Who knew Mario and the gang were such hardcore partiers, but this time they're hosting it
on the Nintendo 3DS int he form of Mario Party: Island Tour
Now though the Mario Party series goes way back, the more recent games have tried to
switch-up the formula with varying degrees of success--and Island Tour might be the most
different one yet.
Sure, you're still rolling dice and playing minigames across a variety of boards.
But this time, each of the 7-boards actually plays quite differently from the rest--even
if the goal is often just to reach the end.
Take the Perilous Palace Path board for example, which is probably the most conventional of
the bunch.
In it, you'll play minigames between rounds in order to earn bonus dice that'll help in
your goal to be the first to the end.
By comparison, in Bonzai Bill's Mad Mountain board, although the goal is still to make
it to the end, this time you'll play a dangerous game of Cat and Mouse against a giant Bullet
Bill, because if you're caught in his path when he randomly fires, you'll be sent back
to the start.
Now you can avoid him by ducking into a alcove, but it'll come at the expense of forward momentum
Now the game really switches things up in Kamek's Carpet Ride, as this one doesn't use
dice at all.
Instead, you're dealt cards, which you can play however you wish to choose exactly how
many spaces you move.
And sometimes the goal isn't even to reach the end at all, such as in the Star-Crossed
Skyway board where whoever has the most stars at the end wins, which is dependent on winning
minigames and hitting specific spots on the board.
And there still more I haven't touched on.
Helpfully, the the game even provides a breakdown of the relative amount luck, sill, and minigames
involved in each board, which can help first-timers figure out which game might appeal to them.
With that said, I did find that most of the boards were still far too depended on Luck.
Yes, I realize luck is an inherent part of almost any board game, but the scale still
tips a bit too far in favor of luck at the expense of strategy for my taste.
Such as in Perilous Palace Path, where the boardgame itself is entirely luck based outside
of the rare item you'll occasionally have the option to use.
The only real-influencing factor you have is in your minigame performance, which basically
negates the need for the boardgame portion at all.
Conversely, in the the games that actually are more depended on strategy, such as Kamek's
Carpet Ride , the games often end in just a few rounds, which kind of mitigates limits
your ability to strategize much.
Between these two problems, it's hard to get invested in the outcome.
I mean, I'm a competitive guy, but even when I won here, I was like "oh" because I didn't
really have to work for it.
With that being said, the boardgames aren't bad--they're just inoffensive, mostly existing
as an excuse for the minigames.
And thankfully, the minigames here are probably the best I've seen from Nintendo these last
few years, easily beating last month's Wii Party U in terms of fun.
Take the Mario-Kart like No-Traction Action, which has you swerving wildly around corners
in a race to the end.
The loose controls and bumper-car likes physics make this one a lot of fun
Then there's Trounce 'n' Bounce, which has you competing with other skydivers in order
to land on a bouncy platform below to avoid a painful fate.
And some of the games even make use of the 3DS's unique features, like Poin 'n' Shoot,
where you'll move the 3DS like a camera in order to take candid shots of some hard-to-find
villagers.
Of course, there are a few stickers among the 80+ here, such as Garden of Eatin' which
has you choosing plants in the hopes that it doesn't randomly turn into a Pirhana Plant
and eat you--an outcome that you have absolutely no control over.
But even still the collection here is pretty well-rounded, with quite a bit of diversity.
And there are even some bonus AR games included here too, such as one that has you scrambling
up a sinking tower.
These are fun a novelty, though they're plagued by poor framerates leaving them as little
more than a novelty.
Overall, Mario Party: Island Tour is a decent party game.
I found both the boardgames and minigames to be a step up from both last year's Mario
Party 9 and this year's Wii Party U.
Although the board games aren't particularly engaging, I did have some fun with them.
And I haven't even mentioned the best part about Mario Party: Island Tour, which is that
the entire multiplayer experience supports Download Play, meaning you only need one copy
of the game in order to play with your friends, as long as they have their own 3DS of course
Taken altogether, I'm giving Mario Party: Island Tour's multiplayer mode 3.5 Stars out
of 5.
It's one of the better party games from Nintendo in recent years, even if still can't quite
live up to the benchmark set by the first 3 Mario parties all those years ago
Now I should mention that the game, with the exception of a single board, is also entirely
playable in single-player too, with CPU opponents filling in.
But of course, the game was designed with human players in mind, so this feels a bit
lacking--if not boring most of the time
Witht hat said, it's not horrible.
And the game even includes a Single-Player adventure in the form of Bowser's Tower, though
it's little more than a dolled-up minigame playlist and will take only a couple of hours
to fully complete.
As such, I'm giving the single-player 2.5 stars out of 5--it's not horrible, but parties
are best with other people
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