Finding a fun game with local multiplayer to play at parties and with the family has become increasingly harder with the shift to online multiplayer. Luckily, not all developers have given up on giving us the ability to play together or against each other in-person. After years of hiatus, the once juggernaut Guitar Hero franchise returns in good form with Guitar Hero Live and rocks its way to win our Best Family/Party Game award.
Winner: Guitar Hero Live
Rather than sticking with the tried and true route, developer FreeStyleGames took risks to breathe new life into a series that was run into the ground years ago by a saturation of releases with little to no innovation. Guitar Hero Live sports a new guitar peripheral equipped with a two-by-three fret button layout, providing much-needed change and challenge. Your first time handling the new guitar can be a bit daunting, but you’re rewarded with the feeling of learning a new skill once you become adept at hitting all the frets. And with multiplayer supporting up to two guitars and one microphone, you can have fun mastering Guitar Hero Live with your buddies.
Guitar Hero Live also takes a bold new directions in how it handles DLC and presentation. FreeStyleGames abandons the old model of purchasing additional songs and instead streams them on Guitar Hero TV, allowing you to earn or purchase ways to play specific tracks on-demand. The cartoony-styled CG rock stars and audience members are replaced with live-action concert footage shot from the guitarist’s first-person perspective for the on-disc songs or with the original music video for GHTV songs.
Runner-up: LEGO Dimensions
Lego made a splash with its foray into the toys-to-life game genre by making the toys actually bricks and pieces we all know and love, featuring licensed characters (Batman, Doctor Who, etc), and making a game that’s fun and rewarding for people of all ages. LEGO Dimensions is filled with solid platforming, creative puzzles that utilize the physical sensor platform, and instructions to build in real-life. No other toys-to-life experience involves the player in the real world like this.