Mario Party 4

"Party comes to last!!"

Introduction

Mario Party 4 is a cool, hilarious, alternate game from the usual Mario series. You must win a board game, either alone or in a team, by getting stars and coins. But as all board games, Mario Party 4, also has a few surprises, wild cards, special events, items, treachery and MANY more!!

Gameplay----9

Controls are really easy to learn, mostly button mashing, alternate button pressing, or in some games, simply moving is all you have to do. Mario Party keeps it simple.
In Party Mode, you get to choose one of the different boards, each with its own character (such as Boo, Shy Guy, etc), choose the number of turns, your character (Mario, Luigi and the rest of the team ^.^), handicap and other stuff and... you are ready to play! This mode is the ''original brand'' of Mario Party.
In Story Mode, its the 1 player mode of the ''Party Mode''. Not the best mode, because the CPU are kinda dumb in some games. In this game mode, you must get 8 trophies for each of the characters. That makes 48 trophies in total.
Mini-Game Mode and Extra Mode are like the ''bonus track''. In the first one, you can play the mini games without having to play a board game. The second one has some different mini games, some of them exclusively for single player.
It would be an insult if I didn't talk about the mini games. There are 5 types of mini game: 1 vs 1 vs 1 vs 1, 2 vs 2, 1 vs 3, Battle mini games and finally Bowser mini games. They are so fun all of them... From ''Booksquirm'', to ''The Long Claw of the Law'' (except for one that is like tetris which was kinda boring). They are really different, which is a good thing. This boosted the above score WAY up.
Also, some items are really lame, making you get to the star in 1 turn (genie lamp), while others are kinda useless. Guess it was made to be like this.

Story----no score

I don't know why people bother with a story in this kind of games. Mario Party doesn't need a story because of its gameplay style. Many people think there should be a story but they aren't complaining at Super Smash Brother Melee not having one. This game has no story because it doesn't need one. Also, the fact the games lacks of a story makes it REALLY GOOD!! (more of this below)

Sound----4

This is one of the weakest points in the game. Sounds are kinda not needed and they are sometimes truly annoying. I cant remember the music of any of the boards nor mini-games, which is not a good thing because the good music gets into your memory. (Believe me or not, but I remember most of the music in Final Fantasy 3 for Gameboy, so go figure). You will just put the TV to mute and put on your Winamp or audio to compensate.

Graphics----8

They could be a bit better but they are not bad. Lets remember this game main focus ain't graphics. They don't look bad and I haven't been amazed by them, but I also haven't been disappointed. Also, stop to think... would you enjoy it more of it had better graphics?? Personally, NO.

Replayability----10

You wont get tired of playing this game, you will always will find time in your Sunday to play at least one match with your brother of sister.
The fact it has no story, makes it almost impossible for you not to replay it.
If you are a maniac and play this 8 hours a day, you will get bored eventually because you will be able to do every mini game with your eyes shut. This isn't a game you play all the time and don't get bored, like Zelda.

Old Timer (6) or New Cadet (10)??

It is VERY important in the final score, if this is your first Mario Party. If it is your first, everything will be fresh. If it ain't, you will find some stuff old and start to think you have bought the same game twice.

Rent or Buy

Definitively buy, you will not regret it if it is your first one.
Rent first if you own another one... Don't say I didn't warn you!!

Final Score

Soooo we have an original type of game, which is fun to play with friends (the more the merrier), good graphics, easy to learn gameplay, outstanding replayability, mediocre sound and TONS of healthy fun. It all boils down, if this is your first Mario Party:

Gameplay: 9
Story: -
Sound: 4
Graphics: 8
Replayability: 10
New to it?: 10 (yes) or 6 (no)

Final score (new to it): 8
Final score (old to it): 6

As I am new to it, I have put the 8 as a final score. Its my review and I have to put MY opinion in it, ain't that right??? ^.^

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/28/04