Ok, but not that much improved.
Mario and his friends are once again, having a party. Only this time it’s on a cruise. Bowser appears, and now everyone is in trouble and....wait, why am I even talking about the story? Does anyone even care? I certainly don’t. I won’t bore you with more story details, but suffice to say none is needed for this game, nor is any previous knowledge of the series.
Graphics:
Same old stuff over and over again. Nintendo doesn’t seem to want to change to graphics in this game. The graphics are ok, considering this is a party game. Character models are decent. There is a lot of colour in this game however, which makes for a quick “wow”. Textures are virtually non-existent. Everything is flat. Overall, nothing special here. No big upgrades from previous games on the GCN. A few more polygons here and there, but nothing more. It does look like there aren’t as many jaggies as before, though could still use some anti-aliasing.
Sound:
Music is upbeat, and quite nice. Sort of rockish. Sound effects in this game, like the graphics, are decent, but nothing to get excited about. You do hear the air “swooshing” when you jump around, and some hitting effects. If anything it’s more like the colours in this game. Trying to catch your attention. As with the graphics, sounds probably won’t matter to you. This is a p-a-r-t-y game. People don’t care about these things as long as the gameplay is good. Which leads us to...
Gameplay:
No story. No missions. None of that “normal” single player stuff to be found here. This is strictly multi player here folks. Sure you can play it by yourself and progress through “the story”, but seriously, if you do this, it shows you have no friends to play this game with (3 friends). The objective of this game is to get the most number of stars and coins possible. You do this by going around a 3-D game bored. Each space has a different effect, depending on the picture on each space/colour. I won’t go into detail, but there is a lot of different spaces that you can land on. After each player has rolled the dice, gone there spaces, finished with the effects of each space, a mini-game starts. The type depends on, again, the space you landed on. It will either be a free for all type, 2 vs 2, 1 vs 3, or a Mic mini-game (more on this later).
There are about 80 mini-games available, all divided up among the different types. Some of these are very simple in rules and controls, while others are a bit more complicated, and require fast reflexes. Others are just plain button mashing. There are usually two of the same game, only the rules are in reverse. Kinda cheesy to get to 80 mini-games, but it works. You can access mini-games from the mini-game room. Which leads me to the “lobby of this game”. When you first boot up the game, you will see the selection screen. You can choose a lot of different modes. You can play the “story mode” by your self, “duel mode” which is different. Instead, it’s a two player game, where you do “duel” mini games. And you have regular party mode, which is where you play with your friends. There is some variety in the modes, but not many game boards. Only 6 in all. Kinda crappy, if you ask me. There are also about 16 different characters you can choose from, but there is no ability differences between them. It’s only skin deep.
The Mic:
This is where this game is innovative. you can play Mic mini-games using the Microphone, which plugs into memory card slot B (comes with the game). You press a little button on the mic to activate it. It doesn’t work that well though. You might say ׃" but it will think you said ׆". It could be better, but hey, a mic, is better than no mic. There are about 10 different mic games. You can leave out mic games altogether, or you can use the controller with them.
Conclusion:
You may be asking yourself “Why did he give this game only a 3?” Well, it’s not that much different than previous games. Sure it has 80 new mini-games, but a lot of them are redone, and rules reversed. Is that enough to plunk down $60 for this game? Not really, when you can get Mario Party 6 for less, with the mic. The graphics are a little better than the previous series, and you jump around the game bored, instead of walking, but is it enough? Nintendo, spice up the series a bit. Sue a better mic, totally new games, and maybe even DS compatibility using the touch screen. Until they do this, the Mario Parties that follow will sure be “partied out”.
(A copy of my review from Epinions.com. Check it out!)