Soggy jam sandwiches on cheap paper plates from Tescos, neon-induced seizures and, on most occasions, a DJ whose idea of a good time is sticking on a double whammy of Spice Girls followed by such floor fillers as Aqua's I'm A Barbie Girl, Paris Hilton's Stars Are Deaf (ho ho!) and a good old-fashioned helping of The Cheeky Girls just to add insult to injury. Chances are you'll just pull out a sticky, wobbly-legged chair and sit with the other social rejects - conversing in a heated discussion about WoW, chess and all things Star Trek, all while you wait hoping that a pretty girl gets drunk enough to talk to you. Parties, eh? Don't you just love ém! Thankfully, the good old guys and gals of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe feel our pain - and like a fat-free chocolate gateaux at a Weight Watchers get-together, Buzz! Junior: Jungle Party simply couldn't be more welcome.

"Couldn't be more welcome?!" you say, glancing over the game's bubblegum-sweet exterior as you elicit a mocking snigger. "But this all looks rather generic!" you exclaim, shouting at the monitor as if we can actually hear you (we can't). But y'see, it's hard not to go all gooey inside at the mention of Buzz! It was, after all, a decidedly charming title that took the existing pub-quiz format (think Chef's Love Sack on the PlayStation - minus the 'sexy' chef) and gave it a firm boot up the backside with its delightfully simple interface - two USB buzzers. Despite wanting to strangle the commentator with the buzzer cord for his unbearably over-enthusiastic remarks, Buzz! was still a rather enjoyable experience - and one that seemed to improve with each subsequent release. Thankfully Buzz, (the dastardly commentator) has been given the boot for Junior Jungle Party. Hurrah! Conversely, in a bizarre turn of events, so have the tried and tested pub-quiz stylings that earned the series its name. In fact, the only striking similarity remaining between Junior Jungle Party and its much-loved forerunners, is the inclusion of the novel USB buzzers. Well, that and the cuter-than-koala aesthetics...

As the word 'Junior' might suggest, the visual style's camp-o-meter has been cranked to 11 here, with the game most definitely pitched towards the younger family members, while as the word 'Jungle' may suggest, it could well feature some koalas. Oh dear... But what of the actual game experience, now that quick-fire quiz mechanics have been given the boot? Well, it seems that Buzz! has taken a detour into Mario Party territory for this instalment, with much of the proceedings owed to everyone's favourite, albeit rather sweaty, Italian plumber. That's by no means a bad thing - after all, as Mario Party 6 and its quirky microphone interface so rightly proved, peripherals and party games compliment each other like nervous, sweaty-handed adolescents. So it was always inevitable that the PlayStation 2 was due for a little more peripheral-lovin', especially given the runaway success of SingStar, EyeToy and indeed Buzz! among the casual community.

Sweeter than the aforementioned soggy jam sandwiches however are the oh-so-camp menus. Thankfully you're greeted by an adequate selection of modes, these being Single Player, Multiplayer and the usual Practice mode to hone your party-game prowess. In all there are a hearty 40 minigames on offer here, and while that may sound somewhat paltry compared to Warioware and the like, know that this certainly isn't Warioware; microgames aren't fired at your weary eyes at lighting speeds like a certain moustached-freak's epic party ém up (what do you mean you've never partied someone up? You simply haven't lived!) and so 40 minigames will last longer than you'd expect. The single player mode randomly selects 10 minigames, despite there being 40, but thankfully upon hopping into the multiplayer menu you can choose the games you want to play, which is a neat addition. As always, multiplayer is where the real fun lies. Got ten minutes to spare? Then why not chose a minigame of your choice to play before popping off to Tescos for paper plates, eh? Got an hour? Then the Marathon mode will no doubt cater for you.

That's all very nice, but how have the buzzers been implemented for such a title? Simple - most of Junior Jungle Party's minigames require you to hit a corresponding colour panel on the buzzer in order to smash a squirrel over the noggin with a giant mallet, throw coconuts at targets, or hit baseballs. One minigame sees you juggling a bomb between other players - keeping it for as long as possible to earn points - only contemplating that the longer you hold it, the more prone to a melted and slightly drippy face you are. Other minigames include having to whack segments from a multi-coloured totem pole by hitting the corresponding coloured button on the buzzer. Careful though - get too excited and you might accidentally hit the incorrect colour and become momentarily paralysed, giving your opponents ample time to gain the lead. Sneaky. Junior Jungle has a sense of humour too! In perhaps the most amusing minigame of the package, you'll find yourself having a bath with a rather sleepy gorilla and it's up to you to hold down a button to fart (no really!) for as long as possible without waking the chap. Nice. Wake him up however and you lose all of your points - so you have to have be quick! There's also the competitive element of trying to complete the task as many times as possible in order to achieve maximum amount of points, which helps to add a new dimension to the game. It's simple, sure, but if there's one problem with the interface it's that the colour-coded buffoonery soon becomes rather mundane and just a tad too easy - especially with the sheer amount of "spot the odd one out" minigames. But then what did you expect from a device with only five buttons, eh?

In terms of aesthetics, Junior Jungle Party doesn't really push the capabilities of the PlayStation 2 - especially at this stage in the console's lifecycle where the developers should have really mastered the console's chips. Laziness? A rushed production in order to hit Chrimbo? To say that Jungle Party pushes the PS2 is akin to saying that Hugh Grant could push Vin Diesel around - in other words, a big, fat stinking lie. Okay, so there are some fairly amusing animations that make up for the gawd-awful in-game commentary and don't-you-wish-real-life-was-this-happy chirpy tunes, but it's nothing to make you elicit those 'ooh' and 'aah' noises, which is a shame.

Buzz! Junior: Jungle Party certainly isn't a bad game and the 40 minigames on offer will certainly keep the younger gamers out there amused. However, many of the existing, most probably older, Buzz! veterans may feel slightly disappointed with the bizarre new direction in both content and style. With a slightly restrictive control interface and uninspired, downright samey minigames, the mature gamers looking for a slice of party fun (soggy jam sandwiches optional) may wish to seek the likes of Buzz! Big Quiz or Buzz! The Music Quiz. Put simply, this is one for the tots.

Reviewed by Ricky Lee Staines for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).