I was disappointed with this title. When played socially with a group of players the lenght of the game and constant string of bad luck makes the game frustrating. When playing the AI it doesnt matter how good you are at a mini game. The AI evens the odds with conviently accurate dice roll wich plays out in the AI's favor. Also the computer doesnt have to work as hard learning the new rules for each of the many mini games. Often after reading to rules and having a practice run the AI (set to the easy setting) out scores me easily. Where is the fun for all of your friends playing to loose to a computer even with everyone working as a team to beat the th AI player. I should have rented Mario Party 8 before I purchased it.
This is a great party game (for 4 players at the most), but lacks new additions to the Mario Party series. It's the same old game with some new minigames and control sceme. It needs more multiplayer modes.
many people bad-mouth this game, but i, for one, actuallyenjoyed it, especially with groups. i don't see why anything is wrong with this. it's fun, has great varieties and collectibles, and is entertaining.
Mario Party 8 is a fun game to entertain many guests, but when it's just you and you're Wiimote, it can be quite a bore. The game mechanics are clever, where in the old games you hit a dice block by pressing a button, and in this one you swing the Wiimote up. The story line is not very long, as it is short enough to beat the whole game in three hours. But with a extra Wiimote, a friend, and a little immaturity, this game can be as fun as watching a a little kid himself in the face: you will cry from laughter.
It's another amazing Mario Party game, with hours of fun along for the ride! What more do I need to say? Well, maybe this, go buy it! Really, it's a wonderful game, and is a load of fun for the whoal family.
Awesome, I love Mario Party 8. Me and a friend stayed up til 4 in the morning just playing in the party tent. I dont care about the bad reviews ign and gamespot give this is totally worth it. i love the minigames and the starbattle and fun bazzar. its just awesome and would totally reccommend...
Nintendo's original Mario Party was innovative in that it recreated in the digital world the rules and mechanics of a board game and then spruced the formula up with a wealth of mini-challenges. That was in 1999 - two years shy of a decade ago - and like clockwork the Big N has released a new entry into the series every year since, each sporting the same fundamentals with new virtual boards and mini-games. Clearly this copy and paste approach to the series is enough for some; the Mario Party titles were all best-sellers on GameCube and Nintendo undoubtedly hopes to repeat the success on Wii. However, if you've been following the series since its inception, as we have, this latest effort really shows its age - both mechanically and visually. Developer Hudson Soft had the chance to recreate or at the very least improve the franchise by taking advantage of the Wii remote, but Mario Party 8 misuses the controller as regularly as it capitalizes on it. The end result is a title that feels like a rushed GameCube project with last-minute Wii controls. If you're playing with your kids you might still have fun in spite of these inadequacies, but most will be bored by the tedious flow of the boards and the mediocrity of the minis.
Mario Party 8 is a noteworthy arrival on Wii because it marks the first Nintendo-published project that does not run in 16:9 widescreen mode. To our knowledge, this hasn't happened since the days of GameCube and quite possibly with the previous Mario Party outing. To its credit though, the game's title screen and main menu both run in full widescreen, but as soon as any sort of gameplay begins, everything transpires in 4:3 with superimposed bars. Good stuff, and by that we mean just the opposite. This careless approach to the presentation is representative of most aspects of Mario Party 8. The game's graphics on a whole are only barely adequate on a first-generation GameCube affair, and yet many of the boards are interrupted by framerate dips all the same. The unnecessary storyline tidbits are related in slow-moving text bubbles, which can at least be sped up, and the general flow of board play is slow and filled with constant and pointless text interruptions. You will find yourself tapping the Wii remote's A button at machine-gun speeds, but it'll do you no good
The selection looks good on paper. Several new game boards, including DK's Treetop Temple, Goomba's Booty Boardwalk, Boo's Haunted Hideaway, Bowser's Warped Orbit and Shy Guy's Perplex Express, round out the list. The action takes place via a zoomed-in view that is more immersive than previous Mario Party outings as you're able to more closely appreciate some of the (few) stage details. There are some 65 new mini-games that use the Wii remote. We'll get to these in a moment. And, of course, you can play as 14 mascot characters from the Mushroom Kingdom, from Mario and Peach to Bowser, Waluigi, Boo and Dry Bones. If you fall into the Nintendo fanatic category, you might find reason enough to own this game for the selection of levels and mascots alone, although you'd be much better off waiting for a title like Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
