Wii Sports -- and to a lesser extent Wii Play -- proved that in Nintendo's hands, even the most banal motion-based minigames can have a certain spark that makes them addictive. There's just an unidentifiable ... something that nobody else has been able to crack that makes those minigame collections absolutely delightful even to people who desperately want to hate them.

Wii Party is a glimpse into what Nintendo minigames would be like without that spark. They all work, they all show plenty of polish, and the controls are totally functional in every single case. But, in a word, they're bland. Toothless. With one major exception, that's the best way to describe Wii Party in general. It's totally inoffensive. You'll have some fun playing it, but you won't really come away feeling satisfied. It's just there.