Review: School and Skate Party

In any year, the idea of a school party would probably be called out for obvious reasons.  However, with a release date this year, the idea was a huge risk, with fans already assuming that the final product would be very flawed.  But were they right or does 2014 still have something to prove?

The answer is a mix of the two, with the positive being more prominent.  Why?  Well, this party tries its best to be from 2007, but still shows the scars of 2014.  It's not as good as the Monsters University event of 2013, but there is still quite a bit of enjoyment to be found.

Let's start with the items, something this party really does right.  There is a really good mix, with lots of subjects being present.  Almost all of the items are for both genders and they are nonspecific enough that they could work in lots of different combos.  I felt the skateboards were pretty cool, though there could have been more and nonmembers should have gotten at least one.  I particularly like the Herbert board; Club Penguin should make more clothing items featuring mascots besides backgrounds. 

The storyline at this party is better than usual.  While still vague, it at least has a conflict and a resolution, which is something we just don't get anymore.  Rookie's return to the spotlight is fine by me, as he is a terrific character who isn't overused.

The music for this party is passable, if not a little underwhelming.  The main new theme is pretty nice, but it feels like something I've heard before and starts off really slow.  The resulting remixes from the main one are a little lazy and don't differentiate themselves that much, but they are better than having the same exact version in numerous rooms.  On another note, the ambiances are dull, while the returning favorites fit in pretty well, aside from the science theme in the art room, which is kind of odd.

The rooms at this party are downright fantastic.  The attention to detail here is really stunning.  Particular note should be payed to the dodge ball and coin throwing in certain rooms, along with the nods to past parties and plays in the mall and the use of the use of the word "enclumes" in the same room.  That being said, the Skatepark doesn't fit with the Mine, though I am glad it is permanent.  Another thing I'd like to note is the sameness of the Forest.  Don't get me wrong - I think the team did a great job on the design.  However, we've seen the Forest become a park so often in the past two years that it has kind of lost its appeal.  It's better than nothing, though, which brings me to my biggest gripe of the entire party: there just aren't enough decorated rooms to go around.  As amazing as the rooms are, the bareness of the island is noticed and makes the party feel less special and more "business as usual."

The quest you go on is a pretty big step up from the Frozen Party, but still has its issues.  Thankfully, the items this time are switched up each time and are not hidden in such prominent places.  However, there is still a lot of room for improvement.  The slightly higher difficulty level still isn't to the standard of thinking old scavenger hunts required; it took me less than five seconds to find every single one in each room since A) they are so large, B) they have a striking white outline, and C) they aren't placed organically into the environment most of the time, but rather just wherever the designer feels like putting them.

This feature still is salvageable, though.  First, CP should shrink the items, have them blend in with the rest of the room design, and remove the white border.  Additionally, CP could give us a list of items to find in all of the decorated rooms from the get go.  This list would only tell you the name of the object; not what room it was in.  You would have to search every decorated room to find all of the objects; it would make us use our brains and keep us busy so long that time sensitive releases would never need to be used again.  Also, once again, why am I not on the CP ideas team?!

So, is this the best party of the year?  Almost certainly.  While things aren't perfect, they aren't terrible, either.  Unlike seven of the previous eight parties - the Penguin Cup being the exception - there wasn't some huge problem which I was irritated to no end with.  The key is that this party didn't take itself to seriously; it didn't hype up something and then let us down but merely presented itself, with all the content on day one.  And that is why it is a 2007-like party.  It has something that appeals to everyone and the main point is the artwork in the rooms, just like in the old days.

However, the year is 2014 and this party shows it.  In fact, what's interesting about this event is that it may show us where Club Penguin plans to go for the rest of the year and beyond.

If this party indicates anything, it's that Club Penguin seems to be defining a new structure for its parties.  When compared to other parties this year, we see that CP is trying for a more centralized, smaller party system with new permanent rooms to be introduced frequently and a few decorated rooms each time.

Now, I can survive with that.  If rooms continue to be so detailed and new ones keep being introduced, I can live with not having the whole island decorated.  However, the next part is a bit more problematic.

It seems that Club Penguin is morphing their parties so that they can be put on the main Club Penguin app as well.  This is not good news for us, since it appears this may mean we'll get the same exact activity at each party.

Last month's Frozen Party - the first ever event to be put on the app simultaneously - featured a mission log that told you to get three items from each decorated room in order to get one nonmember free item and one member free item, along with some items that could be unlocked immediately.

This month's party- the second ever event to be put on the app simultaneously - featured a mission log that told you to get three items from each decorated room in order to get one nonmember free item and one member free item, along with some items that could be unlocked immediately.

If this continues into next month, I will have something to say about it.  Doing something like this at every single party will cause the feature to get stale pretty quickly.  In the same way, these reviews will get boring because I'll have the same notes every single month.

This was the exact fear that I had when Club Penguin first said that they were planning to port the main game and its parties onto mobile.  Creativity should not be stifled just so more people can play the game, particularly when the app is unusable due to its glitches and lag.

All of this is not to say that the School and Skate Party is a bad party.  It's quite the opposite actually: it has many, many bright spots - including the neat charitable part, which isn't shoved down our throats - and doesn't fall into any major traps like nearly every party featured this year.  However, the problem is that not every party should be a copy of the last one with a new theme, which could very well happen in the future.

It's a slippery slope, but if this is Club Penguin's master plan for years to come, I'd take it before unworthy takeovers and boring Puffle Galas.

Score: 6.5/10

As Billybob would say, Waddle On!

- Chillin43