Mario Party 5 Review by CuBe
Gamecube Reviews
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Mario Party 5 Review

The Mario Party series has been going on for quite a while now and it is starting to get a bit repetitive. The last in the current series was Mario Party 4 on the Gamecube and that was a big disappointment. It just didn’t have that certain x factor about it that all the predecessors had. The mini games weren’t that great and the boards were pretty bad, so Mario Party 5 had a lot to improve on and gladly I can say it did improve on it.

As I have said the faults with Mario Party 4 was the mini games and the boards. In Mario Party 5 the mini games are new and fresh which is good because new mini games are much better than old ones because you get a new kick out of each one. I’m sad to say though there are a few bad mini games in Mario Party 5 but there aren’t many which are good. At most I would say there are about 10, but all the rest are decent and you will have fun on them.

As for the boards, they have improved rapidly. They are much more fun with lots of different interactive bits and they are also split up into sections so that it is harder for a player to get the star because they have got to get on the correct route first. The one major thing they have changed about the boards it that there is now no shop where you can buy items. Instead there are capsule machines which give you capsules for free. There are tons of different capsules some good and some bad. All the capsules are free unless you wish to use them on yourself then the price can vary. But if you don’t want to use it on yourself then check it somewhere on the board and someone is bound to land on it.
Mario
Personally I think the capsule machine is a good idea but I would have also liked to have seen the good old item store. I think the game would have been much better if there was a capsule machine and a item store because then you could pay coins for more valuable items that could turn the game around and get free items that help take down you opponents.

As usual the multiplayer is great fun and best player when your with four of your mates but having 2 people play it at the same time is still good fun. You can do the usual, play just mini games with your friends (or by yourself) and you can do a tradition board. They have made another change in the board options as well and that is how low the turns can go. They can now go to 10 turns which is pretty low which is good if you are looking for good quick fun. I think it’s good that they have put that in because what I found annoying with the other games is that if you did want to play a quick short board then the lowest you could go was 15 or 20 which, still takes about an hour to do which isn’t exactly quick.


There are also lots of different ways to enjoy multiplayer. There is team attack across a game board. Mini-Game Mode lets you play all of the mini-games you've managed to unlock in Party and Story Modes. Finally there is Super Duel Mode which lets you design fighting machines for the battle arena. The last multiplayer mode is called Bonus mode. In this mode you can play volleyball, Ice Hockey or even a little card game.

The one player has improved slightly. The basic story line goes as follows. Bowser has got his way into the Dream Depot and he is set on ruining everyone's dreams. He's sending his Koopa Kids (formally known as Baby Bowsers), Red, Green, and Blue, into Dream Worlds to wreck havoc. You are then recruited by the Star Guards to stop them. You have to halt the threesome's destruction in six different worlds (Toy Dream, Rainbow Dream, Pirate Dream, Undersea Dream, Future Dream, and Sweet Dream). You do this by taking them on in a board game, but not an ordinary board game. You have to make the Koopa kids lose all there coins by the end of 20 turns. If you don’t then you automatically lose the game. Plus if you lose all your coins yourself then you lose the game and have to start again, this makes winning mini games vitally important in story mode.

The story mode has slightly improved upon the one in Mario Party 5 but I still think they need to work on it because it can become a bit tedious and boring at times but is fun if you play it in small chunks. There is one thing that may annoy you in story mode and that is the fact that the duel modes are back and it gets quite annoying in story mode. Because there are three Koopa kids there is 3 times the chance of one of them landing on you and believe me they do quite often. So you have to go into a few extra mini games every now and then which can get annoying if you’re in a rush but if you have got the time then it doesn’t matter too much.

The Gameplay is great in multiplayer but not as good in single player. I think that Nintendo have focused on the multiplayer of the game much more than the single player and I think it shows. They have included a lot of new multiplayer modes which is fantastic if you have brothers or sisters or mates that come around everyday but not so great if you’re an only-child. The multiplayer has hours of endless fun in Daisyit just like all the other Mario Party games. But the single player is definitely better off played in small chunks because it can get a bit frustrating at times. Overall I would give the gameplay 7 out of ten because it’s great with more than one person, but not so brilliant when you’re on your own.

The sound is brilliant like it always has been. The characters voices and sound effects have been well done and they suit the game perfectly. The in-game music is typical of the Mario Party games. There are little jingles and snazzy little tunes that you will be humming along to in no time, so overall the sound gets a 9 out of 10 because the only down point is the Toad voice because it doesn’t sound very good in comparison to how it used to.

The graphics are very good because they are nice and round and crisp. They are slightly cell-shaded but that is acceptable because the characters look fine with it. The backgrounds on the board are full with colour and are detailed and the board steps themselves are pretty colourful and full of design. Overall I would give them 9/10.

Lifespan is this game is a critical part and I’m glad to say there is a lot of it. The single player has quite a lot of lifespan depending on how you play it. If you play it in chunks then it will seem like it lasts longer but if you play it solid then it will seem shorter. There is certainly a lot of hour’s worth of play in the single player because if you die you have to do it again which can take a while. Multiplayer wise the lifespan is endless because you can play as many multiplayer games as you want on any mode and you won’t get bored of it. That’s what I love about Mario Party games. It deserves 10 out of ten for lifespan.

Overall this is a game that will definitely make it into the player’s choice selection. There are tons of fans across the world that will love to see this title and rightly so. This is a game that everyone should playBoo on. I highly recommend it for anyone that loves Mario and his games. If you don’t then don’t bother with it or maybe just give it a rent to see if you like it. Otherwise if you’re a Mario fan and you have got a Gamecube then I definitely recommend you get this game because the graphics, sound and gameplay are brilliant and the life span is massive. This game will keep you going for ages so go out and buy it and have some fun.

Graphics 9/10
Sound 9/10
Gameplay 7/10
Lifespan 10/10
Overall 9/10

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