You wouldn't want to play a board game by yourself and the same is true of the modes in Mario Party 8. You can play the single-player affair, of course, but it grows tedious and boring in a matter of minutes because the satisfaction of besting friends is simply not there. More likely, you'll want Mario Party 8 for its Party and Mini-game Tents, which enable you to play the standard board mode or compete in a series of mini-games against friends respectively. New to this year's game is the Extras Zone, where you'll be able to take part in some eight minis entirely separate from the rest of the selection. These particular minis incorporate your Mii avatar into the experience, while the remainder of the 65 challenges does not; we're happy Hudson included this option, but we wish it was fleshed out for the entire affair and not just a select few challenges. And there's a Fun Bazaar where you can view unlockables and buy extras, such as new minis for the Extras Zone. Mario Party 8 closely resembles all of its predecessors from a gameplay perspective. You choose a character, take to a game board and roll the virtual dice to progress, the end goal being to collect a star or multiple stars strewn about the stage. You'll land on mini-game challenges along the way and you'll pick up candy, which will give your character special abilities. It's all mildly entertaining when you're playing it with friends, but even then it never approaches any level of greatness because we've seen what is more or less the same project seven times prior and because none of the previous outings were brilliant. The franchise's board work has mostly been a chore and therefore the Mario Party games have lived or died by their selection of minis. Mario Party 8 has the numbers, but in practice many of its minis fall flat. This year's game utilizes the Wii remote for what should be added effect, but unfortunately in most cases the new motion controls feel as though they were tacked on last minute to what was originally a GameCube effort. Take, for example, a mini in which you must use the Wii remote to point a flashlight through a Luigi's Mansion-like room. The goal is to use the beam to illuminate objects and find the ghosts hiding within. Except, you don't actually have pixel-perfect pointer controls at your fingertips. Rather, you walk around the room with the Wii remote's D-Pad and you can only aim up and down with the Wii remote. Huh? Yeah - it makes almost no sense and it feels downright clunky. In yet another mini, you play a simplified game of Simon Says with Shy Guy. He holds up either a red or white flag - sometimes both. You have to mimic his movements with the Wii remote and nunchuk, each representing a flag. We don't see how it could be easier or, for that matter, less challenging. How about a racing game where you don't tilt the Wii remote on its side classic style? Instead, you hold the controller normally and twist your wrist to the left or right to turn. Again - what? But surely a game of bowling would be intuitive, right? After all, Hudson need only take a look at Wii Sports bowling and copy it. Nope. In Mario Party 8's bowling mini-game, you merely make a down/up movement with the Wii remote and have no genuine control over the ball. To call these efforts disappointing would be an understatement.
Many of the games in Mario Party 8 are fun, though. Extremely simple as the mechanic is - you simply swing the controller - the title's baseball challenge feels good. The same can be true of a mini whose goal is only to tilt a container of sand onto a scale - you pivot the Wii remote in your and to begin pouring and straighten it out again to stop. In Breakneck Building, you use gestures to saw through a log, hammer some nails and ultimately paint a canvas before your competitor can do the same. This mode seems to have been more carefully catered toward the Wii remote and it shows - hence, it's one of the more enjoyable minis the first time you encounter it. There are dozens of other offerings that still entertain on some level. Even so, one can't but help compare Mario Party 8's selection of minis to the challenges in a title like Wario Ware, and frankly there's just no comparison; the latter's selection is more engaging and makes better use of the Wii remote, period
Mario Party 8 is by far the best Mario Party game yet.With the addition of 2 new players- blooper and hammer bro-, different ways to hold the remote, tons of fun new options and minigames, and the bonus area with miis...THIS GAME ROCKS!
I really underestimated this game. At first i was skeptical. Oh great another Mario Party game. Just what we need... The net thing you know it'll be on the DS. What? It will be on the DS?! Oh great...
Well anyway, the review:
Alright when you first start up the game, you get greeted by this weird guy with a talking hat... (wtf?). You'll get to know him as the game progresses. Now one thing I didn't notice about the back cover of the game is that it didn't say how many new games are in it... You know why? There's not that much. Only about 75 or something. I unlocked all of them in only two games!. Each lasting only 40 turns. (By the way I kicked my opponents butts!) ughh more comin l8r
Sure it's not THAT different from previous Mario Party titles BUT it's still a blast, the mini games are a treat and everyone I play with has a great time.
