It’s-a me! Mario! Or…wait...I mean-a T-Man.
Ehhhh…sorry about that!
Well, with the first true Mario game here since Sunshine, those of us who own Galaxy (not me) have little reason to play Mario Party anymore. But still, we can only look back at the fun we had with those many era-gone parties…
Or can we?
Mario Party 8 has been dumped on even more than past installments. Apparently, people have gotten tired of the same old formula reused in every Mario Party game ever made and the so-called “horrible” single player mode, resulting in such scores as 5/10 from IGN and 6/10 from GameSpot. Don’t get me wrong; I like Mario Party better with a friend, but if I may quote the Mario Party DS commercial, “One’s fun, but four’s a party!” So, why criticize a formula that has worked for eight years?
But I digress. Even I, who have been loyal to the series since the second installment (well, more like fourth, since I never bought Mario Party 3), have a question: WHY IS THE GAME SO DANG LUCK-BASED??? Okay, let me take a few deep breaths. Well, you see, there has been an ongoing problem in the Mario Party series: the fact that it’s almost pre-decided whether you’ll win or lose. Usually, Mario Party games end up helping me, but in Mario Party 8, that was changed. Maybe Nintendo thought Mario Party was too easy. I don’t know, but seems like sometimes the game cheats. That’s right. If you’ve played Sonic Shuffle, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. In Sonic Shuffle, the AI itself cheats, but in Mario Party, the game helps the computer players by giving them all the best candy and rolls. Meanwhile, you’re over there rolling 1’s and 2’s and getting some stupid useless ‘Weeglee Candy’ and whatnot. Oh, and did I mention that halfway through the game they’ll have at least five stars and you’ll have two? Madness. SOMETIMES, though, the game will give you a little boost of luck, and yet you still lose. I’ve only played one full game, and in it, I lost because the game cheated. The other times I’ve started over repeatedly and eventually quit in protest. I won’t take any crap. No gamer should have to. Oh, and did I mention that the only other Mario Party I have that abused us gamers was Mario Party 2? At least the mini-games are still fun. And no, I don’t use handicaps or set the AI to easy. It seems like it would make it TOO easy. Maybe I’ll just play mini-games from now on, since my sister’s unlocked pretty much all of them.
Now on to the subject of the mini-games. OK, maybe Party Mode suffers, but the mini-games are where this game really shines. As the first Mario Party for the Wii, the game puts the Wii Remote to good use, as well as providing classic Mario Party mini-game styles. In most of the mini-games you’ll use the Wii Remote’s functionality for something, but there are quite a few in which you hold the Wii Remote sideways and play it like you would a normal Mario Party mini-game. Personally, I like the Wii Remote mini-games better, but hey, I’m not complaining.
Another neat aspect of the gameplay is the use of Candy rather than Orbs. The candy is like Orbs, but instead turns you INTO something. I’ll use the Cashzap Candy for an example. When you eat it, you turn electrified. Then, you throw a dart to see whose coins you will destroy. Pretty cool, huh?
The game also has cool new boards. DK’s Treetop Temple is your usual Mario Party board, taking place in a jungle. On Goomba’s Booty Boardwalk, you race to the end to get the Star from Captain Goomba. On King Boo’s Haunted Hideaway, you have to go through the mansion and find King Boo, then get his Star for 10 Coins. Enter the wrong room and you’ll be spat right out the mansion. On Shy Guy’s Perplex Express, you have to get to the end of the train to get the Star, then make it back to the beginning and start over again. On Koopa’s Tycoon Town (which is a lot like Mario Party 7’s Windmillville), you have to invest coins in hotels and try to come out on top. On Bowser’s Warped Orbit, you have to use Bowser Candy and Bullet Candy to steal Stars from your opponents.
Yet another new element that was added is the Lucky Space. Land on it and it will take you someplace away from the main board. There are three coins on every space, and at the end is often a free Star.
So, we’ve overviewed the gameplay pretty much, but there’s still some stuff to go over. For instance, the graphics. One word describes them: last-gen. I know the Wii isn’t truly a next-generation system, but these aren’t even Wii graphics. They’re Gamecube graphics. They tried to make it look like a Wii game by adding blindingly bright lighting effects…but that only made the game look worse. But Mario Party doesn’t really have much of a reputation for pretty graphics anyway. They’re more or less known for their fun multiplayer gameplay.
