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I’ve been dreaming about you, drooling over you in every magazine I get my hands on that mentions you. Oh sweet Mario… Mario…

I have been getting glimpses here and there about Mario Party 8 for the Nintendo Wii. When I first learned about the game being developed I couldn’t wait to get a copy.

Waiting though is always part of the game. Every gaming lover I know can most likely tell you they’re waiting for this game… or that one. The release date seems like an eternity.

Mario Party 8 for the Wii is gorgeous, and different and finally, it’s mine.

Like the old school Mario Party games, Mario Party for the wii is not much different, the characters look the same, the world are not much crisper, but hey, it’s Mario, and he’s the best. So deal.


In Mario Party 8 you have to option to play against the computer or 3 of your friends.
If you’re like me though, 3 gaming friends are hard to come by when you’re 25, and usually you’re lucky to get your significant other to pick up the controller and play.

-This is where my first GRRR moment occurred. I was really hoping Nintendo would surprise us Mario Party fans by allowing online game play.
How spectacular would it of been to kick someone else’s butt for a change?

BOARDS:

This is basically all Mario Party 8 is really. Like the old Mario Party games you choose a board you want to play, you pick your character, you pick your computer opponents or your friends choose their characters, and you move on to play land. Yay! (There are a few characters you cannot use when you first play the game. You must unlock them to be able to use them).

There are options too of course. If you know you’re a stinky game player you can set the computer characters to easy. If you think your decent, but not perfect, set them guys to normal. If you’re a freak of nature, set them to very hard.

You can also set how many turns you would like to have. 10, 15, 20, 25… all the way up to 50.
A game with 50 turns could take up to 5 hours or more. 30 turns is about 3 hours, 20 about 2.

You may also give yourself some stars by default. So you can start with a bunch of stars guaranteeing winning. But really that’s cheating, and they won’t count towards your trading card cash out anyways.

Next you choose your board. Oh my favorite part!

Do I romp in the jungle with Donkey Kong? Or do I get a scare from big Boos mansion? Or maybe I want some Mario Party game play I’m used to, so I should maybe visit Mario sunshine board? Or wheel and deal real estate in Turtle’s board? Or take a ride on the shy guy express?

All of the boards are extremely unique compared to past Mario Party games where the characters for the most part just raced to a star or hidden star.

In these new boards you are still racing for the star yes, but in some boards the star is free, in others you have to invest in real estate to obtain hotels for stars, in Boos mansion the mansion changes with each collection of a star, and send you back to the beginning. In another board a train will move forward, but that does not always mean you are.

For the most part though only about 3 boards are worth any fun. The rest are all based on chance, and luck. I’m unlucky, so when a game board calls for luck, I back out from the get go.

After you have chosen a board (and most likely you will choose based on which looked the coolest) you are taken there where you and the other characters hit numbered blocks that blink from 1-10. They blink so fast though you never know what you’ll get. Another game of chance.

The board will be filled with mostly red and blue spaces. If you land on a blue one you get 3 coins, and you are safe. If you land on a red on, you loose 3 coins and you will become the target in the mini games.

You can also expect to find golden note spaces that will usually take you directly to the path of the star. There are only about 2 gold spaces on each board, so your odds are slim. There will also be Donkey Kong spaces, when you land on them you will get a prize, and then after he leaves the spaces become Bowser spaces. If you land on a Bowser space expect to loose coins, or a star. Ouch!

Scattered throughout each board will be candy, you can also obtain candy by buying them at candy shops. It’s sort of like the orbs in older Mario Party games. The candy becomes your weapon.
You will come across candy that turns you into a big stone-crushing machine that will smash anyone who is ahead of you if you happen to pass them on your journey. They will loose coins, you will be happy. Haha.

There is also lightning candy that will zap whomever your target is. You choose a target on the target wheel and throw a dart at them. Most likely you’ll miss and get someone else. The target wheel is a game of chance. You will also come across candy that will blow people back to the start line, and candy that will allow you to steal coins from all of the players. Candy is probably the best thing added into the game, besides the mini games.

