Mario Party 8

[Mendez]

So I hear you lot in America have it now. We're getting it 22nd June and I can't wait
Can you tell me what it's like, I've only played up to 4, and I wanna know if the series is still as good as it used to be.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Mendez

So I hear you lot in America have it now. We're getting it 22nd June and I can't wait
Can you tell me what it's like, I've only played up to 4, and I wanna know if the series is still as good as it used to be.

Well this is the first Mario Party game I've played so I don't know if its as good as the old ones. 8 is pretty good the minigames are a lot of fun to do with the wiimote. Some of them require the nunchuck however. for instance, you use the wiimote to move the clock hands to match a certain time, you tilt the wiimote to move your snowboard down the slopes and my personal favorite thus far is one where you use the wiimote as a trigger and kill boos. Your colored cursor appears and open fire on the boos until you get to the big boo at the end and kill him to complete the minigame. So yeah, its fun. I'll see how long it keeps me entertained before I go back to just playing VC games again.

[Mendez]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Well this is the first Mario Party game I've played so I don't know if its as good as the old ones. 8 is pretty good the minigames are a lot of fun to do with the wiimote. Some of them require the nunchuck however. for instance, you use the wiimote to move the clock hands to match a certain time, you tilt the wiimote to move your snowboard down the slopes and my personal favorite thus far is one where you use the wiimote as a trigger and kill boos. Your colored cursor appears and open fire on the boos until you get to the big boo at the end and kill him to complete the minigame. So yeah, its fun. I'll see how long it keeps me entertained before I go back to just playing VC games again.

Cool, sounds good then. What about the actual boards?

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Mendez

Cool, sounds good then. What about the actual boards?

There's a Donkey Kong themed one where the star is placed on a star space and once its picked up for 20 coins, its moved to another. Use can use DK's cannons to skips tons of spaces on the board. The goomba themed one is one a pirate island with a goomba at the end in a pirate hat (so awesome!). Reach him he gives it to you. Reach the green space near him you get shot out of a cannon back to the start. Dolphins help you skip spaces. Boo has a board to where you need to pay for the star. Pirahna Plants can take coins away from you.

There's a shyguy one too (I haven't played it yet, I think.) Koopa Troopa's board is kinda like monopoly. Invest coins in hotels and they get bigger. The stars you get from 1-3 depend on how many stars are on top of the hotel. As you invest into them the star value increases. So if you own one and it becomes a 2 or 3 star hotel from other people investing in it, you get extra star(s) depending on how advanced its expanded to.

Finally, there's also a Bowser themed one that locked until conditions are met. (I don't know what they are yet, its not unlocked yet.) Well that's a breakdown on the five boards. Well you only have 20 more days until you get it, right. Now you can dream about playing it!

[The shoemaker]

Im in Canada and I havent seen it yet, I thought it would be bad because I've played all of the mario partys and liked them, but now im older and think there a bit kidy. But I think I'd get it since its on wii it might be the best mario party yet!

[Kevin]

I got around to play the Shy Guy board, Mendez and its really cool. Most of the green spaces have a magikoopa move the part of the train you're on back to the beginning of the board. The conductor (shy guy) gives you the star for 20 coins. If you land on a DK space, the shy guy conductor is changed to DK and you don't have to pay one coin to get it from him. After you get it from DK, shy guy becmoes the conductor again.

Originally Posted by The shoemaker

Im in Canada and I havent seen it yet, I thought it would be bad because I've played all of the mario partys and liked them, but now im older and think there a bit kidy. But I think I'd get it since its on wii it might be the best mario party yet!

It may seem kiddy, but the game is a lot of fun to play. I'm 25 myself and I love this game. The Wii controls make the minigames what they are and more enjoyable on the Wii. If it was on the Gamecube I wouldn't get it. This is my first Mario Party game and I'm eating it up! The motion controls is what prompted me to get this game and it is very well worth it.

[neuzd]

I'm 33 and loving Pokémon.

The word 'kiddy' doesn't sound as appropriate in a video-GAMES forum.

Mario Partys anyway aren't kiddy.
It's a war (multiplayeD of course).

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by neuzd

I'm 33 and loving Pokémon.

The word 'kiddy' doesn't sound as appropriate in a video-GAMES forum.

Mario Partys anyway aren't kiddy.
It's a war (multiplayeD of course).

It doesn't, but its used quite often surprisingly.

[v404]

I dig it & I'm a Mario Party fan.. While I haven't played any from the GC era, I did play all the ones on the N64 and I think this is a decent addition to the MP series. Having not played them all I don't know if I'd say it's the best. I don't even know if it tops my favorites from the N64 but if you're a fan of the series, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I don't think the graphics are as bad as many critics have claimed but MP has never been a graphically driven series so it seems a bit silly for people to get up in arms about it. It doesn't look terrible by any means.

I find the controls work well overall & aren't particularly buggy or nonresponsive. I'd say most of the games utilize the Wiimote's functionality in some capacity while about 30% to 40% use the Wiimote simply like an NES controler.

I like the boards quite a bit. I think they're unique & definitely a strong point to the game as well as some of the features like the "Tag" mode... but I don't know if those concepts were already in play during the GC era.

The minigames are par for MP. As w/ previous MP games, there's a few dud games you generally avoid while others have you playing more eagerly. I do wish they'd through in a "classics" feature where you could play minigames from previous MP's though..

The music isn't half-bad for a MP game either. I only say this because Mario-themed games, let alone MP games, have never had any music worth noting save for nostalgia & I actually like some of the music for what it is.. I mean, I wouldn't listen to it in my car or anything but it's above par for MP standards IMO.

For me the biggest downfall of MP8 is it's lack of widescreen presentation. It's really annoying & IMO is the most flagrant corner cut by the designers. It's quite obnoxious really.

I have to admit I had very high hopes for MP8 because I think the series has a bright future on the Wii console but I agree w/ many others who claim it feels as though it was a GC game that was held over & modified for the Wii. It feels a bit like that & the handful of shortcomings all seem to eminate from the theory (graphics, frequent use of non-Wiimote control schemes, widescreen, etc.) I wouldn't say I was disappointed in MP8 overall but I think it could've been more & definitely would've benefitted from a little more tweaking.

But ultimately, I think even w/ all the minor tweaking it wouldn't have been a particularly standout release. I think MP9 will probably be the one to get whenever that comes around. This one feels like it's just to hold us over before a more refined MP is released that was fully intended for the Wii.

I'd rate it a 7.5-8.5. Worth having if you're a fan of the series or if you play w/ friends often. But probably not the best choice for solo players or people looking for tons of action in their gaming experience.

[Mendez]

Thanks for the review, I've decided to get with Elite Beat Agents instead now though