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You either get excited about a new Mario Party or you post pictures of cows being milked when you hear the title. This yearly series is now at up to its fourth iteration on the Nintendo Gamecube and the seventh since it began on Nintendo 64. Mario Party 7 isn't the most innovative, the best looking or even the best playing of them all, but like just about every other, it's entertaining and worth the price of admission.
Stealing a little from Super Mario's trip in the Sunshine, Mario Party 7 finds the gang on vacation visiting far away places. Each of the six boards is themed around a vacation spot including Egyptian, beachfront and city settings. Graphics are very pretty with a nice high-resolution look to them even on standard televisions. Microphone mini-games return after their introduction in Mario Party 6 and a microphone is included in every package to enable them. The usual cast of Mario characters show up for the party with a couple cool unlockable ones available too. These unlockable characters along with a bunch of other goodies are available after you've earned enough Cruise Mileage to buy them up. You can get souvenirs from your trips and even records to try to beat set by the developers themselves. Cruise Mileage comes easy by just playing in all the game's various modes.  Gameplay is nothing especially new compared to other entries. You roll the die, move to your designated space and take on whatever challenge you land on. After everyone has moved, a mini-game can net you coins to buy stars on the main game board, provided you're lucky enough to reach a star space before your opponents do. Have the most stars at the end of the game, and you're a winner! Turns are fairly snappy and you can play a complete four-player 15-turn game in less than an hour. Sometimes the pace is broken up a little too often by minimal mini-games scattered across the board but thankfully these are optional. There are also all sorts of things you can do to other players by marking spaces on the board with orbs you either find or buy. The orbs make a big difference when used wisely to prevent opponents from reaching a star or sucking out their coins as they move. There are all sorts of bad things you can do to other players via the orbs as well as enhancements to your own turn and every one of them is steeped in Mario lore, so you'll know right away what to expect it someone lands on a space marked by one. The mini-games feature a lot of button mashing as well as run and jump-style play. There are some matching games, racing, flying and plenty more. Since the mini-games are the heart of the series, they have to stand up to repeated play and the ones in Mario Party 7 are mostly up to the task. There are a few too many games that rely on quick button pushing as well as a lot of evasion-style games where you avoid things that are either player piloted or computer controlled. The microphone games often have a lot of this kind of action where you say "up" or "down" to make some obstacle move around and everyone else tries to jump or duck to avoid it. There is a little more variety in some of the other series' entries, but this one still has its standout games. The best of them force two players to work together to get through a maze of some kind, even though these also result in the most arguing among the players. There are less ancillary ways to play this Mario Party than in some of the prior ones. Expect to spend most of your time in the regular old party mode. Eight players can play with four controllers as Nintendo has implemented a way for two people to share a controller and compete. One player uses the left analog while the other player uses the C-stick. It's a pretty cool way to get even more people into the party and well worth playing if you can muster enough interest to gather around the television. Even if it's just you and a couple friends though, Mario Party 7 is a strong enough entry for players to join the fun. For those without a Gamecube, the bundle with the system and Mario Party 7 is a great purchase. Yeah, we probably don't need a new Mario Party every year, but there are always enough cool new mini-games included to make it worthwhile, especially for fans. Grab some friends and go for a cruise!  
These games are just perfect for kids of all ages. Even the sub six-year old crew can manage most of the "Easy" mini-games so you can use these as entry-level videogames. The simple nature of rolling a die, moving and then playing a quick little game with Mario and friends is a comfortable way for families to have a great time. That's not to say there isn't complexity here if you want it. With the use of Orbs and all their various effects on players and the board, you can get into some nicely strategic duels over their placement and subsequent effects on the game's outcome.
Competition is also very high when you get everyone together to play. Don't be surprised if you have some tussles and some arguing as players are always in direct competition with one another to gain stars and coins. Kids that are quick to anger aren't going to be happy when their sibling takes one of their stars AND some coins and then beats them in a mini-game all in the same turn. It's not unusual to go from the height of success to the depths of despair in the span of one round. It does create a good chance to teach lessons about being a good sport to your children and to get involved in their arguments to help settle their disputes in a fair and easy going manner. There's always another mini-game right around the corner though, so even competitive kids will quickly figure out that there's another chance to excel if they just hang out and wait for their turn. This is highly recommended gaming for the entire family. Comments? Chat about it in our forums! Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Browse Amazon.com's selection of "Mario Party" themed games Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Mario Party 7 |
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