Review: Umamusume Party Dash Is Tons of Fun in Short Bursts

Though the actual Umamusume game isn’t available for players outside of Japan yet, prospective trainers can get a head’s start on learning who’s who in Umamusume: Party Dash. Though the game’s story mode has the signature hot-blooded yet sweet touch that the mobile game has, its more repetitive nature is a little harder to overlook.

Surprisingly enough, though this is a party game, there is still a plot in Umamusume: Party Dash. Each of the main teams has their own problems to sort through or rivalries to focus on. It’s not much of a story, mind you. But it’s enough to highlight the various horse girls’ idiosyncrasies and personalities. Each story should only take about an hour to an hour and a half, so they’re not very long at all. I’m glad that all members of the teams receive some time in the spotlight. For example, though Air Groove is the captain of Team Freesia and Silence Suzuka dominates the story mode with her dog-like obsession with running, Matikanefukukitaru and the Mejiro girls still have their own chapters where they’re the protagonists.

In particular, I’m very happy at King Halo’s writing in Team Cosmos’s story. King Halo isn’t my favorite horse girl, but I’ve trained her enough times in the original Umamusume game to feel a level of attachment to her. Her personality can be a little abrasive and annoying at first glance. However, she’s quick to reveal her true colors as a very sweet and caring girl. Despite seeming like an overconfident narcissist, King Halo really puts in the work and doesn’t hold back on bettering herself. I only want good things for her. So I’m glad that the story mode really hard focuses on King Halo’s positive traits.

Everyone looks great as little pixel sprites. The number of details the artists could fit onto such small horse girls was impressive, especially since a lot of them have really flashy designs. They put a lot of care into them too! Grass Wonder has a darker speck in the white part of her hair because the real-life horse had a similar marking. The Grass Wonder sprite in Party Dash also has a darker pixel of hair in the white streak. If you look carefully, you can see it in the above screenshot as well. Would I have been annoyed if Grass Wonder lacked that little detail? Probably not. But I still enjoyed seeing it and I’m sure the really hardcore Umamusume fans did as well.

Party Dash has four mini-games: Hurtling Hurdles, Gourmet Gauntlet, Blazing Baskets, and Dodgeball Demolition. Each mini-game can last for quite a while, though it doesn’t feel that way when you’re actually playing it. For example, each round of dodgeball lasts about two minutes or so. With three rounds to play through, you’ll probably spend around six minutes on dodgeball alone. That’s a long time, especially when comparing mini-game length to other party games like Mario Party. But the thing is, I think that party games are more fun when there’s variety in the mini-games available. It’s not as if there are vastly different ways to play each one, so you’re really just doing the same thing every time.

Perhaps it would be more fun if I had played this with friends. You know, considering this is a party game. Unfortunately, I don’t have any friends who have Umamusume: Party Dash. I’m sure I know people who either have it or want to play it, but we’re not close enough that I’m willing to play a competitive game with them. I’m both a sore loser and a sore winner, and I don’t want to subject an acquaintance to that kind of bad behavior. I will say that despite the lack of mini-games, each one has loads of action. So they’re fun to play even if you only have the CPU as an opponent. In comparison, games like Mario Party and Shrek Super Party (yes, these and WarioWare: Smooth Moves are the only party games I ever played) were boring without another human.

Umamusume: Party Dash has the cute horse girls and engaging story of the original game, but lacks replay value unless you have friends or are willing to play against random people online. It’s strange to judge a party game on its “replay value,” I understand. But even if I were to invite a bunch of friends over for Party Dash night, I doubt we’d play it for too long. The small number of mini-games really holds back what could be an awesome spin-off title.

Umamusume: Party Dash is readily available on the PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Windows PC.