Mario Party 4

"OK, who spiked the punch? Wariooo!"

You favorite plumber brothers are back and they’re ready to get down and party in Mario Party 4. But many of you might be asking, can Nintendo throw a good party? If you like playing board games, 4 player mini-games and the occasionally pinball, then the answer is yes.

The game starts off in the middle of a grassy field, all of a sudden; Mario and party are encountered by a huge ominous looking cloud. Frightened, not knowing what to do, Mario and party are paralyzed. All of a sudden, the cloud transforms into a giant party cube (well, they couldn’t call it game cube now could they) where they are greeted by who else but Toad (I swear that little fungus gets around more then the flu).

Gameplay - 8
When you start, you are presented with four game modes.

* Party Mode: you and up to four of you friends can go head to head challenging the game board and all the consequential mini-games that come with it. Story mode is like party mode but solo taking on three computer controlled opponents.
* Story Mode: like Party Mode but solo. It’s you again three computer controlled players
* Mini-game Mode: here you can play any or all of the mini-games you’ve unlocked. Unlocking these games is a simple process, just play them in either party or story modes.
* Extra Room: in the extra room you can play bonus boards. Boards found here are typically faster due to the fact that there are no mini-games. You can also play some bonus single player mini-games if you want.

The way this game is played is you presented with a game board and the character that you choose becomes your game piece. When you start the game, you’ll be given a number of coins to work with. Each turn you roll the dice and move the number of spaces, all spaces on the game board do something whether it’s adding 3 coins to your total, subtracting 3 or launching you into a mini-game. At the end of a round (win each player has had their turn) you’re automatically launched into a mini-game (unless you choose extra room). There are loads of mini-games in this game ranging from bizarre such as blowing up Bowser’s head to just plain silly like having a race to see who can trace a line the best. Mini-games very from free-for-all to three on one and they also very in complexity, though you wont be scratching your head to often. The pre-game instructions are well put in describing what the object is, and if you are uncertain, you can choose to practice the game before starting it.

The only drawback to this game is it takes to long to complete and the mini-games are far too frequent. I wish they would give us an option to turn mini-games off or select whether or not we want to play them when the time comes.

Off the main menu mixed in with all the modes, there is a room called the present room.
Here is a collection of all the presents you have won; it seems that it’s your birthday. With most of the presents being furniture and making you have to go through 15 or 20 rounds of agonizing mini-games, it’s a wonder anyone invites these guys to their birthday parties.

Don’t get me wrong, the mini-games can be fun, but not 20 to 30 of them within the course of an hour. An hour is a rough estimate; it can take longer to complete just one game.

The mini-games found in the extra room do seem to be more fun then the ordinary mini-games. Games like digging for oil where you have to dig for oil. Even a game where you an three others (either human or computer) are in a book. As the pages turn you have to find wholes in the page so that you don’t get squashed. The more pages get turned the faster the pages turn, the object of this game is to see long you can last.

Graphics - 10
These are simply gorgeous graphics. Once again the big N somehow manages to hide all noticeable evidence of polygons. This game is also well colored. Not as brightly colored as some first party games like Super Mario Sunshine but not as dark looking as Metroid Prime. Nonetheless, these colors are exact dead on; the nice pastel palette this game seems to follow is a nice change and makes this game look exquisite.

The menu subsystem is worthy of noting here. It’s obvious that a lot of time was dedicated to these alone. Even the options mode is extremely well done.

Sound - 9
All the effects you’ve come to know and love are here from Mario’s famous “Yahoo” to Donkey Kong’s well, whatever it is he does. They did a great job on the music even incorporating the classic boss music into the Bowser stages. The theme song is nice and less annoying then most Mario games. All in all, a great job, I wouldn’t change a thing.

Replay - 7
Unfortunately, this game does drag out for what seems forever with all the Mini-games. Fortunately, party mode allows you to control the number of rounds to play. Also, if you are sick of the mini-games, you and up to three friends can go into the extra room for some multiplayer action without the mini-games.

Closing Comments
This game is fun to play multiplayer, but single player this game throws in too many mini-games and is just too long to enjoy. Playing in the extra room will give you a taste of what this game would be like without mini-games.

Overall – 8.0

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/03/03, Updated 02/03/03