"Everything you know from the old games, scrap it"

Mario Party on the Wii, you would think this would be a good game, and it is. However, there are flaws in this game that make it worse than most of the older Mario Parties.

Story:
Let's face it, there is never any real story in a Mario Party game, they just slap some background and tell you to go to all the boards and beat someone in a party, nothing special.

Score: N/A

Music:
Okay, so Mario Party was never really famous for its music right? There is nothing bad about this music in this game, it adds a nice touch to all the levels and they got the music right for them all. So that's a plus, I just prefer to listen to my own music while playing, it makes the game more fun and less repetitive. Oh, and don't buy the thing that has to do with voices…you'll regret it.

Score: 7/10

Controls:
Mario Party on the Wii! What comes to mind about this? Mini-games with motion control! Too bad only about half the games actually require you to move the Wii-mote, and about half of those is just titling it left and right. You would think more games would have motion control, and a lot of it, but they don't. And I still don't get why only one game out of the bunch uses the nun chuck. Did they not have enough ideas?

Score: 5/10

Graphics: Hey, the graphics are pretty good in this game! It looks really realistic and everything. Too bad it gives it a bad feel to the game. Really, the characters just plain look weird in this game. In the old games, it looks fake and cartoon like, and those are some of the better ones. The graphics look nice, but do we really want them to be this nice?

Score: 5/10

Gameplay:
Here is where things go a little bad. Party Mode, the mode we all love, has been changed a lot. It seems like it's a normal game at first, nothing changed from previous installments. But what happens when a mini-game starts? It's not longer a box with the game name(or ???'s if you don't have it yet)like it was in every other game, it's all of the games picture in a circle, and it randomly picks one. I quite frankly liked it when only three or four games could be picked in the old manner. You know how in the older games, you could get a duel game by landing on the same space as them or something, well in this game, that's been changed too. Now, you have to eat a candy, then run into someone, just to get a duel game. It makes them a lot less frequent, which I don't like. Speaking of duel games, why are half of them just 1 vs. 1 versions of other games? Anyway, you get to the final five turns, expecting something crazy to happen like stars are cheaper of 5 star spaces? Well it won't happen. They messed this up too. Now, coins just go on every space, and the person in 4th gets a duelo candy. That's all. Nothing crazy, nothing major. DK and Bowser, what happened to their mini-games? They are just thrown away. I would have loved to play a DK or Bowser themed mini-game with the wii-mote, but all they do is help and hurt you, respectively. But don't get me wrong, this game does have some good things in it.

Score: 3/10

Extras:
Ah, the extras of Mario Party 8. Like all Mario Party games, they have Mini-Game Mode, which has nothing wrong with it. Pick any mini-game you want, and play it. They even have games you can play that can be really fun, if you set the CPU on a higher difficulty. The Bazaar is a fun place, you can buy mini-games you don't own, which is good if you have the hardest time getting that last mini-game which never gets picked. You can buy sounds, and souvenirs. It's a really fun place. If only things weren't so expensive, those cards are hard to get. The Extras Zone is a pretty fun place as well. You can even play as your Mii here! Just pick a character, and you can play 10(one must be bought) special mini-games which range from bowling to moped racing! It can actually be a fun mode, but can get boring fast.

Score: 6/10

Replay Value:
Despite everything they changed, it is still a pretty good game, and can be played many times, as long as you play is sparingly. It gives you a few options that you can choose so that it's not the same thing every time, so that makes it better, but it's not a game you'll be playing for hours on end.

Score: 5/10

Overall:
This game has it's flaws that make it worse then the rest of the Mario Party series, but it also has its better points. If you're a big Mario Party fan, you'll enjoy this game, but if you're not, then get another game and don't waste your time on this.

Overall Score:
5/10

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 07/18/08

Game Release: Mario Party 8 (US, 05/29/07)