This Review may seem very outdated. After all, Mario Party 4 was released at least seven months ago, and
Mario Party 5 is coming up soon. However, perhaps part of the reason this is so late is because Mario Party 4 was only able to finally get me to play it often now, as it never hooked me back in October, when I got this
game. This is the first Mario Party game on the GameCube, and the fourth edition of the wildly successful Mario Party series, which, like Super Mario Kart, developed a genre in itself. And let's be honest... with the GameCube's increased power and better graphics, how could Mario Party 4 go wrong? Wait a minute... I'm sure I've said something like that about another Mario game for the GameCube before. However, before you think I'm about to completely hate Mario Party 4, there is a little twist that makes this Review worth reading.
I have to say this... this Review is
rated on a scale of zero to four stars. This is also a Mario game, and
Mario games have historically done
well in my Reviews.
Graphics: **
The graphics are not overly impressive
for the GameCube. No, they're not bad. In fact, the Whomps
underneath Thwomp's game boards are
absolutely fascinating to watch, and the best spectacle in this
game when it comes to graphics. But
then you'll look at the characters, the boards, the mini-game areas,
and the balloons, and you'll discover
that this game is not impressive graphically. It's not like they're
horrible graphics (think Animal Crossing),
but they could be better.
Sound: 1/2
Ugh. This is a mixture of horrible voices
and subpar music. I'll start with the worst: the voice acting is
absolutely terrible. What happened
to Daisy's voice from Mario Tennis (N64)? She sounded great back then.
Now her voice is awful. Since she's
my favorite character, that terrible voice has to be heard constantly.
Peach's voice is bad, too, but Peach has always been annoying, so this
is expected. As for Toad, well, let's just say that even the Mario Kart
64 Toad sounded great compared to this Toad's voice. This Toad's voice
more annoying than any other Toad's voice, and that's bad, considering
Toad has always sounded annoying.
The music isn't that great either. Mario
Party (1) produced some of the best music we've ever heard in a
videogame (think Eternal Star, Mario's
Rainbow Castle, Wario's Battle Canyon for starters). Mario Party 2 had
quite a bit of catchy music, and Mario Party 3 had some good ones as well.
This game doesn't live up to the expectations produced by its predecessors.
A few tunes are all right, like the choosing a character and board in Party
Mode/Story Mode, but most aren't really that catchy.
The sound effects are still pretty good,
being the one shining part of the music of this game. Chomp's
barking, Thwomp's "Oor"-ing, Whomp's
"Oor-oor"-ing, and Koopa (Troopa)'s "Bibble bibble"-ing are
reproduced well, and Yoshi's celebration
after winning a board is a sound I've never heard before, which
actually sounds pretty good. However,
the sound effects really don't make up much for the rest of the
sound troubles in this game, meriting
only half a star.
Characters: ***1/2
Daisy, Waluigi, Wario, Yoshi, and Donkey
Kong highlight the playable characters, which are a pretty good selection,
like in Mario Party 3 (and I can't say much bad about Luigi, either). Plus,
there are lots of
appearances by Goomba, Koopa (Troopa),
Boo, and Shy Guy, which are good old NES minions who made a return appearance
in this game. My complaints? Bowser Jr. is in this game. I can't stand
this "one of the Koopa Kids", and although I don't ever expect the Koopalings
to appear in a non-remake (or as a little highlight of Mario's career from
FLUDD), this replacement for the Koopalings is certainly one of my least-favorite
videogame characters (Bowser Jr., go join Sonic, Young Link, and Peach
before the Bullet Bill firing squad, please!). By the way, why is it "Koopa"?
Why not "Koopa Troopa", his real name? I thought Bowser was a Koopa too...
anyway, that's very minor.
Difficulty: *
This game really isn't that difficult,
though I have played on Easy, so maybe I'd be frustrated on other modes.
