'Cause the Mario Party Don't Stop

I knew that purchasing a Wii would increase my popularity by several orders of magnitude, but what I failed to realize at first was that having the Wii is only half the equation.  The other key component is having awesome multiplayer games that people want to come over and play, and this is what I was sorely lacking until recently.  Part of my reluctance had to do with ponying up yet another $50 for a game (plus I don’t even want to say how much for another two Wiimote/nunchuk sets, plus rechargeable batteries), but now that I’ve finally knuckled under to everyone who told me how rad Mario Party 8 is, I understand.

As you might guess, this is number eight in a series of similar games, and while the major complaint I’ve heard against Mario Party 8 is that it’s more of the same, I’ve never played any of the Mario Party games, so this is exciting new territory to me.  Basically, it’s a board game for up to four players, where you move around a board, collecting coins and stars and playing mini-games against each other in order to win.  It’s really intended for several people to play against each other, and for that purpose, it can be almost endlessly entertaining; by yourself, it is playable, but not nearly as fun.

These are the five options on the main menu:

Party Tent – The main gameplay feature. Play a game on the party boards in either a Battle Royale (one to four players), Tag Battle (two teams of two players), or Duel Battle (player vs. player).

Star Battle Arena – This is a one-player battle vs. the computer, where you challenge a series of computer opponents on the game boards.  You can eventually unlock extra boards and characters here, too.

Mini-Game Tent – This is where you can just play mini-games directly, and not have to play on the game board (probably better if you’re playing alone, unless you like watching three computer players take their turns).

Fun Bazaar – At the end of each party game, you earn “carnival cards,” which are basically points that you use to unlock little figurines, bonus mini-games, music and sound effects, and other extras.

Extra Zone – This has some extra mini-games that you can play directly.  As far as I know, this is the only place in the game where you can play using your Mii, rather than choosing one of about a dozen characters from the Marioverse.

The gameboards are pretty distinct and each is fun in its own way.  You start out with five boards, and unlock an extra one in Star Battle Arena mode.  The boards are DK's Treetop Temple (a multi-level jungle board), Goomba's Booty Boardwalk (piratical with talking dolphins!), Boo's Haunted Hideaway (haunted mansion), Koopa’s Tycoon Town (a Monopoly-type real estate board), and Shy Guy's Perplex Express (moving train cars).  They each have different themes, and each has a different goal (collecting a certain number of coins or stars, or stealing stars from other players), but the mechanics work the same for all.

Just like a real board game, you roll (well, punch) a die to see how many spaces you move.  You can also receive or buy candy, which has different effects (some just help you and some help you by hurting your opponents).  Blue squares give you three coins, and red squares take away three coins.  Green squares are mystery squares, which can be either good or bad.  DK/Bowser squares flip-flop back and forth; when you land on a DK square, something good happens to you, but it also triggers all other DK squares to flip to Bowser squares, where they will stay until someone lands on one and flips them back to DK.  Golden spaces take you to bonus sections with cash and extra stars.  Vs. and Challenge spaces will take you to a duel mini-game.

At the end of each turn, when all players have moved, there will be a mini-game – either one player vs. the other three, two on two, or everyone against everyone.  There’s a wide variety of games, and you can try a practice mode before going to the actual game.  They range from shooting galleries to race games to visual puzzles, and all are pretty fun.  They’re also very fast – usually 30 seconds or less – which keeps gameplay moving.  The game awards coins based on performance.

The most frustrating thing about the game, and my major complaint, is the amount of built-in randomness.  Some of the games are totally luck-based, and it’s hard to avoid the suspicion that the game purposely goes after the front-runner, in order to even the playing field.  “Chump Charity” is a late-game shake-up that awards bonuses to the crappiest player, and unless you turn this feature off, the game awards arbitrary “bonus stars” at the end (for dumb things like “stepped on the most red squares”) which can completely skew the rankings.  In one sense, this is good, because it prevents you from taking it too seriously when you know it can all be jerked out from under you in one breathtakingly unfair moment (and it allows adults and children to play together, relatively fairly).  But it can also be incredibly annoying in its capriciousness.

Most people also complain about the lackluster graphics, but to me they look fine.  I guess my standards are lower, not being a video-game geek.  The boards are colorful and detailed, and the characters are expressively animated and fun to watch.  You’re not playing this game for the amazing graphics, anyway; it’s intended to be a souped-up board game for group play, not to stand up to intensive one-player scrutiny.  The music can get repetitive and annoying, and some of the characters are maddeningly talkative, but you learn to choose the less grating characters as your players (Dry Bones and Toad are pretty cute; Daisy and Boo are incredibly irritating).

Overall, this is a fun, fast-paced, and lively board game, but what really gives it repeat value is playing it with a group of trash-talking, competitive, perhaps somewhat inebriated friends.  I wouldn’t recommend this as a one-player game, but if you want something that requires very little skill or video-game know-how, that both kids and adults can enjoy equally, this would be a great choice for get-togethers or holiday events.