipe you out, which adds to the chaos. It's such a blast each and every round, since you never really know how things will play out. At one stage, for example, I picked up a taser gun and declared that I was armed and dangerous - which isn't quite as threatening when you're an otter. It quickly backfires (literally) when I shoot at an opposing team mate who's too close to me, and we both fall and get stunned with an electric shock.
"Not unlike Gang Beasts, the animals move around in a humorously floppy style. But even as they flop about, these animals can still pack a punch."
We then switch things up by playing Soccer mode, which has two teams vying to hit a giant ball into the opposing side's goal. The ball is oversized not unlike Rocket League, but here we're punching it as we try to score. I play as a cat with an orange peel on my head (as you do), and face-up against a team of ducks who basically look like stormtroopers. It's suitably stressful and competitive as we flop over each other to smack the ball in opposite directions. From just these two modes alone, there's some good variety in the kinds of multiplayer japes you can get up to, and it leaves me wanting to see what else is in store.
Party Animals is the just the kind of multiplayer experience anyone can enjoy with pals. It's silly, cute, and oh so fuzzy, and encourages teamwork and competition alike. Now if only I could get the better of that b*****d bunny.
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