Mario Party: Star Rush

A fresh take on the series, with new mechanics that keep things quick and unpredictable. The level designs are perhaps a little bland compared to the older titles, but the mini-games, boss battles and additional challenges bring together an enjoyable little package that can quite easily be played solo, with solid multiplayer and an eShop download option for those with a single copy of the game.

Mario Party returns to 3DS with Mario Party Star Rush. The game offers lots of fun to be had with friends due to various game modes and mini games. No more waiting for your turn either.

Mario Party Star Rush could be considered as a new start for the franchise, due to huge and deep changes in the gameplay. The turn based system is abandoned and makes room for a more dynamic and fun real time system. You can play up to four players and one copy of the game through the freeware software Party Guest, and multiplayer is really fun.

With Mario Party: Star Rush the classic and static mechanics of the series finally changes (for the better!). Overall, it's a decent party game, and it's fun to play by yourself, too. Its weak points are a lack of minigames, which make the main mode boring after few hours, and some slow loading times.

Mario Party Star Rush’s gameplay design is definitely played on the safe side.

Mario Party: Star Rush is a fresh take on the Mario Party franchise. There’s a lot of familiarity here – many of the same Mario Party characters are re-used and none of the environments stood out as really unique compared to previous games – but even the most die-hard Mario Party fan will find something new here.

Its gameplay is more adapted than ever to portable experience: the modes are fast-paced, and Party Guest lets us enjoy the full multiplayer with just one copy of the game. But it has too few minigames, and the game becomes repetitive quickly.

It's inherently limited by the handheld format, but this is a smart reinvention of a faltering series. [Dec 2016, p.64]

Quotation forthcoming.

A strong package overall. It has a lot of smart ideas that will hopefully be used in future games, and there’s a good variety of modes to play with.

Mario Party: Star Rush is a little step ahead in the series. It still lacks in contents, but NDcube added a brand new pace in the game mechanics that would be useful in the future.

Mario Party Star Rush may be a turning point for the franchise, fastening the game mechanics and letting players enjoy its minigames even in short bursts. Just don't think you can play it alone: its single player is still relatively disappointing, but all the rest is well done.

Mario Party Star Rush gets rid of a few bad ideas from the previous games in the series, but it just doesn’t have the staying power to keep players come back for more week after week.

Mario does not need to feel ashamed for the standard of its gaming parties. It fully entertains in the beginning, highlight occurs when everyone is on a scene, and only in very late hours the fun fades and fatigue appears.

An enjoyable sign that Nintendo is still willing to experiment with the series. More importantly, it’s proof that the developer will go out of its way to accommodate those hoping to play with nearby friends, and that’s a noteworthy selling point for a notorious multiplayer title.

Mario Party Star Rush is definitely a sibling to the classic Wii game Mario Party and although you do miss out on some of the fun that you have on a big screen TV, it’s still a very entertaining event with some enjoyable mini-games and quirky characters. Whether you’re playing solo or with other players, it’s one of those games that you wouldn’t play all the time but when you do, you’ll have a blast as you play against both real and virtual characters.

Mario Party: Star Rush tries to solve some of the series' problems without success, while leaving the turn based gameplay on the road.

The board game was optimized for mobile gaming needs, but the fun factor of the minigames fluctuates quite a bit.

Mario Party: Star Rush displays the series' evolution within its standards. Adding a needed innovation in the form of free movement across the game boards, the latest installment of Mario Party brings its usual mix of multiplayer frenzy and competition for coins and stars. As before, this is not the most indicated game for those who stick with mostly solo experiences but anyone with a group of friends will not come out disappointed.

Randomness issues excepted, Star Rush brilliantly charged at the main flaw of Mario Party - the slow pace - thanks to a simultaneous turn, while adding some strategy along the way through the boards' architecture, allies and clever amiibo integration.

Mario Party: Star Rush may not excel in many ways, but it addresses some complaints from past entries and delivers some harmless entertainment. We're not sure you should rush out to buy it, but it still shows that Mario and company can be stars of a party.

Mario Party: Star Rush is a game with great parts and weak parts, which results in a very entertaining game for a few hours, but it will fail to entertain the player more time due to its lack of variety.

Mario Party: Star Rush is a tight collection of mini games which are fun even in single player. It’s just too bad that the main modes which encapsulate them aren’t entertaining at all. If you can overlook the grind, then it’s worth playing for the mini games. If you can’t, I’d look for a party elsewhere.

Mario Party: Star Rush can be a charming title at times, and definitely shows some promise. However, the game tries too hard to separate itself from its predecessors which causes its mechanics to fall under the pressure of trying something drastically new.

Mario Party: Star Rush feels more like a collection of modes than a fun next step for the series.

Trying to fit a square peg to a round hole is a tough job. So is digitizing a board game and trying to sell it for a full price. Mario Party Star Rush is decent multiplayer fun, but it should be a mobile game that's sold for a few bucks. [Nov 2016]

Mario Party: Star Rush isn’t the Mario Party game we all were hoping for and a return to form for the series, but I think it’s a step in the right direction after the questionable Mario Party 10 on the Wii U. The party isn’t as hype as it needs to be, but some will be able to find a good bit of enjoyment in this title.

Mario Party: Star Rush is not a bad game, it's fun, but it's far from the best games of the franchise.

Mario Party: Star Rush breaks with the static mechanics of Tour Island and is a better party game, but with an irregular selection of minigames, after few hours you may feel bored.

We've enjoyed Star Rush playing with our friends, but as a game it's quite irregular, and playing on your own still is quite boring.

Despite some cool game modes, Mario Party : Star Rush still carries the drawbacks of it's predecessor, Mario Party : Island Tour with no online multiplayer, and a very dull solo.

Mario Party: Star Rush is best played in the company of others, but it's far from the best game in this series.

Sadly, Mario Party: Star Rush is the latest game that fails to realise that simple truth behind the appeal of the franchise.

Much like the console Mario Party on the Wii U, getting the most out of the game means you probably should have a compatible Amiibo on hand. For some modes this can mean that you gain a perk, such as an extra power up collected every time in Coinatholon or an extra try in the Challenge Tower. This could be used as an unfair advantage against human players in a game where luck is the main concept, which may not sit well with some players.

While Star Rush isn't the horrible 'car' wreck of the past two titles in the series, it is hardly recommendable due to a lack of mini-games and thus content, even if four players can play nearly the full game pending one other in the same room has the game (there is no online play to speak of, in case you were wondering).

What started as a fantastic idea ended up as a pile of wasted potential.

Mario Party: Star Rush has some fun and original mini-games, and looks great. Toad Scramble’s new fast-paced simultaneous is enjoyable enough, but it’s too bad it can’t be played online. What is also unfortunate is that luck plays way too much into who wins and loses and will inevitable frustrate players. Some minor tweaking along with the inclusion of online play could have made this one of the best entries in the series in a long time, but instead, it’s another disappointment.

Mario Party: Star Rush had one good idea, but lost sight of everything else that makes the series great. Ditching turns, and having players roll and move at the same time is interesting and does fix a problem that many have had with the series. But in making this change, and reshaping so much of the game, most of the fun was lost along the way. It's admirable that Nintendo is aware of the problems the series has had, and is trying to fix them, but there's just nothing here to keep players interested, unless they're dying for a new multiplayer experience on the 3DS.