Mario Party 8 review

So Mario Party 8 has just returned to the shelves after they removed that naughty word from the European version. I never reviewed it a couple of weeks ago when it first came out so maybe this is Ninty’s way of hinting that a review must be done. It’s about to happen, so listen up.

If you’ve never played a Mario Party game the premise is simple. Up to four players compete on a 3d board game to land on as many stars as possible before the end of the game. You hit a dice block with your head, move that many turns and take your prize or punishment depending on which square you land on. If you land on a VS square or on another opponent’s square, you have a little battle in one of the mini games to get the edge over your opponent.

This one has some new boards, the ability to use your Miis in a very limited sense (more of that later) and of course Wii remote compatibility which lets you shake your arms about to fight with your family or friends instead of pressing buttons.

They’ve also added the comcept of candy which helps you on the game board. You can choose to eat various flavours you pick up to roll two dice, move double your turns and even change shape such as into a bowling ball to knock other players off the board.

In my experience Mario Party games have always disappointed slightly and unfortunately this one comes as no exception. At best the mini games are lazy, at worst they’re just very boring. There’s games where you must shake a can of pop, aim with the remote to shoot at targets and even a yawn-inducing one where you have to wind up a clock. Uninspiring to say the least.

If you want to play with your funny little Miis you’re restricted to playing in the extras part of the game and some of these are exactly the same as bowling and tennis in Wii Sports. Not good considering you’ve all played this to death when you first took your Wii out of the box.

If you’re with the right mates and you can have a laugh through anything, you may just enjoy this game when playing against three others. Whatever you do, don’t attempt to play alone. You have to wait for all the other players to have their turn before you get your go and it’s not much fun fighting the Wii at its own mini game when you know it’s just letting you win if you just happen to do so.

At least with the version before it was pulled off the shelves you could laugh at the naughty word. Mario Party 8 is kind of like being at a wake. It gets a not too hot 4 out of 10.