Mario Party was great. Mario Party 2 was awesome. Mario Party 3 was still good. Mario Party 4... well, the verdict is still to come. Those were all on consoles, all having to do with 4-player mini-games, board game strategy, item-buying, and more. Mario Party-e is a lot different from those games. It's on the Game Boy Advance, using the e-Reader, and there isn't any simultaneous play. All 11 mini-games are either 1-player games or 2-player alternating games. The biggest difference, however, between Mario Party-e and the other Mario Parties, is that the game actually doesn't take place on a video game, but on a playmat. It's part video game, part board game, and part card game. It's also very interesting... as you'll soon see.
This game is based on a 0-4 star scale,
as always. This Review will also be broken up into two sections:
Video Game and Board Game, with the
Characters, Replayability, Fun Factor!, and OVERALL scores applying to
the game on the whole.
Video Game
Graphics: *
I guess you shouldn't expect much. These
are games that usually will take place within one minute, and
you're not looking to see how detailed
the backgrounds are, nor how well the characters look. Graphics play a
very little part in this game, in fact, so small that they don't matter
whatsoever. They aren't very good, but I don't care.
Sound: *
Again, this is another category that is rather miniscule when it comes to this entire game. Only one song is really any good; that song is from Waluigi's Bluff, as it sounds very similar to Star Wars: A New Hope's Cantina Band song ("a wretched hive of scum and villainy"). All of the rest of the songs really aren't that great, but again, they don't matter, and I don't care.
Controls: ***1/2
The controls are simple and easy. Maybe
they're a little confusing in Big Boo's Haunt (it says press A or B repeatedly,
but that misleads you to press those buttons back and forth, instead of
just pressing one
repeatedly), but they're fine on the
whole.
Gameplay: This will be separated into each game's gameplay, not just one score on the whole.
Balloon Burst: ***
This one's got some strategy to it.
You hold down A to blow up a Wario balloon. Once you let go, then the
other person holds A to continue to
blow it up. You want to get the other person to pop the balloon. This requires
some strategy and a little bit of luck.
Bolt from Boo: ***
This one's very interesting. It's one I can't beat at all, for some reason. If Mario stops, Boo moves backward, but if Mario runs, Boo chases him (and Boo's much faster than Mario). Mario needs to make it to the door, and the faster, the better. However, you can't get caught. You basically must start to run, then let go just as Big Boo's about to get you (but don't wait for the ! to appear over Mario's head; usually you'll need to stop earlier). From the very fact that I can't win at this game, it's got to be a little more of a challenge than most others, and it's got a little more strategy involved than just speed (do you let Big Boo crawl back before you even start to run, or do you start running right away). I think this is a pretty high-quality game, despite its simplicity.
Cast Away Mario!: 1/2
I hate this game. You must let go of your line and hope to catch the right fish (that Peach calls for), and this requires impeccable timing or you'll never nab the correct fish (especially if it's the third from the top). It says "Press A" on the screen at certain times, but I've tried pressing it when it says to, and I still don't catch it. I don't get it.
Daisy's Rodeo: *1/2
This is a harder version of Sushie's
Tidal Wave from Paper Mario. You've got to hit the B, L, or R Button,
when each appears on the screen, and
hope to do this continually for ten seconds. If you miss two buttons in
a row, you lose. I've only won this game a couple of times. It's not as
easy as you think.
Fast Feed Yoshi!: *
This is all luck. You get three tries to get two coins. There are coins, Shy Guys, and rare double coins, which give you an automatic win. Your chances of winning are about 50/50, despite the double coin, because there are more Shy Guys than coins. You have no control over what you get, as the items move around too fast to judge which one you're about to get.
Lakitu's Luck: **
A little better than Fast Feed Yoshi!, this game's roulette can be controlled, in a way. If you're one space away from a good thing when the roulette stops, don't hit A at all. If you're two spaces away from a good thing (or one space away from something bad), then pound A repeatedly, as fast as you can.
Mario's Mallet: **1/2
This game is all about reflexes. First
hit A to see how many Goombas you need to hit, then you'll need to
smash them with A as they come out
of the pipe. You'll have about a second to do so, before they get Peach,
but look out for Luigi! Smash him, game over.
Spinister Bowser: **
This is identical to Lakitu's Luck in
gameplay, though the choices on the wheel mainly have to do with
wreaking havoc on everyone, not gaining
anything.
Time Bomb Ticks!: ***
This game's a lot of fun, though maybe
it's more fun to me because I've never lost at it before. You hit
switches with A, starting with 01 and
going to 16. This just requires quick movement and good spotting of
the numbers in order. It's easy, in
my opinion, because the first 9 numbers start with 0, then the last 7 start
with 1. It's a cinch, maybe a little too easy to get an excellent rating.
