Mario Party 5 - GameCube Reviews - The Armchair Empire


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- Still gets friends playing - Good mini-games - Quite a bit of strategy involved

- The more cynical will tire easily

Review: Mario Party 4 (GC) Review: Fuzion Frenzy (XB) Goodies: Tabletop Games of the Week
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Mario Party 5

Score: 8.3 / 10

As the name might suggest, Mario Party 5 (MP5) is the latest in Nintendo’s long-running party game series. Much of the mechanics and basic design is taken directly from previous installments so if you’ve played those ones you should have a grasp on what to expect with (MP5): a board packed with mini-games. [Please read our review of Mario Party 4.]

Maybe the freshest aspect of MP5 is the Super Duel Mode. For one and two players (via split screen) you duke it out in an arena with machines of your own making. Assembling your machine is pretty simple: buy the parts, put them together, select and driver and GO! What kind of machine you put together is governed somewhat by the number of points you’ve earned in the other game modes. Every part you buy – body, tires, engine, weapon – comes at a cost of your collected points, so the more you play, the more points you have to buy better parts. These machines can be saved to your memory card so you can take your machine to a friend’s house and lay the smack down. Good fun!

The other game modes, include Party Time, Story Mode and Mini-Game Mode.

Party Time is your main mode for multiplayer fun. The essentials haven’t changed: Four players all get a “roll” of the dice, move about the board, then take part in a 1 vs. 3, 2 vs. 2, and everyone for themselves mini-games. The ultimate goal is to collect enough coins (by stealing them, winning them) to allow you to collect the Star of each board. Each board is different but they can be further modified during the course of a game by using collected Capsules, like dropping a Hammer Brothers capsule that will take 10 coins from the player that lands on that space.

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Story Mode is like Party Mode but it’s a completely single-player experience, and the board spaces are altered a bit. It’s you against Bowser… snore! Mario Party has never been known for it’s compelling narratives. The Mini-Game mode lets you take on mini-games you’ve conquered in the Story and Party modes.

The mini-games themselves are of the usual twitch, timing and teamwork variety, with simple controls and a frenetic pace. Here’s a game you can play with your friends and kids equally. There’s a good variety of games too so there’s not too much repetition.

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Solid graphics and animation round out the package. It hardly deviates from Mario Party’s previous installment in terms of presentation – it’s big, it’s bright.

If you’ve lost some pieces from Risk, you can’t find the Monopoly money, or you just can’t bear another round of poker (and you're out of beer), Mario Party 5 is a perfect substitute. It may not replace traditional board games, but MP5 is another solid addition to the Mario Party franchise.

- Omni

(November 25, 2003)