By Austin Chiavaroli, Staff Writer
Since 1998, Mario Party has become an extremely popular game series with Nintendo fans. With each new Mario Party, new mechanics and mini games have been introduced as the games have evolved through the years. Now that the Wii U console has come out, there was bound to be another Mario Party to follow suit. The newest game in the franchise, “Mario Party 10,” brings a bunch of new ideas to the Wii U.
In the game, players pick from thirteen famous Mario game characters and verse each other in board game-like stages to win party points. In Mario Party Mode, players go around the board dealing with obstacles and winning mini-games to get Min Stars. Objects called mini ztars are scattered across the board, which reduce the amount of mini stars the player has. At the end of the game there is a mini-game boss battle; whoever has the most mini stars after the battle wins the match.
There are two new party modes that are introduced in this game called Bowser party and Amiibo party.
In Bowser Party Mode, one of the players plays as Mario’s arch nemesis, Bowser, on the Wii U’s gamepad. It is the non-Bowser player’s objective to survive till the end of the board without losing all six of his/ her hearts. For the Bowser player; however, it is the exact opposite as his/ her job is to use multiple die to catch up to the other players, and cause Bowser based mini-games to take them out of the match.
In Amiibo Party Mode, the player uses Nintendo’s newest gimmick, The Amiibo figures, to verse each other. Though the only Amiibo’s able to be played are Mario related, other Amiibo characters from Nintendo franchises can still be tapped for scratch off tickets, much like real scratch and win tickets that give the player some Mario Party points. This mode goes back to classic Mario Party gameplay, where the players play mini-games to earn coins that can unlock stars for them to grab. At the end of the match, whoever has the most stars wins the game.
There is also a Mario Party store in the option menu called Toad’s Room where the aforementioned Mario Party points can be spent to unlock new vehicles, hidden characters that can be used in matches, and music and photos to enjoy. These points can be earned by finishing modes and winning them.
The issues with the game are that some of the boards are short, which causes games to not last very long. These short games are not able entertain groups of people for a long periods of time like they used to. The customization bought in the Mario Party shop is also is lacking a bit, as there aren’t many choices to choose from and most of it can be all unlocked rather quickly. It definitely shows that the creators put more time in the appearance of the game and making new modes than the stages themselves and the unlockable items.
Despite these issues, the stages themselves look gorgeous and brightly colorful, just like other recent Mario games. The game still does its job of entertaining an audience and giving players an experience of multiplayer fun and competition. If you are a fan of the past Mario games or are looking for something fun for a party of friends or family, then this is the game for you. This game gets the rating of 4.6/5
