Nintendo Wii: Mario Party 8

I've never been that big of a Mario Party fan. I think when the first one was release for the N64, I played it for a weekend with some buds and had a decent time with it. I just thought that the game was way too random for my liking. As I've tried the odd Mario party here and there through the years, I found that although the boards have changed, the game-play and main feel of the game itself hadn't. I just have to let you all know that I didn't buy this game, my girlfriend bought it because she is a Mario Party fanatic. After she left for work, I crept downstairs to quietly have my way with it to see if with the Wii's fantastic control set up, the game could be better than previous installments I've tinkered with.

The game's graphics are bright and colourful, and I can see that many people would get sucked in to the game even before it begins. You don't need Gears of War graphics to impress the Wii's casual gamer cliental, but as a major gamer, I found myself bearing a smile and wanting to get into the cute game.

First disappointment: No speech. Stupid text with their own made up language and sounds. You'd think that with the hours of dialogue they put into RE 4, the bastards could at least make the announcer of the game talk.

Second disappointment: You have to unlock almost everything (minus a bunch of starter characters) and play through every board before you can select the board you think is right and the most fun for you.

Third disappointment: It's still as random as ever. When playing against the computer and playing against other people no matter how much you're in the lead, the game can allow the last place player to gain the lead in the last round and even after during the awards ceremony. I then found out that you can increase or decrease the CPU's AI to make it seem as real as you want and shut off the post-award show that awards stars, but I find it all a drag. I don't want to go in and change options! I want to start the game and play and win or lose because of my own abilities. Some people may find this fun or claim that it gives newer players the chance to shine. I call bullshit and say if it's that random, there shouldn't be any reason to collect coins, collect start or anything like that. We should then play a few rounds of mini games and have the computer randomly pick who wins at the end. Am I the only one who feels this way?

The mini games themselves aren't too bad. I would have liked to have seen some more intuitive games and uses for the Wii-mote, but I figure that this game was built for the Gamecube and in the last few months of development, they switched it over to the Wii.

Will I play this game again? I don't think so (unless my girlfriend wants some quality time gaming). This may be fun for kids or the audience that Nintendo is gunning for with the Wii, but I say that if you've played one Mario Party game, you've played them all even if the Wii's controls add a little more spice to the mini games.

If you email me or leave comments online for me to check out a certain game or download, I'll make sure I do so. As an avid gamer, if you have any questions about certain games and want an opinion before you buy, rent or download, let me know and I'll be happy to help out.