Hands-on review: Having fun in Knowledge is Power: Decades and Chimparty

Playlink is a series of casual PS4 video games that gamers can play using their smartphones. Out this month are two more games in the series called Knowledge is Power: Decades and a new party game called Chimparty.

Playlink games are easy to play as all you need is a smartphone and/or tablet device to control the video games. Aside from the game itself, you also need to download a companion app in order to play. Once that is all sorted, you're ready to play the game!

I already reviewed the original Knowledge is Powergame last year and felt it was a fun successor to the Buzz series of video games that were released on PS2 and PS3 a few years ago.

Knowledge is Power: Decades is essentially the exact same video game as the first Knowledge is Power video game, only this time it categorises each question into decades. For example, one set of questions could be about songs from the '80s while something else focuses on '90s music instead and so forth.

Knowledge is Power: Decades is a video game aimed towards millennials like myself because the only decades that are included is the '80s, '90s, '00s and the '10s. Sadly, baby boomers like my parents had a tough time playing this game because no questions were catered towards the '50s, '60s or '70s.

This means most younger people will enjoy this game, although that does not mean the set of questions are not diverse. Aside from music and movies, other categories added include the likes of sport, pop culture, and current events.

To make things even more interesting, gamers can sabotage other players by adding obstacles to the answers. This can include ice to freeze players or even bombs and gloopy slime to slow down their response time. At the end of each quiz, the game ends with a speed round.

While I did enjoy playing Knowledge is Power: Decades, it doesn't add many new features to the original game outside of different sets of questions. Not to mention older people in your family may not like that it only includes questions to more recent decades.

Anyway, the other Playlink video game I got to review this month is Chimparty. The game is similar to Mario Party because it features a series of many mini-games for you to complete. The game also acts as a sort of board game too because the first player that reaches the end is the winner.

Chimparty is very simple to play as all you need to do is press one button on your smartphone or tablet device. Many of the mini-games that you participate in include basketball, air-hockey, archery, and many others.

Most of the games allow you to control the different coloured chimpanzees and your goal is to usually throw them inside a target or basket. It's very easy to play the mini-games and I had much more fun playing Chimparty than Knowledge is Power: Decades.

If you don't feel like playing the full board game itself, you can just play and choose the mini-games by themselves. This is what me and my brothers did and we had lots of fun trading wins with one another. My Mum tried her best to play, but sadly she wasn't able to control the chimpanzees as well as the rest of us did.

Overall, both Knowledge is Power: Decadesand Chimparty are very fun games that are accessible to most people of all ages. They don't revolutionise social video gaming, but they are enjoyable enough to occupy you during a wet weekend.

Verdict: 7.5/10