Box Art

The famous Nintendo mascot is with us again and this time he’s bringing the party to the palm of your hands! This installment of the Mario party series brings new additions to the franchise and boasts a total of 74 mini games for you to play with.

In Mario Party DS, five sky crystals fall from the sky and one just happens to land in the Mushroom Kingdom. Nintendo’s plump plumber comes across one of these crystals and shows them to everyone in the Kingdom. Just when everything seems fine, Bowser appears and shrinks Mario and company into miniature versions. Turns out Bowser wants all the crystals and he isn’t going to let anyone get in his way.

If you’ve played previous Mario Party games, the formula is no different from past games. If you haven’t, the premise is basically similar to that of a traditional board game. You choose a character and take turns to move according to the number thrown on the dice. The person who has the most stars or coins is crowned the winner at the end of the game. There are several characters to choose from ranging from Mario himself to Peach, Toad or Waluigi. In total, the game has five boards for you to beat which average out at about 3 to 4 hours so the main story on its own is half decent.

As you move around the board, there’s plenty of distractions that could either favour you or go against you. These go from the simple add or subtract coin total squares, shops where you can buy items such as star stealers or double dices and the duel squares which initiate mini games between yourself and a computer controlled character.

The board designs themselves are trademark Mario. They are laid out as 3d landscapes and they visuals are great to look at. You’ll often see plants, 3d pipes and dirt mounds amongst other things in the background that fit each boards theme perfectly and it’s often nice to pass these as you make your way through each stage. Along with the stage design, Nintendo have done a good job with the music, again, like the image design, the music goes along well to each board and it is often vibrant and fun.

Perhaps the most fundamental parts of Mario Party DS are the mini games themselves. This aspect is what makes the game most fun. Nintendo have done well in thinking up crazy and unique ideas for these games. Whether it’s sliding through clothing lines on hangers, fishing or trying to score a goal manned by an over sized goomba, there’s sure to be a game that’ll tickle a funny bone in some way. With 74 games, there’s plenty of them to keep you occupied. The controls are perhaps the element that puts them all down though. Often you’ll be using the direction pads or the a and b buttons to control and these are implemented nice and respond perfectly. This is the problem though. Whilst playing the game, I found that a touch screen based game would only appear once every 6 or 7 games. Unlike Wario Ware or Scribblenaughts, Mario Party DS doesn’t utilise the touch screen as much as it should for the mini games. It’s a shame really as Mario Party DS is the perfect game for this sort of functionality.

The game could certainly get tedious for some. Without the use of a skip button, the computer controlled players turns do get a little boring to watch, especially when you have to wait about three turns watching them go around the board. Thankfully though, they don’t last for too long but the inclusion of a skip button would have been useful.

A nice addition the new game is the inclusion of boss battles. These only happen if you become the overall winner of the game but it certainly is an addictive element. The boss of the first board makes you float around in the air and grab bombs before throwing them into the bosses mouth. Mario is known for having the most fun and involving boss battles of most games out there and this is certainly true of Mario Party DS.

Mario Party DS’s replay value certainly shines out with the inclusion of Mario Party Points. The more Mario Party points you get, the more awards you unlock which include things such as trophies. This adds a nice incentive to really carry on playing the game as well as going over it again to try and unlock all the trophies throughout.  Along with this, you also get to play classic Mario Party puzzle games. All these games are pretty addictive and can add a good amount of additional hours. As well as a sound gallery, you probably won’t unlock all the mini games on first play around which could tempt you to play the game again in order to unlock the ones you haven’t. You can also choose to play your favourite ones over and over again aswell.

Mario Party DS overall, is an involving game that will last for plenty of hours. The sound and graphic designs are brilliant, fun and quirky, the mini games work fantastically throughout and there’s definately loads to do after you’ve played through the main game. Although a little tedious at times, you’re sure to have fun throughout the majority of the game. Whether you’re a seasoned player or a newcomer, the old and new features will definately drag you into the game.

+ Visuals and sound are trademark Mario.
+ Plenty of new features throughout.
+ Re-playability lasts for a long time.
+ Mini Games are fantastic

- Addition of touch screen style mini games would have been good.
- A little tedious at times.

Score – 7.5/10