The world’s most popular party videogame is getting a lot crazier in Mario Party 8 for Wii! Whether you’re shaking up cola cans or lassoing barrels, you and your friends will be drawn into the action like never before using the Wii Remote.
- Play with motion control: Row your way through a river race, Punch a statue to pieces, Steer race cars, mopeds, and go-karts, Handle a balancing pole while walking a tightrope.
- Play using the Pointer: Shoot at Boos in a haunted house, Drag and drop toppings in a cake-decorating competition, Select the correct answers in game-show challenges.
- Play using the Wii Remote’s buttons: Jump and pummel your way through a football brawl, Hop and run across a field of spinning platforms.
User Ratings and Reviews
3 Stars Fun game, but not one of the better Mario Parties
I am a HUGE fan of these Mario Party games.
I think i had more expectations for this game since the last gens Mario Parties are quite often fun, especially part 6 & 7. This Mario party was fine, but i would much rather play the older versions with a newer control scheme. Even playing the older ones with the older control scheme would be fine.
IF YOU CAN GET THIS CHEAP… knock yourself out.
3 Stars A Little Disappointed
I’ve only played two of the courses but neither were very fun. One was a one way path to the stars and the other you only earned stars as you “invested” in hotels. Some of the games were cute but I like past versions much better!
3 Stars The apple has fallen very far from the tree
I played this last night with a friend, and I went in with very high expectations based upon my previous experience with Mario Party 6 (which I consider the gold standard). What a disappointment. My friend hasn’t played the Mario Party series before so I was embarrassed after we finished a 10-round match, having spoken so highly of the game. It was probably my mistake to assume that MP 8 would be a worthy follow-up to its predecessors.
My thoughts, in bullet point form:
- The emcee is no longer the sun/moon character but this bizarro hat and duck (?) combo. Both of them have eyes and mouths and the two of them trade off when talking to the player. I don’t understand why the developer felt the need to insert this annoying new character–it’s not even drawn to look like a cute or clever Nintendo creation, just some mash-up of weird parts.
- The games are not creative or whimsical at all. There’s one where you drive go-karts around to pop balloons; a 1v3 minigame where you are seated in weird bird-shaped planes and you try to avoid having your 2 ballons from getting shot; a game where you just shake your controller as hard as possible to flag down a ship to rescue you from a deserted island. When you’re playing with a group of people, none of the minigames makes you and your friends want to shout in excitement or defeat after a close and challenging match–there’s just no feeling of thrill or satisfaction.
- To a previous reviewer’s point, the game only makes incidental use of the wiimote and its full capabilities. The majority of the games have you holding the controller old-school style, where your left hand controls up-down-left-right and the right hand hits the 1 or 2 buttons.
I hope the publisher comes up with some new ideas for the next installment in the series, where the wiimote’s full range of motions is incorporated into the minigames. I probably would have given MP 8 a worse rating, if it weren’t for the fact that I bought it used on Amazon for $[...], including shipping. For those considering a purchase, I recommend that you also buy it used.
4 Stars It’s Party Time!
I’ve owned this game for so long, and I still love it. It’s not like I’m addicted to it or anything like that, just it’s fun to play some party games once in a while. Mario Party 8 doesn’t fail to pick up the path that the previous Mario Party’s left for it. This time, you get to use the Wii-Mote! There are really only two down-sides to this game.
1) If you don’t have people to play with, think about picking this game up. Single player finishes quickly (although the Bowser place is really hard)and if you want to enjoy party games with three computers, then you might want to set them to different difficulties. Hard/Very Hard would be too easy, but Easy/Normal would be too hard. Try setting the opposing team with the same difficulty as your team.
2) I love the duel mini-games, but you only get to play them when you use Duelo Candy, and there’s a lot of them that I like (Lasso, Card, Construction, etc.). It sort of sucks that I have to use a candy and be near some one just to play those mini-games.
That’s all of the negatives I have. Try thinking about previous Mario Party’s, then think about using the Wii-Mote to interact in most of the mini-games. If you haven’t owned previous Mario Party’s and have people to play with, then go for it!
4 Stars my 5 year old grandson was estatic. He had been exposed by his friends. Now he has his own.
My grandson is 5-1/2 years old. He wanted this game for some time. I live in VA & he lives in CT. I had the game sent to him. He is very pleased that he has his very own now.