Waluigi's Reign: ***1/2
This is like Hammer from the Game &
Watch series (Game & Watch Gallery 2), but a little different: collect
coins as they fall from the pipes,
but don't get hit by the hammers. Red coins are worth five coins (Nintendo
should have made those coins blue,
not red, in order to stay consistent with Super Mario 64). It's actually
a very exciting game because one red coin can change the result of it (getting
hit by a hammer early on is killer).
Wario's Bluff: ****
This is the best game of all. It may
sound simple, but it's very exciting and sometimes comes down to one
foot. You hit A to accelerate, B to
brake. I think it's a 2000-foot course, and you want to get as close to
the edge of the cliff without falling off (my record is nine feet). The
best way to do this is to hit A, then let go, then hit A, let go, and continue
on with this pattern until you get near the edge, where you'll slam the
B button, in order not to fall off. It's important not to fall off when
playing against someone else, because if you're going first, they can simply
tap A, then hold down B, and win, even if they're over 1900 feet from the
edge (sort of like if you overbid on The Price is Right). It's better to
put the pressure on them, and maybe they'll slip up and fall off, even
if your length from the edge wasn't that small.
Board Game
Concept: ***1/2
I really like the idea. You start out
with five cards, take one at the beginning of each turn, then use one before
your turn ends. You have to put three different Item cards "in-play", then
put a Superstar card "in-play" to win. In order to put an Item card "in-play",
you must first put two coins "in-play", then spend them. There are lots
of cards that enable you to steal coins or steal items, and also cards
that let you block opponents from stealing coins or stealing items (though
they don't work on a duel). There are duel cards that let you play against
an opponent in a mini-game on the GBA via the e-Reader. There are "Free
Challenge" cards which give you a choice:
either pay the amount of coins on the card and you may do what it
says on the card, or, only if you do not have enough coins to use the card,
you may do a "Free Challenge"
on the GBA via the e-Reader. If you
win, you get to do what it says on the card. Finally, there are lots of
other various cards which let you do
all sorts of crazy things. It's a lot of fun, but if you don't have a GBA
and an e-Reader (and have to flip coins for duels), the fun of the game
is really taken away.
GBA and e-Reader Connection: ***1/2
Without the GBA and e-Reader, this game
is an average board game because those challenges really change things
up. Someone can get lucky and win coin tosses, but playing Wario's Bluff
with an Item card on the line is a lot more fun than that. The only fault
here? Not enough mini-games. I know they probably
wanted to keep this game to only 64
cards, but if this game was made larger, with more mini-games and other
things, it could have been excellent.
The Game on the Whole
Characters: ***1/2
Good old Mario characters. True, there's not enough of Daisy or Donkey Kong, but Koopa Troopa's here, Shy Guy's here, and Bowser is here. That's enough to make this score high.
Replayability: ***1/2
I am happy with the amount of replayability you can get out of this game, because like the Mario Party games, it's a different game every time.
Fun Factor!: ***
All board games have their limits. No
board game is perfectly fun. Even my personal favorites of Monopoly
and UNO Wild Tiles have their limits
(and my ancient Super Mario Bros. board game? Well, let's just say
that the people who made that are pretty
dumb...). There aren't enough mini-games to make this excellently exciting,
and it can get boring after a while. But on the whole, this game's pretty
fun, but only with the GBA and e-Reader.
OVERALL: ***
This game is a complete surprise to
me. I've suffered through lemons in Mario Party 4, Metroid Prime, and
Super Mario Sunshine, all of which
were critically acclaimed. This game, which no one seems to have, is
actually pretty fun. I found a gem
for only $10, which is pretty amazing to me. Okay, so it's not a ruby,
a
sapphire, or a diamond. But it's at
least something for me to use my Game Boy Advance for. Do not, and I
repeat, DO NOT get this game if you
don't have a GBA and e-Reader. Flipping coins doesn't quite measure up
to the unpredictability and challenge of playing mini-games (think of it
as Mario Party with hitting
Dice Blocks and trying to get the highest
number as mini-games). With the GBA and e-Reader, it's worth
getting. If you thought Mario Party
4 was a little sour, try Mario Party-e. It's something that can remind
you of the old days of Mario Party cut-throat play. Even if you don't like
Mario Party that much but have an e-Reader, I suggest you get this because
this is only $10 and the best thing available on the e-Reader right now
(Donkey Kong Jr. is a very distant second). It's fun, it's competitive,
and for sports fans, it's something to do until March Madness and baseball
season. Unless, of course, you're like me and still addicted to last summer's
NCAA Football 2003...
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