Princess Céline
It's teatime!
I've now owned this game for a couple of weeks, and here's what I think of it:
I'll conclude this review with saying that I hope I provided my personal opinions on it in a good way without sounding too harsh or making it look like a rant of some kind.
The good:
The addition of a hub world, which makes it much better to have a sense of exploration as opposed to navigating simple menus from earlier games. MP8 kinda did this with the Fun Bazaar imo, which allowed you to pick a character and walk around in there. Could you imagine being able to explore something like the Star Carnival or the MSS Sea Star freely?
The roster is overall great, in spite of my initial thought of a playable Bowser, though he's grown on me. It's not bad at all that he's fully playable, it just feels weird for him to not be a major board event as he has been previously. I wish Toad and Toadette were playable though.
The minigames in this game are possibly my favorite overall in the series up to this point, ranging from creative ones like Dart Gallery, Bopping Spree and Tall Order, to just full-on wacky fun like Pie Hard, Slaparazzi and Sphere Mongers. I also really like the return of 4-player co-op minigames, which is something I've missed since MP1. The Rhythm minigames are a particular favorite of mine, with some of my favorites there being Take a Stab, Time to Shine, All-Star Swingers and Baton and On. As for the soundtrack, I really love it overall, and I'll post my favorite music tracks in my ask thread later.
The other game modes in addition to Mario Party and Team Party are all good. Challenge Road is a sweet throwback to Minigame Island from MP1, even featuring several nice background events that tell you what the current minigame will be. River Survival is a decent 4-player co-op mode, though it can get a little repetitive. The Sound stage is an interesting take on the Decathlon game modes from Mario Party 5-8, though I feel it is a little short. Toad's Rec Room has some decent bonus minigames overall, though I've yet to play Banana Split. I do really enjoy Puzzle Hustle though. I also love the Mario Party Quiz that Birdo hosts, though she hasn't given me much questions relating to older Mario Party games yet.
Possibly my favorite thing of this game however, are the various character animations, ranging from high-fives, disappointment when something bad happens, the shocked expressions when stopping a roulette wheel, buying a star/seeing someone else buy a star, their look of fear when landing on a Bad Luck/Extra Bad Luck Space, or using an item with a negative effect on someone else (Poison Mushroom or Peepa Bell) and even their idle animations when at the Party Plaza or during certain minigames, such as the thinking gestures when memorizing the cards in Suit Yourselves. Even easter eggs such as a scared Monty Mole when playing Rhytm & Bruise are a really nice touch. I'd also give an extra bonus to the character dialogue, which is also pretty detailed, such as Bowser/Bowser Jr interacting with certain board events, Kamek's look of fear and dialogue when he sees either of them land on his space or when meeting allies at an Ally Space or on the board (and I've heard some characters have unique dialogue when meeting each other). One of my personal favorite dialogue pieces is from Peach:
Lastly, I'll also say that the voice clips in this game are top-notch, and I hope they will be reused in later Mario games.
Mixed feelings (but mostly bad):
As for both Mario Party and Team Party, it plays pretty well overall, though I feel it doesn't quite match up with the overall board gameplay of 6, 7 and 8, which I consider to be the best ones in the series so far. For starters, I think pretty much everything costs too little coins for what they're worth, such as a Star for 10 coins, a Golden Pipe for 10 coins, 30 coins for a star steal, 6 coins for a Golden Mushroom etc.
While each character having their own unique dice block is a nice callback to the character-exclusive Orbs from Mario Party 7, I feel it didn't work as well as the Orbs did. To start with, the dice can be used during any time whenever it is your turn, in contrast to the Orbs needing to be bought at a shop or finding them at an Orb space. Furthermore, there's more often than not a better opportunity to use your own dice block in a given situation as opposed to a standard dice block, while in 7, obtaining and using your own Orb was not always the best possible solution to something during a board game. Lastly, I think some of the dice blocks aren't balanced that well, such as Koopa, Monty Mole and Bowser Jr having bad dice blocks, and Wario, Daisy, Shy Guy and Boo having really helpful ones, though I suppose 7 also has this problem with certain character Orbs.