That still leaves music, or in this case, MUZAK, to go over. Welcome to the world of Peanut Butter Jelly Time, or as Simon Cowell called it, “forgettable.” The level themes are uninspired, “forgettable,” and ‘Fergalicious’ (which means horrible, especially music-wise). The themes in past Mario Parties were “forgettable,” but at least they weren’t overcome by ‘Fergaliciousness’ (no offence to Fergie or anyone that likes that song).
Oh, but I never mentioned the story. The story’s stupid, but it’s Mario Party, all right. Mario and all his friends have been invited to come to the Star Carnival. If Mario and his friends fight their way through the boards, they get a lifetime supply of candy! But then comes along Bowser to crash the party, and it’s up to Mario and friends to stop him! It’s not so bad, but it wouldn’t show up in any game that wasn’t a Mario Party game.
So, yeah, this game isn’t perfect. In fact, it’s far from it. But hey, it’s Mario Party and it’s fun! So LIVE WITH IT!! You SHOULD buy this game for the mini-games, or if you don’t care to be frustrated, but whatever.
Now, here’s a little summarization for those of you who didn’t read the entire review:
----------------------Summary----------------------
Gameplay: Pretty Good. Mini-games are super fun, the candy system and Lucky Spaces work, and the boards are sweet, but most of the fun of Party Mode has been replaced by frustration.
Graphics: Crappy. Perfectly last-gen. Nintendo made the game brighter so it would look better, but it only made it look worse.
Music: Crappy. As Simon Cowell said to Sophat after his performance of Peanut Butter Jelly Time, “forgettable.”
Story: Pretty Good. It screams “Mario Party.” Nothing more.
Overall: Pretty Good. Would have gotten an “Awesome,” if it weren’t for Party Mode being overly frustrating.
Like my site? Let me know! E-mail me at tmansgames at gmail.com! But remember: I’m 11 years old, so, please, don’t use bad language else I’ll delete your e-mail. My father checks over e-mails to make sure there isn’t anything bad in them.
Ehhhh…sorry about that!
Well, with the first true Mario game here since Sunshine, those of us who own Galaxy (not me) have little reason to play Mario Party anymore. But still, we can only look back at the fun we had with those many era-gone parties…
Or can we?
Mario Party 8 has been dumped on even more than past installments. Apparently, people have gotten tired of the same old formula reused in every Mario Party game ever made and the so-called “horrible” single player mode, resulting in such scores as 5/10 from IGN and 6/10 from GameSpot. Don’t get me wrong; I like Mario Party better with a friend, but if I may quote the Mario Party DS commercial, “One’s fun, but four’s a party!” So, why criticize a formula that has worked for eight years?
But I digress. Even I, who have been loyal to the series since the second installment (well, more like fourth, since I never bought Mario Party 3), have a question: WHY IS THE GAME SO DANG LUCK-BASED??? Okay, let me take a few deep breaths. Well, you see, there has been an ongoing problem in the Mario Party series: the fact that it’s almost pre-decided whether you’ll win or lose. Usually, Mario Party games end up helping me, but in Mario Party 8, that was changed. Maybe Nintendo thought Mario Party was too easy. I don’t know, but seems like sometimes the game cheats. That’s right. If you’ve played Sonic Shuffle, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. In Sonic Shuffle, the AI itself cheats, but in Mario Party, the game helps the computer players by giving them all the best candy and rolls. Meanwhile, you’re over there rolling 1’s and 2’s and getting some stupid useless ‘Weeglee Candy’ and whatnot. Oh, and did I mention that halfway through the game they’ll have at least five stars and you’ll have two? Madness. SOMETIMES, though, the game will give you a little boost of luck, and yet you still lose. I’ve only played one full game, and in it, I lost because the game cheated. The other times I’ve started over repeatedly and eventually quit in protest. I won’t take any crap. No gamer should have to. Oh, and did I mention that the only other Mario Party I have that abused us gamers was Mario Party 2? At least the mini-games are still fun. And no, I don’t use handicaps or set the AI to easy. It seems like it would make it TOO easy. Maybe I’ll just play mini-games from now on, since my sister’s unlocked pretty much all of them.
