Mario Party 8

"Single Player: 2/10 -- Multiplayer: 8/10... Don't go into this alone!"

This game had been highly anticipated by many. It was a master of minigames in the past and really brought the party genre to competitive level in the gaming industry. With its debut on the Wii, it had a lot to accomplish. The most important, most difficult things to accomplish, it did quite well. However, nothing can be perfect, and there are plenty of imperfections to blemish this game away from superstardom.

Graphics: 7/10

We'll start out with the least important of the bunch. As far as I'm concerned, if the graphics do not hinder gameplay (make things difficult to see what you're doing), they have done their job. If they enhance gameplay (make it more enjoyable), they are a bonus. Mario Party 8 has graphics that perfectly fit the style of game. Though they are not much better than Gamecube graphics, they are still bright and colorful to allow you to enjoy the animated faces of the characters everyone has loved for so long (except Daisy... I can't stand Daisy...). This section loses points for its lack of widescreen support. Even Wii Sports had widescreen support. At this day and age, a lack of 16:9 settings without useless borders is unacceptable.

Sound: 7/10

Another somewhat unimportant part of a game, but if it's bad, it can really bring a game down (ever played Bully?). The music is not bad, but it is very forgettable. At least I can't recall it ever getting annoying. The character voices aren't bad. Some are a bit ridiculous ("Neato!" and "Wawawawawawa yow!" to quote my least favorite of the bunch mentioned above). You can unlock the music and voices to be played back in a soundboard in the "Fun Bazaar." Not that anyone ever uses those... but anyway. It's not bad, but it could have been more memorable.

Boards: 5/10

The boards in this game have taken a turn for the worse from previous games. They tried to become more innovative, but it didn't work out in several cases. The Donkey Kong board is very similar to previous boards, but lacks depth somewhat. The Goomba Boardwalk is completely straight, but is very difficult to travel all the way across because of the many pitfalls you are likely to land on along the way. The Boo's Haunted House is interesting, but adds to the luck factor without knowing where you are going. Shy Guy's Perplex Express is a straight train that you can travel on top of and inside of. The conductor changes from giving to taking a star and the cars occasionally switch around in a predictable manner. This one gets more annoying than it is fun. The Koopa's Tycoon Town saved the boards from being a complete failure. Here, you invest money into hotels to get stars. You can steal them from other players by investing more, and at different total amounts, they become 2 or 3 star hotels. This board is BY FAR the most fun that there is in this game. The Bowser board is, unfortunately, dull, and not really worth the time to unlock.

Minigames: 9/10

The minigames make excellent use of the Wii remote. You will quickly pick favorites, and there are few games that I absolutely despise (though they are on there). In general, this is by far the best part of the game. Games were very innovative, and are fun to play again and again. There is a wide variety, so have fun with them. Unfortunately, several of them are only unlockable in the dreaded single player mode...

Single Player: 2/10

This was someone's pitch to the production team before it was accepted and placed into this game. "Alright guys, lets remove minigames, and make it entirely based on luck! Make the outcome of this game be almost entirely unaffected by the skill of the player. Instead, we'll put the player through mindless torture of hitting dice until someone lands on a versus space, and then we'll implement luck to see out that versus space affects the coin exchange!" That's right, you heard correctly. You're 3 year old little brother has about as good of a chance of beating this as you do. It is incredibly annoying to win every minigame, but still roll the worst possible rolls EVERY ROUND and watch the computer player get luckier than you every time. No one would ever want to play this garbage of a mode if not for the unlockables only obtained by beating it (2 characters and a board). Please, for your own sake, force your little brother to beat it while you reap the benefits of his torture (the unlockables at the end). I've never been so frustrated with a game before single player of Mario Party 8. It doesn't get much worse than this folks.

Multiplayer: 8/10

This mode is quite good and worth playing. Expect a similar experience to past Mario Parties. Unfortunately luck has been made more prevalent than ever before. It seems to be the general consensus that this game is partially rigged in favor of the AI. An experienced Mario Party veteran can and will lose to a set of Easy computers once in a while. Even some of the minigames are based on pure luck, and this gets very tiresome. In one move, another player can completely decimate your stars and coins. Your skill at this game does not matter any longer, and this is the worst that they could have done to the series. Aside from the horrible luck factor, multiplayer with your friends is still quite enjoyable, and allows you to play with your less experienced friends and lose to them (this, however, gives you more people to play with than normal).

Unlockables: 7/10

Unlockable extra minigames are pretty good for the most part, and the very hard mode is a nice treat along with the two cool characters and slightly dull board. Unfortunately, you have to suffer through single player TWICE to unlock everything. There are also a number of rather stupid trophies to unlock once everything else is already unlocked, so you've got plenty to spend your extra "cards" on that you've obtained from your playthroughs.

Pros
-excellent minigames
-good characters
-some interesting "extra" minigames
-Koopa's Tycoon Town Board

Cons
-huge over-inflated luck factor on board-play
-absolutely abysmal single player mode
-annoying host that says the same things every time
-no widescreen support

Overall (not an average): 6/10

Don't take the score too literally. This is for the game as a whole, which include single player. If you've got friends and just want to play multiplayer and enjoy the minigames, you'll have a blast for a long time. If you're like me and like to unlock everything, you'll have to suffer through the torture brought on by single-player mode.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 06/06/07