If you’ve never played a Mario Party title before, the basic premise is Mario and his band of merry men (Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, etc) adventure through several different themed boards with the objective of collecting stars, coins, items and winning mini-games. The boards are similar to how your typical board games are setup: there are several spaces which will either prove beneficial to you, such as giving you coins and items, or will hinder your advance such as calling forth Bowser to wreak havoc.
Luigi finally gets his own castle.
While much of this formula has been left unchanged, there have been a few additions. Firstly, there is a new “candy power-up” system where players are able to transform themselves to obtain new abilities. For instance, if you eat a Bowlo Candy, you will transform into a ball and be able to roll over nearby players to steal their coins. Vampire Candy on the other hand, will give you wings and enable you to fly off and “suck” coins from other players. Last but least not, the camera has been placed “on the board” as opposed to above looking down on players to give the game a more engaging feel. Based on screenshots, it makes things look a little like that Michael Jackson music video where the pavement lights up when he steps on the individual blocks – only more vibrant in rainbow colours.
In total, there are six different themed boards which include trains, a haunted town, hotel, beach, jungle temple and the inevitable Bowser-themed board. In addition to this, there are four mini-game-infused boards which take away all the star, coin and item collecting segments of Mario Party 8 and focus solely on the mini-games with a few added twists. For example, there’s a Tic-Tac-Toe style board where players have to win a mini-game in order to leave a mark on a board. Essentially, they’re more or less a bit of a gimmick to add some mix and variety to the gameplay.
The graphics engine has been completely revamped, giving the game a much more detailed look.
What will likely grab your attention, however, are the mini-games and if previous games are anything to go by, you can expect over a hundred of them. Initially, there are a few that will probably feel a bit old as they’ve been implemented in other games. A prime example is an unnamed mini-game where players paint over outlined objects on a wall, similar to the Bunnies Like to Stuff Themselves minigame in Rayman: Raving Rabbids. Another instance is Soda Shake where you have to shake a can of soda, similar to a WarioWare: Smooth Moves mini-game. That being said, there are still many unique ways (for the time being at least) the game uses the Wii remote and Nunchuck. In Lasso Polo, players have to spin the Wii remote above their heads and then throw it out in front of them to lasso a barrel on screen and then pull it back in to score points. A few other games include Treacherous Tightrope which sees players balance on a tightrope, Grabbin' Gold where players catch falling coins in a basket and a two player mini-game where players move the Wii remote like an oar to row across a river.
Sadly, Mario Party 8 will not have any online gameplay elements – something which many feel is the next leap for the series – but multiplayer support for up to four players has been confirmed and given how much fun other party games are on the Wii, players are in for many more fun-filled nights.
From what’s been revealed, Mario Party 8 looks like it's brought the series back to a high standard, given the new Wii controls. However, the fact there is already a large library of party games available on the Wii threatens to make the game a less favourable affair. At this stage, PAL regions can expect the game to be released sometime in July/August this year.
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