MINI GAMES:

After each character has had a turn hitting the number block the mini games section opens up.
Here you will play 4 against 4 if you have all landed on safe blue blocks. If someone has landed on a red block it will become 3 vs. 1, if 2 people land on it, it becomes a 2 vs. 2 game.

Here you will battle each other for coins. Coins equal stars. We want as many as we can get.
There are plenty of mini games to play; however there does not seem to be as many as Mario Party 7.
Each mini game is fun as heck. However it only uses the wii remote in very basic ways. A lot of the min games call for holding the wii remote sideways and using it as a normal game controller. Some games ask that you simply wave it around from left to right, or up and down. There are a few other uses for the wii remote in the game, but seriously they’re limited mostly to those few moves. The rest of the actions the games ask for are similar but do not show up as often as holding it like a remote controller or like a sword.

Regardless gaming is still fun. You will race in cars, decorate cakes (totally reminded me of Cooking Mama Cook Off), jump rope, shoot targets, snowboard, water ski, paint ball throwing, draw, balance yourself on a tightrope, and many, many other fun battles.

If you win the battle you get 10 coins while your opponents walk away empty handed. However there are some rare games of chance that pop up where everyone keeps what they collect.

Even if you loose the board, which can be frustrating, you will still acquire trading cards. You can use these to buy things in the extras zone, such as music, or statues.

EXTRAS ZONE:

Here you can play min games you have already played while gaming. It gives you practice, or lets you vs. a friend to beat a mini game record.
What interesting here is that you can play with your Mii characters. It may not add much, but it is a bit different to see in a Mario game, and the mini games here are considered extra large seeing how there is bowling, and some other longer mini-game type “longer” games. Hah!

WHAT’S GOOD?

Well I guess it’s good it came out for one. Wii game titles have been lacking a lot, and I was glad to see a Mario Party game come out, because I enjoyed playing it on the Gamecube console.

-It’s fun when you have ‘real friends’ to play with. Not computer generated players.

-Game play is fast and fun, and replay value is high. I could see myself easily wasting hours away on a rainy day with friends. And I could easily see myself doing this often.

-Wii remote works flawlessly in the game. No stuttering, locking up, falling of screen and disappearing. I was impressed.
I honestly thought this title would be difficult to play with the wii mote.

-Sound. The different sounds in the game are pleasant and cute. You will find yourself bopping you head to the cheesy tunes, and dancing when you are victorious in a battle. None of the music is annoying or overbearing. It’s the classic Mario charm that every fan seems to enjoy.


WHAT’S BAD?

Well the game itself is a good game, however the anticipation of waiting made me expect more from the game, and I didn’t get much more. I was expecting ion of new mini games, yet most of them were sort of the same, just compatible with the wii mote.

-No ONLINE play! Hmph, a big middle finger at Nintendo for this long wait.
Argh this is so pathetic. I’m guessing they will remodel this in the future forcing me to buy Mario Party 9 for online play. Bah! 2 middle fingers.

-The price is awful. 4 game titles cost just as much as the console. Each wii game that is half decent will run you $50 plus tax. If the game sucks it’ll be under $50, that’s how it seems to go with Nintendo.

-Graphics, they look exactly the same as they did in Mario Party 1 for the Nintendo 64. Pretty cheese Nintendo. Let’s improve it just a little… a widget… come on!

Usually I don’t mind the cartoon like graphics, as they’re always fun, brightly colored and cute. But seriously now, I also wouldn’t mind seeing a whole new remodeled Mario either.

-A lot of the game boards are all based on chance. If you are lucky you can win, if you are unlucky you can loose, and loose bad, even when the computer characters are set to easy.

OVERALL:

Mario Party 8 is an excellent game, however it lacks in many departments, and needs some work. Like I said, they will learn from this one, and quickly make a part 9. That’s how they do things as far as what I’ve seen.

RECOMMENDATION:

It’s a green light GO.

It’s worth a purchase even with its bad points. I would however wait for it to go on sale if you’re on a tight budget. It may be quite some time though, so see if you can grab it up for a steal on ebay if you MUST have it now.

-Melissa Goss-
-DimeUhDay-