Nintendo Wii Review: Mario Party 8

It’s been eight Mario Party’s and there has yet to be any changes. But why change something that works perfectly? Mario Party 8 is a fun-filled board game, that is packed full of entertaining mini-games. They really make good use of the Wii’s controller.

In Mario Party 8, you travel to the carnival of MC Ballyhoo and his trusty top hat, Big Top. Once you're past the carnival themed menus, you'll jump into the game world. If you haven’t played any of the other seven Mario Party games, they are played like a board game. Each of the four players roll a die to see how much they move, you collect coins and stars, and you play mini-games. Each player partakes in a mini-game at the end of each round.

Unfortunately, Mario Party 8 does not have as many of these games as Mario Party 7. Also, unlike Mario Party 7, you can only have four players, not eight. What saves the game is the clever use of the Wii Remote. Holding it sideways (like a classic gamepad), balancing yourself while you walk a tight rope, lassoing items and even hitting baseballs are some of the things you will be doing. The Wii Remote helps give the mini-games a new feel and truly helps break from the old. Some of the min-games give tribute to past games like Luigi’s Mansion.

The mini-games, as in all Mario Party games, are never complicated - switching from one vs. one, to one vs. three, to just a total free for all. Mini-games being too simple is great when you have family over who don’t game much, they will easily enjoy the simple and addicting games.

There are six themed boards in Mario Party 8. To name a few, you have: Donkey Kong, Mario Sunshine, Luigi’s Mansion, and a level that looks like the Super Smash Bros. Melee Earthbound level. Some of the levels have unique elements to them. For instance, in Luigi’s Mansion, the board is a mystery level, which you have to go to each room to hunt for the stars. This brings new exciting features to the regular board game atmosphere of Mario Party.

Article Author: Matthew Valdez

Matthew Valdez is currently a student whose hobbies are writing, graphic design and web design. He joined Blogcritics voluntarily to help the community and get better at writing.

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