The Sisters - Party of the Year

I cover shooters for a living, so when this landed on my desk I'll be straight with you: The Sisters - Party of the Year is about as far from my usual beat as it gets. No TTK debates here, no movement tech to study. What I can tell you is whether it works as a local multiplayer product, and the answer is a qualified yes, with some real caveats. The core pitch is a local party game for up to four players, built around 24 minigames spread across four multiplayer modes: Challenges for picking individual games, Tournament for bracket-style competition with AI fill-ins, All or Nothing for grinding through all 24 back-to-back, and Around the World where players take turns calling the next game. The minigame variety is genuinely decent. You get lawn-mowing races, food fights, four-way ping pong, unicorn tosses, ceiling fan survival, and a cupcake factory mode. It is broader than you would expect from a budget-tier licensed game. The problem is execution. Loading screens between minigames are frequent enough to kill the room's energy, and the controls have been noted across multiple reviews as stiff and built squarely for children. Difficulty adjustment exists, but the ceiling is low. There is also a solo Adventure mode where you play as either Wendy or Maureen, roaming a small open-world town to complete quests, collect friendship tickets, unlock cosmetics, and progress through 24 challenges and around 35 quests. The map feels lived-in for its size, and the scooter traversal adds a bit of personality. The frame rate outside the house gets messy though, object pop-in is visible, and the camera has a habit of snapping aggressively near geometry. None of this is game-breaking for the target audience, but it matters on PC where you notice it more. The license itself is based on a French comic book and cartoon series, which means Western audiences who are not already fans are starting cold. The characters and writing hold up fine without that context, but the story mode's replay value is thin once you have seen both sisters' runs, since the narrative barely changes between them. Hardware note since I always check: controller support is present and this is absolutely a controller-only experience in practice. Mouse and keyboard would be awkward here. If you are planning four-player local sessions on PC, make sure you have four controllers available. Fred, Scout Team