Mario Party 5 (GameCube) > Reviews (7)

Introduction

I am very fond of the Mario Party series, having all except Mario Party and Mario Party 3. I was excited to see what this game would be like.

Gameplay - 7/10

The gameplay is generally the same as before, with some changes.

For those of you who have never played a Mario Party game, you play on a number of large game boards (seven in this game), and roll the dice to see who can be the first to reach the randomly-placed stars. You also win coins from various spaces and minigames. Some of the boards can be incredibly devious - there is one board where certain spaces cause Bowser to walk across the board, stealing coins from anyone he passes.

As for new elements, the main change is the use of capsule machines, which give you a number of capsules, which you can either pay to use or place on a space, giving it a special effect. There are a lot of different capsules, including special "Miracle" ones, which you should try and get three of (the computer characters seem to be programmed to chuck theirs away for some reason). This aspect of the game is enjoyable, although sitting through the "This is a capsule machine. Do you want a capsule?" spiel gets a bit annoying after a while when you're just waiting for your next turn. Another thing that has been removed is the Mini-Mega system, which was often more annoying than useful.

They also added "DK games" - games hosted by Donkey Kong, who was apparently deemed no longer fit to be a playable character anymore. He can also randomly give players stars when they land on his space. The DK games are actually good fun, as you gather bananas and Donkey Kong turns them into coins.

As well as the normal party mode, there is completely new story mode where you play against three computer-controlled opponents. Yes, this was in Mario Party 4, but in this version, you must beat them by taking all their coins - and you have just 15 turns to do so. This speeds up story mode somewhat, and makes for an interesting game, concentrating mainly on duels. There are two new modes; Battle Mode, where you use custom-built cars to fight your friends or computer=controlled opponents. There is also Card Party, which is also good fun - if a little weird. Card Party actually has you turning over cards, which form a large playing board, and you have to hunt down the star cards - which may also give you two stars, or deduct a star. It's not quite up to the standard of the normal mode, but worth a look.

There are a few annoyances. Like in Mario Party 4, the Computer Players are programmed so they're not as infuriatingly perfect as they were in older games, but Nintendo swung a bit too far the other way here. There is one two-player game called Clock Stoppers where playing partnered with a computer player can be absolutely infuriating, as your partner gets in your way or pushes the same hand that you are already pushing. My other complaint is the luck-based games; there are simply too many of them. For example, in "Random Ride", you have to pick a device to fly in, and the game chooses who wins randomly; in "Vicious Vending", the game randomly gives players coins or squashes them and gives them nothing.

Story - 3/10

Okay, while most Mario Party games don't have a story, and don't need one, this one does - at least in story mode. In all honestly, it is somewhat unconvincing and looks as though it has a target audience of 5 years old at one point. The concept is interesting - Bowser wants to steal peoples' dreams, and there is some humour from his minions ("Hello, I'm the good looking one!" says M. Bowser G. at one point, getting slapped by his friends as a result), but the ending of Story mode may leave you reaching for a bucket to be sick in and wondering just what happened to Bowser after the previous Mario games.

And this isn't really story related, but there wasn't much imagination put into board names ("Toy Dream", "Sweet Dream", etc.), especially after the impressive names that featured in Mario Party 4.

Graphics - 7/10

These are mostly good, and are just as sharp as those in Mario Party 4. What lost 3 points was the fact that a lot of the graphics look really childish, when Mario games should really be made to appeal to all gamers, young and old, including those who have played Mario games ever since the first one was released. The worst bit for me is the design of the capsule machines, giving them a face that makes me think of the horror that is Spongebob Squarepants. On the plus side, the character models are good.

Music - 7/10

Some of it is good, but some of it is pretty annoying. For some reason, the music to "Sweet Dream" gives me a mental image of Mario frolicking through a field of buttercups, hardly the cool video game hero he actually is. The only time I've had a greater urge to clap my hands over my ears during a Mario-related game was listening to the appalling, Barney-the-dinosaur-esque music that played between the levels of Yoshi's story. Other music is an improvement, though - particularly "Pirate Dream" and "Future Dream", which pretty much save this game from being too kiddy.

Play Time/Replay Value - 8/10

You will probably want to play a number of times, but there aren't a vast amount of unlockables, and the cool "presents room" idea from Mario Party 4 was scrapped. This game is probably most fun when playing against human players who aren't prone to making laughable mistakes, although it is fun when played alone too.

Final Verdict

If you are a Mario Party addict, like I am, then buy straight away. Otherwise, rent the game and then make your decision.