Let's start with probably the most debated element of this party: the rooms. With every single decorated one outside the Puffle Hotel being a returning one, many, many people were ticked off. However, I really didn't mind; the past few parties have been so small that actually having a party that branched out was a welcome relief. Sure, new designs would have been nice - and may have only been stopped by pure laziness - but, at this point, you take what you can get.
Case in point: this party as a whole. The Halloween Party of 2014 isn't a great party; it isn't even a good one by old standards. But, it IS the best 2014 has offered as of yet.
Nowhere is this more clear than at the epicenter of the whole thing - the Puffle Hotel. The rooms are all nice enough, but two of them - the suites with floating suitcases - are bare, uninspired duplicates that only serve as stand ins in order to get the hotel level count to the morbid thirteen. However, it still has more rooms than many past parties.
The quest, too, runs this point home. Let's review the basics of it. It has an intriguing, inventive premise that brings Gariwald - a fan favorite - back after two years away and introduces Skip - a new character. It has an introduction, a climax - with a plot twist - and - get this - a conclusion that wraps up several plot threads. I've heard of something like this....it's called a "story."
Yes, this party provides us with the best plot we have seen since Operation: Puffle - if not the final mission of Herbert's Revenge. While it has few details and meaningless breaks between "installments," this story actually keeps the player engaged, rather than just allowing a party to happen. It also sets up an interesting - if not vaguely characterized - new bad guy that I hope returns again in the future.
There are other things that hold it from being a breakout. Advertisements hyped the event as a mystery, so it would have been nice if we could have tracked down evidence - like a fingerprint or Garilwald's journal - rather than doing task A, task B, and so on. Additionally, more dialogue from Skip would have been interesting and Gary coming along - rather than just introducing you to the problem - could have added a new dynamic, just as talking to witnesses could have opened things up.
The mini games at this party were a gigantic improvement over recent events, but not classic ones. None offered much stimulation of the brain (in fact, some, like the color maze, made me wonder what the definition of "puzzle" was to the team). In fact, many were retreads of things we've seen before, only simplified (though the emote quest was a clever, innovative event). However, I'd take this over collecting snowflakes any day. Removing wall hints and lengthening puzzles are small ways to make these better, but I still feel there's room for more complex, difficult challenges; PSA missions offered stellar puzzles, as did events with long mazes that rarely gave hints (and, if they did, they were vague, not, "OK, go here, and then here, and then....").
The music at this party was a bit hit and miss. The mix of old and new songs was very good and varied, but none of the brand new entries offer the same kind of catchiness as, say, the 2007 one in the next room. Items also seemed a bit lagging this time around; there were no standouts as in previous years and having to wait for them - Even past Halloween itself! - didn't help my opinion of them either.
And then there was a new puffle to adopt.
<sigh>
What is there left to say? Puffles are NOT an effective advertising point, nor are they something that I anticipate through the entire party. Club Penguin keeps acting like a puffle launch (HA) is a special event in their advertising, when really it's just a sickening cliche'. While the somewhat villainous exterior and ghoulish energy coming off of the new additions add something at least partially creative to the table, the lack of special puffle dig items and the general feeling of puffle fatigue prevents this from being anything more than just another item.
In closing, the Halloween Party is not great, but it's not horrible either. It has some improvements over recent events, some overused crutches, and the general sense that the team wanted to do only the bare minimum when creating the party. There's nothing about this party that I feel I will yearn for years down the road, but there's really nothing that angers me either. Is that the new definition of a "good" Club Penguin party? Something that is merely passable?
Score: 6/10
The music at this party was a bit hit and miss. The mix of old and new songs was very good and varied, but none of the brand new entries offer the same kind of catchiness as, say, the 2007 one in the next room. Items also seemed a bit lagging this time around; there were no standouts as in previous years and having to wait for them - Even past Halloween itself! - didn't help my opinion of them either.
And then there was a new puffle to adopt.
<sigh>
What is there left to say? Puffles are NOT an effective advertising point, nor are they something that I anticipate through the entire party. Club Penguin keeps acting like a puffle launch (HA) is a special event in their advertising, when really it's just a sickening cliche'. While the somewhat villainous exterior and ghoulish energy coming off of the new additions add something at least partially creative to the table, the lack of special puffle dig items and the general feeling of puffle fatigue prevents this from being anything more than just another item.
In closing, the Halloween Party is not great, but it's not horrible either. It has some improvements over recent events, some overused crutches, and the general sense that the team wanted to do only the bare minimum when creating the party. There's nothing about this party that I feel I will yearn for years down the road, but there's really nothing that angers me either. Is that the new definition of a "good" Club Penguin party? Something that is merely passable?
Score: 6/10
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