Game Review #3: Mario Party

So recently I had a couple of “couch co-op” experiences and one of the main games I was playing was Super Mario Party, a 4 player boardgame adventure filled with minigames and competition. It’s a virtual game set in iconic areas of the Mario game’s and “lore”, and each setting, or “board” has a different gimmick involved with it. Of course, I played a couple of other couch co-op games, like Mario Kart 8, but Mario Party in particular stuck out to me. The game, compared to other versions of its kind, wasn’t that well received, but I’d argue there was a more interesting balance to it.

The ugly, first, though. This game has no maps and less minigames. There are only about 4 maps, 3 at the start, one you unlock. These maps of course have detailed walk ways and gimmicks, arguably more so than other maps from older games, but come at the cost of having little variety in the overall game experience when it comes to the environment. You can get bored very quickly after playing on the same few maps so much even if they’re well designed. Where Mario Party games in general had SEVERAL maps with some arguably having details that rival those in Super Mario Party.

The good — this game has interesting mechanics no other game has. There is a decently sized selection of character, each with their own unique die. These die come with the standard 1–6 dice everyone has, but the player can decide to either use that die or their character’s die. An example is Luigi has a die that has a lot of 4s but doesn’t really go past 4 at all. It’s a good die to have if you want to go a short distance but not too short. Waluigi on the other hand has a HIGH high die and a LOW low die. It has multiple 7s on the possible roll, but also multiple chances to just lose coins from using the die. It’s a very interesting take on Mario party and a mechanic that might even make the game more nuanced. There is also a arbitrary contest at the end of the game, where Toad will hand out random stars to players who get a reward. The reward can either be “playing minigames the best” or ‘moved the least” making it extremely random and making the game feel like anyone can win.

And the meh. Where the character die adds depth, the star rewards and party system removes them. First, the party system. There are tiles on the map that the player can land on that rewards them a teammate essentially. These party members are randomly selected from the character pool, excluding the characters playing the game. Once you get a party member, their die becomes yours to use when you want, and they roll with you. Generally speaking they roll a low die block, but if you stack several of them, your basic rolls can get really ridiculous. But it also becomes nigh impossible to control your rolls. Then there’s the end game star rewards, which are completely random and can steal the game from a good player, or break a balanced tie between two good players. At times, the rewards at the end game can make a interesting and fun narrative, the dark horse of the race stealing the win at the last second — and at other times it just feels miserable and stale for all players involved except the lucky winner. It’s a hard system to balance, which is probably why so many players preferred the classic Mario Party experience.