Mario Party 10 Review

Mario Party 10

Release: March 20, 2015
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Genre: Family, Other
PEGI: E
Comments:

 

Comment

Nintendo continues to innovate and change when it comes to their Mario Party series, but it’s time for them to revert back to what made the game successful back on the N64. Regardless, despite a few issues that plague this particular title, Mario Party 10 is still a game worth a purchase and at least a few plays.

Unfortunately, not everything is top notch in Mario Party 10. Obviously, as always with Nintendo published and developed titles, the audio and video are outstanding. The game also plays well, and the mini games are, again, top notch. However, there are so many little things that Nintendo has done with this title that are not making this game as good as it could be.

amiibo Support

amiibo Party is actually the best mode in Mario Party 10 because it reverts back to the way the game use to play. Each person travels around the board solo, and uses their coins to buy gold stars. However, this mode doesn’t reach its full potential for a few main reasons. First, Nintendo is asking people who have already spend 59.99 on their game, to shell out 13.99 per amiibo to play with them in Mario Party. This would be a lot extra IF a lot of content is locked behind that paywall. Fortunately, Nintendo hasn’t locked a lot of content, and this will be a positive or negative, depending on who you ask.

For this reason, amiibo Party is bare bones. We get square boards with interchangeable pieces, depending on which amiibo you decide to use. Each game board piece is tailored to the amiibo you’ve selected, down to the music! It’s great that Nintendo made this mode, I just wish it was more realized.

Bowser Party

Bowser Party is actually a really nice edition to the Mario Party franchise. It moves away from players competing to earn stars, and instead encourages cooperative play as players attempt to stay alive, collecting or losing hearts as they go. In previous games, Bowser was just that pest that popped up every time you landed on a Bowser space; now, you or one of your friends can actually control Bowser and attempt to stop the other players from reaching the end and becoming the Super Star. Bowser Party allows user to play on the Game Pad, doing 10 different Bowser mini games; this is one of the best uses of the GamePad yet, and it works really well.

 I can’t help but wonder if perhaps Bowser Party is weighted in favor of the person playing Bowser. Each of the four characters in the vehicle role a die and move along the board. After those players are finished, Bowser roles 4 dice and attempts to catch up, initiate a mini game and attempt to deplete the hearts of the players. However, if Bowser doesn’t roll high enough to actually reach the other four players, Bowser Jr. gives Bowser the option to roll again; in my weekend of playing, I never failed to catch up twice in a row. Some Bowser mini games – especially the slots one – are weighted heavily in favor of Bowser as well; regardless, beating Bowser is incredibly satisfying, and I look forward to playing this mode with friends the most!

Mario Party

Mario Party is just your basic party mode, similar to Mario Party 9. Players travel together in a vehicle through a level, trying to avoid the Bowser spots at all costs. This is definitely the least interesting of the three modes, and could have been improved by allowing players to travel the board solo, rather than in a vehicle. Again, I feel Nintendo needs to move away from vehicle travel and linear, start to finish boards. Bringing back old boards and solo play would be welcome as DLC, no matter what the cost.

Conclusion

Mario Party 10 is good, but not quite great. There is still tons of fun to be had for Mario Party fans, and even those without an prior experience with the franchise will find lots to be happy about. As the first, and potentially only Mario Party release for the Wii U, I wouldn’t advise skipping this one, even if some things are just not what they should be. I’m hoping that Nintendo continues down the road of having DLC in their games, and adds old Mario Party boards and, more importantly, the ability to play solo across every board. Even without these changes, Mario Party 10 continues to be a weekly staple in my family, and should be for you as well.

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