Still, that includes how difficult mini-games are period, not just against
computers. Most games are
incredibly simple; so many of them
are stuff like L-R-L-R (or A-B-A-B), or A-A-A-A, or even AB-AB-AB-AB. This
button-mashing is fun in some ways, but really, how fun is it if that's
all it takes to win? Then, of course, this game has the incredibly difficult
Right Oar Left? mini-game, which I've actually gotten stuck in and was
unable to move and finish the race. Overall, the game is quite easy, and
most of the mini-games are a little too simple for me (so simple, in fact,
that I lose more often because they allow other not-as-good players to
have a better chance of winning).
Controls: ***1/2
The controls are very easy to use. With
more buttons, you'd think Mario Party would get too complex, but
these extra buttons were just used
to make those button combo games harder (like the one where the
Lakitu drops the Cheep Cheep into your
huge cup of water). The only thing I can complain about is the
fact that the controls don't seem too
responsive on the boards themselves... but there's more on that
later.
Boards: *
The boards are way too luck-oriented.
That banana thing on Koopa (Troopa)'s board, the spinning teacups
on Toad's board, the roulette wheel
and the dice contest on Goomba's board, that Shy Guy crying on Shy
Guy's board... you get the picture.
There's tons of luck stuff, and strategy plays a lot less into your gameplan.
It's too bad... back in the Mario Party 2 days, I remember you'd get that
Skeleton Key and then be purposely going left instead of right in order
to make it through the gate so I could get to the Star (not a real example,
but you get the idea)... but now it's just "I hope I get a 10 to beat Goomba's
9!" There aren't any fun things like banks anymore (although Koopa [Troopa]'s
Koopa Kabana is very much like one). Also, there seems to be a little time
lag between you hitting the A button and your player hitting the block,
which is really annoying to me. The boards don't match up to the much more
varied and exciting boards from the other Mario Parties, and that's basically
where the one-star rating comes from.
Mini-Games: **
These are the heart of this game, and
let's start with the good. Dungeon Duos may just very well be the best
mini-game ever. It combines many of
this game's mini-games into one, as well as having some 3D platforming
action, some guessing, and a lot of teamwork needed. It ranks up there
with Shell Shocked and Destruction Duet as the best mini-games ever. Hats
off to Hudson for this one!
Now, the bad. Most mini-games, as I
said before, are very simple, requiring only fast fingers (remember the
N64 days when you'd have to actually
use a little bit of strategy to win?). This is an incredible disappointment,
especially considering there are only 50 mini-games (less than both Mario
Party 2 and 3).
The ugly? Let's go with Bowser's Bigger
Blast and Right Oar Left?. Bowser's Bigger Blast brings back an
all-luck game with tons of coins on
the game (sometimes the entire game's on the line). Right Oar Left? has
gotten me actually stuck and unable to get out of the cave once. These
mini-games aren't too great, nor are they any real fun either.
Overall, the mini-games are all right,
though they could be better. I'm going to give this category a
generous two stars.
Items: no stars
This is the watermark of Mario Party
4, the thing that stops it from being just as fun as the first three. Mario
Party (1) may have had no items, but its awesome boards made up for it
(you have to admit, its boards were advanced for the game's time). There
are way too many Mushrooms here, and both Mushrooms have lots of cons to
them. The Mega Mushroom takes away the best part of the old Mushrooms,
which was being able to pass someone up and get to the Star. Now, you'll
pass up the Star as well as the others, because you don't
participate in board events. The Mini
Mushroom makes you crawl, and it's only useful in a couple of rare
locations (remember the Skeleton Key?).
Sure, sometimes it's necessary to have it for a Star but most of the time
you'll actually end up coming up short of the gate, or you'll pass it up
before getting to use your Mini Mushroom. So, in reality, the Mini Mushroom
is less useful than the Skeleton Key. And I thought it couldn't be done!
Then you've got the case of the Gaddlight.
