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Mario Party 4 Review - Gamecube

The first Mario Party game came out on the Nintendo 64 in the middle of it's life, and boasted a fantastic multiplayer game that offered hours of fun - it was a great success, so sequels were made in the form of Mario Party 2 and Mario Party 3. Now, on Nintendo's next-gen console comes the 4th instalment - Mario Party 4. Though the game is basically a 3-D board game with plenty of twists and turns, does the 4th instalment still retain the appeal of it's predecessors?

Gameplay

If you don't have extra controllers and people to play with then DO NOT bother getting this game. Any fun to be had out of MP4 is through the multiplayer mode and no other. Playing with yourself is a boring experience that will have you begging for mercy, yet if you have the ability to bring in other players then you will have a blast playing this until the early hours of the morning.

As mentioned, Mario Party 4 is a board game. You take turns hitting a dice and moving around boards. Your aim is to have the most stars at the end of the game. The main way to get stars is to by them. But you can also win them or take them from your opponents. There are various spaces on the board that make for a better experience. There is the standard blue space, which gives you 3 coins. Bowser spaces, question mark spaces, bomb-omb spaces and many more. At the end of every bodies turn there will be a mini game. The mini games are the foundation behind the series. Without them the game would be as much fun as poking your own eyes out with a pointy stick.

Although there are some new and fresh mini games in MP4, the majority are still just rehashes of old ones. There are a few standouts but in all they have already done every idea under the sun, which leaves you with the bums rash of mini games. If you have never played a Mario Party game then you will have a ball with them. But if you are like me, you will be bored pretty quickly.

The game also has other modes such as story, which is for the lone player. Here you must play through the boards and win a present. Very, very boring. But do it on the 5 boards and you will open up 5 new mini games and a 6th board. So, it is worth doing albeit a tad tedious.

There is also a mini game room, which allows you top play mini games with various options at hand. The present room allows you to view presents earned in the Story mode. Waste of time in anybodies book.

The boards in MP4 are quite disappointing. They are all very similar in orientation and you are doing circles most of the time. (continued next page)