Mario Party 8

"Lovely addition to the Mario Party series"

My friends and I are what you might call "Mario Party Junkies." Many days are spent in front of the television, playing a rousing game of Mario Party. It's what we do, and it's great fun. Personally, I've been a fan of the series ever since the original for the Nintendo 64. Seven games later, and we've come to the most recent addition to the series, Mario Party 8.

STORY - 5/10
As with the rest of the Mario Parties, this game doesn't offer much in terms of story. Basically, the gang from the Mushroom Kingdom go through various games to see who is worthy of the Star Rod. There are cute references to other Mario-related video games, such as the host of the game being from Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door. It's just a neat little nugget for longtime fans of the series. Bowser, of course, is up to his old tricks again, and uses his minions Blooper and Hammer Bro instead of that God-awful Koopa Kid (good riddance, I say!). I love Bloopers, so it was a nice little treat to have more playable characters this time around. Oddly, I always have to change who my character is for every Mario Party. Originally, I was Peach, until my best friend claimed her and I had to revert to Donkey Kong, and then later Toad during Mario Party 5 and even later to Birdo in Mario Party 7. Now, there's Blooper... but I'll never argue against adding more characters to these games.

GRAPHICS - 9/10
Honestly, I was very impressed with the graphics in this game. The style from the Gamecube games have been tweaked quite a bit, and Mario Party 8 sort of offers a style of its own. Most notable is the Koopa Town map, which has all sorts of items buzzing around it but retains a crisp, clear picture. Many of the mini-games also have great graphics.

SOUND - 8/10
Everything to be expected is there in terms of sound. However, one thing I both like and dislike is the change of several voices. Peach and Toad are completely different voice actors altogether, not that it's bad. Peach's voice sounds much better, in my opinion. She sounds a little bit more enthusiastic and less obnoxiously high-pitched. Toad, on the other hand, sounds like Huey, Dewey, and Louie. The rest of the voices are pretty much the same (though I never expected Hammer Bro to sound like that). A lot of the music tracks are quite catchy, especially the DK Jungle map. It all adds on to a great Mario Party experience.

GAMEPLAY - 10/10
This is where the game really shines. While the sixth and seventh game utilized the Gamecube's microphone, this game definitely takes advantage of the Wii remote. However, there are quite a lot of games that require you to turn the remote sideways (in classic controller style). That's not a bad thing at all, though. There are only so many hand movements you can do with the Wii remote. There are also quite a few nick-nacks to explore in the game, just various minigames and places to explore.

REPLAY VALUE - 10/10
Definitely worth replaying with different friends, or even the same. Some of the mini-games aren't really spectacular, but a lot are, and this is a great way to kill some time, especially for long-time Mario Party fans.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/31/07