"Those of you looking for an enchanting single player game, stay away"

Mario Party is the most recent game in my memory that relies so heavily on multiplayer interaction, enough to actually crowd out the single player. The score of "7" in the title is a reflection of whether or not yo are playing with your friends. If yes, add a point if no subtract a point. Keep all of this in mind as we proceed.

The gameplay section:

The bulk of the Mario party games. There are two modes that I found to be the most attracting of them all. The first of these was the board games themeselves. In these, characters walk around boards and the ultimate goal is to collect stars and win the game by getting the most stars. Simple enough. This is playedd in the exact same way as the other Mario Parties, you hit a dice block (This time by flicking your remote upwards) and go around the board collecting coins and items. You can use the coins in a multide of ways, the most important being that you can buy a star with them. That's basically it and it seems too plain to be of any value as a game. Not quite, at the end of the turn after all the characters have rolled their dice blocks and moved their designated amount of spaces the turn doesn't come to an end. Instead a spinner appears with which you can see the minigame you will be playing. Yes, that's it. A minigame. When the sppinner stops you will see the rules and control of the game after which you can play the minigame. The rules vary drastically, some involve you turning your remote sideways to fly a airplane while the others might require you to run to the finish line while punching and jumping on the other characters. After beating one of these modes you get some coins and the next turn appears. You just keep playing until the end of the turns after which some bonus stars are awarded ( These depend on the things you did during the board game such as shopping.) The other mode that I wanted to talk about is just the minigame mode, one where you can play any minigame you've encountered previously through your trek of the board. And that's pretty much it for the gameplay, entertaining and yet shallow.

Sound

The sounds of the stages really do suit the themes, such as an island stand might have a tropical theme while a haunted stage might have a spooooky theme playing in the background. It won't matter much as you are probably not going to be paying any attention to the music and will instead be talking with your friends.

Graphics

Look guys, I'll be honest with you- these are gamecube graphics, nothing you haven't seen before. I can vouch that I barely saw a difference between this and Mario Party 7. They are good graphics, but they are also the same as what you've been used to for a long time. Don't expect any miracle breakthroughs here.

Replay Value and Buy or Rent

It has great replay value seeing as how it is based upon the idea of fun little short minigames. The desicion of whether or not to buy it is a tough one. If you have friends over at least once every two weeks then buy it, if not then you might as well not even bother as the CPUs leave much to be desired.

Final Score 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/14/07