Mario Party 8 – the Wii edition of the Mario Party series. This game, like the others in the series, is much like a board game but better. Players take turns hitting the dice block and trying to get to the star (or other objective). At the end of each turn (after all players have gone) there is a mini-game between the players with a coin prize.MP8 has a variety of different gameplays including battle royale (regular), duel battle (quick 1-on-1), and tag-team battle (regular, but pairs combine stars). Duel battles are played between two players on modified maps.
MP8 has a bunch of brand new mini-games like no other system could play. Nintendo has gone all out and thought of many creative games that take full advantage of the Wii remote. Some examples include shaking a can of pop, holding a balance beam while walking a tight rope, and racing mopeds. They’ve also improved on the functionality of the pointing interface, which now actually responds better at a farther distance from the TV. From my observations, it appears that this was accomplished to limiting the cursor area on the screen to a square (thus, you get a border on either side of the screen). At first, the border bothered me a little, seeing as the opening and the menu selections were full screen… but during gameplay, I pretty much don’t notice it anymore.
Nintendo has also done a bit of a scramble with the characters. In the past, Donkey Kong and Bowser or Baby Bowser/Loopa Kid were playable characters. In MP8, they are merely NPCs (non-player characters). However, they did add some new faces to the Mario Party roster. The characters are: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Daisy, Waluigi, Toad, Birdo, Wario, Boo, Toadette, Dry Bones, Blooper, and Hammer Bro. Besides those characters, in the Extras Tent, you can play using the Miis you have on your Wii or remote.
Along with the new characters, there are 6 brand new maps. The maps are DK’s Treetop Temple, Goomba’s Booty Boardwalk (think pirates people), King Boo’s Haunted Hideaway, Shuy Guy’s Perplex Express, Koopa’s Tycoon Town, and Bowser’s Warped Orbit. Each of the boards has a different way of obtaining your stars. In Koopa’s Tycoon Town, you deposit coins into hotels for controlling interest in them (and the star they represent).
Personally I could go on and on about this game since there are so many features and great things in it.
Scores:
- Graphics: 9/10 (flame effect caused minor lag)
- Sound: 10/10 (beautiful Pro Logic II)
- Multiplayer: 10/10 (that’s what the game is made for!)
- Control: 10/10 (marvelous!)
Overall Score (not an average): 9/10
