Before we talk money, the job description for Boo Party sounds pretty sweet: head into a haunted mansion and take photos of saucy ghosts. No, not condiment-based paranormal shenanigans, but full-on spectres, skellywags and those types that hang out with H.P. Lovecraft. And about the money? You aren’t getting any.
The premise is like something out of a Nickelodeon cartoon from the 90s, only for those motivated by boobs. Aren’t we all? It’s a top-down ish affair where you wander about looking for the females in question, perform an errand for them, and then take your snaps. When you get said pics, you can return to a scientist that waits outside in a converted van who’ll reward you with spirit points.
That scientist is the motivator of the story. Attempting to prove that ghosts and whatnot exist, they send you into a haunted mansion to retrieve the evidence. However, it’s far from spooky as the occupants inside are simply having a good time and not remotely concerned with the flesh bag running around, sticking their big nose into their affairs.
Boo Party Switch Review
SNES fans will be in their element with Boo Party as it looks straight outta the 90s, with 16-bit feels and all. It’s effectively an open-world side-quest extravaganza as you mingle with the guests, hear their pithy comments, and then go on a scavenger hunt for ingredients, quest items, etc. There are no health bars, ‘moves’, or deaths.
Actually, the moves can be saved for the dancefloor, and the skellywags and zombies are essentially dead anyway, right?
At a glance, the playing area seems incredibly large, but there isn’t much to do. A handful of NPCs will give you some tasks, such as hunting for a hamburger (which you have to source the ingredients and then make… magically), but it isn’t intuitive where to look, and there are no hints on what you can interact with. Think of point and click pixel hunting, and you might get the idea.
On top of that, so many areas were initially locked, and it came to the point where I was aimlessly wandering about, making zero progress. A live painting gives some gossip on guests (lists the objectives), but that wasn’t the issue, but more so on what to do. By chance, I looked at a mirror in my inventory, and it unlocked a series of doors, thus the big one, gameplay.
Why Don’t You Take A Picture?
With these doors open, I could chat with other guests and start sourcing the required items. BOOM! Hamburger. I take it back to the succubus who requested it and am granted a quick photo session. You can look back at the pics you’ve taken, and I have to say, the visuals are quite charming. Could I be talking about the norks? Go figure, but the artwork throughout is pretty neat and unlike similar titles. Also, you can toggle from the menu if you’re allergic to nudity. It’s like an LSL-lite
The core presentation in Boo Party is also decent, reminding me a little of Zombies Ate My Neighbors. And the music? Massively repetitive, but it’s so upbeat and funky that it never really grated on me, almost getting me in the party… spirit, taking off my clothes and having some random person take photos of me. Once they fetch me a hamburger.
Anyhoo, when you collect these photos and return them to the scientist, the spirit points awarded allow you to buy quest items, interact with the partygoers, and also play arcade games and gacha-gacha, then delving into a game of Succu Bouncer to get rid of some loitering button-mashers. Best of all, you can do all of this at your leisure, and coming back to that party spirit comment, Boo Party is so upbeat; it lifted my mood each time I played.
Verdict
Boo Party is so fundamentally simple in terms of gameplay and, in theory, should be incredibly tedious. But… I can’t help but express how good it made me feel; that the writing was pretty damn funny and far from the cringe that could be assumed. It’s a fun throwback to the type of games I would have sought out on the SNES in the 90s.