I've noticed that players hardly ever get to Boo to steal coins. That means
it saves you maybe 22 coins at max, but you're paying 10 for it anyway.
That's kind of useless. The Boo Crystal Ball costs 15, and with it costing
5 to steal coins, you may make 2 coins out of the transaction. Great. Sure,
you could steal a Star, but you'd have to have a ton of money to do so,
and
badly placed Bowser spaces make sure
you can't get that much money.
Let's keep going... how about the pitiful Sparky Sticker? You pay 15 coins in order that someone else could lose 10 coins. At best, you lose 5 coins in relation to that player, but still lose 15 coins in relation to the other two players. Don't ever buy the Sparky Sticker. Hudson must either be really stupid, or they wanted to make people think.
The Warp Pipe's always stunk, and the
Item Switch thing is random as well. Now maybe some of these items
were in the other Mario Parties, but
remember that those items could be won in Item Mini-Games quite
easily. The only Item Mini-Game that
exists is accessible only by using a Mini Mushroom, and even
then, it's completely random and you'll
probably just get another Mini Mushroom (as my sister and I have all
three times we've played it).
I figured the Mushrooms would be a problem
for this game, and they definitely are. You get too many of
them, and they're not especially useful.
Only the Magic Lamp is especially useful in this game, while the rest stink
in one way or another. These items hurt the board gameplay a lot, and they
ensure Mario Party 4 being less than all of the N64 Mario Party trilogy.
Story Mode: *1/2
Ho-hum. Sure, this is the big thing
of this game, but I've never enjoyed playing against computers and no
live opponents. I may win, but it's
quite a bit of boredom. I nearly fell asleep the first time I played Story
Mode, and I had to save and quit. It's boring. It's not like it's a terrible
mode, and it still has lots of good factors to it, but it's not as fun
as playing against live opponents.
Extra Room: ***
This was a nice change of pace in this
game. There are some fun one-player challenges, and the four-player
games aren't bad either. This isn't
an absolutely awesome mode, mainly because the multiplayer part of it isn't
that great, but in all honesty, some of those one-player games were really
good. This was a good addition to this game, and two of my favorites (Thwomp
and Whomp) were there. Good call!
Replayability: ***
And just when Mario Party 4 is about
to fall apart, I remember that this game has multiplayer fun and quite
a few mini-games. This game still can
be played quite a bit, which means it has enough replay value to merit
it quite a few more plays than most
other games which are poor sequels to good series. Sure, this game does
not have that many mini-games compared to MP2 and MP3, but it has enough
to keep me busy. That saves this game from being a Super Mario Sunshine-like
waste.
Fun Factor!: **1/2
Mario Party 4 is not nearly as fun as the first three Mario Parties, but it's still a Mario Party, and that still means fun. Some mini-games are fun when winning, and some are fun when losing, like when someone blows a match on purpose (to hurt a computer player) or just plain can't win and makes it hilarious-looking. The board gameplay is not too fun, and most mini-games are too simple, and that takes away a lot of the fun, but it still is fun enough to merit a positive rating.
OVERALL: **
Most of the time, when I'd say what
I said in most of the other sections, the game would get a low rating.
However, the replayability and fun
factor end up getting this game an average rating, meaning that Mario Party
4 was not a complete waste. In fact, Mario Party 4 did have its ups; it
just was a disappointment compared to the rest of the series. I can best
compare it to the Phantom Menace compared to the rest of the Star Wars
series. It wasn't completely horrible, but it wasn't that great compared
to the rest of the
series. It's not worth $50, but I wouldn't
mind paying $30 or less for it. Not bad, but certainly a big
disappointment. Let's get it turned
around in Mario Party 5!
| If you would like to send some feedback
to the author of this submission, please complete this form.
What's your name?
What's your Email address?
How do you rate this submission?
Does this submission belong in Little
Lemmy's Land?
Would you like to see more from this author? Comments and suggestions:
|
