8th Time’s the Charm
June 27th, 2007 by pminton
By pminton
Let me begin by telling you that I’ve been completely tired of the Mario Party series since about 3. Having informed you of this I should tell you that I’m having so much fun with 8 that I almost pee my pants from sheer joy every time I play. Ok, that was some exaggeration, but it’s still way way way better than the previous 4 or 5 entries.
And maybe I pee my pants, maybe I don’t.
The first feature in Nintendo’s newest entry in the “video / board / party / battle / minigame game” genre that sets it apart from its predecessors is the use of the Wii-mote controls. My biggest beef with the series over the past decade has been the stagnation of the control scheme. Even when Nintendo would release another incarnation of the game and shove 100 new minigames in my face it still felt like the same stuff on a different day because the controls didn’t change much. Even between the N64 and the GameCube there wasn’t a whole lot of difference in how the controllers worked with the game. Apparently, though, that’s what the masses of MP fans wanted because they sold lots and we’re on the 8th installment.
Let me explain why the motion controls make this game so much fun and then I’ll gripe.
In one of the four-player minigames you must shake up a can of cola. Close your eyes and think about the motion involved in that activity. Now replace the cola with a Wii remote. Think to yourself what this looks like and then imagine 3 of your friends right along side you making said motion. Are you laughing uncontrollably? You should be. You should also feel slightly dirty and maybe a little nauseated. The look on your friends faces when they first see the controls for the cola-shaker game demonstrated by Mario’s onscreen hand is priceless. It’s almost as much fun watching them as playing the game. Except you shouldn’t watch them. You should yank it to victory. Be merciless.
Aside from the lewd gestures you’ll be performing there is some genuine, family-friendly fun to be had here (unless you’re playing at my house, in which case the game would probably be rated NC-17). The Mario Party series brings out the worst in me. Saying that it makes me foul-mouthed would be like saying setting fire to someone would warm them up. I make up new swears on a regular basis and I believe that last week I even threatened someone’s pets. Every time a rival player lands on one of the special gold spaces I’m shocked at the things that come out of my mouth. But as long as you’re not playing with me, however, there is family-friendly fun to be had.
There are lots of minigames, but not as many as I would’ve expected. After two full 15-turn games, we had unlocked most of them. I really expected more quantity. Even though there aren’t as many games as I expected, the quality of the minigames has gotten lots better. In one 3 vs. 1 minigame (that happens to be one of my favorites) the odd player out pilots an electrified hovercraft trying to knock his opponents off their platform and into oblivion. An electrified hovercraft. How could this not be the best game ever? The controls for the hovercraft are challenging but intuitive. The craft always moves forward, and if you tilt the wii-mote left and right, you steer left and right. The players trying to run away from this Mad Max-style contraption turn the remote sideways and use it much like an original NES controller: D-pad plus A and B button. Easy peasy.
In another 3 vs. 1 game the single player must control a jumprope whilst the other three flick the controller up to jump. The jumprope player moves the wii-mote just like he/she were trying out for a double-dutch tournament. The speed of the rope can be varied and the goal is for the single player to knock out all the others. The controls do exactly what you expect them to most of the time.
Now for the gripes.
The mechanics of the game (with the exception of Wii-mote controls) have not changed. At all. In 10 years. Now, I guess that since I am having fun with the game I shouldn’t complain much. However, you’d think that in a decade Nintendo could come up with something new. Run around the board. Collect coins. Collect stars. Play a minigame. Repeat. You’d have to be a masochist to endure an entire 50 turn game. Imagine playing Monopoly for 2-5 hours, only after every round everyone runs outside and jumps rope, shoots snowballs at each other, drops bombs on each other, and/or skateboards away from a hovercraft mounted madman. Actually, that sounds pretty fun. Even this isn’t much of a downfall, though. The Mario Party formula (boardgame + minigame + 4 people - self restraint = a pretty fun time) has been the goto paradigm for a tenth of a century, so who am I to criticize. Especially when I’m having so much fun with it.
But fun or not, the game’s new emcee creeps me out. He has big googly eyes on top of his hat, he peddles candy, and the only recognizable words he can say are, “Over here!” I think maybe this guy is some kind of evil muppet kiddie kidnapper! Why would they replace Toad with this guy? The only bad things you could really accuse Toad of were: being slightly effeminate and having a voice that drilled a hole in your brain. At least he didn’t steal your children and laugh maniacally.
As usual with a party game, there’s not much here in the way of single player action. You can have a boardgame face-off with a computer opponent, but you don’t get to play minigames and (par for the course with Mario Party) the computer difficulty is hard.
You can select medium. You can even pick easy. It won’t matter. It will still be Viagra hard.
There’s also an “extras” section that contains minigames not seen in the Party section. Bowling happens to be one of these. “Whee! I love Wii Bowling, I bet this’ll be just like it!” Nope. It’s not. The controls don’t make any sense. Supposedly you swing like you do in Wii Sports Bowling, but no matter how you turn and twist your wrist you won’t know what the ball is going to do until it’s on the lane. In two words: It sucks. But most of the other “extra” games aren’t bad at all and you can puchase more by spending the cards you receive for playing the Party portion of the game.
So, should you buy Mario Party 8? Sure - if you’ve got at least one other person to play with. If you don’t, I’d say buy WarioWare: Smooth Moves instead; It has more to offer in single-player mode than MP8. If you consistently have a need for a party game, MP8 is the one. The minigame action is usually quick and fast-paced, the board game makes for some crazy competiveness amongst friends and there is definitely enough content to keep a group busy for a while.
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