System: Nintendo DS
Rating: E
All categories are rated on a scale 1-10, with 1 being horrible and 10 being amazing.
Story: 9
The story is that Bowser is hosting
a party to apologize for being such a jerk. Mario and the crew buy into
it, and get trapped. Bowser then shrinks them and they set out to beat
Bowser and become big again. I think the shrinking part is really cool,
but I highly doubt that the Mario Gang would actually fall for that. But
hey, I like it. It’s much better than the previous Mario Parties.
Controls: 10
How can I argue? No flaws, all the
controls are simple and easy. The minigame controls are really easy to
understand. There is one small thing to bring up. To steer or shift view
they give you too many options. It really is nothing bad, but it’s kind
of stupid to give you four buttons that do the same thing.
Graphics: 9
Amazing 3D graphics. These are by far
the best in the Mario Party series (although I’ve only played 6 and 7).
I like the characters the most. The only thing that stopped this game from
getting a ten is that during Bowser Time all you see is a huge drawing
of Bowser (it’s not even a good one of him). The other thing is that during
the narration in Story Mode you see everything as drawings.
Sound: 6
The music isn’t horrible, or something
catchy. It isn’t annoying, it just won’t stay in your head. The only music
that will is the Final Five Frenzy music, which is pretty good. But to
give this game some edge in this category, none of the Mario Parties have
very good music.
Characters: 7
The game doesn’t nearly live up to
expectations in this category. With only eight characters, there aren’t
any cool or unlikely characters. They’ve got the basics: the Marios, the
Warios, the princesses, and Yoshi and Toad. But I’m fine with this, I always
use Yoshi.
Dialogue: 9
Finally, a Mario Party with good dialogue.
The dialogue during Bowser Time is by far the best. I like all the dialogue;
it’s not boring like it has been in the other games.
Modes: I will rate each mode individually.
Story Mode: 10
This is what all the Mario Parties
were missing. This is an extremely fun mode. You play on each of the five
boards. There, the person who earns the most Stars earns a chance to face
the boss. You still earn lots of MP points by playing a party on the board.
Seriously, this is what Nintendo should have included earlier in the Mario
Party series! How can you not love this mode?
Boss Difficulty: Second Boss: 3 ; Rest
of the Game: 8
Let’s start with fun. These bosses
are SO fun to fight! After you beat them you’ll always want to fight them
again. I got a thrill out of the boss fights. As difficulty goes, the bosses
are pretty tough, but unlike other games they’re actually beatable, it
just requires a lot of practice runs. The second boss was too easy. Whatever
beat the Hammer Bro played, you have to play the same beat back. This shouldn’t
take you more than one practice try, and should be done in 45 seconds,
maximum. The first boss is a Piranha Plant, which was more challenging
than I thought. The Plant’s suction is pretty tough to get out of, and
catching one seed bomb while avoiding the others is tough. The third one,
Dry Bones, attacks frequently, and it can be tough dodging its attacks.
Don’t get me started about Kamek. The long hallway is tough, avoiding books
and bookshelves on your way to Kamek. The fight with him will be brutal
your first time. You have little free time to safely squirt his face with
ink. Bowser has to be twice as tough as Kamek. Bowser has three block stages.
The second and third ones are brutally tough. With cube Bowser (second
form) you have no idea when Cube Bowser will stop rolling for more than
a second to give you time to attacks, so you’ll have to take risks. The
last form, Train Bowser, will seem too tough to beat at first. Train Bowser
will ride around the arena and send fireballs at you. Then after he stops
to shoot out three more, you have a split second or two to deliver hits.
But once you beat all the bosses, they’ll be a piece of cake the second
time around.
Party Mode: 8
Good boards, good games, nothing terribly
bad about this mode, just classic Mario Party. However it can get boring
if you play it too much a day. To prevent this game from getting boring,
play Story Mode a lot. It never gets boring as you get to play parties
and still fight the bosses.
