Mario Party 8 [Wii]

WATCH TRAILER DOWNLOAD TRAILER

Nintendo positions the Wii as a family-friendly, easy-to-use, multiplayer console. Mario Party 8 couldn't fit that niche any more precisely. It practically has the word "FUN!" drawn, in colorful, bouncy letters, across the front of its packaging, along with its cast of the usual Nintendo suspects. Opening the case, you can't help but expect the disk to sproing from its mountings, jack-in-the-box style, with a squeal of glee. That's the kind of "fun" we're talking about here.

Even if you're not familiar with the Mario Party series, all you really need to know is that this is a multiplayer board game with minigame interludes, and you can probably piece together the entire design brief for yourself. Up to four players roam around a board modeled after a classic Nintendo environment, collecting coins, candy, fluffy bunnies, and so on -- along with the occasional star, a crucial item that'll guarantee you victory if you can gather more than anyone else. Every so often, all players participate in a quick and easy minigame, either free-for-all or in teams. At the end of the game, the one with the most stars wins.

It's not all that simple, of course. Some boards emphasize covering distance, incorporating a single track with a reward star at the end. Others go more for strategy, presenting players with branching routes and moving stars. As you move, you collect candy with varying effects, most of which are decidedly unpleasant for your opponents. But you're eternally at the mercy of the dice -- this is a board game, after all -- so thinking too far in advance isn't a great idea. Just go with it.

How about the minigames? You know the drill. Some use the Wii remote to steer; others are more like a conventional controller. Others are more creative, involving pumping the Wiimote to drive a railroad cart, waving it like a lasso, or using it like a beam to balance across an abyss. Usually, you're competing on your own against all the other players, but Mario Party includes two-on-two, three-on-one and one-on-one games as well. Variety is not in short supply.

Although the minigames don't display noticeably more technical nous than you'd expect from an older GameCube game, they're delightfully polished. That's quite unexpected when you consider how throwaway they all are.

As you might expect from the moniker, this is a multiplayer game. Yes, you can play it on your own, and to its credit the game tries to provide a variety of ways to do this. But even the most dedicated Mario fan will quickly tire of it -- online play would have fixed that right up, but we should know better than to mention the "o" word in a Wii game review. As long as you have a stack of remotes (four is best) and a similarly sized stack of friends, Mario Party offers more lasting appeal than first impressions would lead you to think.

But there are only so many ways you can hold a Wii controller, and if you played Rayman: Raving Rabbids or Warioware: Smooth Moves, you've probably seen most of them. Sooner or later, this mini-game fad that's been all the rage on the Wii and DS recently is going to pass its sell-by date, and it's already starting to smell a bit off. While Mario Party has been doing this ever since the Wii was a glint in Shigeru Miyamoto's eye, this time it's unfortunately landing on a platform that's already replete with games in its style.

What Mario Party has always done better than its competition, though, is glue these minigames together with a structure that's easy to understand, straightforward to play, and competitive enough to provide enough stimulation for rewarding group play. That's no different here, and let's be honest, who looks to party games for stunning originality, cutting-edge presentation, and engrossing single-player modes? It's Mario. He parties. So will you.