Gameplay: Mario and friends go to the Star Carnival in Mario Party 8. You can play a board game, where you take it in turns to hit a dice block and move a certain amount of spaces. Depending on which square you land on, different events happen. For instance, you may land on a space where you need to shake your Wii Remote to get coins out of a barrel. After everybody has moved, a minigame takes place. Usually the winner(s) will receive 10 coins, but in a Battle Minigame, everybody throws in a certain amount of coins, and they are shared out with the victor receiving the most coins, and the second and third placed players receiving a few as well. But the player in last place receives no coins. About half a dozen minigames are completely chance-based, and in most 1 vs 3 minigames, the trio are likely to win, although sometimes this is not the case. In every board there is a yellow space. If you land on here you get taken to a secret area with about 5-10 spaces with 3 coins on each, and afterwards you receive a star completely free. The board games are sometimes quite fun, but chance plays too large a role, and they move along very slowly - the shortest board game allowed sometimes takes me and my friends up to an hour. However the Carnival Cards that you are able to trade for unlockables are a nice motive. The single player mode is no fun, because you engage in a long board game battle with a computer, and if the computer wins, it leaves the player frustrated. There is also a minigame tent where you can play any minigames you have already seen in board games - which means you can't play it straight away. 59/100
Controls: A variety of controls are used, including motion control and holding the Wiimote on its side, like in New Super Mario Bros Wii. The motion controls aren't sparkling, but they're not too shabby. 63/100
Graphics: Again, not amazing, but they're alright. Probably no more graphically advanced than MP7. What is annoying, though, is the fact that it does not run in 16:9, and that has brought my mark down considerably. 48/100
Audio: You can listen to Audio in the Fun Bazaar. The Audio itself is good, considerably better than the graphics. There's plenty of background music and the characters make noises as well. For instance, when somebody playing as Mario gets a star, Mario will say in his traditional Italian accent, "I-a got a star-a!" 70/100
Replayability: Once you've unlocked all or most of the minigames, you'll probably only bring it out for a laugh at parties. 41/100
Value For Money: If I were you I'd rent it first. The £40/$62 price tag is quite high for a game like this. Rent it so you know what you're getting for your money. Or just buy it anyway if you can find it for £20/$31, because that's about how much it's worth. 36/100
Overall: It was probably a GCN project at first. Then the Wii arrived and they changed course, adding last minute motion controls. Granted, it is quite fun, but it's just too much of a chance-based game. No wi-fi either. If there's a MP9 Hudson must put in wi-fi or nobody will buy it. 317/600 5.3/10 (5.5 because of rating system.)
Gameplay: Most are familiar with how Mario Party's board game component works, but here is a quick overview. At the beginning of each game, each player hits a over-head rolling dice block (with a flick of the Wiimote) t... Read Full Review
I remember the first mario party for n64. I was thrilled! Me and my friends always got together to enjoy the fun minigames. Well as the years passed I noticed that the quality of the series went downhill. The gamecube on... Read Full Review