While the boards themselves aren't badly designed on an aestethic level, I feel they could have been both larger and better designed. The overall board design reminds me of some boards from Mario Party 1-3, though that's not entirely bad. For a comparison, here is DK's Jungle Adventure from MP1, King Bob-Omb's Powderkeg Mine from SMP and Koopa's Tycoon Town from MP8, which I personally think is the best board design in the series.
As for the boards themselves, Whomp's Domino Ruins is a good starter board, but I feel Lakitu is in a way too accessible spot. King Bob-Omb's Powderkeg Mine is an ok board overall, but I think MegaFruit Paradise is straight up awful. However, I find Kamek's Tantalizing Tower to be really, really good, as I personally think it is an interesting take on DK's Stone Statue (a fairly linear board with a few junctions to make it interesting, and you can buy more than one star, as long as you can afford it) and Pagoda Peak (a starting star price of 10 coins, but the number changes whenever one is bought, or if a specific Happening Space is landed on). My only real complaint is that it is a little too small, as you need 16 spaces to reach the star space at the end. As for the team boards, they play mostly the same with each other, so I can't say much on that front. I'd say that Kamek's board is the best in that mode too.
Final thoughts:
I really enjoy this game. I think it is a really nice fresh start to the Mario Party series after the heavily mixed (but mostly negative) reception that 9 and 10 got with the car. I have really high hopes that there will be at least 1 more Mario Party game on the Switch, and I think NdCube can take everything from this game and improve upon the newly established formula, which is how I personally feel with Mario Party 1 and 2 (1 being the first game, but flawed in certain areas, which 2 improved up on and brought more to the standard Mario Party formula we all know and love than the original did). I'd give this game a rating of 8.7/10, and here is how I would rank it compared to the other home console Mario Party games that I've played so far:
1. Mario Party 7
2. Mario Party 3
3. Mario Party 8
4. Mario Party 6
5. Super Mario Party
6. Mario Party 5
7. Mario Party 2
8. Mario Party 4
9. Mario Party 1
10. Mario Party 9
If you are looking for games on the Switch and/or you are a big fan of Mario Party like me, I'd highly reccomend that you buy this game, it's worth it.
The addition of a hub world, which makes it much better to have a sense of exploration as opposed to navigating simple menus from earlier games. MP8 kinda did this with the Fun Bazaar imo, which allowed you to pick a character and walk around in there. Could you imagine being able to explore something like the Star Carnival or the MSS Sea Star freely?
The roster is overall great, in spite of my initial thought of a playable Bowser, though he's grown on me. It's not bad at all that he's fully playable, it just feels weird for him to not be a major board event as he has been previously. I wish Toad and Toadette were playable though.
The minigames in this game are possibly my favorite overall in the series up to this point, ranging from creative ones like Dart Gallery, Bopping Spree and Tall Order, to just full-on wacky fun like Pie Hard, Slaparazzi and Sphere Mongers. I also really like the return of 4-player co-op minigames, which is something I've missed since MP1. The Rhythm minigames are a particular favorite of mine, with some of my favorites there being Take a Stab, Time to Shine, All-Star Swingers and Baton and On. As for the soundtrack, I really love it overall, and I'll post my favorite music tracks in my ask thread later.
The other game modes in addition to Mario Party and Team Party are all good. Challenge Road is a sweet throwback to Minigame Island from MP1, even featuring several nice background events that tell you what the current minigame will be. River Survival is a decent 4-player co-op mode, though it can get a little repetitive. The Sound stage is an interesting take on the Decathlon game modes from Mario Party 5-8, though I feel it is a little short. Toad's Rec Room has some decent bonus minigames overall, though I've yet to play Banana Split. I do really enjoy Puzzle Hustle though. I also love the Mario Party Quiz that Birdo hosts, though she hasn't given me much questions relating to older Mario Party games yet.
