Pocoyo Party

Even by party genre and licensed kids game standards, this just feels too hollow.

### Rating

ESRB: E
PEGI: 3

### Platform(s)

Nintendo Switch
PlayStation 4

### Predecessor

*Pocoyo Racing*

***Pocoyo Party*** is a 2021 party video game developed by Zinkia Entertainment and published by RECO Technology for the Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4 on April 15, 2021. It is the third Pocoyo console video game to be released, with it being released almost 10 years after its predecessor, *Pocoyo Racing*, with the latter game only being released in Europe in November 2011, along with it's predecessor, *Hello Pocoyo!*, which was released in 2008 in the same month.

## Plot

Angry Alien manages to steal invitation cards for a birthday party that Pocoyo is throwing by disguising as a mailman, due to him believing that he is not going to get an invitation himself. When Pocoyo and the Narrator realize that the "mailman" was actually just Angry Alien in disguise, the former and his friends set off to get them back by playing through 6 simple minigames.

## Bad Qualities

1. The game was most likely rushed due to its absurdly short amount of content compared to the average party game.
2. Adding on to BQ #1, for a party game released in 2021, the amount of content the game has is pretty lackluster, with there only being 6 minigames to play through. Even its predecessor, Pocoyo Racing, had more content to offer than this, and that game was released almost 10 years prior for the Wii and DS.
3. The game's motion controls are pretty insensitive and unresponsive, with them usually not working properly in several of the minigames, and yes, while most of them do allow you to use the analog stick instead in order to make them easier, the only minigame that doesn't allow you to do this is the window cleaning minigame, which has one of, if not the worst implementation of motion controls out of all of the minigames.
	* In the aforementioned window cleaning minigame, in order to wipe the window with the sponge, you must roll over the controller in your hands just to move the sponge up and down, which is an awful way to implement such controls in the game.
	* In the building blocks minigame, in order to move the crane, you must tilt the controller either up, down, left, or right. However, even if you stop doing said action, the crane would still move for a little bit.
	* In the fishing minigame, in order to pull the fishing rod, you must flick the controller up, which sometimes doesn't work.
4. Not only do the minigames have a poor implementation of motion controls, some of them can just be flat out boring, such as the bee racing minigame, as you are limited in movement, with the game only allowing you to hold down the accelerator button, and release it in order to crash into walls.
5. Some of the minigames tend to last a bit longer than they actually should, as they sometimes last for up to three minutes, while in most party games, last for either a minute or less.
6. Lackluster character roster, with there only being 4 playable characters in the entire game, (Pocoyo, Pato, Elly, and Nina) and depending on the minigame you play, the game only allows you to play a certain few from those four, such as Pocoyo and Nina. While there are other characters besides the main four who appear in the game, they unfortunately aren't playable, and if the game managed to include all (or most) of the characters in the television series, then there would be about 15 playable characters, which would be much better than what we actually got.
7. The trailer for the PlayStation 4 version of the game advertises it as the first *Pocoyo* video game, when it's actually the third, due to there being two video games released before it, (Hello Pocoyo and Pocoyo Racing) which were released in both 2008 and 2011, respectively. A nice case of false advertising.
8. The graphics, while decent and do actually resemble the CGI graphics from the show it's based on, have very off lighting, with the characters noticeably clashing with the backgrounds of the game.
9. Most of the soundtrack isn't very original, as it was just recycled from the game's predecessor, *Pocoyo Racing*. For example, the music that plays in the bee racing minigame is the main menu theme from the latter game.
10. The Nintendo Switch version isn't compatible with a Pro Controller, with the game only allowing you to use singular Joy-Cons, which is ridiculous considering that the Pro Controller also has motion controls just like the Joy-Cons, and to add insult to injury, the game also isn't compatible with handheld mode, meaning that people who own a Switch Lite can't play the game.
11. Very short length of gameplay, with it clocking in at 2 hours or less, as to be expected from a game with only 6 minigames.
12. The game is overpriced, with it costing $29.99 USD on both the Nintendo Switch eShop and the PlayStation Store, despite the game not having enough content in order to justify said prices.
13. The game's UI looks like it belongs to some mobile game rather than a game released for eigth/ninth-generation consoles.
14. The unlockable Season 4 episodes are only in English, and regardless of the language the game (or console) is set in, the language will always be the same.
15. Some bugs and glitches here and there, such as the game thinking that there aren't any controllers connected even if there are.
16. Overall, the game can make people, especially preschoolers and Pocoyo fans feel pretty bored, due to the game's absurdly short amount of content, poor motion controls, etc.

## Good Qualities

1. The graphics are decent and almost look as good as the CGI graphics from the show, despite having shoddy lighting.
2. You can unlock unreleased episodes that were meant for Season 4 of the television series and watch them in-game, which is a pretty nice touch and may be the only reason to actually play the game.
3. Despite all of the problems listed above, some people, especially younger kids may find the game to be enjoyable, considering that it's aimed at children between 3-5.
4. Thankfully, the motion controls aren’t required in some of the minigames, as you can just use the analog stick instead.
5. It is (at least) faithful to the television series it's based on.

## Reception

The game received "mixed or average" reviews on Metacritic, with the PS4 version having a user score of 7.4 (with the positive reviews being sarcastic) and the Switch version having a score of 5.8 based on 4 ratings. While other critics such as PlayStation County and Finger Guns gave the game an average score of 7/10, Pure Play TV was more critical of the game, giving it a 4/10, mainly criticizing the game's lack of content and poor motion controls, who also says that the game's only real highlight is the ability to watch unreleased episodes that were meant for Season 4 of the television series in-game.

## Trivia

* This the first Pocoyo game to be made after a long time, due to its predecessor, *Pocoyo Racing*, coming out nearly 10 years before this one.
* This is currently the only Pocoyo console game to not be exclusive to Europe.
* This is also the first Pocoyo game to be released on a non-Nintendo console, due to its predecessors being only released for the Wii and DS.