Mario Party DS

If you're a diehard fan of Mario Party or you've never played one before, this isn't bad. For the rest of us, it's another unimproved, indistinguishable sequel-by-numbers.

A solid multiplayer mini-game experience with a lot of the flaws of the previous versions. It doesn't do anything truly special than create a bunch of touch screen and microphone-centric minigames (and even then we've seen variations of them in other DS titles), but it at least comes together as a better title than the last console Mario Party design.

The ability to score board items and extra puzzle games is a nifty bonus, adding to longevity. However, the Mario Party formula is too comparable to previous games, with dull artificial intelligence (except on Expert). Lastly, the absence of Wi-Fi support hurts the game's appeal.

Mario Party DS does a better job at retreading the core concept, however tired it may be, than last summer’s Mario Party 8. Barring a complete shakeup of the series, this seems to be the most we can hope for at this point.

The stylus might offer some new dynamic to these mini-games, but that doesn’t stop them from being repetitive when played solo. This makes playing with your friend a mandatory condition to enjoy it. [Jan 2008]

One of Mario's better parties; shame it's that same old irritating game underneath. [Jan 2007, p.60]

Like any Mario Party, this one's harmless fun, and it's especially worthwhile if you've got a group of friends and don't have to deal with the cheating computer. But the repetitiveness and shallow, luck-based gameplay just further drive home why the wacky, dynamic WarioWare has been crowned Nintendo's real party king.

Half of the events don't even bother with the touch screen or microphone, leaving us with too many uninspired, Nintendo 64-era minigames. [Jan 2008, p.95]

So while Mario Party continues on its inevitable course for world domination in Japan, we're left scratching our heads. We'd rather be partying with Wario Ware Touched!

The problem is, once you've worked out how each mini-game works, you realise there's little to no skill involved. In fact, some of them are completely random.