Possibly my favorite thing of this game however, are the various character animations, ranging from high-fives, disappointment when something bad happens, the shocked expressions when stopping a roulette wheel, buying a star/seeing someone else buy a star, their look of fear when landing on a Bad Luck/Extra Bad Luck Space, or using an item with a negative effect on someone else (Poison Mushroom or Peepa Bell) and even their idle animations when at the Party Plaza or during certain minigames, such as the thinking gestures when memorizing the cards in Suit Yourselves. Even easter eggs such as a scared Monty Mole when playing Rhytm & Bruise are a really nice touch. I'd also give an extra bonus to the character dialogue, which is also pretty detailed, such as Bowser/Bowser Jr interacting with certain board events, Kamek's look of fear and dialogue when he sees either of them land on his space or when meeting allies at an Ally Space or on the board (and I've heard some characters have unique dialogue when meeting each other). One of my personal favorite dialogue pieces is from Peach:
Lastly, I'll also say that the voice clips in this game are top-notch, and I hope they will be reused in later Mario games.
Mixed feelings (but mostly bad):
As for both Mario Party and Team Party, it plays pretty well overall, though I feel it doesn't quite match up with the overall board gameplay of 6, 7 and 8, which I consider to be the best ones in the series so far. For starters, I think pretty much everything costs too little coins for what they're worth, such as a Star for 10 coins, a Golden Pipe for 10 coins, 30 coins for a star steal, 6 coins for a Golden Mushroom etc.
While each character having their own unique dice block is a nice callback to the character-exclusive Orbs from Mario Party 7, I feel it didn't work as well as the Orbs did. To start with, the dice can be used during any time whenever it is your turn, in contrast to the Orbs needing to be bought at a shop or finding them at an Orb space. Furthermore, there's more often than not a better opportunity to use your own dice block in a given situation as opposed to a standard dice block, while in 7, obtaining and using your own Orb was not always the best possible solution to something during a board game. Lastly, I think some of the dice blocks aren't balanced that well, such as Koopa, Monty Mole and Bowser Jr having bad dice blocks, and Wario, Daisy, Shy Guy and Boo having really helpful ones, though I suppose 7 also has this problem with certain character Orbs.
While the boards themselves aren't badly designed on an aestethic level, I feel they could have been both larger and better designed. The overall board design reminds me of some boards from Mario Party 1-3, though that's not entirely bad. For a comparison, here is DK's Jungle Adventure from MP1, King Bob-Omb's Powderkeg Mine from SMP and Koopa's Tycoon Town from MP8, which I personally think is the best board design in the series.
As for the boards themselves, Whomp's Domino Ruins is a good starter board, but I feel Lakitu is in a way too accessible spot. King Bob-Omb's Powderkeg Mine is an ok board overall, but I think MegaFruit Paradise is straight up awful. However, I find Kamek's Tantalizing Tower to be really, really good, as I personally think it is an interesting take on DK's Stone Statue (a fairly linear board with a few junctions to make it interesting, and you can buy more than one star, as long as you can afford it) and Pagoda Peak (a starting star price of 10 coins, but the number changes whenever one is bought, or if a specific Happening Space is landed on). My only real complaint is that it is a little too small, as you need 16 spaces to reach the star space at the end. As for the team boards, they play mostly the same with each other, so I can't say much on that front. I'd say that Kamek's board is the best in that mode too.
Final thoughts:
I really enjoy this game. I think it is a really nice fresh start to the Mario Party series after the heavily mixed (but mostly negative) reception that 9 and 10 got with the car. I have really high hopes that there will be at least 1 more Mario Party game on the Switch, and I think NdCube can take everything from this game and improve upon the newly established formula, which is how I personally feel with Mario Party 1 and 2 (1 being the first game, but flawed in certain areas, which 2 improved up on and brought more to the standard Mario Party formula we all know and love than the original did). I'd give this game a rating of 8.7/10, and here is how I would rank it compared to the other home console Mario Party games that I've played so far:
1. Mario Party 7
2. Mario Party 3
3. Mario Party 8
4. Mario Party 6
5. Super Mario Party
6. Mario Party 5
7. Mario Party 2
8. Mario Party 4
9. Mario Party 1
10. Mario Party 9
If you are looking for games on the Switch and/or you are a big fan of Mario Party like me, I'd highly reccomend that you buy this game, it's worth it.
I'll conclude this review with saying that I hope I provided my personal opinions on it in a good way without sounding too harsh or making it look like a rant of some kind.
