The set-up for Mario Party DS is much the same as in previous titles. Like a traditional board game, you choose a 'piece' (a character from the Mushroom Kingdom), and roll the dice to move along the board. While progressing you gain or lose coins, participate in mini-games and try to gain stars. In Mario Party DS Bowser is up to his old tricks again, and has shrunk Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, Daisy, Yoshi, Wario and Waluigi to get them out of the way while he gets up to no good. As a result, each board revolves around the theme of your character being small. You'll will play in several different 'giant' environments including a pinball machine, a library and a garden. The mini-games continue the idea - for example, in one of the games you will have to race down a hill riding a spoon.
Take a guess what you have to do here.. No clues.
The mini-games present are what make Mario Party DS stand out from the other titles in the series. Rather than recycle some of the mini-games from other Mario Party games Nintendo has gone back to the drawing board to take full advantage of the DS' abilities, so you'll be blowing into the microphone and using the stylus to full effect. If you are out in public and don't want to make a fool of yourself, the good news is you can choose to exclude the microphone mini-games, a feature we wish was more DS games that use the microphone had.
The sheer number of mini-games is also very impressive. There are over seventy, and for the most part the quality is very high. It really doesn't feel like Nintendo were just stringing together some by-the-numbers iideas just to say 'over seventy mini-games' on the box, Nintendo have come up with mini-games that utilise the Nintendo DS creatively and and are just genuinely fun. There is also a large amount of variety - you won't just be slamming A to win in half the games, you'll actually need to read the instructions for each game carefully. One moment you might be trying to tap the correct button on the touch screen, then moments later you will be trying to win a birthday candle-blowing race.
Why couldn't Australia have had this goalie in the World Cup?
The story mode is the meat of the game, but there are a few other inclusions that add value to the package. There is a party mode which lets you edit a few options, such as tag battle or a free for all battle, and select one of the boards for a more casual game. There is also a mini-game mode which lets you play through all unlocked mini-games, and even an option to just play through the boss mini-games. A surprise inclusion in Mario Party DS is the puzzle mode, which features six puzzles, mostly interpretations of classic puzzlers like Columns.The puzzle mode is a good inclusion, but does seem a bit out of place, as if Nintendo planned to release a puzzle collection but abandoned the idea and threw some of their preliminary work into Mario Party DS.
There are only a few minor problems which let Mario Party down. Because the game is so well suited to multiplayer it is disappointing there is no online support at all, especially considering most Nintendo titles feature Wi-Fi multiplayer these days. As has always been the case with the franchise, the game is much better when played with friends, and as with any board game their are instances where you will feel a little cheated by the AI. The game will often allow the AI to catch up, which means in the end you'll often require a bit of luck to 'win' a board. One of the other problems that has plagued the franchise since its debut is the fact that a lot of the time it feels as if you are a spectator more than you are playing the game. Duels which don't include your character are automatically skipped this time, but there is still some waiting around to be done. There are also only five boards, and while they are all decent, a few more would have been appreciated. Overall though, anybody familiar with the Mario Party series will most likely be fully aware of these issues, and for the most part these few faults are forgiveable for the fantastic mini-games.
Whoever knew a child's room could be so dangerous?
Even though online play hasn't been included this doesn't mean that Nintendo has forgotten about the importance of multiplayer. The game includes multiplayer support for up to four players with just the one cartridge, so if you've got three friends with a Nintendo DS each, you can still play through the entire game with just the one cartridge, which is both a great technical achievement and a smart move by Nintendo. Obviously it does take a few minutes to get going, and their are occasionally some loading screens, but it's a great inclusion and one that is perfectly suited to the game.
Overall Mario Party's début on the Nintendo DS is a successful one. While the formula hasn't been heavily modified (which may or may not frustrate veterans of the series) and there are a few remaining issues, the quality of the seventy plus mini-games found in Mario Party DS makes the title a worthwhile investment for party game fans.
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