Fun Party game, some of the 1 v 3 games are impossible to win if you have someone who knows what their doing. Mini games are fun but some are to easy and dumb. But overall its a really fun game to play with friends, not so much fun by yourself.
Not much to say about Mario Party 8. It's basically the same as every Mario Party since Five: great multiplayer mode, bad single player mode. The minigames are fun, really fun, but the stages and rules are lacking. Koopa's Bank Whatever is a good example. Does anyone besides me miss the good old get-as-many-coins-and-stars-as-possible gameplay?
Great game! I loved it game play is fun! like other mario partys you can find yourself killing a good couple hours and sometimes it gets tiring but still great game.
The mini games are decent, but the one player game gets old fast. I like the different boards and the unique style they each present. Overall a decent game.
A little disappointing. Graphic is nice but it is too colorful it hurts my eyes. I enjoyed Mario party in gamecube better. The game doesnt take advantage of the motion control too well and mini-games are rather bland.
i'm a big fan of this game!! now, i bought the original mario party on 64 the day it came out, and had no clue what it was. i was young, and didn't give it a fair chance. i just wanted to see something like smash bros. melee, i guess. so, this is the next one i bought, i said, "hey, let's see one more time". and you know what? i get it now. this game is super fun, especially with four players. it's simple, fun, a little long, as far as waiting for your turn, but what can you do? anyway, i like it, and i'll keep playing it.
Well, Mario party...uhh, how many is that now? Oh. Mario Party 8 Is just about the same as 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7. They did a pretty good job at new game boards, but they just get in the way of the real fun of the minigames. There's only so many minigames that can be played with motion sensing, and some are great! But everything else just seems like same old same old. Finally, the carnival card system wasn't they're greatest idea. For playing a full board game you get what, 20, maybe thirty cards, while all the minigames cost 50. Over all, if your having a party of 4 people and have 4 Wiimotes, rent this game. But for the single player, not even worth a rent.
P.S. I only got this game because it came with my wii bundle.
(609 Ratings)
Nintendo's original Mario Party was innovative in that it recreated in the digital world the rules and mechanics of a board game and then spruced the formula up with a wealth of mini-challenges. That was in 1999 - two years shy of a decade ago - and like clockwork the Big N has released a new entry into the series every year since, each sporting the same fundamentals with new virtual boards and mini-games. Clearly this copy and paste approach to the series is enough for some; the Mario Party titles were all best-sellers on GameCube and Nintendo undoubtedly hopes to repeat the success on Wii. However, if you've been following the series since its inception, as we have, this latest effort really shows its age - both mechanically and visually. Developer Hudson Soft had the chance to recreate or at the very least improve the franchise by taking advantage of the Wii remote, but Mario Party 8 misuses the controller as regularly as it capitalizes on it. The end result is a title that feels like a rushed GameCube project with last-minute Wii controls. If you're playing with your kids you might still have fun in spite of these inadequacies, but most will be bored by the tedious flow of the boards and the mediocrity of the minis.
