Mario Party 8 - A fun time with Mario and the gang.

When my kids got into Mario Party back on the Gamecube, I didn't understand what the big deal was about the game, I mean a bunch of mini games? Big deal right? Well, I have since changed my mind since we have the Wii and PS3 in the living room, where the Gamecube was always in my sons room. I have seen the kids play Mario Party 8 and I've even played it with my youngest son, it's actually a fun and cute game.

Mario Party 8 is a one to four player game, if you choose one player you'll be playing against three computer opponents. You have the choice of modes for the computer players, easy, normal or hard (you can also unlock very hard), so when you get good at the mini games (other than the ones that are pure luck), you can play against harder computer opponents. We usually keep it on normal or easy when we play.

The cast of characters in the game are pure Nintendo, you'll have many to choose from - Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Waluigi, Wario, Birdo, Toad, Toadette, Yoshi, Dry Bones, Boo, Hammer Bro and Blooper. Each character has their own unique sets of sounds for their "talk" and "heckling". I won't kid you, sometimes the heckling sounds will start to annoy you, so be prepared for it when you unlock it with your carnival cards. You also won't be able to play with Hammer Bro or Blooper until you unlock them.

In this game you're welcomed to the Star Carnival with many things to do and places to go.

Party Tent - Here you play on the party boards in either a Battle Royale (one to four players), Tag Battle (four players, but two teams) or Duel Battle (two players face off).

Star Battle Arena - This is where you play against one computer opponent on each party board. The first time you win this you can unlock Hammer Bro, the Last mini game and the Bowser's Warped Orbit board and if you win again you can unlock Blooper.

Mini game Tent - Here you can go straight to the mini games if you want without playing on the party board. This is also a good way to practice some of the games if you're not too good at them.

Extra Zone - There are eight separate mini games in here that you won't see on the party boards. Only thing different in here is that you can choose to play with a character or your very own Mii.

Fun Bazaar - Here is where you spend your carnival cards you earn from the party boards and mini games to unlock all kinds of neat things.

Party Boards

I don't really know what the party boards were like in the other Mario Party's, but this one boasts six new boards. You'll have the choice of DK's Treetop Temple, Goomba's Booty Boardwalk, Boo's Haunted Hideaway, Bowser's Warped Orbit and Shy Guy's Perplex Express. Some boards like Goomba's Booty Boardwalk, you'll buy hotels with your coins and earn stars, other boards, like DK's Treetop Temple have the star hidden, so it's luck to see who gets there first and then there's Shy Guy's Perplex Express where the star is at the end of the train.

Board Spaces

Each board has your standard blue and red spaces, blue you get three coins and red you lose three coins.

Green spaces (question mark) makes something happen, it varies from board to board, but it's usually a good thing.

Yellow note spaces will trigger a very lucky event, they usually take you to a special place where the road is laden with coins and where there's a star at the end.

DK spaces will trigger DK to come out and help you, how he helps you depends on the board. It turns into a Bowser space once DK is done helping you.

Bowser spaces triggers an event that hurts you, you can even lose a star. Once the event is done, it will turn into a DK space.

There are a few additional spaces for the Duel/Battle game.

VS space will start a duel mini game.

Challenge space (exclamation point) will start a challenge mini game.

Red Brick space takes you to the coin area where you hit coin blocks and receive coins.

Along with all the above spaces, you can get free candy along the way on the board. You also have the candy shops that you can go to when you pass them, where you can buy a large variety of candy that can help you along the way. The candy can help you in many ways, from allowing you to hit more dice blocks to stealing coins and even stars from other players. The only drawback I see to the candy is that you can only hold three pieces at a time in the game or five pieces if you're playing Tag Battle. If you are already holding the maximum amount of candy, they will ask you to discard a piece from the ones you already have.

Mini games

There are a lot of mini games in here, sixty-five of them, some good and some not so good. Each game utilizes the unique function of the Wiimote, you'll be sawing, shooting, shaking, steering and even lassoing in these games. There are 1 vs. 3 mini games, 2 vs. 2 mini games, 4 player mini games, battle mini games and duel mini games. I won't list them all, but here are just some of the mini games you'll find in Mario Pary 8.

At the Chomp Wash - This is a four player mini game. Here you have to wash paint off of a Chomp, to do this you move the Wiimote from side to side very fast, first player to get all the paint off wins. There is no strategy in this game at all, it's all how fast you move the Wiimote.

Blazing Lassos - This one is a Duel mini game. You'll swing your Wiimote in a circle, as if you were swinging a real lasso and then you'll flick it forward to catch a barrel and then flick it back. This is a timed game and the barrels have points on them, the player that gets the most points wins. In this mini game you have to be careful because the Wiimote sometimes hesitates as your swinging it.

Chump Rope - This is a 1 vs. 3 mini game and it's just like the name implies, jump rope. One player will swing the jump rope with Shy Guy on the other end and the other three players will be the jumpers. If you're the one player, you swing the Wiimote in a circle to swing the rope, the other three players move the Wiimote up to jump. This is a timed game, if the one player knocks all the players out before the time is up, they win the game, but if even one of the three jumpers stays in until the time runs out, the jumpers win the game.

