Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Zootopia Party Review

Hello penguins! Today I'm writing a review of the currently ongoing Zootopia Party, which began on May 18th and ends on July 6th. Many penguins in the community seem to like this party; now I am going to write about what I think about it.

The artwork is very good. With the exception of the Snow Forts, all are similar enough to be easily recognized, but also different enough to be interesting and fun. The Dock is themed after Bunnyburrow, and it has some great decorations - lots of hay bales, a farmer's market, a pie shop, and a lemonade stand.
The Coffee Shop is really nice as well. It has a stone floor, which wasn't necessary, but still really cool. Likewise, it has a fireplace with photos and the like on the mantle, which wasn't necessary, but nice to have.
Despite the grand decorations in all of the other rooms, my favorite place would have to be the Plaza. It has nice coloring, nice shading, and nice placement of plants, trees, and vines, my favorite part of this place would probably be the tree by the Mall.
The left part of the trunk reminds me of a gorilla's foot.
Next up, the sounds. The music at the Dock is really nice and fits the tone really well. It's what I imagine someone who has never been to a farm thinks a farm sounds like.
The music in the Town Center, Plaza, and Forest is not good. It has an okay bassline, but the bongos in the background do not fit the tone at all. They probably should have left some notes as staccato; instead, most notes use the damper pedal and it is totally unnecessary. I wish this wasn't the main theme for this party.
On a lighter note, the Coffee Shop music is really cool. It starts off with the sounds of an upright bass; I love the sounds of an upright bass. Then, a piano comes in and starts playing smooth jazz. It's really soothing and fits the theme. I wish there was a variation of this in the Town Center.
The Snow Forts music is alright. It has the same damper pedal effect as the music in the Town Center, but some good instrumentation begins to play and it gets better. It has many instruments such as handbells, bongos, and what may be a flute or picollo. 
The Stadium music is bad. Not because the song itself is bad, but because the song sounds like a weird mutant form of bluegrass, and that has nothing to do with a DMV.
The Police Station music is not good. I also like this song, but a song called "Rocking Pizza" should not be played in a police station.

There is a ton of playability available at this party, especially in the Forest and Police Station. The Big Donut (which Zootopia totally didn't steal from Steven Universe despite it looking very similar) can be entered so penguins can work there, which is cool, but the stools outside don't work. Trying to sit on one will result in your penguin standing behind it. But the cheese truck is cool.
There are vendors at the Dock, Snow Forts, and Forest, which are all different. One place serves pie, one serves pawpsicles, and one serves cheese. This encourages roleplaying, similar to the popcorn vendor at the Lighthouse during Halloween. I wish there was one in the Town, though.
My favorite place for playing, though, is the Stadium. The DMV has a race track in it, similar to the Stadium during the Turbo Race 3000, one of my favorite events of 2014. Not only that, but it has not one, not two, not four, not five, not six, not seven, not eight, but three desks at the DMV. This is to shorten the waiting time and hire more sloths.

Now, the costumes. They are really great, but also really bad. Allow me to explain.
Most costumes look really cool, but the Judy head has some really ugly makeup, even after the redesign. I'm not sure why Nick's head has a tie when the body has a tie, and Flash's face looks kinda weird; not weird enough for me to complain about it, but wierd. 
Judy's head is the worst. It looks like somebody put excessive makup on a penguin and didn't know what Judy actually looked like in the movie. The eyelashes are really big and annoying. The eyebrows are not necessary. Normal rabbit costumes wouldn've have eyebrows. The shirt collar should be included in the body item instead of the head item.
No amount of Simpsons references will save this crime against sprite design.
The player-card displays are all a bit off, but the Judy display is the worst.
Let's play Are you Creeped Out Yet? with the Zootopia cast.
What's up with those ears?
This one isn't AS bad. My main problem with the other 2 is the smile. This one is the same, but the smile is cut off.
There is no way that any penguin could make their mouth look like that. No way, no how.
The worst thing about these items, though, is that there is not one free item. Sure, many items are free for members, but non-members get nothing, similar to the Wilderness Expedition and the Puffle Party.

As for story, this party contains none.

Now I'll discuss what everybody wants to discuss, the length of the party.
This party is 7 weeks long, the longest party ever, destroying the record set by the Star Wars Party in 2013. While the Star Wars Party had lots of content, this party has significantly fewer party rooms and places to explore. So do I think it will grow stale after a few weeks? Well, a bit. I am typing this 5 weeks into the party. I am already a bit bored by seeing Tundra Town so much, but how long it sticks around shouldn't give a good party a bad reputation.

This party was pretty fun. It had some cool, interesting rooms, some great roleplaying possiblities, some okay costumes, and a few good songs. I'd give this party a 7/10. Goodbye!

Thanks to the Club Penguin Wiki for information. All .SWF files for this party are available here.