After a successful run as a specialised Xbox LIVE Arcade gaming destination, Electronic Arts’ Hasbro Family Game Night arrives at retail on an Xbox 360 disc. Featuring six original Hasbro games, each with their own remixed versions and online play, Hasbro Family Game Night is a fairly generous package when compared to last years’ releases featuring more popular board game titles, such as Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less essential as family entertainment.

            Of the five on-disc games, Boggle and Yahtzee prove to be the most enjoyable, offering instant gratification either with multiple players or solo play. That every game is playable online – and compatible with those who have purchased the Xbox LIVE Arcade releases – is a saving grace, as both Sorry! and Sorry! Sliders fall heavily when no human opposition is available. All of the games feature customisable rules, the depth to which a player can tailor their games dependant on the depth of the game itself, and additionally feature a couple of pre-constructed alternative gameplay modes.

            Boggle not only presents the traditional word discovery gameplay, but in addition features an Advanced option wherein the dice are rearranged after every word uncovered and a Word Hunt mode in which the player or players must find all the words presented on a list. The standard version is, of course, an addictive word puzzle in its’ own right, but the two new variants offered by Hasbro Family Game Night deliver more entertainment value than any number of Saturday newspapers. Yahtzee also falls in line with the enticing alternative rule sets, bringing in Wild Dice and Black Out mode - in which players can stop an opponent scoring simply by scoring higher on the same line - to sap away a fair few hours.

            Connect 4 and Battleship present the most simplistic gameplay options featured in Hasbro Family Game Night, but that doesn’t necessarily relate to low quality videogame adaptations. Each feature adjustable difficulty when playing solo to maintain a challenge while endeavouring to complete the collection of in-game items and trophies, or the all-important Xbox 360 Achievements, and of course alternative modes to spice-things-up a bit. Connect 4’s Power Chips mode plays identically to that of the Wii and Nintendo DS versions, as would be expected, and Battleship’s Salvo Mode follows suit. However, with Xbox LIVE play available, both these games provide the definitive version of their much replicated formula.

            Sorry! is perhaps the most traditional board game offering, with certain similarities to Ludo, but the addition of new cards through the Bonus Cards gameplay mode certainly makes the game a more tactical experience. Sorry! Sliders does often appear to be more a test of luck than skill, but the Battle Boxes gameplay option saves the game by adding a thick layer of confusion and occasional mayhem.

The Party Mode option allows players to queue-up a number of games, in any of the available gameplay modes, for randomised or consecutive play and can easily provide an entire evenings’ entertainment. Each of the games undoubtedly plays best when with friends on a single system, but the option to take more than one Xbox LIVE Gold Subscriber online simultaneously reinforces that family appeal. As with Nintendo’s recent Mario Kart Wii television advertising promoting the idea of families divided by distance coming together for some videogaming entertainment, Hasbro Family Game Night also offers one of the most compelling arguments for families to play together. All players can earn Achievements and in-game rewards in any mode, resulting in few initial set-up arguments, and the option to add to the package with other pre-existing Xbox LIVE Arcade releases, such as Scrabble, is a masterstroke of commercial ingenuity.

            The package is presently very cleanly, rounded-off with the irrepressible Mr. Potatohead introducing and reacting to each and every event. The Xbox 360 Avatars are represented just as well as in any first-party title and the in-game My Room feature is an attractive alternative to the now in-demand Avatar Awards. The sound quality is unsurprisingly unremarkable, but this is of little consequence to the overall package.

            Hasbro Family Game Night may not be every gamers’ most wanted release, but there’s no denying its’ worth as an enjoyable family package. With Wii suggested to be the current cream-of-the-crop for family gaming, it’s surprising to see the Xbox 360 deliver one of the most well-rounded family videogame releases of the console generation so far, but for all Wii’s inventive gameplay the console rarely delivers games as reliably entertaining as the Xbox 360’s Hasbro Family Game Night. The fact that the retail release also works out cheaper than each of the separate Xbox LIVE Arcade releases is simply the icing-on-the-cake of one of the best family videogames released in 2009.

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