Mario Party 4 Review

Ah Mario Party, the series that started an entire genré, and the only good thing to come out of it so far. The N64 trilogy were great games to get some friends over, un-cap some root beers, and just have a good time, with each game better than the last. Now woth Mario Party 4 stirring up ruckus on your local store shelves, and with the added power of the GameCube behind it, does it continue the trend of increasing quality….

Gameplay

If you’ve ever played any of the Mario Party games, than you know what to expect here. Now I do have some gripes that I’ll tell you about though. I do think the boards could be a little better designed, like on Toad’s board, you can be stuck in a loop in the beginning for 5 turns, to me that’s bull. Also, I’m a Bowser fan, and the fact that when you land on a Bowser space and instead of being greeted by the guy which the space is named for, you get his son instead, who just takes coins. Occasionally you will see Bowser and the real fun begins, but it’s just not often enough for me. Now what really pisses me off is that when you use a Mega-Mushroom you can’t buy anything, including stars. It’s the most retarded thing this series has come out with yet. I have a few other minor gripes too, but just because I spent this entire paragraph complaining, those are really the only things wrong with the game. The game is still very fun and very worthwhile, just like the other 3. It has a wide-variety of mini-games, and half a dozen main boards at your dispense. To sum it all up, this game is fun.

The Mario Party games have the most diverse controls of any game out there, because they’re really over 50 games in one. But the control is fluid, and simple for pretty much all the mini-games out there. You may need to practice a couple games before you do the real thing, like “Mario Speedwagons.” But that’s to be expected, there’s really no way around it.

Graphics

Well overall the graphics here are pretty standard for your next-gen console. But they do throw in some great water and shadowing effects. The character models are smooth and Nintendo-ish (It’s a word now, just go with it.) and personally I don’t think Bowser has ever looked better.

Sound

I’m going to go on record as saying you will never see a Mario Party 4 soundtrack for sale. Don’t get me wrong, the music is fine, for a Party game, but nothing you’re going to hum on the way to school. Now the character noises on the other hand can be annoying. I’m at the point where everytime I hear “Daisy’s a winner” I say “Daisy’s a lesbo”. You will easily get around these annoying sounds, but I’m a reviewer, I need to get picky sometimes.

Final Say

Overall this game delivers what it promises and what the other games delivered as well, plain flat out fun. I do reccomend you play it with some friends, as it can lose it’s “spark” playing against the computer. Call up some friends (if you have any), get the chips & dip and ride the fun train to your GameCube. If you’re still skeptical, rent it and see how things go, but I’m sure mario and Co. can charm the $50 dollars out of your wallet.