Cartoon Network Block Party Review

Rule number 1 in writing reviews: never review a kid’s game at your own intellectual level. Rule number 2: never review games that have ‘Cartoon Network’ in the title. Rule number 3: just don’t review kid games, period.

Cartoon Network has flooded the airwaves with their lineup that can go toe-to-toe with the heavyweight giant, Nickelodeon. Partly due to their success is the anime, but thanks to a strong American presence, the network has generated a buzz with youngsters that rivals even the Big N.

With their newly found glory, Cartoon Network, with Majesco’s help, has launched a kart racer, and now, Cartoon Network Block Party, a Mario Party clone for the Game Boy Advance. You’ll compete on a game board, similar to that you’d find on a board game. Competing against 3 opponents, you’ll need to win against them in the mini-games that you will play.

The mini-games aren’t satisfying. You’ll have collect-a-thons, button pressing, shooting, etc. There are over 10 mini-games, but even mentioning that will make you sit there and wonder, what effort did the developers put into this game? You might say that they redeemed themselves with the four player ‘take a turn’ multiplayer, but they didn’t. Each player has to roll, move on the board, play their game, and while this is happening, everyone else has to wait, staring into space.

While Cartoon Network Block Party is geared towards a younger audience, I don’t see anyone of any age wanting to play this game. After playing this, you’d think I’d have ADD, being that I couldn’t sit and play it for more than 20 minutes at a time. Whatever appeal this game might have, which for me, is none, it will quickly die out after a couple plays through. This game isn’t for kids. In fact, it’s for no one.