For me, Mario Party has been an awesome series of games since its first instalment on the N64. Mario Party is a virtual board-game with the objective of gathering more stars than everyone else! Stars can be earned through a number of ways, but mainly via exchange for coins. Four players take it in turns to roll a 10-sided die and progress on the board, gathering (or losing) resources along the way. At the end of everybody?s roll, all players face off in one of a large assortment of mini-games to earn coins.
Although my eliteness prevents me from allowing it to top the first several Mario Parties, Mario Party 8 still delivers exactly what it was designed to; a hilarious and exciting, social and casual party game. It even brings a few new creative features to the table. We're treated to a series of game boards with alternative star gathering methodology, such as being a high investor in a hotel or backstabbing them off of your rivals. Mario Party 8 also replaces a series of items with "candy". There are over a dozen different types which aid the player on the board and are obtained by moving over a candy space or through purchase at vendors along the board. Examples of candy are ?Thrice Candy?, which allows the player to roll three dice blocks as opposed to one, and ?Vampire Candy?, which allows the player to steal a number of coins from every opponent.
The game offers over 80 mini-games which all make good use of the Wii-mote. You can probably imagine most of the gimmicky types of games available. Players face off against each other in 1v1v1v1 / 2v2 / 3v1 combat. Teams are divided based on the colour of square each player landed on (Either blue or the less frequent red). There are also single player ?Challenge? mini-games allowing the player to boost their coins and ?Duels? allowing just two players to face off against each other to steal coins and sometimes even stars!
Mario Party does involve a degree of skill but it?s majorly built up of luck-based elements. This prevents the owner of the game from being the uber-1337 skill-whore and allows everybody playing a fair chance to win. You?ll need Lady Luck on your side for the initial turn order, dice rolls, candy types and vendor prices. Players can involve skill by getting to know secrets of each board, how and when to use certain types of candy, and mini-game technique (although a large number of mini-games are luck based).
The game is arguably only enjoyable as a multi-player party experience but the game does also offer a single-player mode with un-lockable player characters and a new board as rewards. The main multi-player mode pits four players against each other but bots of changeable difficulty are available if necessary. Other modes include a smaller-scale 2-player mode, and a mini-game tent allowing you to dive straight into mini-game combat. But it's no doubt that the main mode is the most enjoyable.
Mario Party 8 is the series' first Wii instalment. On paper, the motion-control format sounds like the perfect environment for the game but unfortunately it feels like its lacking a certain depth that its predecessors had to offer. It has slightly more mini-games but at a less creative level, which makes it feel somewhat repetitive. They also fail to rack up as much competitive nature as some of the others. And even though the game uses motion-controls, it doesn't require as much physical fitness! How, you ask? Well let's just say the first couple of Mario Parties received complaints for giving people blisters! Not forgetting annihilating the N64's fragile analogue-stick. But, to be fair, these criticisms can also be applied to any Mario Party game post 2. Mario Party 8 is not without its controversy, however; with the initial release expressing the word "spastic" due to a translation issue. (Un)fortunately the game was pulled off the shelves and redistributed a month later with the word "erratic" as a substitute.
On top of the mini-games being uncreative in comparison to older titles, the game also lacks in some areas which I feel are important to the genre. The amount of boards and playable characters available is quite minimal, as are unlocks of any worth. Another thing that really bugs me about this game is the annoying introduction to the game on every start up. It's almost as if the game assumes you've never played before. It's not like you have to go over the main rules every time you play, but the introduction is still irritating and doesn't allow for a knowledgeable group of players to dive straight into a game. Bots are also a little on the slow side. It's understandable that some players would want to understand what they're up to but it'd be nice if the players could skip through the dialogue more quickly.
Overall, the game is a total blast. It's incredibly enjoyable, funny and entertaining. It's a good mini-game based title with a larger core element leading the way. There are half-a-dozen different boards to play on, giving the game enough variation to avoid total repetition. There's a large enough luck element to allow every player a good chance of winning. And the criticisms are mostly just nitpickings. It's definitely not worth buying a Wii for but if you already own one and a bunch of friends, you should give it a shot. It can currently be picked up for around £15 on Amazon. Do it.