Mario Party 8 is a noteworthy arrival on Wii because it marks the first Nintendo-published project that does not run in 16:9 widescreen mode. To our knowledge, this hasn't happened since the days of GameCube and quite possibly with the previous Mario Party outing. To its credit though, the game's title screen and main menu both run in full widescreen, but as soon as any sort of gameplay begins, everything transpires in 4:3 with superimposed bars. Good stuff, and by that we mean just the opposite. This careless approach to the presentation is representative of most aspects of Mario Party 8. The game's graphics on a whole are only barely adequate on a first-generation GameCube affair, and yet many of the boards are interrupted by framerate dips all the same. The unnecessary storyline tidbits are related in slow-moving text bubbles, which can at least be sped up, and the general flow of board play is slow and filled with constant and pointless text interruptions. You will find yourself tapping the Wii remote's A button at machine-gun speeds, but it'll do you no good
The selection looks good on paper. Several new game boards, including DK's Treetop Temple, Goomba's Booty Boardwalk, Boo's Haunted Hideaway, Bowser's Warped Orbit and Shy Guy's Perplex Express, round out the list. The action takes place via a zoomed-in view that is more immersive than previous Mario Party outings as you're able to more closely appreciate some of the (few) stage details. There are some 65 new mini-games that use the Wii remote. We'll get to these in a moment. And, of course, you can play as 14 mascot characters from the Mushroom Kingdom, from Mario and Peach to Bowser, Waluigi, Boo and Dry Bones. If you fall into the Nintendo fanatic category, you might find reason enough to own this game for the selection of levels and mascots alone, although you'd be much better off waiting for a title like Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
You wouldn't want to play a board game by yourself and the same is true of the modes in Mario Party 8. You can play the single-player affair, of course, but it grows tedious and boring in a matter of minutes because the satisfaction of besting friends is simply not there. More likely, you'll want Mario Party 8 for its Party and Mini-game Tents, which enable you to play the standard board mode or compete in a series of mini-games against friends respectively. New to this year's game is the Extras Zone, where you'll be able to take part in some eight minis entirely separate from the rest of the selection. These particular minis incorporate your Mii avatar into the experience, while the remainder of the 65 challenges does not; we're happy Hudson included this option, but we wish it was fleshed out for the entire affair and not just a select few challenges. And there's a Fun Bazaar where you can view unlockables and buy extras, such as new minis for the Extras Zone. Mario Party 8 closely resembles all of its predecessors from a gameplay perspective. You choose a character, take to a game board and roll the virtual dice to progress, the end goal being to collect a star or multiple stars strewn about the stage. You'll land on mini-game challenges along the way and you'll pick up candy, which will give your character special abilities. It's all mildly entertaining when you're playing it with friends, but even then it never approaches any level of greatness because we've seen what is more or less the same project seven times prior and because none of the previous outings were brilliant. The franchise's board work has mostly been a chore and therefore the Mario Party games have lived or died by their selection of minis. Mario Party 8 has the numbers, but in practice many of its minis fall flat. This year's game utilizes the Wii remote for what should be added effect, but unfortunately in most cases the new motion controls feel as though they were tacked on last minute to what was originally a GameCube effort. Take, for example, a mini in which you must use the Wii remote to point a flashlight through a Luigi's Mansion-like room. The goal is to use the beam to illuminate objects and find the ghosts hiding within. Except, you don't actually have pixel-perfect pointer controls at your fingertips. Rather, you walk around the room with the Wii remote's D-Pad and you can only aim up and down with the Wii remote. Huh? Yeah - it makes almost no sense and it feels downright clunky. In yet another mini, you play a simplified game of Simon Says with Shy Guy. He holds up either a red or white flag - sometimes both. You have to mimic his movements with the Wii remote and nunchuk, each representing a flag. We don't see how it could be easier or, for that matter, less challenging. How about a racing game where you don't tilt the Wii remote on its side classic style? Instead, you hold the controller normally and twist your wrist to the left or right to turn. Again - what? But surely a game of bowling would be intuitive, right? After all, Hudson need only take a look at Wii Sports bowling and copy it. Nope. In Mario Party 8's bowling mini-game, you merely make a down/up movement with the Wii remote and have no genuine control over the ball. To call these efforts disappointing would be an understatement.
Many of the games in Mario Party 8 are fun, though. Extremely simple as the mechanic is - you simply swing the controller - the title's baseball challenge feels good. The same can be true of a mini whose goal is only to tilt a container of sand onto a scale - you pivot the Wii remote in your and to begin pouring and straighten it out again to stop. In Breakneck Building, you use gestures to saw through a log, hammer some nails and ultimately paint a canvas before your competitor can do the same. This mode seems to have been more carefully catered toward the Wii remote and it shows - hence, it's one of the more enjoyable minis the first time you encounter it. There are dozens of other offerings that still entertain on some level. Even so, one can't but help compare Mario Party 8's selection of minis to the challenges in a title like Wario Ware, and frankly there's just no comparison; the latter's selection is more engaging and makes better use of the Wii remote, period
Well anyway, the review:
Alright when you first start up the game, you get greeted by this weird guy with a talking hat... (wtf?). You'll get to know him as the game progresses. Now one thing I didn't notice about the back cover of the game is that it didn't say how many new games are in it... You know why? There's not that much. Only about 75 or something. I unlocked all of them in only two games!. Each lasting only 40 turns. (By the way I kicked my opponents butts!) ughh more comin l8r
P.S. I only got this game because it came with my wii bundle.
not so good on your own but with friend its a riot!