Mario Party DS

This is my first review in NW! So please be nice ^_^

Mario Party DS

Release date:
-America: 19th of November, 2007
-Japan: 8th of November, 2007
Console: Nintendo DS
Developer: Hudson Soft
Publisher: Nintendo
Rating: E
Players: 1-4 players

Mario Party DS is a videogame that is starring Mario and company, this game is the 10th game for the Mario Party series.

History

This time Mario and co. start their adventure when one night they see five falling stars in the sky and suddenly, those stars falls into the earth… and Mario finds one! Next day they receive a letter from Bowser saying that he apologizes for bothering all the time and he is going to give a great feast in order to apologize… when everyone reaches the main hall of Bowser’s castle, Bowser shrinks Mario and co. to a very tiny size and so the new adventure begins…

The game

Mario Party DS, as other Mario Party games, focuses mainly on the multiplayer game and the mode of playing the game is really simple but fun.

The playable characters in the game are the usual ones in the Mario Party series, these are: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Daisy, Toad, Wario and Waluigi, and the main antagonists are Bowser and Bowser Jr.

This game has the usual “modes” like in the other series, the modes now are:

Story Mode: play through the story mode.
Party Mode: play in any of the game boards available.
Minigame Mode: play any minigames you have cleared so far.
Puzzle Mode: play classic Mario Party puzzle games.
Multiplayer: play with up to 4 people, in here there are two new modes to play, and only one Mario Party DS cartridge is needed for this mode.
Gallery: the place to keep your in-game prizes to brag about.

As every Mario Party game, there are boards available for gameplay, these are: Wiggler´s Garden, Toadette´s Music Room, DK´s Stone Statue, Kamek´s Library and Bowser´s Pinball.

Also, Mario Party Points have been added, which increases every time you play any of these modes (except Gallery, of course).

Gameplay

The mode of playing the game is the same as the other Mario Party games, there are two or four characters on board, the turns and steps are decided with a dice of numbers from 1 to 10, after every player’s turn, all players start random minigames, which are fun, but repetitive, some spaces from the board are obstacles or shops, which give items to help you on your way and in story mode, if you get in 1rst place, you will fight a boss and if you win, the next board will be available.
Also this game introduces a new kind of gameplay with the touch screen and the microphone, these games are really fun, and personally, they were my favorites.

Gameplay: 8/10
Gets repetitive, but still fun. This game is much more fun if you have someone else to play with.

It´s always fun to crush your friends with thowmps!

Sound

This song always soothes me...

Good sound effects, the music is always matching the sorroundoings and the emotions intended to be transmited... but the only thing that annoys me is the repetitive winning sound, and also the voices of some characters… the sounds are fine, but Nintendo could have done a better work about this…
Sound: 7/10.

Graphics

I think the graphics were pretty good, the games were noticeable and the colors weren’t eye hurting. This is one of the best things in the game, the one bad thing was the characters “mini” faces on the upper screen… they could get an enhancement, but we must live with that…

Graphics: 8/10
I liked them. They could get better thought, but they were great for a DS.

Replay value

This is the weak point of the game… once you beat the Story Mode; there isn’t anything else to do… You can play with friends, play minigames, etc. but once you beat Story mode, every mode is unlocked. The only thing left to do is: unlock everything (badges, best high scores), and that takes a lot of time and somewhere there… the game becames quite boring.
Replay value: 5/10

Final score
7/10

It was good, but it isn’t impressive either, because once I beat it, it got old and kind of boring unless playing with friends... if it only has got Wi-Fi it would be a rather great and fun game to play. Well… this is more for casual players. I think you would be better off renting it, if you can.

Thanks for reading!