Mario Party 8 is a great party game to play with friends/family.
Presentation - There are a few game modes in Mario Party 8. There are the Party Tent, Star Battle Arena, Mini-Game tent, Extras Zone, and Fun Bazaar. You can play in the Party Tent mode with up to four players using Wii remotes either in a free-for-all, 1 vs 1, or a 2 vs 2 team match. You can also use Bonus Stars near the end of the game, set the difficulty level for cpu players, and set a handicap for an additional one to three stars for each human and cpu player. You can select from ten turns to fifty turns, and also save if you and your friends don't have the time to finish all of the turns at once.
The Star Battle Arena is a single player story mode where you select a Mario character and try to grab more stars than the cpu. However, the rules for collecting stars in the story mode are slightly different than the Party Tent Mode. For example, In Goomba's Booty Boardwalk you normally receive stars for free. In the story mode, you have to pay a certain amount of coins to buy stars. You need to clear story mode twice in order to unlock Blooper, Hammer Brother, and Bowser's Warped Orbit stage. Also, Mc Ballyhoo is the host for Mario Party 8.
In the Mini Game Tent, you can play with up to three other players and choose and unlocked mini-game you want in the Free Play Arcade mode. You can also play Crown Showdown, Flip-Out Frenzy, Tic-Tac Drop, and Test for the Best. Crown Showdown is where you try to win the most mini-games to earn up to three, five, or seven crowns. Flip-Out Frenzy is similar to Crown Showdown, but this time the winner fills up most of their character's tiles by winning mini-games. Tic-Tac Drop is basically playing Tic-Tac Toe, but by winning mini-games in order to have your ball drop to collect three in a row. Finally, Test for the Best is where you raise up in a hot air balloon if you win mini-games to raise up your score based on how well you perform in a mini-game.
Extras Zone is where you can play with up to three other players. This time you can either play as your Mii or a Mario character. In this mode, you and your friends can play bowling, matching character tiles, play a Simon says game where the Shy Guy either raises the red or white flag, or both at the same time, and a racing game.
Finally, the Fun Bazaar has you select a Mario character to purchase items, mini-games, and can listen to character voices and game music.
The playable characters are Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Wario, Waluigi, Birdo, Toad, Toadette, Yoshi, Dry Bones, Boo, Hammer Bro (unlockable) and Blooper (unlockable). The selectable boards are Donkey Kong's Treetop Temple, Goomba's Booty Boardwalk, King Boo's Haunted Hideaway, Shy Guy's Perplex Express (train board), Koopa's Tycoon Town (my favorite board), and Bowser's Warped Orbit (unlockable). You can also have up to three files by selecting your Mii.
Graphics - The visuals have slightly improved from the GameCube era with the lighting, water effects, landscapes, and character models. The only downside to the graphics is that Mario Party 8 doesn't support widescreen which is the main reason why you may see borders across the screen.
Sound - The music has improved with its catchiness better than the GameCube Mario Parties. All of the board tracks and mini-game music sounds pleasant and fits perfectly with this type of game. However, the repeated character catchphrases may annoy some gamers.
Game play - In around 73 mini-games, you and your friends/family use Wii remote gestures to play mini-games. For example, in the baseball mini-game, you use the Wii remote to swing the bat like in Wii Sports. The accuracy of the controls is spot on as long as you are near the censor bar. If not, you'll have a difficult time with the controls.
Lasting appeal - What takes away from the lasting appeal score is the lack of online play. However, Mario Party 8 is an easy recommendation as a party game to play with friends and family. The multiplayer modes are what you'll most likely be spending your time on. All die-hard Mario Party fans should definitely pick up a copy of Mario Party 8.
The Good - improved visuals from a technical stand point, extra variety of mini-game modes, can play as your Mii in some mini-games (only in the Extras Zone), great music and creative boards, extra characters to play as, simple, responsive controls, can have up to three files for you and your friends
The Bad - no online play, lack of widescreen support
Presentation - 10
Graphics - 8
Sound - 8
Game play - 8
Lasting appeal - 9
Overall 8.6 out of 10 GameSpot Score 8.5 out of 10