Product Description

Roll up, roll up! The carnival is in town and it's time to party! Join Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, DK and more of your favourite Nintendo characters as they compete across five brand new game boards and more than 60 new minigames to win the coveted prize: a year's supply of candy! But Bowser isn't about to let them get away with it... For the first Mario Party on Wii, up to four players roll virtual dice and move around the game boards (ranging from a haunted house to a moving train and a treasure island) before competing in crazy minigames that make full use of the Wii Remote; such as tightrope walking, skipping, snowboarding, boat rowing, lassoing and even cake decorating. As well as the main, madcap multiplayer game, Mario Party 8 also features a special single-player only mode, a minigame-only mode, a bazaar where you can unlock new minigames and goodies, and a mode made specifically for playing as Mii characters!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #181 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Nintendo
• Released on: 2007-08-03
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platform: Nintendo Wii
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, .44 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Preview
Although they love their sequels as much as any company, Nintendo aren't usually ones to go in for yearly updates. The Mario Party series, developed by Bomberman creators Hudson, is their only example of the phenomena. As such, the series was always guaranteed to make an early appearance on the Wii - and with good reason too since its mix of board game antics and multiplayer mini-games are perfectly suited to the motion control of the Wii remote. Whereas some of the previous sequels have seemed a little unnecessary, this one actually feels like a brand new game. There are six new boards and fourteen different playable characters from amongst the usual Mushroom Kingdom pantheon. There's also a new power-up system replacing the "orbs" of previous games with "candy". These allow characters to transform into different forms to avoid traps and nobble other players, ranging from an airplane, to a bowling ball and a vampire.

Of course what's most anticipated about the game is the 70 plus different mini-games, as usual ordered into 1 vs. 3, 2 vs. 2 and free-for-all games. These involve such activities as using the Wii remote to ride a water ski, tightrope walking, lassoing barrels, paddling a rowing boat with a partner, shooting on a target range and being the first to give your pet Chomp a wash. The games and presentation may all seem very cute but as ever the game is an expert at tempting you to cheat and conspire against your fellow players at every opportunity, making this the one family board game you won't mind having an argument over.
HARRISON DENT

Manufacturer's Description

All the old favourites including Mario, Luigi, Peach and Yoshi are back in this latest Mario Party installment, along with a couple of new faces, such as Blooper and Hammer Bro, who previously appeared for the first time in the original Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Players must move around the board by throwing a dice and at the end of each turn they are faced with a humorous yet challenging mini-game. This really is the perfect game to play against friends and family thanks to the multiplayer mode which allows you and your friends to team up against each other in both two versus two and one against all challenges.

Combine this zany board game action with the Wii Remote and Mario Party 8 makes for a highly-charged, dynamic experience, with unique and exciting gameplay styles on offer for each mini-game. Such mini-games include a snowboard race, a race on a tight rope, a boat rowing race and even a cake decoration contest. The Wii Remote adds a new level of comfort and novelty to gameplay as some mini-games require holding the Wii Remote vertically, sideways and even like a TV remote pointing at the screen. It also enables the player to cruise seamlessly through the game’s numerous different modes. What’s more in certain modes, players can use their very own personalised Mii characters within specific mini-games.

The game’s main mode, Party Tent, challenges players to take on the computer or up to three friends in a turn-based battle. Each board features different challenges but as a general rule, players have a set number of turns to collect as many stars as they can. Mini-games played in party mode vary depending on the number of players.

If you just can’t get enough of the many mini-games, you can devote your time entirely to playing them in the Mini-Game Tent, moving from game to game and honing your skills. Elsewhere players can put their skills to the test in the Star Battle Arena where they must take on and defeat the computer. Other zones include the Extras Zone and the Fun Bazaar all of which add fun and diverse elements to the classic game.

In addition, aspiring Mario Party 8 masters can use the game’s multiplayer capabilities to play with up to three other people. Friends and family can battle it out in Party Tent mode, Mini-Game Tent and the Extras zone.

Customer Reviews

I want to ask Nintendo for my money back!!!
i've heard good things about this game, and i don't know why!!!

The game is dreadful right form the star, the guy in the hat is annoying, there's no fun in there at all the graphics are absolutely appalling, the title screen and much of the set up appear in 14/9 but then the actual games go to 4/3 and look blocky and sluggish. i actually thought there was something wrong with the way my Tv or wii was set up and then after discovering no its just how the game is i started wondering, am i missing something here, is this game really as bad as i think it is i read through the manual and read some stuff online and tried again and came to the conclusion that this game really sucks.

after only an hour of gameplay I'm about to sell it on.

also the only reason i game this game 1 star is because amazon wont let you give it ZERO!!!

Avoid and buy something thats actually fun to play like mario kart!!!

Boring boardgames and an unbelievably irritating interface ruin the mini-games
There's one thing you need to know about Mario Party 8 before you buy it - be prepared to do a lot of reading during the game! The game has an incredibly irritating interface whereby it bombards you with constant information throughout the game which can only be cleared by pressing the A key. Consequently, you spend most of the time repeatedly pressing the A key to get rid of the constant barrage of messages. In fact before the game even starts you are forced to read through an endless parade of information boxes that end up making things more confusing and leaving you wondering when on earth this game is going to start. For a game aimed at kids as well as adults I fail to see how any child would have the patience to read through so much claptrap before the game begins, it really is that tedious.

After reading what seems like a small book worth of instructions, the game finally starts. This is where the next level of frustration begins, as Mario Party 8 is based around you playing a boardgame that is little more than glorified snakes and ladders and has zero skill. Playing a game of luck against a human opponent has some element of short-term fun, but against the computer, forget it. As a single-player game, Mario Party 8 is a non-starter and will bore you witless very, very quickly.

Against a human opponent the boardgames are entertaining for a while and give some genuine laughs but the lack of skill needed soon gets annoying and you find yourself yearning for the mini-games to break up the monotony. But playing a mini-game, like everything else, relies on luck, you have to just hope that a roll of the dice lands you on a square which puts you into a mini-game. When the mini-game starts, your relief from the tedium is often very short-lived as many of the mini-games are over in less than a minute, then it's back to the wretched boardgame again. Another annoying touch to the game is that there are many pre-set animations that you are forced to watch without any option of skipping them, this just adds to the frustration of the game.

But what of the mini-games themselves? Well, many are actually very good, some are horrible, but generally they're good fun and well designed. Unfortunately some mini-games have to be unlocked which can only be achieved by success on the boardgames. So if you're willing to have your patience pushed to the limit it's possible to unlock them, but you'll probably end up deciding another session on the boardgames is too much to bear.

Mario Party 8 is a huge opportunity missed. The idea of loads of simple but fun party games is a good one, but the game design does everything it can to stifle this through the constant stream of pointless information that interrupts the game, and the woeful boardgames. It would have been better to either make the boardgames more skill-based, or just get rid of them completely, and let people just play the mini-games.

Deluxe Family Fun
This Game is ultra fun! But there is a bit of catch. This game can only be fun if you're not playing by yourself. You CAN play on you're own with three CPUs but this soon gets boring. Also there is a single player mode but is SO short you'll complete it in about a couple hours. So this game is great for family use !!