Story:
Garfield Lasagna Party has you playing as Garfield and friends in Garfield’s world. The story in this game is non-existent, which given the game’s namesake, is kind of a letdown. I would have liked to see some kind of story element to this game and have it either include animated comic strips or have brief animated cutscenes. I think this would have added some much-needed depth to this game.
Gameplay:
The game consists of three game modes which are Lasagna Race, Lasagna Challenge, and Lasagna World Tour. Every game mode is played with four players (either human or AI), and each player takes control of one of four characters which are Garfield, Nermal, Arlene, and Oddie.
Lasagna Race is an interactive board game that is very similar to other party games that came before this game like Mario Party and Sonic Shuffle. Players traverse the board on their turn to collect lasagna and coins. Once everyone takes their turn, they all compete in one of 32 possible mini-games that award you lasagna and coins depending on how well you do. During each player’s turn, they can use items to help get around the board while opponents can use items to hinder the current player’s turn.
Lasagna Challenge let’s players select any of the 32 mini-games as a means to practice them and compete among the rest of the players in this game mode. Any game can be played an infinite number of times and there isn’t a limit on the amount of games you can play. Lasagna World Tour is different from Lasagna Challenge only in the fact that it gives you a set of mini-games to play and they are set in a specific order.
Graphics and Performance:
Garfield and friends along with the world in which the game is played, all look really good and rather impressive for the Nintendo Switch. Cartoon-style transitions just before a mini-game starts are a nice aesthetic and add to the charm of the game.
Performance on the Switch is less than stellar. Transitions between turns and characters moving around the game boards on their turns all can be a bit sluggish and you can see the Switch struggle to keep up with the game, docked or in handheld mode, the results are the same.
Mini-games, while playing them, don’t seem to have issues at all with performance and play better than expected, Which is a nice change of pace when you look at how well the rest of the game performs.
Sound:
The one-liners and sound effects while playing the game definitely helps to bring Garfield’s world to life and makes a decent experience. Background music, on the other hand, is awful and nearly unbearable.
It consists of a single track that loops, instead of picking something reminiscent of Garfield or similar cartoons of the era. What they chose, is something that can only be described as elevator music, hold music, or a track that you would find on one of those videos at the video rental store behind the curtain.
So rather than having a great music track that fits the game, you get something that sounds completely out of left field that becomes very annoying and doesn’t fit the game at all.
Conclusion:
If the game had a good soundtrack, a larger character roster, and more than one game board, this game would be more than worth the money at its current price point.
Unless you’re a die-hard fan of Garfield and his friends or there is a significant update to add content, I would wait and get this game on sale or not at all.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided