
	Platform Wii Genre Party Game Publisher Nintendo Developer Hudson ESRB E (Everyone) Released June 2007

- Good title to safely play with the kids because even if you lose you may still feel like a winner - Great assortment of mini-game battles

- Better experiences to be had with Mario Party 5, 6, or 7 - Winning boils down to pure luck and random chance

Review: Mario Party 6 (GC) Review: Mario Party 5 (GC) Review: Wii Play (Wii)
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Mario Party 8

Score: 5.0 / 10

Nintendo didn’t need to release Mario Party 8. Their fiscal bottom line is healthy and they have sure-fire mega-blockbusters on the horizon like Metroid Prime 3 and Super Mario Galaxy. More importantly, after seven previous titles in the franchise it’s due for a well-deserved rest for retooling and re-imagining. In fact, I would go so far as to suggest that with Mario Party 5, 6, and 7 readily available for GameCube – which will run very well on Wii – there’s no reason to even glance at Mario Party 8 unless you’re dying to play mini-games with the Wiimote.

The simple reason for this cynical summation is that Mario Party 8 is too random to be of much use as a board game, which has always been the focus of the

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- Party Game Reviews
- Games Published by Nintendo

Mario Party series. Like the previous titles, up to four players (human or otherwise) hop around a diverse range of boards collecting coins and stars and trying to screw other players during the mini-games which take place after each round. Most board games possess a certain amount of strategy – from Monopoly to Risk – but Mario Party 8 eliminates

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almost any chance of being able to strategize.

It’s all about random chance. This is fine if there are plenty of kids in the house that don’t really care about developing strategy. But if you happen to be an adult playing against pint-sized opponents, they have as much chance of beating you as you have of beating them (even if you whip them during the mini-games).

The good selection of mini-games keep things rolling along but I can’t help but think Mario Party 8 might have been more successful at grabbing my attention if it stripped out the board game aspect and delivered a slew of mini-games.

Mario Party 8 has sold extremely well but it seems to be riding the crest wave of previous Mario Party titles, because there’s nothing worth coming back for.

- Omni

(August 7, 2007)