Mario Party DS - 9/10
Generations of games from the Mario Party franchise have now arrived in our hands of the Nintendo DS. The series have shifted off the Nintendo platforms and have jumped onto our Nintendo handhelds. This is a very innovative idea, as it collaborates the utility of the touch screen of the Nintendo DS, to make mini-games far more entertaining.
Story
Mario Party is generally about 8 Mario characters trying to escape a Bowser's wrath, after he has forcefully shrunken them into minature characters. Your goal, is to successfully win a rally of board games, which include mini-games, strategic manoeuvres and countless surprises from your nemesis, Bowser. The variety of 8 characters to choose from, are: Mario, Luigi, Wario, Yoshi, Peach, Daisy, Waluigi and Toad. There are five board games in total for Story Mode, including: Wiggler's Garden, Toadette's Music Room, DK's Stone Statue, Kamek's Library and Bowser's Pinball Machine. In a board game, you are up against 3 other characters. At the conclusion of every board game if you have won, is a difficult boss, as a challenge to prove your strength. Once you have won, you will proceed to the next board game. As you progress along this story, you will gradually unlock many special items, including badges, voices and MP (Mario Points). Mario Points are just like kudos. You can’t use them, it’s just there to show off your skill.
On the game’s main menu, there are 6 main selections to choose from. These include Story Mode, Party Mode, Minigame mode, Puzzle Mode, Multiplayer and Gallery.
In Story Mode, you choose one of the 8 characters, and you go on a journey to take on all of Bowser’s five board games.
In Party Mode, you can customise your own desired board game, whether it’d be a Battle Royale, Tag Battle or Duel Battle. Once you have chosen one of these, you can choose the character that you want to be, your allies and opponents. Then make some modify you settings if you want, and BAM! Start playing your game!
In Minigame mode, you have the ability to just play separate minigames, without the hassle of having to wait for people’s turns on the board game to take place. However, you can only play the minigames that you have unlocked in Story Mode. Just choose your character, some opponents, set their difficulty and start playing your minigames. You can attempt to set new records and try to beat some bosses again. There also a variety of Minigame battles to choose from. These include Step It Up, Battle Cup, Score Scuffle, Boss Bash and Rocket Rascals. Just like the Minigames, these are only unlockable via Story Mode progress.
In Puzzle Mode, it is a fairly different scenario to Mario Party. Expect a load of Tetris-styled games, exactly the same as the five puzzle classics of Mario Party. These are Mario’s Puzzle Party, Bob-omb breakers, Piece Out, Block Star and Stick & Spin. The exclusive puzzle game to Mario Party DS is Triangle Twisters, a new style of brain-busting strategy for Mario Party.
In Multiplayer, you can host a series of Mario Party games with your friends. The maximum limit of players that can connect are three, but they don’t require a game card, only one person does.
In Gallery, you can check out your unlockables, current records and previous story sequences that you have encountered in Story Mode. You can also listen to the background music and the voices of every character.
Gameplay
9.4/10
Incorporating the touch screen in gameplay is crucial to the game. Mario Party DS ultilises the touch screen very well, introducing them into the mini-games. This makes gameplay enormously entertaining and fun. These interactive controls are not the only ones, as there is definitely the button controls as well. Overall, gameplay is pretty awesome, with entertaining storylines and endless amusement.
Graphics
8.9/10
Mario Party DS’s graphics are absolutely insane. It take the capabilities of the DS to the complete maximum and is able to ultilise those 3D graphics on the DS. Expect the graphics to be fairly similar to other Mario titles, such as Mario Kart and Super Mario 64 DS.
Sound
8.6/10
A lot of the included background music gets you pumped up for your Mario Party gaming. After completion of a few stages of Story Mode in your game, you will gradually make your way up and continue to unlock many more special sounds in the Gallery section and the menu. This includes all the background music and characters’ voices.
Value
9.8/10
Replay value is tremendous for this game. You can play it over and over again, without encountering any boredom. There are numerous mini-games to have a crack at, and you can also set records on every attempt.
Overall
9.2/10
Awesome game. It is competent of satisfying gamers of all ages and is one of those Mario games that you just can’t get your hands off. This game is a high recommendation and is a must for every Nintendo DS owner.
Submitted by azn_kvn69
29/03/2009
1054
15
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