Mario Party DS has tons of new features, including new mini-games, boss fights, and much more. In this review, you will find out the ups and downs of Mario Party DS.
Retro Moment- What is Mario Party?
Mario Party started with the N64 days. It's popularity led to the making of seven more sequels, and some for handhelds as well. Mario Party is just like a board game, with many twists to the rules. The characters are pieces on an interactive game board. There are coins, stars, hazards, and much more.
Mario Party, the first ever Mario party game.
Mario Party DS
The story behind Mario party DS is that there are five star pieces and once they are put together, there is said to be unspeakable power. So, the eight characters, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Wario, Waluigi, Yoshi and Toad, get shrunken down by Bowser since he doesn't want them to get the pieces. So, the characters must go to each game board and win to get a star piece to return back to normal and defeat Bowser. But, before they get those pieces, they must defeat a boss. They must do this for all game boards to beat the game. There are a total of five game boards, four of which can be played from the start. These boards are:
Wiggler's Garden- You're tiny in a huge garden, so watch out for that hungry Piranha Plant! Boss: Piranha Plant Toadette's Music Room- You're shrunken down in a room full of incredible musical instruments! Boss: Hammer Bro DK's Stone Statue- you start at the foot of a Donkey Kong statue, and Dry Bones sleeps nearby! Boss: Dry Bones Kamek's Library- You're small as a bookworm in Kamek's library. Avoid his magical mischief! Boss: Kamek
There are several different modes in Mario Party DS as well, such as Story Mode (play through the story mode), Party Mode (play through a game on a board of your choice), Minigame Mode (play any minigames that you want), Puzzle Mode (play classic Mario Party puzzle games with new twists), Multiplayer (haven't played multiplayer yet, but you can play with up to 4 other people), and the Gallery (the place to keep your in-game prizes). Also, new Mario Party Points have been added, which increase in number every time you achieve a new goal.
Gameplay
As usual, Mario Party features players running around in a game board, playing minigames after everyone's turn. The new minigames that have been added are nice and all, but get kind of repetitive, along with running around on the same board for a long time. Still, the gameplay is unique and fun, and the game deserves credit for that. There are badges and such to earn, so the game has you coming back for more.
Gameplay: 7.5/10
Gets repetitive, but still fun.
Mario Party DS commercial.
Mario Party DS gameplay, very short video.
Sounds
Oh my, this is where the fun comes in. The music is original, which makes me happy. The only thing that upset me were the voices. Waluigi's voice sounded VERY muffled, and many character's voices you could barely hear over the music or you could barely hear at all. Nintendo could've done a much better job of this, but we have to live with what we have.
Sounds: 7/10
Muffled voices, average sound effects, I was slightly impressed. This game doesn't bring out the DS's fullest potential.
Graphics
I liked the graphics. They were neat, you could actually tell what character was what character, the minigames were noticable, etc. I think the graphics are one of the best parts of the game. The one thing I could comment on were Peach and Daisy's faces. They had lines for eyes sometimes. I was kind of disgusted by that.
Did ya see it? Did ya see Peach's face?
Graphics: 8.5/10
I liked them. They could use touching up, but they were fine.
Replay Value
Once you beat the Story Mode, there really isn't much else to do in the game except relax and have fun. You can play with friends, play minigames, stuff like that. This game won't have you coming back for more once you unlock every mode and play it. Every mode is unlocked with the beating of Story Mode. So, the replay value is low.
Waluigi at DK's Stone Statue.
Overall: 8/10
I wasn't disappointed, but I wasn't very impressed either. I would rather have rented this game than bought it, because once I beat it, it got old. It was still fun to play minigames once in a while, but it got kinda old.
Pros
-Featured multiplayer with up to 4 friends
-New batch of minigames
-Good graphics for DS
-Made use of both Touch Screen and Microphone
-New features as well as badges and MP Point System
Cons
-Didn't support Wi-fi
-Average sounds
-Some minigames aren't entertaining enough
-Low Replay Value
Great review! This definently is a great installment to the Mario Party series. The story mode was a little short of expectations, but it was good, nonetheless.
Mario Party DS Review
