The ninth release in the Mario Party franchise is now available locally, and from the looks of things, it continues to provide a fun, straight-forward social “digital boardgame” experience.
Like previous games in the series, Mario Party 9 allows four players to play at once. The game is composed of a virtual board game, and players move around various themed lands to collect stars while avoiding certain spaces. All four players navigate the board in a single vehicle, and various mini-games appear along the way. Game length is set at 45 minutes, and each board culminates in a final boss battle – a dynamic that is new to the franchise.
Mario Party 9 will not be for everyone, and it’s certainly not aimed at the core gamer audience.
Reviews have begun streaming in, and here is what various publications have had to say about the game:
Official Nintendo Magazine UK 86/100
A wonderfully refreshing revamp. Read more
Mario Party 9
Gamesradar 8/10
If you lost interest some time around the umpteenth GameCube iteration, or the woeful Mario Party 8, MP9 is a good excuse to come back. Enough of the old concerns have been addressed and the game is more focused than ever, marking a return to simplicity that reminds us why we loved huddling around those old Nintendo consoles in the first place. Read more
IGN 7/10
During sessions with Mario Party 9 I was still able to suppress my critical instincts and lose myself in its charms — but booze was perhaps more essential than ever. Read more
Videogamer 7/10
Essentially, Mario Party 9 is a great leveller. No matter if you play games for a living or only touch a controller when one is forced into you hand, chances are you’ll be in with a shot of winning come the end of the each game. The Wii has always been about bringing people together to play, and Mario Party 9 does that considerably better than I thought it would. Read more
Game Informer 5.8/10
There are things about Mario Party 9 that make it a better experience than previous entries, but overall it’s still a disheartening experience. The best times I experienced with the game were the times when co-workers and I were laughing at each other’s stupid mistakes while playing, but you really don’t need a video game to fuel stupid mistakes worth laughing at. Read more
Mario Party 9
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