Boards: 10
These are by far the best boards in
any Mario Party. Wiggler’s Garden is a basic board, but has a lot of ups
and downs for the players. The game’s pace can quickly change within a
turn. Toadette’s Music Room is pretty cool. You have to find the musical
note and pay as many coins as it charges for a Star. DK’s Stone Statue
is really cool. You have a one-way track to the top of the course, and
when there you can buy as many Stars as you can afford. The cool thing
is you can easily loose several coins due to the plentiful barrel spaces,
which cause a barrel to roll over players. Kamek’s Library is the best
of them all. There are three jars that will open for 10 coins each. One
has a Star, one has coins, and one will send you back to start. The ? Spaces
are really cool, too. Last, Bowser’s Pinball Machine is a blast. To get
Stars, you do the same as in Wiggler’s Garden. This board can change everything
in a turn if someone gets sent to a segment of the board called the Bowser
Zone, where if you roll a five or below you will lose everything you have!
But these boards are all cool.
Bowser Time: 9
Just gets better every time. When there
are only five turns left, there will be a Final Five Frenzy. There the
person in last place will spin a wheel and get the bonus showed. One of
them is 100 Stars! However I’ve never seen this happen, and when the wheel
lands on it, it then moves up a little. If you land on the Bowser Spaces,
an event will be triggered. I couldn’t give this category a ten because
there are no Bowser minigames.
Minigames: 8
If this was just based on fun, it would
be an 11! I have never seen minigames so fun, so addicting like the ones
in this game! However the creativity is lacking. I mean, come on, slicing
a cucumber? Pushing leaves out of your way? I could easily think of more
creative games than these. But hey, as long as they’re fun, I’m cool with
a couple of uncreative games.
Minigames Difficulty: 6
Perfect level of difficulty. The difficulty
is just a little above normal. You can chose how good the CPU is, from
easy, normal, hard, and expert! Adjust the setting to fit your skill to
get a good challenge.
Duels: 1
I know what you’re thinking; how could
I give the duels a one? It was easy, there are no duel minigames! You just
use other minigames instead. And the things you have to wager are ridiculous!
If you have two Stars and the opponent you’re dueling has none, the wheel
could still land on two Stars, meaning you would gain nothing from the
duel, and they would lose nothing. It was so stupid.
Battles: 8
I had to knock off a few points, because
two of the five battle games are all luck! I personally hate games that
are all luck and no skill. The other three are wicked fun and easy. One
of the three requires having a quick response time and knowing when to
stop, but it doesn’t involve luck.
Minigame Mode: 6
Eh, the only really good thing here
is Free Play. Play your favorite minigames as much as you want. Another
fun thing is Boss Bash. You have to battle the five bosses as quick as
you can. It’s really fun, seeing as you get to fight the fun bosses, only
with something to shoot for. The other minigame modes aren’t really that
fun.
Puzzle Mode: 3
This should have definitely not been
included. You can compete in puzzles with Mario content. I would only go
into this mode if you get really bored with the game (doubt it).
Multiplayer: 10
Perfect! When you have good friends
to play with, it can really heat up. Just the whole fun competition makes
it a good mode, even if you only are playing with one friend. This is probably
the best multiplayer for any DS game (although this was only my second
DS game, I’ve heard from some of my friends).
Rewards: 9
I give this a lot of credit. It’s awesome.
Sure you can’t buy anything, but the unlockables are still cool. You get
Boss Trophies, which are unique. My favorite is badges. When you reach
a certain amount of points, you unlock badges. They can be displayed on
your Mario Party profile. The board features and character figures are
also cool.
Fun Factor!: 10
This game is just an exploding fun
sensation. You will totally love it, and never want to stop playing your
first few times. And one thing: unlike other Mario Parties, it does not
get boring after the first month or two. You will be playing it for a while.
Overall: 10
There aren’t many games this good,
and this is definitely one of them. If you own a DS, you NEED to get this
game. You’ll love it, best Mario Party EVER!
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