It's impossible to introduce Party Wave without making a few obligatory observations. First, it's from Mistwalker Studios, the development company headed up by legendary designer Hironobu Sakaguchi. Second,, he's rather well known for a small franchise you might have heard of called Final Fantasy. Third, Party Wave has found a home on the App Store because of Sakaguchi's passion for surfing.
As a game, rather than an interesting development anecdote, Party Wave is split into two separate components. At the start of each level, you'll first need to paddle any number of surfers to a break point in the crisp blue sea, using finger swipes to gently nudge each character towards a central point where the incoming, rolling wave is due to break. Some of these surfers are larger than others and require more forceful pushing, while others breeze along with only the gentlest of nudges.
Once everyone's in position (or at least, everyone you've managed to steer successfully), the game moves into its central Party Wave mode where the surfers line themselves up to catch the frothing wave that's begun to break over the meeting point. They ebb and flow with the water individually, and you'll need to tap on them from time to time to keep them afloat. Alternatively, tapping them just before they hit the base of the wave sends them shooting off into the sky where you can continue to juggle them for bonus points.
The thing is, it's not really all that interesting once you've played a handful of levels. Each stage has its own unique paddling challenge, and you'll need to steer your team around coral reefs, circling sharks and what-have-you before the party can get started. At first this feels like a great prelude to the action, with some careful fingerwork required, but it sits at odds with the more action-orientated part of the game.
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