Cut from the Team - This is a Battle mini game, where each player takes turns using the scissors to cut a string, via your Wiimote. If you cut the wrong string, you go flying, if you're lucky enough and don't get thrown, you go to the end of the line to try again. This game keeps going on until there is just one player left. This one is pure luck, which if you're like me, you don't win.

Kartastrophe - This is a four player mini game. You use the Wiimote to steer your cart around the track for two laps and try to finish first. There is a hairpin turn that I mess up just about every time, I hate to use the brakes! My youngest son loves this one and he's pretty good at it too, he can win it in very hard mode.

King of the Thrill - This is a 2 vs. 2 mini game. Here you basically have to punch, kick and jump on your opponent to knock them off the hill, so to speak. You first have the preliminary match, where all four players play and the winner from those goes to the next hill to fight, but this time parts of the hill fall off as you're fighting your opponent, so be careful. The one that's left standing is the winner.

Mosh-Pit Playroom - This one is a 4 player mini game. All four players are in this big square and they start dropping colored balls and you run and jump to get them. There are 200 balls altogether, 50 in each color, first player to collect all 50 of their color wins. With this one you're basically just jumping all over the place trying to collect the balls.

Pumper Cars - This one is a Duel mini game. You're basically on a railway cart and you have to pump the Wiimote up and down to pump your cart, first one to the finish wins. This one is pretty simple, pump faster than your opponent and it's a piece of cake.

Rowed to Victory - This one is a 2 vs. 2 mini game. You'll be paired with a partner and you have to work together, using your Wiimotes as an oar, to get to the other side of the pond. The first team to the finish wins. This one seems simple at first, but the Wiimote doesn't really respond that well to the movements and if you aren't working together perfectly, you'll find yourself all over the place.

Snow Way Out - This one is a 1 vs. 3 mini game. One player will control the vehicle that throws big snowballs and the other three are on a roof of a house. The three on the roof have to run and jump to avoid getting hit by the snowballs (if you get hit, you turn into an ice block and fall off the house) and also avoid the slick spots that the snowballs make. This is a timed game. If the one player knocks all three off of the house, they win, if even one player of the three are left when the time runs outs, the three players win.

Swing Kings - This one is a four player or duel mini game. It's just as it implies, you will be using your Wiimote as a bat, but flick it instead of swinging it and trying to hit the balls that Shy Guy is pitching. Shy Guy will pitch 20 balls and the player who hits the most wins. Shy Guy doesn't seem to pitch the same way twice, so you have to be on your toes to hit those balls, sometimes his pitches are just horrible too.

Those are just a small sampling of the mini games in here. Some are fun, some are easy, some are hard and some are based on pure luck.



Playing the Game

You choose your game, number of players, the party board, your characters and how many turns you want to play for and get ready to play. Each player will hit the dice block to see who goes first and the order of play. After the end of each turn (after all players have had their turn), you'll play a mini game.

When it gets down to the last five turns, you'll have the Chump Charity, where the last place player/team gets a bonus to help them in the game. This is usually in the form of coins or candy. Also during the Chump Charity, they will put a coin on all the spaces except for the red spaces, where they put a bag, which has five coins. Whoever gets to those spaces first gets the coins, once they are passed over, the coins go away.

Once all the turns are done, they give out bonus stars to the players (if you chose to have bonus stars on). This varies from game to game, but usually for the player that bought the most candy, the player that landed on the most red space, etc. Like I said, it varies, but it's a nice surprise if you get any of these, especially if the game is close.

The player with the most stars wins the game and then you'll get your carnival cards to spend in the Extra Zone.

Graphics

If you're looking for amazing graphics, don't look here, but Mario Party has never been about graphics, it's been about fun. You won't really see much improvement over the Gamecube versions. The characters are still cutesy and cartoony, but that's part of the draw to this game too.

Sounds

The sounds are cute at first, the music kind of cheesy, but that's all part of the game. The only sounds that really gets on my nerves are the "heckling" sounds that you can unlock with your Carnival Cards. These are the most annoying sounds, especially Wario's, let's just say part of his "heckling" is a noise and then he says excuse me.

Overall

I have to admit that I was surprised at how fun this game was, there is a lot of replay value and you can play the mini games by themselves if you don't feel like playing a party board. My kids all love this game, especially my eight year old son, of course if the Wiimote decides not to work perfectly with the mini game, the game is cheating, but that's typical of him.

This is the type of game you can have some friends over and have fun playing a game and it keeps you moving, for the most part with the different movements of the mini games, so they're not just plopped in front of the TV.

Another thing is that you can save in the middle of a game. If you're playing a party board, but have to go do something, you can save it and then come back when you have more time, you don't have to finish it all for it to save.

Overall, it's just a fun game! If you're a Mario Party fan and haven't picked up Mario Party 8, I definitely recommend you pick it up, you won't be sorry.