Now on to the subject of the mini-games. OK, maybe Party Mode suffers, but the mini-games are where this game really shines. As the first Mario Party for the Wii, the game puts the Wii Remote to good use, as well as providing classic Mario Party mini-game styles. In most of the mini-games you’ll use the Wii Remote’s functionality for something, but there are quite a few in which you hold the Wii Remote sideways and play it like you would a normal Mario Party mini-game. Personally, I like the Wii Remote mini-games better, but hey, I’m not complaining.
Another neat aspect of the gameplay is the use of Candy rather than Orbs. The candy is like Orbs, but instead turns you INTO something. I’ll use the Cashzap Candy for an example. When you eat it, you turn electrified. Then, you throw a dart to see whose coins you will destroy. Pretty cool, huh?
The game also has cool new boards. DK’s Treetop Temple is your usual Mario Party board, taking place in a jungle. On Goomba’s Booty Boardwalk, you race to the end to get the Star from Captain Goomba. On King Boo’s Haunted Hideaway, you have to go through the mansion and find King Boo, then get his Star for 10 Coins. Enter the wrong room and you’ll be spat right out the mansion. On Shy Guy’s Perplex Express, you have to get to the end of the train to get the Star, then make it back to the beginning and start over again. On Koopa’s Tycoon Town (which is a lot like Mario Party 7’s Windmillville), you have to invest coins in hotels and try to come out on top. On Bowser’s Warped Orbit, you have to use Bowser Candy and Bullet Candy to steal Stars from your opponents.
Yet another new element that was added is the Lucky Space. Land on it and it will take you someplace away from the main board. There are three coins on every space, and at the end is often a free Star.
So, we’ve overviewed the gameplay pretty much, but there’s still some stuff to go over. For instance, the graphics. One word describes them: last-gen. I know the Wii isn’t truly a next-generation system, but these aren’t even Wii graphics. They’re Gamecube graphics. They tried to make it look like a Wii game by adding blindingly bright lighting effects…but that only made the game look worse. But Mario Party doesn’t really have much of a reputation for pretty graphics anyway. They’re more or less known for their fun multiplayer gameplay.
That still leaves music, or in this case, MUZAK, to go over. Welcome to the world of Peanut Butter Jelly Time, or as Simon Cowell called it, “forgettable.” The level themes are uninspired, “forgettable,” and ‘Fergalicious’ (which means horrible, especially music-wise). The themes in past Mario Parties were “forgettable,” but at least they weren’t overcome by ‘Fergaliciousness’ (no offence to Fergie or anyone that likes that song).
Oh, but I never mentioned the story. The story’s stupid, but it’s Mario Party, all right. Mario and all his friends have been invited to come to the Star Carnival. If Mario and his friends fight their way through the boards, they get a lifetime supply of candy! But then comes along Bowser to crash the party, and it’s up to Mario and friends to stop him! It’s not so bad, but it wouldn’t show up in any game that wasn’t a Mario Party game.
So, yeah, this game isn’t perfect. In fact, it’s far from it. But hey, it’s Mario Party and it’s fun! So LIVE WITH IT!! You SHOULD buy this game for the mini-games, or if you don’t care to be frustrated, but whatever.
Now, here’s a little summarization for those of you who didn’t read the entire review:
----------------------Summary----------------------
Gameplay: Pretty Good. Mini-games are super fun, the candy system and Lucky Spaces work, and the boards are sweet, but most of the fun of Party Mode has been replaced by frustration.
Graphics: Crappy. Perfectly last-gen. Nintendo made the game brighter so it would look better, but it only made it look worse.
Music: Crappy. As Simon Cowell said to Sophat after his performance of Peanut Butter Jelly Time, “forgettable.”
Story: Pretty Good. It screams “Mario Party.” Nothing more.
Overall: Pretty Good. Would have gotten an “Awesome,” if it weren’t for Party Mode being overly frustrating.
Like my site? Let me know! E-mail me at tmansgames at gmail.com! But remember: I’m 11 years old, so, please, don’t use bad language else I’ll delete your e-mail. My father checks over e-mails to make sure there isn’t anything bad in them.
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