Mario Party 8 (Wii) Preview
Posted by Vincent Chiucchi on 04.19.2007
Vitals
Genre
Party
System
Wii
Release Date
05/29/2007
Same old party or something brand new?
Ah, Mario Party. At first it was just another spin-off like Mario Kart and Mario [insert sport here]. Who would've thought that the series was so freaking popular that Hudson Soft would start churning out these games like it was called Mega Man? We've now reached the 8th game of the series, and this time it's on the Wii. Will the Wii's remote novelty make us interested in this game, or is it exactly like the last 7 times?
Let's get straight to what a lot of us want to know: How will this game use the Wii remote? Odds are it's going to be very similar to WarioWare and will likely involve also using the nunchuk. The mini-games are played through motion control (such as spinning your remote like a lasso or shaking it like a soda can), pointing to shoot, and good old fashion button pressing.
As for gameplay features, the biggest change will be these transforming candies to give you an advantage. For example, the "Bowlo Candy" will turn you into a bowling ball and any character you run over nets you their coins, and the "Vampire Candy" flies you to another player to take their coins. Minor features in the game include 14 characters to represent your avatar. New to the series will be a hammer brother and a blooper. You know...those white squid things that go up and down the water stages? Bet you're excited for that! The camera view also changes as it's positioned around your character rather then above them. As for the story, it's something about a ringmaster taking Mario's friends to his carnival, but who really cares about the story?
Mario Party fans will definitely get it, and some who got turned off by the repetition just might come around. Unless this game suffers another sudden delay, you'll be invited to the party on May 29th. Oh, and B.Y.O.C.
