Wii Mans Reviews: Mario Party 8 (24th September 2007) - WiiTalk

wii_man76 · 24-09-2007, 03:47 PM

Mario Party 8 Review

Within 24hrs of this game being released here in the UK it was sharply withdrawn/recalled from sale. It transpires that certain wording in the game (that is fine everywhere else in the world) was likely to cause offence here in the UK.

Despite the recall I still got my copy on the original release date as I had pre-ordered it on the internet and it was sent in the post before the recall came in to operation.

There are 5 main parts of this game as follows:

Party Tent
Star Battle Arena
Minigame Tent
Extras Zone
Fun Bazaar

The Star Battle Arena is the single player mode of the game which you need to complete to unlock the ‘Bowser’ section in the Party Tent… The Minigame Tent is where you can practice all the minigames you have unlocked in the game so far. The Extras Tent features 8 more minigames that you wont find in the game itself. The Fun Bazaar is where you can spend your carnival cards that you have earnt by playing the other parts of the game.

I have saved the best part of the game until last…

The Party Tent is the best part of the game as this is where 4 of you can compete against each other!

Within the Party Tent itself, you have a further 3 options to choose from:

Battle Royale – Up to 4 players playing against each other.
Tag Battle – 2 teams of 2 playing against each other.
Duel Battle – 1 or 2 players, playing against each other.

In each of the 3 options you can select the computer as 1 or more players.

The Battle Royale is the one I shall concentrate on in this review as it is the one that I have played the most on, simply as it is the most fun!

Once you have selected you characters you then need to choose which party-board stage to play! You can choose from the Donkey Kong based party-board to the Boo! Part-board.

Each of the party-boards is different and it is worth playing each and everyone, over and over again!

You begin each party-board by using the Wii controller to throw the dice to see who goes 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th etc.

The aim of each party-board is to collect as many stars as you can by the time the game is up. It varies on what you have to do to get the stars, but in essence you need to collect coins to either buy the stars, or to buy things to help you get to the stars.

After throwing the dice you move along the board the amount of spaces that you rolled and what happens next, depends on what spaces you pass or land on. If you land on a red spot you loose 3 coins, but if you land on a blue one you gain 3 coins! If you pass the candy shop and have enough money you can buy some candy which are the power-ups in this game!

You can eat any candy that you have before you throw the dice. Some candy items will let you throw 2 or even 3 dice so you can get closer to getting the star whereas others will take candy or coins from any of the opponents that you pass after you have thrown the dice!

After all players have thrown the dice and moved along the party-board you are playing, you all play a minigame. Sometimes the minigame is all against all, other times it is 2 vs 2 and sometimes it is even 1 vs 3!!! There are many minigames that range from shooting at targets to being a monkey dodging coconuts to flying an aircraft being held up with balloons that one of you has to shoot at!

The game does not make use of the nunchuck but does make full use of the standard Wii controller. The graphics are crisp, bright and are some of the best I have seen on the Wii so far.

This is a fantastic fun game for people of all ages and is great for friends to play as well as being a family game too!

If you haven’t played this game yet, then get down to the shops NOW and buy it as you will not be disappointed!

*****
I could talk about this game forever as it is such great fun, so if you have any questions then please ask as I will be only too pleased to reply!
*****

Wii Mans Game Rating
==================

Fun Factor: 9/10 - one of the best family fun games I have played so far!
Playability: 9/10 - you can practice each minigame (unlike Sonic), so great!
Gameplay: 9/10 - if the nunchuck was involved a lot then this would be 10
Graphics: 9/10 - crisp, clear and bright! Fun graphics for a fun game.
Sound/Music: 8/10 - great music for a great game.

Overall 44/50

*** A Wii Man Recommended Title ***

wiiii · 24-09-2007, 04:04 PM

good review... you amke it sound a lot better than most web-sites and magazines so i'm tempted now

one question i have...

is this game in wide-screen ? or not ?
i have heard that it's not, so on a 19:9 screen it will display in 4:3 mode with bars either side.
can you confirm this for me, and if it's true is it daft or annoying that it's not wide-screen

cheers

wii_man76 · 24-09-2007, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wiiii

good review... you amke it sound a lot better than most web-sites and magazines so i'm tempted now

I'd imagine this is not everyones cup of tea and it is certainly not a game to get if you intend on playing it by yourself. If you want a nice clean game to play with your mates then this could be a game for you.

With a typical game lasting well over an hour you certainly wont get bored!

One thing I didn't mention in my review is that the game is automatically saved after each turn, so if you say choose a 50 turn game you can quit after 20 goes and then continue another time. The best party-board to do that on is the Monopoly style one where a longer game can be much more interesting and fun than a shorter one...

Quote:

Originally Posted by wiiii

is this game in wide-screen ? or not ?
i have heard that it's not, so on a 19:9 screen it will display in 4:3 mode with bars either side.
can you confirm this for me, and if it's true is it daft or annoying that it's not wide-screen

I am sad to say that you are correct. If is only in 4:3 and not widescreen. Not sure why they did this, but for me it does not distract you from the fun you can be having!

Ricksta7 · 24-09-2007, 05:36 PM

If you have your Wii settings set to 16:9 (Widescreen) The screen size will shrink during mini games. If you change your option in Wii Settings to 4:3 then your TV / Wii should all be full screen.

asp27 · 24-09-2007, 05:58 PM

hi i have got this and it is really fun to play with family/friends

although it can get boring when playing on your own

peecee · 25-09-2007, 05:22 PM

what was the offensive word then?!

wii_man76 · 25-09-2007, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peecee

what was the offensive word then?!

Sp..... - whoops! Nearly told you then.

Like I'm going to put it in this forum! I'm not going to say what the word was and if any one also knows, please do not post what it was. If you really want to know what it was then google it.

I was hoping that my version of the game had the offending word in it as it might have been an oddity and therefore possibly worth a bit of money to collectors in the future, but sadly I have yet to see the word appear in the train party-board so I must have an edited one.

biddenden_sue · 25-09-2007, 06:31 PM

It's in mine! But I agree, I won't repeat it here on the forum!

Nearly spluttered my wine when I first heard it, and thought I had misheard.

Then after that I read about it online and realised what I'd got!

joeyjoejoe0 · 26-09-2007, 05:41 PM

I actually played a rental version with it in! I can see why it was re-called

wii_man76 · 26-09-2007, 11:06 PM

One thing I forgot to mention in my review is that the game isn't over until the fat lady sings...

Just when you think you have won, you could lose... there are 3 random bonus stars up for grabs once the game is over so the tables can and often are, turned!