The latest installment of Mario Party is a solid release with some of the typical attributes you'd expect, only upgraded
The graphics are still as happy-happy as ever. Mario Party 7 looks really nice, and well done, but, there are too many of those reused character movements. For instance, Toadette and Toad will basically do the same type of disappointed whining as they will do if they lose 3 coins. Some of the animations are actually funny to watch. Some probably won't agree with me on this. For example, in the 8-player minigame, "Bumper to Bumper" (yes, they've kept the witty names), watching opponents fall of the platform, spinning to their doom, while they scream is enjoyable, especially, if you're the one who caused it.
The sound, of course, is still as happy-happy as always. Although each background song matches the stage or minigame, it sometimes gets annoying during the boards to hear the same track play over and over again. If they had made the track a minute or two longer, the background songs wouldn't be as irritating, but it's nothing that'll get in the way of enjoying the game. The character sounds, however, can be extremely annoying. That can be good, or bad. When taunting other characters, they say things like, "Hey Stinky", or they just scream their heads off, like Toad. Toadsworth, the announcer, makes the same type of sound each time he talks, and he talks ALOT. It gets annoying, but he talks alot in a period of time, not throughout the entire game.
The minigames are still about the same, only with a different look. Mario Party 7 brings back the microphone. It's not used to its potential. There aren't enough minigames that use the microphone, but the ones that do are enjoyable. A new addition to the series is the 8-player mode, in which a group of 8 people can play together.
The 8-player mode, in my opinion, is best played with only 4 people. The games, as expected aren't intricate at all, but the fact that there are 8 characters in the game adds to the "party" feeling. Playing a board is basically the same, but, that too gets the "party" feeling from the 8-players.
Mario Party 7 brings back some characters from the older Mario games to keep the character choice from being to monotonous, which is a good thing. Mario Party 7 is definitely suitable for a group of people to play. Playing alone will probably make the game lose alot of replay value.
The latest installment of Mario Party is a solid release with some of the typical attributes you'd expect, only upgraded. It's a step up from Mario Party 6, with its addition of new modes and a larger number of minigames.